• Nima@leminal.space
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    4 days ago

    it quite annoys me as well. “No annoying algorithms!”

    …great. so it will never learn what content I actually like to see and will feed me random crap I don’t want to see.

    i get like the same 5 videos of someone walking around outside and a couple of ads for stuff I’m not even remotely interested in.

    • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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      4 days ago

      I’m completely fine with “no algorithms”, I even want that. But you have to give the user control over what they want to watch instead of just throwing random videos at them.

      • Nima@leminal.space
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        4 days ago

        what does control over what they want to watch look like without an algorithm?

        an algorithm doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

        • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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          4 days ago

          If it suggest me things based on various factors that can be manipulated, then it is inherently bad.

          And user control would be to give me filter options. Videos are already categorized & tagged, so why not let users specify which categories & tags they want to see - and which one they do not? Much better than some obtuse and brain dead algorithm flip flopping while trying to figure out what I want to watch.

          • Nima@leminal.space
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            4 days ago

            manipulated by whom? if it can be manipulated so that you get to see the content you like, I say thats fine.

            if you mean manipulated by 3rd parties to sell ads, then that’s bad.

            this isn’t a black and white thing. it can exist without being data to sell for ads. what matters is if the one hosting the videos is willing to sell that data.

            if its kept to just your own personal usage data to make your experience a better one, that’s not a terrible thing.

            tags are one way for sure. but then its difficult to find new stuff that might fit your interests that you don’t have tags for.

            • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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              4 days ago

              By bad actors. Do you not remember The_Donald being practically at the top of everything on Reddit? Do you not understand why far right videos on YT & TicTok have so much traction? Everyone gets fed their own reality that completely contradicts with what is happening in the world, which is causing massive divisions among our societies.

              • Nima@leminal.space
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                4 days ago

                there are tweaks that can be made. also I’m talking about an individual’s personal feed

                if I open tiktok right now, my feed will differ from yours. because it’s personalized. reddit is a bad example because its not personalized.

                if you’re seeing far right videos on your feed its because you’re engaging with that content. you’re feeding the algorithm.

                don’t engage with that garbage and you won’t see it.

                • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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                  4 days ago

                  You think your personalized feed is not manipulated like this either? Or imagine someone new to the platform, he’s gonna immediately get bombarded by propaganda and disinformation, clicks on the videos, and then the personalized feed will feed them more of the same, radicalizing them even further.

                  And no, I’m not and I don’t. You’re clearly not getting the topic and why it is a problem.

                  • Nima@leminal.space
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                    4 days ago

                    i think we are talking about two entirely different things. you’re talking about generalized stuff and I’m talking about a specific person’s feed.

                    I’m not talking politics or other stuff. literally just talking a personalized feed. just for entertainment.

                    golly. not every single thing has to lead to the end of the world, man.

                    chill with the “propaganda and disinformation”. I’m talking cats and anime and video games.

    • RandomVideos@programming.dev
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      4 days ago

      Being able to choose what it will show you would be cool and not require stealing your data to customize your feed

      Google is the closest thing to that that i know, but their implementation is terrible

      • Nima@leminal.space
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        4 days ago

        agreed. there is a way to keep that algorithm private. on a person to person case.

        that information would just have to not be sold. thats the difference.

        an algorithm wouldn’t be inherently evil. the data collected is what’s potentially dangerous. but if its kept to just your personal account, it could be quite safe

        and make the app less of a chore to use.

      • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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        4 days ago

        Which service specifically are you referring to? YT’s search function has been constantly degrading over the years and spews out more unrelated bullshit than ever. And their algorithms are the worst and most moronic thing ever, and also somehow got worse over the years.

        • RandomVideos@programming.dev
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          4 days ago

          Hidden in the google account settings, you can find what googles algorithm thinks you like and remove inaccurate things

          As far as i know, you cant add things

          This is the only algorithm i know that you can kinda customize

          • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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            4 days ago

            That’s just your history of what you watched, liked, disliked, etc. The problem is that the system behind it is inherently stupid. You liked Vintage Story? Here’s some Minecraft! And since they’re games, you likely also like OTHER GAMES! Right? So here’s some Roblox and Fortnite! Our trends say those are super popular with the cool guys and you surely are a cool guy too, right?! And with that comes all the clickbait bullshit too, so I say I’m not interested in those channels and block them, so YT now thinks I dislike gaming and scrubs everything again, until I manually search & watch another video of a game because obviously it also scrubbed the ones I’m interested in. Or you watched some music videos, REPEATEDLY? Here’s all the videos you previous have watched! Now you have to click, not interested, click for why, click you have watched it already, click okay. Repeat for every video you ever watched until YT gets the hint, for at least a day or two until it repeats the stupidity again.

            You literally have to fight the system constantly. It’s why I don’t watch YT much anymore, or use private tabs now, which bring their own issue now that they also frequently block VPN IPs and ask you to log in, but that would then again muddle my watch history and consequently spam my feed with all sorts of irrelevant shit that I don’t want.

            The only thing that got better over the years is the video quality, like from an encoding standpoint, the content quality went way down.

            • RandomVideos@programming.dev
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              4 days ago

              As far as i know, that is for the ad algorithm, not for youtube

              I dont understand why you cant choose what things you want to be recommended to you

              • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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                4 days ago

                I’m asking myself this question for many years. Especially since YT videos are categorized to a degree. Give users control over keywords, both to like more of them, and to filter certain ones out. Obviously not perfect either because not everything is going to be properly categorized & tagged, but it would be so much better than the current mess where some brain dead algorithm tries to figure out what I like.