Youtube is also pretty boring though. I mean, there are ton of interesting content and quality content too, but the stuff that gets recommended, the "hype stuff" is full of false information, clickbait, tweaked reality to conform some narrative...
New prank on someone that left their laptop unlocked. Open YouTube to something they hate and then close it before they get back.
But at least you still have that ability compared to most platforms.
I haven't paid close attention to the effects, because I don't thumbs down too many videos. But it did feel like I generally don't get that channel as much after thumbing down a video from my recommended feed.
* Copy URL
* Open new private window
* Paste URL: trim pp and/or si parameters, which are a form of tracking
I also have a second channel for language learning where I used it to prune out any videos in English. It's not perfect and recommends a few still, but they get more rare as time passes.
I'm quite aggressively removing videos I don't like from my watch history, or flag "don't recommend" channels I know won't be for me. If I'm not careful it'll recommend crap for a while.
Other big complaints include no ability to prevent it from substantially using my cell data despite telling it to do everything over wifi. I've taken to just removing network permissions from the app unless I want to add something.
[x] Turn off recommendations
[ ] Turn on recommendations
One problem with an internet where people expect, accept and rely on "recommendations" from so-called "tech" companies is that it ignores and disincentivises people who know how to search and find good stuff. Often these people want to tell others about, and share, what they find. Before so-called "tech" companies existed, these people could be excellent sources of recommendations. IMHO, they still are
Other HN comments have suggested recommendations should be an exception to Section 230 (cf. publishing user-generated content without commercially-motivated favoritism)