Every time I log in I get the exact same recommendations. Literally the exact same ones, every single time, for months at a time, so I can't just refresh the page like I would on TikTok and get all new videos to watch. Plus, the recommendations are so bad, I may as well be scrolling Facebook. They are bad, and there is a huge recency bias. I watch one new thing, and suddenly almost my entire feed is made up of more of the same, and usually it isn't even similar videos, it is the same videos on the same exact topic. I feel like I have such a diverse range of interests, and so many channels that I follow, but I can go years without these channels coming up again.
I feel like the fix would be so easy as well. Option 1, go back to how it was before, and option 2, show me things that other people are watching. If someone watched the same video as me, the video they watch afterwards is probably going to be of interest to me.
That's the background, my question is has anyone else been able to make their YouTube recommendations not shit? Is there another website that mirrors YouTube but has good recommendations? and also, does anyone have any theories as to why YouTube recommendations are so horrendous? There must be a reason, it doesn't make any sense.
Anything that you don't want affecting your recommendations should be opened in an incognito/private window. Or you can just remove it from your watch history. Anything in your feed that you don't want there hit the three dots and pick either "not interested" or "don't recommend channel". Every now and then I get some dogshit recommendations but it's mostly cool music, weird tech shit, and various outdoor activity-related things now. Another option is to only look at your subscribed feed and ditch the algorithm altogether.
Oh also install the Hbomb youtube censorship addon if you don't have it. I never see fash channels thanks to it.