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.
2 of my relatives are pleased with the algo and here are their techniques: one literally watches the same videos over and over again for months, then switches it up, claims this primes the algo. The other uses smart tv a lot and has an almost blank account minus a few obscure music videos he uses to spawn new user accounts on Youtube and elsewhere when he gets tired of the suggestions.
The issues with youtube remind me of 2010s Pandora how you had to downvote everything and never use the like button to avoid getting it to play the same 3 songs over and over again. Its almost as if the algo is afraid of showing users novelty unless its
reactionary trash or scammy weird shit.