YouTube stops recommending videos when signed out of Google

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/youtube-stops-recommending-videos-when-signed-out-of-google/

YouTube is no longer showing recommended videos to users logged out of a Google account or using Incognito mode, making people concerned they are being bullied into always being signed into the service.

This change, which is now rolling out, shows a simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to watch.

As noted by some on X, users who have cleaned their search and watch history or turned off their history settings also see no suggestions when they’re logged in. Some people think YouTube is being pushy about this, trying to make users turn on their history settings.

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Splatterphace@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Imagine being mad at this 😂

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- nothingcorporate@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  For anyone who wants to stay logged out of YouTube, but wants to see content they follow, I recommend the pocket tube extension for Firefox… or Chrome if you really have to… It lets you create subscription groups so you can see exactly the content you want when you want it.
  
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  - brisk@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ll throw in, YouTube channels are all fully functional RSS feeds, and you don’t need to interact with YouTube at all to get your subscriptions.
    
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- deweydecibel@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m not mad, but I will say I underestimated how much worse it is when it iant curating to me. Yeah, I’d rather not have the bad suggestions, but good lord the default YouTube suggestions are nauseatingly bad.
  
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  - Splatterphace@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The Algorithm can’t find a rhythm 🥁
    
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  - wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I haven’t paid any attention to any channels but the ones I was already subscribed to the last couple years or so (mostly watching on NewPipe and Grayjay), and whenever I look at yt on my desktop where I’m not logged in, it’s just this cesspool of clickbait/ragebait and I’m like… people watch this shit? And they enjoy it, apparently?
    
    Fire me into the sun, thanks.
    
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- dotMonkey@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  People love to complain
  
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ambrosiaforest@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
i like this change

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OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is great news. I watch videos occasionally but I wouldn’t say I’m a user. I don’t want to be recommended videos. I want to watch the one I searched for, or my friend linked to me, and go on with my life.

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- Horsey@kbin.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  just be prepared that the "default" YouTube recommendations are all clickbait + Mr. Beast + whatever fad is going around. The default recommendations are really really bad.
  
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  - archomrade@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    the trick is to be signed in with history cleared and turned off. Then your ‘recommendations’ homepage is just a blank screen begging you to turn on history tracking again
    
    Though i don’t trust it not to track me secretly regardless, but that’s a different issue.
    
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  - deweydecibel@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ve been using NewPipe lately and it’s given me a greater appreciation for the YouTube recommendations. Because NewPipe just uses the basic, generic recommendations that YouTube shows everyone that isn’t logged in, and holy shit I’d forgotten how just bad “mainstream” YouTube is.
    
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  - abhibeckert@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    just be prepared that the “default” YouTube recommendations are all clickbait
    
    That’s not what Google is doing. They’re literally showing an empty page with a search box (and a sidebar of categories).
    
    It’s clearly being A/B tested though - I only see the empty page sometimes.
    
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  - Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Wait… that makes no sense. You won’t see them now. There are no recommendations.
    
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Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Lol the users being upset about this is the strangest part, I never ever want to see the recommended feed, how can I opt into this while signed in? XD

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- jh29a@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  delete and pause your watch history, at least that’s how it works for me.
  
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  - Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah, I actually want my watch history though, been helpful a few times trying to remember some obscure vid I watched like 4 years ago
    
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- Klaymore@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  There’s browser extensions for it
  
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  - Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    True, probably like tamper monkey scripts if that’s still a thing
    
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author_shrubs@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is amazing. I saw YouTube only showing a search bar when I went there and it was liberating. I could search and watch the video on the topic I wanted then promptly leave. Without all the Hot and recommend shit being shoved down my throat.

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- bitdweller@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Exactly! I love this new feature :)
  
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- Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You know you can always just search for stuff without checking the recommended section right? Its helpful to discover new channels though
  
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  - MadBigote@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Except the algorithm has been horrible for, like…, five years maybe?
    
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bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Uh, how could Google show any personal recommendations without storing any data to base that on? If anything this seems to be Google actually doing what they say they’re doing.

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- usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  They could do what they did back in the day; show recommended videos based on the current one.
  
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  - kent_eh@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    show recommended videos based on the current one.
    
    They still do in my recent experience.
    
    It’s just not based on any longer viewing history than the current session.
    
    The homepage rhat starts the viewing session will generally be just what’s popular with the general audience in the approximate location they can geolocate from your IP address. If you are logged out and try a few different locations on a VPN, you’ll get different homepages to start a new (logged out) session from.
    
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- cerement@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Google has been perfectly happy to track you with browser fingerprints – just if they showed personalized results, it would be giving their hand away …
  
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- unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Cookies… But yes i noticed it too recently that you dont even get a homepage / trending list anymore when turning on proper privacy settings.
  
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- Aatube@kbin.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  They kinda don't! It'd be trending videos near your IP locations + your watch history for this browser session
  
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- someguy3@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Not personal recommendations, they won’t show anything. It would be like loading up Lemmy/Reddit and not seeing anything until you logged in or subscribed to a community.
  
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SkyNTP@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
All that is left is letting people without a watch history default to seeing their subscriptions instead of a blank page. That’s the whole point of subscribing: I want my own curated experience. I don’t want to watch BS YouTube thinks I want to watch.

It was a mistake letting YouTube decide on behalf of everyone that recommendations was a better experience than letting the users decide for themselves what to watch. The recommendations are no less of an echo chamber. Worse, the recommendations are games with garbage content. It’s the same problem as google search.

We need a return to form of user-curated content. Down with algorithmic recommendations.

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- DreitonLullaby@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It actually works like this in the FreeTube app on PC or NewPipe on Android. It feels so much better having my own home page showing only videos who I’m subscribed to. Plus another added benefit is that you can put your subscriptions into categories, which is a great way of filtering down to the exact type of video’s you feel like watching at the time. FreeTube personally stopped my unhealthy video-watching habits almost instantly, which were basically psychologically trained into me by YouTube’s algorithm.
  
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- BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Maybe you’d like to see some Andrew Tate shorts?
  
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- Radicaldog@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You can get extensions which make the homepage redirect to your subscriptions page. Lifesaver imo.
  
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- ikidd@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  That pretty much describes how I use my Piped server in Feed mode. It only show my subs. Pretty sure the public Pipeds are the same if you make an account.
  
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Eggyhead@kbin.run ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Don’t threaten me with a good time!

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AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Honestly, so glad they are making this change. Now I don’t have to see the bottom of the barrel popular slop every time I use the incognito mode thing on Revanced.

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mPony@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
YouTube without suggestions? You mean how it was back in the early days?? I would LOVE that.

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- cyberic@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You can use the Unhook extension to do this right now on at least Firefox and Chrome.
  
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Phoenix3875@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What? That’s literally a feature I got with a plugin. YouTube feels so much better without the algorithmic reinforced “hype” videos with no content and it’s good for your mental health too.

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original_reader@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Best. Change. Ever.

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Showroom7561@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is too good to be true. How long until Google reverses this decision? 😂

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- LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  They change their mind about 100 things bi-weekly. I’m frankly numb to it. I never know what’s going on, just keep riding the unpredictable rollercoaster
  
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- gian@lemmy.grys.it ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  In EU the next time the law changes 😁
  
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jh34@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
" shows a simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to watch."

I’ve had watch history off for like 7 years now and I haven’t had videos on my homepage for at least 2 years now. Hasn’t bothered me a bit, I only watch my subscription page and find new people with the recommendations based off of their videos.

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- EvilLootbox@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Not sure if you care but if you turn watch history on, watch one video, then turn it back off it will give you homepage videos again. I almost always start from the bookmark for Subscriptions anyways, but this workaround has worked since the first time I did it.
  
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  - jh34@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Nah I also go straight to the subscription page. Just annoying that they kept videos in my homepage for years after I turned it off and then told me one day I need it on to have vids show up there.
    
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- DreitonLullaby@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  That’s how I work, But I use FreeTube instead, which works the same way. There’s a trending videos page, but it doesn’t reccomend stuff based on your history.
  
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testeronious@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Love it!

I hate the recommended screen, I just use an extension called unhook: hide YouTube recommended, but now I find out they’re doing it as the default? That’s sick

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01189998819991197253@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Yeah… this isn’t a bad thing as far as I’m concerned. I have never used the front page for anything, besides the search bar, and even that’s waning.

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ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is an amazing way to view youtube … this isn’t a degradation of the service … it’s the first good useful thing they’ve done in years

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BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
That’s fine, all the videos they suggest suck anyway. No I don’t want to watch Madonna’s Like a Virgin video when I’ve been watching Letterkenny clips, YouTube.

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fidodo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Recommending things when you’re not logged in means they’re tracking you without your consent. Why would anyone want that?

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- cosmicrookie@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  No they usually redommend what is trending to users who are not logged in or have no watch history
  
  That said i personally really don’t mind the change
  
  I’ve started using Invidious as a YouTube front end and it works really great for me
  
  invidious.io
  
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  - fidodo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Oh, I interpreted “recommended” as recommended as in tailored to your preferences. What they mean is that youtube won’t show popular videos anymore. Still, doesn’t seem like the wrong choice to me necessarily, but I’m personally not interested in the type of videos that have the highest popularity.
    
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kokesh@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Wouldn’t the recommendations be crap anyway? When they don’t know your watch history?

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- SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I was logged out the other day without realizing and for the first time I saw Mr. Beast and other similar content being recommended
  
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threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I never watch YouTube while logged in if I can help it, and I’ve never subscribed to a channel either. I’ve just bookmarked the /videos page of the channels I like, and check them regularly.

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- Joelk111@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  As someone who subscribes to many channels, likely over 100, that post anywhere from daily to a few times per year, fuck that.
  
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- BuryMyHorse@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You might like New Pipe/Tubular! Give it a go
  
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  - Gloomy@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yes, I was like OP for years, but since I switched to NewPipe I also get to experience beeing subbed to chanels and just getting Infos about new Videos.
    
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cerement@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I like to tell myself I even get better search results when signed out (YouTube doesn’t seem to try as hard to insert extra filler)

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- Beefytootz@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m so tired of searching for something specific, getting two or three results relevant to my search, then it just goes into my subscriptions and other recommended channels. I’m really really hoping a new video site comes up soon to replace YouTube. You can’t even use YouTube as a video host anymore. I tried uploading some gameplay of me and my friends fucking around. Had music in the background. I put the video as unlisted, marked it as mature, I’m not a partner or anything that would get me paid, and YouTube refused to allow me to upload it without first muting the music parts. All I wanted was an easy way to share a personal video with my friends, but no, YouTube needs to make money off of every little thing that gets uploaded so I end up fucked even though I have no intentions of making “content”.
  
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  - wolfruff@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Dont forget to mention getting unrelated shorts shoved down your throat everywhere. I seriously deleted my decade old youtube channel over this. Fuck Google.
    
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  - XTL@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    This is the craziest thing. I make a search, I want to see search results.
    
    “Here’s some totally unrelated videos for you!”
    
    No! I want search results!
    
    “Here’s the annoying ass you’ve blocked five times!”
    
    No! Search results!
    
    “Here’s the video you just watched!”
    
    I did a search! I want to see search results and nothing else. The last possible thing I’d watch is what I already finished before searching for a different very specific thing.
    
    “Here’s the worst cancer in your country for you!”
    
    JUST GIVE ME SEARCH RESULTS!
    
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linearchaos@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I moved to a newpipe fork about a year ago. I stopped using their suggestions altogether. I’m not going to lie it was a couple of months before I was able to get used to it. I’ve come to believe that having YouTube on permanent autoplay based on their algorithmic calculations of what I’d want to see is not entirely healthy for me.

At current, once I’ve watched everything from my chosen creators for the day. That’s it I’m done, I go and find something more useful to do.

Now I see only the shows from my chosen creators,and if one of those guys recommends a different creator that they enjoy I’ll usually throw a follow in that direction. Very organic very much not in someone’s pocket. I’ve avoided TikTok like the plague. I think that, as much as possible, no companies financial statement should have a serious impact over my content consumption.

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- Tum@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  which fork of new pipe are you using? I’d be interested to hear your take on it.
  
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  - linearchaos@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Tubular, it’s The same as new pipe plus sponsor block but it’s currently active.
    
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inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Is that a problem?? I mean I leave myself logged in all the time because I use google music and I absolutely hate their recommended videos and the algorithms behind it.

No fucking google I don’t want to watch some douche canoe movie reviewer complaining about the latest movie being woke just because I watched some other movie critic that’s actually thoughtful and insightful or at least funny to me without delving into sounding like a dog with the constant “woke…woke woke…woke woke woke woke”.

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pr06lefs@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Love it

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jaschen@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Their algorithm sucks. I don’t want to see a how-to video I saw 12 years ago. It’s there nothing else on the internet?!?!

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- MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I see a lot of recommendations for videos from channels I watch that are very old and I’ve seen them before. I frequently submit feedback that I’ve seen it and I don’t want to rewatch something I’ve seen before (unless I’m specifically searching for it).
  
  Also, if I jump into my history feed, and go back as far as I can, I eventually hit the end, and I know I’ve watched more than wherever the end is. So the history falls off eventually. Frustrating.
  
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  - jaschen@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I too also submit feedback to say that I have seen these videos before. I have even had a video auto play the same video I just watch prior to the one I’m watching. Honestly, what are they doing?
    
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CassiniWarden@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I honestly thought this was how it always worked…seems like a good thing if they’re at least appearing to not track people who aren’t signed in, especially since in every other way they will try to get your data fighting tooth and claw. (Not saying they aren’t tracking habits of non account users though)

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masquenox@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Considering the right-wing garbage YT is constantly trying to slip into my recommendations - a habit of YT that has mysteriously gotten a whole lot worse in the last few weeks - I’d say they are threatening me with a good time.

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THE_ANTIHERO@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Oh no ! Anyway .

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- NarrativeBear@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Best feature so far
  
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  - THE_ANTIHERO@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Exactly
    
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mark@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It’s pretty obvious they’re only doing this to try to push people who like the recommendations to create an account. But can’t people just create throwaway accounts to temporarily relieve their recommendation fix?

Their recommendations are useless anyway. I don’t want to see 200 rock hard abs videos just because I watched a clip of Roseanne doing sit-ups.

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