this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Yup. I've built a system where I tell it every video "not interested" after searching 1 topic. It literally doesn't give two shits about all the subs I have with content I'm actually interested in. It's like "oh shit you watched that one popular video, time to fill your entire feed with ADHD shorts and slop bullshit. We're just going to ignore your historical data completely"
I've definitely noticed this, you watch one or two videos that are from a popular genre, and all of a sudden that's half your recommendations. I've found the "not interested" option does work though.
They do have a lot of viewing history to work with though.
This is why if I'm on desktop, I either open in a private window, or immediately delete the video from my YouTube history. Or if I'm on my phone, I open it on newpipe.
That happens when you are subscribed too, it seems to heavily prefer showing you content (even from channels you are subscribed to) that matches the last few videos you watched.
I'm having an OK time with alternatives, namely GrayJay on Android and Windows desktop. Basically I had to make sure my subscriptions included the 50-75 creators I am actually interested in, then the list becomes 100% relevant because it is just videos from creators you are subbed to. On the Desktop app it still uses algorithm of some sort for sidebar content based on the current video you are watching only. So if you still want to "organically discover" things you can, but don't have to.
The only bad part with the Windows desktop version is it will crash the entire app mid-playback sometimes. Hopefully the bugs get fixed eventually. Also the "home" tab of Grayjay is some weird pseudo political stuff but at least you can ignore that entire tab and just look at your own subscriptions.