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Comment by ThrustVectoring | Hacker News Reader

Youtube is definitely over-weighing the last few videos. Then again, it's likely optimized for a different market segment. Especially with how many children are given tablets. Like, brief intense fascination with many subjects in general is genuinely hard to optimize for, especially when a huge portion of your market has long-lasting intense fascination with a few subjects.

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This is often the behavior I want. I frequently queue up a song on YouTube and then let it keep auto-playing, if I hit one I don't care for I usually select off the sidebar of recommendations.

This only works because YouTube stays focused on what you're doing without trying to build a bigger picture of who you are. It would be nice if it could somehow do both, but I don't have a clear picture of how that UI would function.

YouTube's home page system is quite hackable in a way, but you need to use the search or other recommended videos to change your viewing pattern.

In other words it doesn't consider you as someone with a long history. You can change your profile from a conservative to a liberal in a few hours watching videos. Whether it's possible to have a balanced amount of crazy ( not the same as a centrist) is something I'm currently working on, it requires effort!

YouTube would rather you fall into a trance of continuing your recent viewing habits rather than providing a personalized library. It just makes better business sense.

Why does it make better business sense?

Because they aren't trying to help you enjoy videos over the long-term, they're trying to keep you from going over to Facebook where their addictive algorithm will take over and reduce your likelihood of returning to YouTube!

It's a classic race-to-the-bottom. If YouTube lets Facebook keep you addicted, you won't get to the long-term.

http://timewellspent.io/ is good for perspective

Yes, but that has an unspoken assumption that recent habits are more additive than longer term ones. I find that suspect; after all, you've already shown that you'll go back again and again to these kinds of videos, whereas you might spend a couple of hours watching a bunch of videos of a kind that you'll never be interested in again.

Personally, I find YouTube terrible at keeping me engaged. Even when I want to keep watching videos, their sidebar fails to show me anything I want to click on at least 1/3 of the times.

Yes, but that has an unspoken assumption that recent habits are more additive than longer term ones

This is too fine a point. A user will "select" a default choice by doing nothing, and it's in YT's interests to provide default choices that reward the company. This has been researched for decades and is supported by, among other things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo_bias

You could be exceptional or the algorithms might just be shitty at their intended purpose. Lots of possibilities.

It probably massively increases average time on site and average videos viewed, and thus ad revenue.

Because if e.g. you watch a Tool video, the ad rates for you watching a Korn video after that are higher than if you watch a Zeni Geva one. Alternatively, Kesha > Lady Gaga vs. Kesha > Joni James. Unscientific, but it comports with conventional wisdom with regard to fiduciary duties to stockholders.

Because if e.g. you watch a Tool video, the ad rates for you watching a Korn video after that are higher than if you watch a Zeni Geva one

But why? If I've watched hundreds of Zeni Geva videos over the years, but it's my fifth Tool video, why would I be more likely to click on a ad on a Korn video?

It's not that they think you'll be more likely, it's that they rather you did, so the suggestion emerges. Recommendation engines are a funnel for revenue.

What doesn't make good business sense is filling my feed with videos I've already seen!

If I watch a video I ended up not being interested in, I delete it from my watch history to avoid YouTube spamming me.

Can’t you "dislike" it instead?

I constantly get recommended more videos for something I dislike

If you're hate-watching, you're still watching.

Hulu is the worst for this. Fall asleep watching a show I like, wake up with random shit in my queue that I can't convince Hulu I don't want to watch.

As largely a geeky population, perhaps we do need to accept that our interests are more varied and often actually more intense than those of the average person. Being mildly amused by every fart joke movie available for some people is more rewarding than watching an emotionally challenging drama, a thoughtful comedy, and eight documentaries about four topics.

It is not all that bad. If I listened to three metal songs last few videos, I am likely to want some more metal in the next one. I am unlikely to want jazz or comedy sketch or kiddy cartoon (despite these being seen from my account last few days).

But there ought to be no reason for them to be unable to at least roughly cluster users into segments based on viewing habits as well as topics.

Of course it's possible they have, and realised they still make more money by focusing on the more recent videos.

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