I promise, this video belongs here
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 тра 2024
- Does UA-cam feel different lately? Are you getting recommended content you're not interested in? Maybe even this video? Are you finding UA-cam Search to be a complete mess? Are you irritated and perhaps even frustrated with UA-cam's "algorithm?"
Well, you are not alone, and I have the answer and explanation to all of these concerns and questions. I'm dead serious. There's an explainable answer to all these issues, so let's get started.
Here are the chapters for this video. Feel free to jump around accordingly:
0:00 Introduction
1:38 Minor Ways UA-cam Feels Different
3:15 Major Ways UA-cam Feels Different
5:22 Creator Example 1
7:34 Creator Example 2
8:48 Why UA-cam Feels Different (The Facts)
11:48 What UA-cam Needs To Do
Note:
I deliberately leave the channel icons and video titles on each video for reference in case anyone wants to see the full videos featured in these documentaries. If anything is unclear, or for additional references, please reach out, and I will happily provide a link to any of the following content discussed, featured, or used as a b-roll in the video.
Copyright Note:
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Music:
All songs featured in the video are from:
- Epidemic Sound: share.epidemicsound.com/8mvwnm
- UA-cam's copyright free music library.
- Or some of Ian Taylor's incredible music. Please check out his music on Spotify if you are into that style. I cannot emphasize enough how good the music is.
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Creators note:
Hello, my name is Zackary Smigel. I've been creating UA-cam videos since I was a kid. I started UA-cam full-time about five years ago. You might have seen me from Real Estate License Wizard, where I obtained 60,000 subscribers and over 5 million channel views. I have since left that channel for creative pursuits, and this is my first crack at starting something new. I'd appreciate a like and subscribe if this content interests you and I captured your attention for even just a few moments.
This is my tenth video essay using this style and format. Over the last 10 videos I have learned a lot. This video, was a bit different than my others. This is a bit more of a controversial topic and I was a bit hesitant to make this video so we'll see! Hopefully you guys enjoy.
Thanks so much for watching,
Zackary Smigel
#youtube #videoessay #zackarysmigel
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Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more engaging video essays and commentary!
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This guy hacked the algorithm just to tell us how the algorithm sucks. He's a genius.
lol
He was showing youtube logo a lot, maybe youtube machine learning picks it up and then marks it as "good video"
Hahaha I thought the same thing. He knows how whack UA-cam is so we'll, that he showed in our feeds and started with "you probably have no idea who I am and why my video was recommended to you"
His right though, it's fantastic small channels are being recommended, I've said that to a few people. I reckon the algorithm is just so complex the code needs to be tweaked
Ikr? The other videos come not even close to this amount of views
he works for the shadow government
I want UA-cam to recognize that just because I engage with travel content, it doesn’t mean I no longer want to see video essays and cooking videos. It’s like the algorithm thinks you can’t have more than one interest at the same time.
Interesting, I thought it was just my watching habits that caused that effect because I do tend to focus on one thing at a time but maybe it’s a UA-cam thing too
XD for real, even autistic people (as I am) have more than just one single interest lol
it's like i look up a single video about sleep ambiance and my whole feed now is just riddled with sleep bowls and meditation stuff like STOP bro omg. i watch an ann rearden video and all my stuff is now cooking. relax a little bit!
instagram has this issue too and it annoys the hell out of me
YES!! The only time I actually get the videos I want is if I'm on a channel dedicated to just one thing. 2 at the most. If you're interested in more than 1-2 things, UA-cam just stops working and video vomits at you.
It's odd because I have so many interests and YT does recommend me a little of them all.
But, unlike you, I can switch from space actuality to let's play on Nintendo games to video essay about sociology, or series review and analysis, back to space science and all of this within an hour or even less.
So I do hope that YT gives me several recommendations, even of games I never heard about or about a science I haven't studied yet.
Though, I admit I regularly have to actively search for the kind of content I feel like watching. It's only natural though, algorithms can't know what I have in mind right now. Lucky me!
I've been really really really really really really irritated with UA-cam. Everytime I watch something once, they send it to my page with a flood of other content from the same creator. They Drown me with certain stuff I am NOT inquiring about & totally ignore other things I look up. I don't research as much on UA-cam anymore because it's just to time consuming clearing out all the content triggered by one article. It's always the dark stuff, too. Never the lighter subjects. Super disappointing because computer technology was supposed to stimulate our curiosity, NOT limit us to dark corners and force us to shut down our inquiries due to freaky algorithms. Depressing.
Bread and circuses.
The powers that be do not want us asking questions or finding answers, they want us enmeshed and engorged with bull dinky.
We need to enmesh our would-be owners with the dirt. Only solution.
And that will only lead to new owners... Bad actors are perennial like weeds.
couldn't agree more on the dark stuff... Im sick and tired having the misfortune to see titles about k*llers, any type of drama, politics... I JUST WANT TO RELAX ON YTB
Did you know you can delete videos from your watch history? Also you can research in an incogneto window.
I accidentally clicked on a video about serial killers, i had to go and delete it from my watched history because it immediately started recommending me murder, kidnapping etc videos. thanks i hate it!
@@withthesehands5799 Useful to learn how to avoid FedGov though. 😉
My biggest beef right now is keeping the videos or programs I've watched reposted WITHOUT the red line under them to show I've already watched them !!! If it's within the last month I can usually remember I've watched them. I find it extremely frustrating and a waste of my time !!! As for watching YOUR video, I specifically watched it in hopes you would be a legit source of information and was not disappointed. I am 70 years old, consider myself computer literate, and watch a lot of videos on new trends, subject matter, and interest of the younger people to help me understand their generational culture and give me a better understanding of conversations I have with neighbor kids, great grand nephews/nieces, etc. I realize my age group isn't your target range, but your posts do help tremendously in understanding younger minds, their slang, abbreviations, etc. Thanks so much.
you're a legend, thank you
Actually, I'm frustrated with UA-cam more for the opposite reason... it is VERY difficult to break out of any sort of echo chamber you've knowingly or unknowingly created for yourself.
Agreed. I found a new interest, watched that and only that on UA-cam for a few weeks, and now I'm barely recommended anything else and literally have to search generic terms to find broader content.
Searches 1 video about a motorcycle. Now every short an recommended something with motorcycle
yes!!
@@Doomvega this kinda happens to me, sometimes lol
Me and smosh videos rn
I have literally never seen this man before in my life but he's spitting straight fire facts.
Same.
Fr
I am crazy though
i never saw this man before, until UA-cam decided to put him on my front page as a recommended video.
(I am thankful for it and watched a couple of his videos, it's interesting fun content, thanks UA-cam, you did something right for once👍🏻)
The algorithm has summoned us all here and here we are.... is the algorithm god? (Pls don't respond like I am being serious)
I'm definitely experiencing this. It also seems like youtube's "memory" is getting bad; I have watched a large variety of content, predominately targeted towards young people. Recently, though, I've been watching a few embroidery and sewing videos. UA-cam seems to have forgotten everything about me and mistaken me for an elderly lady! a few videos out of the ordinary and know I can't find anything else I'm in to. And I'm getting ads for makeup that look good on wrinkly skin (so old people), even though I'm a teenager!
Getting ads on wrinkly skin is CRAZY
I've recently noticed youtube isn't tracking my Account and my Wife's separately... I'm getting her favorite channels recommended, and she's getting mine. Also, I get ads based on what she's been shopping for.
Some people might think that's creepy, but I'm just annoyed at the usability impact: If I want to watch that stuff, I'll log in with my wife and we'll watch it together. Save the screen space!
I actually searched why UA-cam is getting boring and I got your video, whatever points you mentioned are absolutely relatable and correct!
Sammmmeww
I'm so tired of apps trying to be like other apps. I don't want shorts from UA-cam. I want UA-cam from UA-cam, if I want TikTok then I want TikTok. Keeping it separately encourages me to use each app MORE because they're DIFFERENT. I don't want to go everywhere and see the same thing. I'm glad I came across this video, this makes so much sense now.
Yeah it’s annoying. It’s become especially cancerous this year and a bit and I just want to drop it all more than I ever have
Agreed. They are teenagers with identity crisis, and all wanting to become like each other when they are perfectly fine who they are.
but for the sake of storage, i think it's better for it to be all in one app...
Therein lie the rub, though. You and I may want different apps for different things, but companies want you on their things forever.
UA-cam wants you on UA-cam and nothing else (or, barring that, at least some other product owned by daddy Google).
TikTok wants you only on TikTok.
Facebook only on Facebook.
Unfortunately, viewers and creators are diametrically opposed to companies on this front.
exactly!
One of my main issues with UA-cam more recently is that I'm scared to click on a random video that interests me, because then it will be all I'm recommended for weeks.
Ha ha, whatever you do, DO NOT click on a 'funny/cute animals' vid, or you'll be doomed for all eternity with vids of that topic ha ha
That's why I had to create sub channel for music listening. Luckily it's so easy to switch subchannels by clicking top right corner.
Oh it's so true. . .
Yeah I searched fantasy music playlists for when I’m reading or going to sleep and now almost every video in my recommended is just that. Same with scam-baiting videos, I watch tons of other things but when I started getting back into them they were taking up my recommended after only watching a couple of them.
Add an account!
Thank you so much for explaining this - I keep hitting „do not recommend“ on certain channels or „not interested“ when the video deals with a specific content I do not care for and yet, this action seems to have the opposite effect.
There‘s only so many „restocking videos“ you need to watch in your existense as a Marine to start despairing about certain carriers of various diseases.
I don‘t care how someone else cleans their bathroom, but it‘s still almost the only thing on my front page.
The worst offender must have been a video a few days ago, where a young woman was trying to decide how to part her hair.
oh god, yeah me to im so SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED MASHED THAT FUNCTIONS 😢😢😕😕
I have no idea why this was recommended but I agree. The search not letting me strictly search the subject is honestly infuriating and has our family thinking of cancel our UA-cam premium plan. UA-cam has been getting worse since around 2017, I remember they changed the home page and the way subscriptions work and how they show content. I am super sad, wish things would get back to the way they were when UA-cam was in its earlier years
Personally the worst aspect of it for me is that sometimes you’ll find one of these random videos interesting so you watch that one video and then suddenly for ages the algorithm thinks that niche is your favourite thing and will fill your entire page with similar videos even if you never click on them and aren’t still interested in the subjects or content types
Yea it’s usually viral type videos that almost anyone would be curious about. But it’s like rubbernecking an accident.. of course you want to look, but realize that if you force yourself to look forward, you’ll waste less time on something irrelevant. All you can do now is delete it from your watch history
yeah i've had the same issue at times
Agreed!
A few days ago, I watched a UA-camr who was reviewing 3 games in my favorite video game franchise across 3 separate videos. I didn’t watch any other videos by this UA-camr, and I was only interested in watching them because they were about a niche game franchise that I love. Yesterday I counted ELEVEN videos in a row unrelated to that franchise by that same creator in my recommended videos on the side of another video completely unrelated to that creator or that game franchise. I would understand if it was one or two videos spread out to try to gauge if my interest in that channel is more than just that one game franchise, but 11 videos in a row is insane. UA-cam really needs to fix their algorithm…
what's particularly baffling and distressing to me, is that i can manually select videos i DON'T want youtube to show me, submitting the reason "I DONT LIKE THIS VIDEO" and i KEEP getting videos on the same topic! (ie serial child killer news pieces). it's legit traumatising to see those headlines. yet creators can't say certain generic words or they get demonetized. their algorithms are fucking appalling.
Explains why UA-cam has felt so bland to me lately. I open it, see a bunch of content I don’t really care about, and give up. It feels like a chore to watch UA-cam now more than ever. Not to even mention the terrible search function. All these content platforms keep sterilizing themselves to be more marketable and it’s ruining them. On the bright side, this social media apocalypse is making me want to pick up a book instead for once.
Choose the book. I'm trying too.
It's because you're not interested not some platform wide issue
The search function isn't even giving me results of the words I actually searched. I just get my recommended videos which have nothing to do with the search
Completely in the same place.
@@effbar2400it’s def a user wide problem if it isn’t a platform centered problem. But many people say these things so I don’t think it’s limited to tht individual
I watch YT videos every day for hours and YES, this is a huge, annoying problem! As someone else said, I have to actively search, HARD, for content I have been watching for years. Just because someone watches one video on a new topic or from a new creator, DOES NOT MEAN THAT'S ALL THEY WANT TO WATCH GOING FORWARD FOREVER. UGH! Even though I am a big YT watcher and don't even have a Tiktok account, I've never even written a comment. This time I was compelled.
One tip I just discovered to put, "before:2022" or "after:date" followed by the search and it completely bypasses the recommendations and offer exactly what you want. For example my niche is "sim racing", I might search... before:2022 sim racing
This is only getting worse over time too. I feel like especially lately I've been spending more time scrolling on YT than watching videos. Getting the same recommendations, seeing things I've already watched (but without showing it??), and lately getting a lot of videos with a max of 100 views with bad quality content. I enjoy the low-stakes variety that comes with YT, I don't really like watching shows or movies as much. Not sure what to do at this point. (yes I searched this video cuz it was getting that bad and to make sure im not crazy)
I feel the same way about this site now. I used to have real variety and it had helped me be more creative and learn more actively than I am now. I still love YT for content over any other platform but a lot of the good OG content is no longer correct or acceptable. Caused me to scroll for good videos, but it's a habit I have from years of being able to find new interesting content in a space where that doesn't even happen anymore. Like have you refreshed the page and it only rearranges the recommendations slightly? Honestly it's infuriating what it has become 😒
I thought it was just me, because I always click them out of curiosity. I figured it just knew I had that behavior, not that it was doing this for everyone.
I have the same curiosity towards these random videos, and I think the same hold for most people.
But a lot of videos about a "niche", aren't designed with new viewers in mind, so I usually click away within a minute.
same dude, so tired ofa b1 droid singing being recommended to me, i dont care at all mate
Yea i have corusiority so i click random vids
wsg mogswamp
same here
I serious can't believe that more people aren't talking about this. Not only do youtube recommendations suck but google results are all screwed up now too and i feel like NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT
Yep google is absolute trash now unless the result you're looking for is one of the top 3 or 4 results.... It's crazy
@@River_YT and no one is talking about it. I literally can’t find most of the things I look for now and most other search engines just mirror google
Please turn it back
People talk about it and UA-cam ignores them. They have done it with ads, with dislikes and now with a shitty system. The issues is that the latter might actually be a change that actively hurts them as it will probably decrease time within the platform
@@strange-universeI thought they had to at least go off of some sort of research.
It seems so strange that UA-cam does not allow each person to determine their own path. I suspect the constraints of UA-cam cannot handle the full accommodation of everyone being free to choose their own path. UA-cam search algorithm would probably greatly break down.
Just got this pushed today. Never heard of you, but it did answer a question of "why is youtube burying the stuff I want and flooding me with crap?" I will now probably get flooded with other random crap I don't want.
yep me too, wtf is this guy,?? and why did he end up on my feed, lol😅😅😂😂
i actually searched up this video, im doing an essay about how youtube is falling off, and searching for this video is exactly how you described it, it really helped me
i thought i was crazy at first. now i know otherwise. im glad some small channels are recommended to me though cause i found two people who deserve way more support.
I've recently been recommended some travel videos from some aunties and picture collages from older folks, and honestly it's way better than what I was watching before 😂
Crazy? I was crazy once.
@@ofskittlezCrazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a room. A rubber room. A rubber room with rats. Rats make me crazy.
They locked me in a rubber room. Rubber room with rats. Rats make me crazy
Fr, UA-cam's been recommending me some interesting channels recently.
A couple of days ago it recommended me two gay furry let's players. Honestly, pretty good channel
The only part of UA-cam’s algorithm that I hate is that when I’m watching a video, the recommended videos underneath it are now completely UNRELATED to the video that I’m watching, and those videos are basically the exact same videos I would just see in my home feed
OR they recommend stuff you’ve already seen???
I usually use UA-cam for work and my content basically should relate to that as I'm keeping myself more productive engaging with such content everyday even for a bit. BUT the only exception of "unrelated" content under videos that I watch is honestly... Cats lol. Short, uplifting and no pressure 😂
Absolutely!
Now it's way more hard to find the next episode of a let's play series so it's basically mandatory to find the playlist.
And similarly if I want more videos from the channel I'm watching they won't be recommended if they aren't a large channel.
@@Rose_Haw exactly
Just speculation, but I wonder if that change was made to stop people going down some of the conspiracy theory or far-right rabbit holes that used to be a huge problem. I remember there being a lot of concerns that the recommendeds would skew people deeper and deeper down these dark places and it was doing a lot of damage.
It's videos like this that makes me happy UA-cam offers me random videos from people I have never heard of before.
I love video essays, multi hour long videos, outlandish movie and show theories, but I haven't been getting any of those. No video essays, longest videos cap at 22 minutes, and no theories. You are the first video in weeks that actually caught my interest and held my attention the entire video, and I am so greatful! Glad I'm not crazy, and glad I found you
Another thing the algorithm is doing that annoys me a little is it only shows me stuff I've been into recently. I tend to go through phases, so it'd be nice if it at least factored overall watch history in a bit instead of just assuming my latest interest is now my only interest forever until I manually search out other things I like again/specifically choose from my subscribed tab.
I know right, every time I watch something I usually don't watch half my recommendations are suddenly filled with adjacent content.
I simply "remind" youtube of my former preference by searching for my former favorite vid's and calling them up for viewing. It usually takes a few times before the algorithm gets the hint.
Yes! This is sooo f* annoying. Like we’ve all turned into one track minded cyclops
MOOOOOOOD
Exactly! All those channels I subbed to and been meaning to go back to but don't remember the name of are just... gone forever, until my peabrain remembers one of their old videos and finds them again based on that.
I completely agree. UA-cam has become constraining and instead of feeling free to explore content I’m actually interested in, I’m seeing only a small selection of what UA-cam thinks I like. Very annoying.
Not to forget, getting the MSM shoved in your face, like with videos from CNN, NBC, FOX or HuffPo getting pushed on top, but the *independent* voices and independent smaller news channels getting almost *no* fraction or exposure when searching.
@@eternity8811 Did you even watch the video..? The search results suck
It seems so strange that UA-cam does not allow each person to determine their own path. I suspect the constraints of UA-cam cannot handle the full accommodation of everyone being free to choose their own path. UA-cam search algorithm would probably greatly break down.
It's why I think giving capitalists unchecked power over such an important piece of media is a really bad idea.
I think there should be government regulations by the EU and US to set standards, improve transparancy and maybe combat some of the bad incentives. The important thing though is that they need to be regulations for youtube, not for youtube users.
it's true you try to find one thing and then it gives a million other things not even relevant to what you're trying to find
Thanks for this video. I just got recommended your video today out of the blue. I'm experiencing all the issues you have raised, including getting recommendations that have nothing to do with subjects I'm interested in. I'm in Australia and speak English yet my News tab is filled with news channels from a different country each day - none of them in English. When I deliberately search for a particular issue, it is often difficult to find anything useful in the results. Not a huge fan of the shorts. Don't use TikTok and don't need the YT version in my feed.
I have lots of complaints about UA-cam over the last year or so. My newest one, which you're currently addressing is showing me a video in suggestions that I've already watched. Then you have to click the dots and choose an option why you're not interested. They know I've seen it. They know what I ate for lunch. They probably know when I last went to the bathroom. It's absurd.
One of the most annoying things I’ve come across lately is the ridiculous word censorship that’s getting channels flagged. It’s honestly getting out of hand.
Creators now have to say “unalived” or “deleted” instead of “murdered” or committed “suicide”. Changing the agreed upon word doesn’t change the meaning.
If we can’t have a conversation with “scary” words in them that, often times are blocked without any context, it really takes the value out of the content.
I'm unalive 💀
Some of those word-alternates started on TikTok to evade automated censors, but then they became a legitimate part of the lexicon across the web.
@@hovhadovah how do u bleach ur skeleton? Its pearly white 🤤
@@hovhadovah go touch wheat u bubonic plague
That's not a actual issue. No one has actually been demonitized for saying killed. Their just being safe since it's a issue on tik tok
I knew I wasn't crazy and finding something interesting in UA-cam was being a massive struggle
This Gentleman man says He wants to be suggested to people in the same space as him. For Me if want to find small or new music production channels just do targeted search select Release date as Today, and there you go you will find every new producer's channel that exists. I think people need to use there brains.
I'm glad other people are feeling this way. Search feels useless. Recommendations is full of stuff I've already seen. It feels like it's getting harder and harder to discover new content.
I feel the same way about Spotify. It's the same, over and over again. Instagram has the same "narrow view" thing, plus a lot of ads. Reddit is the only social media where i feel i discover some new stuff, but they are riddled with repost bots too.
@@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist4 Maybe the content was the bibles sold along the way?
Or can we talk about how it will recommend you the same video over and over that you haven't clicked because you are not interested in? I wasn't interested the first time, I promise I won't be interested the 20th either.
Oh absolutely! Even if you go to the "New To You" tab it gives stuff that you've skipped over before. Take a hint, UA-cam! lol@@fluteoboe101
@@fluteoboe101 youtube manages to show the same video over and over or very similar ones that I've specifically marked that I am not interested in
This video is so meta. I can easily assume Zack had no idea it would do this well, but the algorithm did exactly what he described and put his video at the forefront of all of our pages because we, the people, hit the like button and interacted with it. The irony of this video landing on so many peoples pages that it has now amassed 1,000,000+ views is astounding. Kudos to you, Zackary.
My thoughts exactly!!!!! 😂👌
came here to say that lol, algo has become sentient, and it has a sense of irony XD
I was conned, and I'm okay with it
Absolutely peak banger irony and LOVE it! :D
It was literally the first video on my yt homepage when i opened it today
The one that annoyed me the most is the fact that I would search a video that I KNOW EXISTS and then YT would suggest 3 random videos then give me some "for you" videos like... whaaa? I'm glad this video got big and arrived to my recommends. You deserve it.
Fr and then it straight up turns into liveleak
Use new pipe for searching
@@randomdude2540 what’s that?
UA-cam just feels stagnant. I feel like I can't actually find new things because it either recommends things I've already seen, people I'm subscribed to that I'll watch anyway, or stuff that is completely irrelevant to my interests. No matter what it just feels like I'm going in a loop.
For context of how I got here though, I'm pretty sure I was recommended this because I always watch similar videos. So even with this, youtube still isn't giving me new things to explore that would broaden what I find interesting.
I've been having the same problem. I've been trying to use the "New to You" tab to find new content, but the option to go there doesn't even reliably show up on mobile, and when it does the feed is never more than 20 videos.
You described the main problem perfectly
And the default shit they give people to explore is NOT IT at all.
My problem is that it seems to mainly recommend content you’ve watched very recently. For example if I binge watched UA-cam videos about movies for an entire month I’d only be getting recommendations about movie videos or random stuff I’m not interested in.
Then let’s say I watch videos about dogs for one week and take a break from movie content, it will then act like it completely forgot I like movie content or any of the movie people I subscribed to and just start only recommending me dog videos. It’s annoying because it seems to want to keep you on a loop of just watching the same content you are watching continuously.
Then you get on a UA-cam and just see the same videos and type of videos over and over when UA-cam used to frequently show you topics you used to watch to see if you wanted to start watching them again or show you people you’re subscribed to but haven’t watched in a while.
It seems like you’re cut off from everything now other than what you’re currently watching and seemingly completely random videos you’ve never showed interest in.
Used to id get on UA-cam see someone I haven’t watched in a while and say “oh yeah I need to start watching them again”. Now that never happens unless I happen to remember them or scroll all the way through my subscribed list.
I found a good solution is to have an alt account and just watch some of the videos that you normally watch. Usually the reccomendation after a bit is a bit spicy. Igcognito also works pretty well.
One thing I really hate, is how the algorithm tries to force short-form videos down my throat. I rarely watch anything less than 20 min, but it keeps recommending shorts and 2 min videos.
YES AGREE!!!!
This! Then when u give in to them harassing us to watch shorts, they repeat the same shit in specific loops.
Hmmm, I'm the opposite, I get mad if the video is more than 15 minutes lol. Interesting to see the opposite side of the spectrum.
Yes! I’m trying to find something interesting and educationalish to put on while I do chores or something similar to keep my interest but recently it’s been like 9 min videos than I have to jump to another ruining my flow
I agree so much with this. Most of the channels I used to enjoy the most have shut down, cause the algorithm didn't like them doing slow paced 40+ min long videos, so they got pushed down and were never shown on the homepage. Some of them I only found out they were shut down, after actively going looking for them, finding that they kept posting videos that I never got to see and in the end they gave up the fight and shut down.
it is so frustrating.
And Instagram is doing the same shit, shoving "Reels" down my throat instead of showing me what I have told them time and time again that I want to see. And since what i post the most are black and white ink drawings, I don't tick any of the "cool" boxes for vibrant colours or reel content, so my subscribers don't even see what I post.
Recently, my mom has been complaining about getting videos recommended to her that have almost no views, and no relation to her viewing interests - religious videos, spiritual videos, mindfulness videos - and she thought it was her fault for clicking on a video like that several weeks ago, lol 😄 She is even explicitly telling the UA-cam recommendation algorithm on each of those videos (via the small menu button next to the video) that she is not interested in that content. But UA-cam still recommends her those videos over and over again 😂
Sad. That would be very frustrating.
Funny, I Keep getting Chinese and Islamic or even Jewish recommendations..
Make sure she restarts her computer from time to time. UA-cam is bad at updated individual accounts.
That has started happening to me too, usually shorts.. Videos are still within my echo chamber but shorts are weird and random zero views videos
Oh my gosh so I'm not the only one spammed religious content when I haven't ever engaged with it??
I feel like irrelevant stuff is being forced on me. You came to me randomly. It's like the the algorithm sensed my frustration and you were there to explain. I am old - not your target demographic. I mainly look at ecology, agricultural, and biology topics. But as soon as you don't resist an impulse to watch some comedian you get a firehose of comedy. It's hard to get back on course. Your critique is spot on.
I've noticed this as well. I watch one video on a topic that I wanted to at and only at that moment in time, and the UA-cam decides that that is my entire personality.
Haha, yes! i once watched a video of birds splashing about in a bird bath and before I knew it all my recommended videos were of birds bathing in a bird bath. They weren't even a variety of birds but all the exact same ones, lol!
Ha! Agreed! I watch “Canadian Prepper”
@@DevonExplorer We put on a "cat entertainment" video, where it's just birds and squirrels and whatnot in the forest to entertain our cats for a little bit. Well, because we searched for it and watched it for 15 minutes, that's now half my suggestions.
No kidding. The algorithm is embarrassingly-bad now. Multi-billion $ company that lets childish minds authorize downgrades to the ML. There is not a single executive at youtube, and probably precious few at "Alphabet" above them who deserves to be in any leadership position. Can you imagine an actual, educated, mature adult saying "Yeah, once they've watched one video, lets show that same video again and again in their feed even though they never click on it ever again? Good grief. Google needs a shareholder revolt. @@Maybe_a_monkey_on_a_computer
I can confirm this video randomly popped in my feed without me having ever visited your channel, at least it was one of the extremely rare actually interesting recommendations
Same
Same
Agreed, most recommendations are dogwater nowadays on this site.
@@kristinebailey6554actually I searched for it but im goad got this recommende
Same
UA-cam used to be incredibly addictive to binge and always interesting. Lately,I find like 3 or 4 videos and then idk what to watch :/ Im even struggling to influence the algorithm to give me what I DO want by actively seeking it out. Whatever they changed is just awful right now
Perfect summation
I would suggest that many of you spend too much time on UA-cam and somehow expect there to be an unlimited quantity of videos that you will find interesting.
Even within a niche that you like, most of the content is not good or at best mediocre.
You're basically expecting an endless amount of high quality content for free, 7 days a week for however many years you've been watching YT - which simply doesn't exist.
Perhaps a better solution would be to stop whining about this fact and go and actually do something, instead of looking at videos.
I actually sort of like that the algorithm sucks, so that people don't spend as much time in the app
Nailed the problem down PERFECTLY!
@@thealexanderbondI would suggest not pulling assumptions out of your ass.
I’ve definitely found it harder to find videos I’m interested in. I feel like UA-cam used to be really on point at recommending videos I’ll like. Now it just feels… stale. You explained why really well.
I have definitely felt a difference in the past months..
About half a year ago, i thought my algorithm was perfect, i had so much fun watching UA-cam.
But nowdays it's like tiktok and twitter, a few bangers in the beginning, and then just endless doomsurfing in hopes of the right content.
I am so glad that I'm not alone, this video was also amazing and very informative.
Thanks❤
Funny, opposite of my experience. My algorithm was perfect about 5 years ago, and it progressively got worse and worse, to the point where 6 months ago my page was filled with exact same channels and topics. I would scroll for 10 minutes until giving up and doing something else. Today it is still far from golden times, but gradually gets better. Almost as if we both could have the best of two worlds if youtube added recommendation settings, one showing similar content to what you watch, and the other exposing you to something new and unrelated.
Holy shit same man hours of scrolling fr
Mid - late 2018 is when things went to shit. Since then I will get 3 videos relevant to the search I just did, and then the rest of the results are page after page of Linus Tech Tips.
Yeah 100% Agreed. I just tend to scroll for a while before I find more content I actually want to watch,,
Same I noticed that youtube just stopped recommending me pc/old tech videos because I like watching those and think they're fun and interesting. Then just nothing despite me watching so many of these videos. Content creators I used to watch every other day just stopped showing up and then I'd go weeks or months not knowing they were still making new stuff constantly
Something I've been noticing for a few years is sometimes youtube will recommend a video I've already watch and seemingly deliberately hide the watch time bar so it doesn't look like you've already seen it.
There is a limited memory for one's "watched' bars.
Watch too many, and older ones get forgotten.
Though I do sometimes have doubts about priority of forgetting.
In my music section,it no longer gives me the option to eliminate videos. Listen again is a useful feature until it fills up with videos/ songs you listened to once or twice and never want to hear again. Other videos have the not interested option, and the don't recommend option, why not in music?
Also, my recommended searches should be things I have searched, and they're not. I'm not a gamer or interested in sports, so all the most searched options are of no use to me. It used to have my own searches, but not anymore.
Seems I’ve already commented happens all too often. 🤦♀️🤷♀️
@@musaran2 This was my assumption when I first noticed but it kept happening so I actually checked on a number of occasions by going to the channel in another tab to compare and it still had the watch bar most of the ones I checked.
I hate UA-cam anymore. I’m so incredibly bored with having to sift through the same damn videos day after day after day. I used to love it but those days are over. The crap they recommend is so not me. It’s like they don’t care what I want to watch.
I HATE UA-cam Shorts i wish i could disable them. And i thought 2013 was a Bad Year for UA-cam.
i use youtube revanced app for mobile + youtube search fixer on desktop, removes shorts like a charm
That was the beginning
You can disable them with adblock, I have done it and it works really well
how in the world is 2013 bad?
You CAN disable UA-cam Shorts, and this video ua-cam.com/video/Nfr0uIU2lDI/v-deo.html shows you how. It's a fair amount of work, but I tried it, and it worked for me.
Funny how this video was also randomly recommended to me, I feel like the recent UA-cam algorithm changes have been a mixed bag of good and bad outcomes and I'm super glad that you and everyone here feels the same way! You made some great suggestions to how the algorithm could change and I hope UA-cam will consider them.
I miss being able to click several videos and use my history as a short-term queue. It saved me from so much of the doom scroll, often times I'd click several vids, then do minimal scrolling to find some more towards the end of the content I picked. It was so much better.
I do find myself keeping up with the channels I'm subscribed to more purely because I find it a good palate cleanser from the endless doom scroll. Especially when I'm getting suggested doomer-esque content.
It's just random, the algorithm picking up something good is still a chance
I love your pfp and I know where it's from 🥹
@@ask343 Heyyyy let's go ✊ it's such an amazing song
I feel confident in saying the random low view videos in people's recommendations are an earnest(?) effort to give visibility to the bajillions of low view channels
It was recommended, and I clicked because I feel the same. I am not sure what happened but last year my page looked nice and full o professional UA-camr thumbnails. Now.... it look like I am logged out, or searches influence way too much future the page and recommendations. cheers!
Sall :))
It does NOT look like you're logged out. Believe me. I am not logged in at work so when I go on youtube for some music, it looks like a fcking porn site... because all of the pop music playlists use half-naked women at the beach for their thumbnails. Sigh.
ariana what are you doing here :))
I was having this question for a longer time, then was randomly recommended to this video, google's algorithm also sucks giving you completely unrelated results all the time.
ua-cam.com/video/QMF9AiUSBfY/v-deo.html part 2
I thought I was crazy for losing interest in UA-cam over the last year or so. Mind you, I have been consuming content on this platform for as long as I can remember. Back then it felt like I could load up the homepage and instantly find 3-4 videos that I would gladly watch to burn time. Now it feels like a schlep to find something worthwhile.
Thanks for explaining, I hope they bring back the old UA-cam.
I don't use the homepage, I stick to my subscription feed, and if I must look for something new I use search. The homepage is where the algorithm lives and I find it chaotic af.
Yeah sometimes it feels like UA-cam doesn’t want you to use it. I remember scrolling through my homepage and seeing nothing but 10 second memes or clips from tv. None of my subscriptions
I've found, that if I don't see something interesting in the first half-page, or so... It's going to be less interesting the farther I scroll. About once a month, a 'really random' suggestion will really hit with me. But, it is rare that the algorithm serves me anything that rises to 'must watch'. Sometimes, I click on that oddball suggestion that I've seen suggested 50 times, just to get it off my homepage.
The question should be, to which old UA-cam are you referring? The app has gone through so many iterations.
literally! i would have so many internal battles of what to watch next, and now it’s a blessing if i even open youtube anymore
Genuinely, I'm happy I was recommended this video. The amount of times I've had to hit "not interested" and "don't recommend this channel" the past few months is truly staggering. It's why I've been considering getting off UA-cam and doing whatever else with my time.
I’ve hit not interested many times and the next day I get recommended the video again. It happens regularly to the point that I don’t even bother anymore.
I've hit "do not recommend" so many times only to see those vids or channels again just 10 minutes later. UA-cam is broken.
I've probably clicked "I'm not interested" a hundred times on "Camping in the Woods" videos and they still recommend it to me after a week. I don't get it, I've never watched a camping video in my whole life. I can't even think of anything that I watch that's remotely related to camping. Why is UA-cam pushing this on me?
@@TomCruz54321lmao youtube wants you to touch grass
I have the same thing. I get random videos by indian kids that shouldn't be on the platform. I also get loads of Jordan Peterson and self improvement channels which I actively dislike every single time. It goes completely unnoticed. Yet there are hundreds of channels I have subscribed, I haven't seen a video of them for years.
I do hate youtubes new changes but having this video and creator recommended out of nowhere talking about the exact reason why its happening is so surreal. Great video, thank you for existing
Fr it's kinda nice. Freaky, but nice.
itys kindof a testament against the proof that youtube is ruined lol
Why is it surreal?
especially the new youtuber channel design ,now i don't know how to access the community tab ,about section or the in channel search bar ,only just recently discovered how to access all the videos in a channel and can only comment using the reply button without it there is no way for me to comment
Yeah, kinda ironic, isn't it?
Ive been refreshing my youtube feed like three times every time i wanted to watch something today because everything felt so disconnected from what I like and then I saw this thumbnail and I felt a cosmic connection with the rest of humanity instantly (and yeah i do love video essays on internet culture)
Fr I feel like the algorithm completely disregards my actual interests and just give me random nonsense it's obvious I'm not going to watch while suppressing people I actually WANT to watch. For instance, I'm not subscribed to Wendigoon since I don't watch too many of his videos, but I used to get recommended his videos anyways. Now, I legit thought he hasn't posted in almost a year because I'm no longer getting recommended his videos. But based on what I watch, even if I never watched him, I still watch people in his area of expertise, so I should still be getting recommendations of him. It's wild.
I'm happy I don't seem to have gotten this change yet. My recommended is still normal. I have noticed the search being shit though.
Yes, I keep getting videos that I’ve never had anything to do with or had any interest in or videos that I used to watch. For example Danny Gonzalez, I really don’t watch him and don’t WANT to watch him. I don’t really like his content so it’s pretty annoying when he keeps popping up. There’s also Mr. Beast (used to watch) and this one video about how North Korea is inescapable now. I really don’t care about any of them so it frustrates me when I’m trying to find a good video to watch.
exactly what i did
I know right! I've never had this problem In the past but now it feels like refreshing is just a step to finding a relevant video
I will say, I absolutely love getting videos with like 8 views in my recommendations. You get such a good picture of what the average person is doing on youtube, it's insanely fascinating to me. Getting videos I've already seen though, is pretty annoying.
There are websites that can find a random vid for you with little to no views
im also totally fine with that, the issue its that trying to find any video regarding a topic its bordeline impossible to find, along with getting tiktok level recomendations and isane levels of shorts shoved everywhere.
I find myself closing youtube all the time or goign specifically to channels i know and rewatching their videos, because outside the odd 8 view recomended video from a theme i like 90% of everything else its just.. meh (not because the person itself, but the theme of the video)
This is how I found a channel of some guy washing his clothes for 2 hours per vid. Or an entire underground community of people showing off their filled coloring books
@@kephriankeep at it brother, the platform demands it.
I love getting those low-views videos too! But yeah, whenever I do a search and enable the ‘Watched’ tag, UA-cam actually straight up ignores related content I’ve watched in the past and shows me stuff that I watched the same day in ‘For you’. History search works fine though.
Completely agree -- this video hits the nail on the head. Anecdotally I find myself scrolling longer, being less interested, and often just switching to other platforms. Video recommendations don't seem to update nearly as frequently as they once did, and often my homepage looks very similar day-to-day. The "algorithm" nowdays seems to just ignore my watch patterns, and focus on irrelevant ones.
Yes! I've been getting that old TV feeling of "ugh.. There's nothing on."
Same - I hate that the same videos just sit on my recommended page for ages. It used to be so good at recommending things I'm interested in and keeping it fresh :(
I think search has always been pretty meh, but the new algorithm I think is actually a step in the right direction. I've been using UA-cam since around 2009 as my main form of media, and I am enjoying that this new algorithm is recommending me videos with less views. There was a period where it would only show me popular videos in my niches, but now I'm getting recommended videos from very small creators.
half the time my homepage is filled with videos that I have already watched
This week it has gotten worse than ever. Music videos, documentaries, 1 hour long videos with 15 views. My feed is useless and literally get ANNOYED using the website.
Yeah, this video was recommended to me out of nowhere. HOWEVER, unlike all the other random bullshit I see potential in this channel. I feel like this could become something much much bigger in the long run. Just keep at that grind, I'm rooting for you.
Same
Same
Same
Same
same
In the spirit of scientific research, confirming your video got recommended to me out of the blue. I ignored it for many days...finally watched it. I still have no idea why it got recommended to me based on content I usually watch, but I found your explanation useful and informative. Thanks, hope this helps and best wishes for reaching your monetization goals.
Same, actually saw it refuse to go away on my husband's account and came and looked it up on my own, we normally watch yt through our ps5
This has been very reoccurring as well - refreshing the main youtube page does absolutely nothing. If there's a video uploaded in the past week that I haven't watched from a creator I'm subscribed to, it's going to stay in the top suggestions. Refreshing the page just shuffles the order they're in, sometimes. It's like youtube is literally telling me "These are your only options. Pick one."
@@AmazingRofa spam?
Same here.
Yup, same. I actually only watched this now because I got the "UA-cam Ad Problem" video recommended and decided to watch that one, just to realize it's from the same creator as this video which had parked in my recommended for several days, but which I had ignored (I can say now tho, it's a good video!). Usually, when I'm really getting annoyed by a video staying rent-free in my recommended, I eventually tell UA-cam that I'm not interested in the video and it goes away.
I love the fact that small creators are being pushed out more, found this video exactly because of the algorithm change. Very good quality video btw
thats probably the only good part of this new algorithm
It's cool, but it's so unhelpful to small creators because I'm recommended random stuff from some small creators but the tiny creators I care about are never recommend to me despite me subscribing and turning on notifications (that rarely appear). I've found a few good niches through this system but for some reason it's like when the channel gets too small UA-cam forgets all of your interests. It's like they assume I'll click on someone's recording of a discord call out of pity that it only has 500 views but wouldn't want to listen to a video essay about my favorite game ever because it's only got 50 views.
@@theflyingspaget Yeah unfortunately by pushing small creators indiscriminately to people outside their target demo, it can inadvertently tank the video performance, which often hurts the small creator even more
UA-cam have a box that comes up occasionally, asking if you want something different from what is usually recommended...
It would be nice if that feature was worked on a little, giving ppl a choice :(
A behaviour science thing.
if choosing to watch something new, your more likely to have an open mind about it, allowing you to enjoy it more than you would have if it was the only option you had with seemingly no other choice.
The same thing happens when youtubers buy adds and they are shown to ppl outside their target audience.
This was actually tested by another content creator.
'The spiffing brit, youtube is broken - how to kill a youtube video' Time stamp 2:12
UA-cam is hurting creators in the same way :/
Its bad marketing :(
" i keep seeing the same stuff " " i keep seeing random stuff " this guy is mad that people who don't know about famous people saw a video about famous people on youtube . this is exactly the kind of person who should see the video lol
I feel like YT has become a video essay factory. I love video essays (including this one). But less and less do I see creative new formats.
Nah. Most videos on my recommend are not essays. Probably depends on what it's showing you.
@@alephnulI I do feel like most of the valueful recommendations for me are longer form content. It feels more and more like the algorithm is incentivizing videos towards a few lengths: less than 2 minutes (clips, simple one note sketches, etc.), 25-30 minutes, and 50+ minutes, very much including multi-hour long videos. The world of 8-15 minute videos feels like it's shrinking, and sorta makes it feel like each video either takes meaningful commitment (especially the 50+ minute ones), or are so bite-sized that they don't leave a lasting impression and I just get booted back into the video choosing cycle too soon.
@@friedkeenan I prefer to watch very long videos. I often use UA-cam for background noise while working, or I watch classes in it that are over an hour long. I never get recommended videos bellow 5min, and whenever the shorts tab comes back, I click the X and it disappears again. I do get a lot of 8 to 16min videos and I don't enjoy them as much so I don't click them, most of what I watch is longer and I do get a lot of 25min to 50min recommended, as well as a lot of videos that are several hours long. Usually they're podcasts, or people telling stories, or people chatting, streams, news format. I get essays as well, but most of them aren't essays.
i love video essays as well, specifically gaming essays, but finding genuinely interesting and creative essays is definetly harder than it used to be. i generally find the most creative channels through suggestion from friends or recommendations from bigger creators. the most interesting channels are never recommended by UA-cam itself which continues to push videos that are barely related to a video i saw 3 years ago.
@@friedkeenan I identified this recently when talking with someone about how the intros that so many videos used to have have largely faded entirely over the last few years, with longer form content usually doing unique video-specific introductions rather than the classic intro a channel might use on every video, very short form content dropping intros entirely, and only some 25-30 minute videos retaining that older style of intros.
However when the intros are retained they're now shorter and sometimes placed later after an 'intro clip' from the video's main content in order to grab attention, with the classic intro instead serving as a dividing slide between the 'hook' and the actual content.
I think it's a sign of how UA-cam videos are generally made to a higher quality these days and are more refined and optimised for viewer retention and their target demographics.
I’ve definitely noticed the change in the search features and it’s one of the most annoying things on this site. Though I don’t use UA-cam often, trying to find a specific video/a range of videos on a certain topic is almost impossible now.
The search function drives me crazy now, I've always loved watching anime speed paint videos, but I get like 10 I can pick from before it's like here's this creator you watch who isn't related to what you searched at all~~✨ it's really cut down on how often I watch those now 😭
The search is really bad. Starting to remind me of shopping on Amazon. So I'm getting irrelevant results & irrelevant ads. The recommendations are the only thing that has improved for me.
i think rhe search engine got changed or something because is not working on anything like it used to (google, facebook, twitter, etc)
It's an absolute nightmare trying to find some old vids with key words. Not even the full title of the vid makes it show up at top.
Yt be crap nowadays
I feel like when I type a word in the UA-cam search engine, UA-cam is using that word for 5 listed videos in the results and then it completely forgets what i searched after that and tells me to go f-k myself with the rest
I'm into niche things, but getting recommended mainstream ones. Searching for something very specific became almost impossible. UA-cam should try to be better than tiktok instead of copying it. And now youtube always recommends just new videos, even if you're looking for timeless things that are just as valid several years later.
Dude fr playlists is your best friend now, like I love the niche videos from 5-10 years ago or vidoes with that vibe, and it’s impossible to find them again it makes it feel like I found a piece of gold because legit searching for it I’ll never find it.
@@banshiii4049 it's the only way I can keep track of things. I watch coding videos online and trying to refind a good one is nigh on impossible using the search bar, even if you know the name of the video.
Broo yt search option is very accurate
If I wanted to watch tiktoks I'd download TikTok if UA-cam becomes like TikTok people like me who don't care about TikTok will just stop using UA-cam. That's such a dumb idea from yt.
@@banshiii4049I'm so glad it wasn't just me
I think, for me, the biggest and most annoying change is the search function. I’m constantly shown videos that I have already watched. I want new videos when I search for something!
and it doesn’t even show as watched which means i’ll go ‘that sounds familiar’ and probably watch it anyway, but if i watched it 5 years ago, i don’t actually want to watch it again
@@losermillie this happens to me even within a week or two of watching it, yt just forgets and even if i say ive already seen it several times itll STILL put it there. Also def agree that searches are horrible now, literally have better luck going thru google/firefox search and THEY find the types of vids i want more often that yt lately
For sure! Obviously if there are videos that I know I might want to watch again, I can save them in a playlist... No good reason to put them in my search results.
Tbf it is nice for asmr.
@@raezor82 playlists r for saving videos not the search feature
Finally, someone brought this up. These issues, especially constantly being recommended videos I’ve already watched, have been frustrating me for quite a while now. Finding content that I want to watch has become more and more of a struggle lately, and I’ve started watching less and less videos as a result. Interestingly, and only slightly related, I’ve noticed that the less time I spend on UA-cam, the more aggressive the advertisements become.
This isn't as much of a problem for me because I watch the same videos over and over again (long video essays), but I've been having an issue with UA-cam continuously putting the same video in my autoplay which is annoying when I'm trying to listen to something while I'm doing housework and the like.
The algorithm is also continuously shoving religious content down my throat, specifically a lot of former Christians who have deconstructed into atheists, which I sometimes appreciate but if I watch something even somewhat related to religion the Christian deconstruction becomes everything I'm recommended. I'm not Christian, never was, born an atheist. This is related because this one stupid video chasing me is an atheist deconstruction of the Bible, which was cool the first time but holy fuck if I hear the intro to it one more time I will quit UA-cam.
"especially constantly being recommended videos I’ve already watched"
With no red bar either so if its a generic looking video or has an nonspecific title its hard to tell if you've seen it before. Meme compilations are pretty bad for it.
Same my recommendations have been absolute pure garbage or just stuff I've watched already three times
If you aren't on mobile, I'd reccommend using ublock origin. Right now it's blocking 860 ads for me.. goddamn
to be fair, being recommended videos I’ve already watched is not a problem to me.
I used to get sucked into UA-cam rabbit holes late at night but that doesn’t happen anymore. I feel like I’m constantly looking for content to watch but have a hard time finding new creators to watch. I’ve seen the exact same videos being recommended to my 6 year old niece and she watches Roblox videos and I watch mostly commentary. Somethings broken and I’m kinda ready to take a break from UA-cam all together
I am interested in internet culture so UA-cam did hit the nail on the head with this recommendation.
Exactly the same here, I watch documentary style content and I get the same random stuff as my sister's recommended, it's even the same as stuff on a brand new account
I first noticed that first with Shorts, when there became actual creators from TikTok flocking to the platform instead of just phone clips from a decade ago and little kids recording themselves or their TV screen. Now even my front page looks almost like when I’m signed out…
My UA-cam frustrations:
-I cannot find any more DIY channels to watch to fill out my feed
-If I watch genres that more often make long videos, those genres totally take over my feed. Instead of judging based on the quantity of videos.
-the issues you mentioned about searching
THIS!
i would like to add the fact that if u go to a channel that has been on youtube for more than 10 years ( or exactly 10 years ) u can see only the oldest and the most recent videos, but u cant see the videos in the middle;-;
I want to add that it autoplays weird s### unrelated to anything I'm watching or have ever watched.
60% of my feed is lofi now, lol
I like to watch movie reactions, but youtube only shows me the same maybe 5 channels that do those. Occasionally I'll get one brand new channel with 6 views and a terrible mic.
My biggest complaint right now is almost entirely related to the search function. I use youtube in my classroom as a teacher, and its gotten a lot harder to find the content I KNOW exists, that I have previously seen, but now I get so few results related to my query that I struggle to find some of the more obscure videos I like to use in class.
I knew all of Robert Sapolsky's videos vanished! I used to be able to find stuff about behavioral biology and now it's a desert!
It's getting really bad when it comes to videos on history
Every year I use the same video to teach bon dancing. This time I had to get so weirdly specific about the video I was looking for to find the bon dancing video.
You know you can save videos and even make folders, right? I used to have a folder for each subject and there they were when I needed them.
Also a teacher and I have to download/record things as I find them
About 8 months ago UA-cam also reached out to many creators on the pretense of assigning us with a free channel manager/helper who's going to improve our channel and make it better
I was excited to sign up for it just to find out that after a few video calls the only thing the "manager" would talk about is how I really should try short and should make more short and why don't I make short? also how about streaming more? but also shorts
I was really frustrated with them and decided to just stop communicating because even after politely declining the short suggestions and telling them I was only interested in long form content they would not stop talking about it.
Like seriously youtube? embrace who you are and stop copying other kids
YOO, IT'S ANTON, I LOVE YOUR CONTENT MAN
Well, curiousity got the better of me, and I think I rather like your long-form content (and that you've got yourself a new viewer)! Though I definitely understand where youtube is coming from. I don't think it's a bad idea to have shorts to reach new audiences. I scroll shorts an awful lot whether I like it or not, and if there had been shorts content that directed me to your channel for a longform video on an interesting topic? I'd be all ears and would've found your channel a lot sooner! Don't look at it like "shorts", look at it like a good video trailer. If you're clever and execute it tastefully, you'll get the dual effect of growing your viewership and potentially even engaging people's interest in a topic they might not have thought much about! UA-cam can only recommend so many longform videos, they vie for attention. Shorts? You can scroll dozens of them effortlessly. The exposure difference is immense, I reason, and I don't think there would be too much to lose (though I could most certainly be mistaken, after all: I'm not a content creator, I just play games and make music)
Either way, I love what you're doing. Science has a resonating chord with almost everything we do, and creators who make educational or thought-evoking content around it, that encourage viewers to dive-in, help grow love for learning for an unspeakably many people. Keep it up!
I hate the "shorts" videos and block them for a month every month (you can only bock them for a month)...
@@a64738 Didn't realise you could block them. Will try this.
I hate YT "shorts". The reason TikTok is popular is because the content is edgy, not because it's short.
As someone who has been on UA-cam as long, this resonates with my soul. Opening the homepage to see none of my regular creators or people I have subscribed to makes it feel like UA-cam is dead in a way. I am finding I am usually at a loss for what to watch these days or I'm relying on my memory to manually search channel names. It's terrible timing with TikTok blowing up as I think a lot of people will choose to make that permanent jump.
I'd like to ask then: why are you not subscribed to your favorites and use subscription tab to see all of them? Homepage is the place where I go when I want to see something different and my usual UA-cams bookmark is straight to subscriptions.
@@jiritsu0 For my take: I almost exclusively use my subscriptions tab because the homepage is so worthless to me anymore, but even the subscriptions tab isn't perfect as it's listed by most recent release, which ultimately makes it flooded by the largest of my subscribed channels that produce content with a whole team and my smaller channels are lost in the flood. Anymore, besides getting direct notifications, I have to think about a channel and directly navigate to their page to get their content.
Same here. Just being served up UTTER SHIT. No WAY am I going to pay for UA-cam based on this experience.
@@Rhyzal_ That is so true about the big channels that produce a lot can clog up the subscription tab. It is a tricky thing for the creator side on that too: there's some content that needs individual videos (like in product reviews and that sort of things), but floods the feeds or make big compilations that might not go well as people just skip major parts and leave the watch time on those low, which in return makes them "undesirable" in the eyes of the algorithm.
If a channel is really important to you, save one or more of their videos so its easy to find the channel you are looking for
out of all the languages on earth, this guy chose to speak nothing but facts
least robot-like commenter 🤯
@@EnsignPhoenixlol good one 😂
UA-cam feels very OFF these days. You hit the nail on the head. And the fact your video was recommended is actually on-brand for the types of videos I enjoy watching.
Finally someone is talking about this. I am interested in slice of life and Japanese fashion content, yet I get soooo many recommendations for videos about celebrity drama, commentary on why (insert anything) is problematic, and random makeup influencers.
Yes, this. Its a lot of negativity blasting itself into our lives
teach the algo you don’t want their constant libtard propaganda by downvoting all of it
prob won’t work tho lol
oh for fuck sake tell me about it @DiaryofNatalieRose. I used to be able to find funny anime memes now I can only find "girls are into this" "look, look what this celebrity/politician did" bro, I don't give a fuck what celebrities are up to (yeah hopefully throwing themselves off a bridge ASAP wearing cement shoes) or what 3D GIRLS in the real world are into you dare to recommend the 3D to me???, Do I look like that's going to be relevant info to me any time soon?. I'm fucking sick of my recommended being 95% contaminated with shit I have absolutely 0 interest in. I want more anime and more Minecraft.
ikr! same here! its sooo annoying
@@akabaneaki what's irritating about it is that UA-cam is effectively forcing people to agree to all of these terms on how they process their data yet the recommendations are still garbage. This is no small amount of data they are collecting about people and because of that I think people are entirely justified in expecting relevant content based on their interests. I'm sending them data about basically every video and channel I watch and yet I'm still receiving utter shit that has nothing to do with anything I watch or any channel I have subscribed to so I have to ask the question "why does UA-cam need to process my data?"
I’ve been finding it really hard to find engaging content recently, and I thought it was just me. I didn’t even know you when you showed up on my recommended, but I have to say this video was quite informational and entertaining. Love your content man, keep it up.
yeah, this. youtube recommends dogshit mostly.
The only way I find content I like is to go to the channels of my favorite creators. Finding new creators is so hard
Fr@@cory99998
im glad i have a watch later with more than 1000 interesting videos
@@vindi167 sometimes my recommended page gets so back I have to dig in my watch later bro. UA-cam is just fucked up rn
I swear this is what everyone has been trying to say for awhile now, but we just couldn't articulate it. Thanks for being the voice of the people
I actually like the new system, except for shorts on desktop. Fuck shorts
The biggest downside for me is UA-cam is pushing me very quickly into certain niches and does not let me leave. Like, I watch a lot of political content but recently I wanted to know few exercises so I watched approx. 10 videos from fitness niche. Since I did that 70% of recommended content is from various sport science/fitness/gym bros. Cool it down UA-cam, I want my politics and essays and my gaming UA-camrs back.
Getting back in track ironically always takes hours upon hours of watching the content you actually like 😅
I consciously avoid watching videos on topics I'm interested in but don't usually watch because I don't want my home page filled with just that type of video...
I liked a SINGLE viking song video 3 days ago, and now my rec is full as well, it's annoying asf!
Same. Slight interest in fitness, bombarded with CARNIVORE BROS
Yep, I watched a couple of classical music compilations and now it's completely stuffed my main page
As a teacher who looks for video clips to enhance lessons, the change in UA-cam’s search functions have made it impossible to find relevant videos on some of the less popular historical events!
True, UA-cam search results have 3 relevant videos to the topic and the rest is gibberish
As a history teacher, you are 100%. I either get those annoying pop history channels or a poorly made video that is some far-right or far-left spin.
i find for some reason that searching in incognito mode gets cleaner results, it seems to get past the recommended and other junk
use the video search function on google, it'll give youtube results that may be more helpful
You can always search on google and add "youtube" at the end of your search, quotation marks included, so you'll only be shown results from youtube and not other websites. Hope this helps! The youtube search results infuriate me.
Yes, youtube and google searches have become a fluster cluck. It is very difficult to find what you want, even when you know it exists.
and Edge is like gutting a chicken and reading the bones.
@@piscinaiv7937 We are talking about UA-cam and Google, who wildly sabotaged their searches. It is sad, because years ago it used to work great. Now it is quickly becoming worthless.
I know nothing about Edge searches.
In any case, it does open the door for a ***new search engine*** to rise that will give us the answers we are looking for, instead of answers they want to give us because they got paid to do so. I hope someone builds it and then we will be able to give Google and Microsoft the one-fingered salute goodbye.
ya got that sh1t right LOL
Same with google search
Cool it with the antisemitism......
What is driving me nuts is that when I scroll on my phone UA-cam records every pause as something I watched, even if I only spent the amount of time it took me to move my finger. Later when I go through my history all of those channels are recorded as watched. Lovely-I now have a hundred videos to scroll through as I try and find the video I did watch and want to watch again or share with someone. I never thought about what it might be doing to some creator's analytics.
You can turn that off in your settings. It's called something along the lines of "preview," if I remember correctly.
Thanks@@Aunt-Rachel
You can delete videos from your watch history.
Is that why I sometimes see videos in my feed that have a piece of the red bar highlighted red as if watched (some of) it, but have never even seen the thumbnail or title in my life?
I used to ask out loud if I was crazy as I scrolled through UA-cam for literal hours slogging through only videos I've already seen or ones I've already selected 'not interested' on. Absolutely insane that there are millions of videos on the platform but it can't figure out what we like to watch.
@@davesmith3023 dont you think that scrolling thing is them trying to figure out what they want to watch?
@@drswaqqinscheckingin7210scrolling needlessly for HOURS? Trying to find a single video that’s new to you? At that point you need to start reading or engaging in another hobby and admit that shorts/scrolling have taken over your life. That would be the best case - the worst case is he could simply do research on new content.
Yeah recommending the same random thing you've already watched is stupid. Now I could see maybe it is something you have watched multiple times before, but space out before it recommends it again.
I've never watched a single one of your videos, but both you and (strangely) the YT algorithm are spot on for this video.
same here, I hadn't seen him before but YT algorithm got him another subscriber 👍🏼
Same here
Same here - I watch lots of video essays and internet lore stuff
Same here
I love it when I search for a video from a specific creator and I get 5 REACT videos before the original creator… super good for society, we need more of this. /s
We aren't on Reddit here, people have the social skills to understand sarcasm
@@ekn_38 yeah it caught me off guard
yeah...they borked the yt search...often you are better off using an outside search engine to find the vid you are looking for
@@ekn_38
it's called poes law
reddit just has an etiquette for dealing with that
Also in other ways the search gives absolute trash. AI created content farms, etc. Searching for a certain niche it might give hate compilations that totally break the TOS on bullying and hate content, yet reporting them does nothing, and that crap stays in the top search results.
The good news about how UA-cam is now is that I used to find hundreds of interesting videos and spend way too much time watching. Now I get bored or frustrated after just a few minutes and go find something better to do.
exactly!!! i used to look through youtube for interesting, tangental videos . Now i watch maybe 3 videos and fuck off.
I remember the sidebar always had so much! And now I spend more time looking than anything
same!! the only good thing that has come out of youtube becoming so shitty is that it became less addictive. and since I was wasting way more time than i would like to on this platform it is actually good in some way.
very that
I thought I was just outgrowing youtube and social media in general, so it's interesting other people have the same experience. I can scroll through the home page and the "new to you" page for 20 minutes and not find something i actually want to watch anymore
Spot on. The algorithm is so off at the moment it's crazy. I get the impression they're trying to remediate the problem with more and more "do you like this video?" And "is this suggestion right for you?" Questionnaires that they expect you to fill in to help get your personal feed sorted out somewhat, but people just aren't going to take the time to fill these things in, and it won't fix the overall problems either.
The ironic thing is I only ever get those lil surveys on videos that I've already watched or from channels I'm subscribed to. It doesn't help that clicking "not interested" or "do not recommend" don't seem to work.
My problem with those is that a binary yes/no doesn't work without letting me explain *why* I said yes or no. Like, when I say I don't want Jordan Peterson's Kermit the Frog ass on my front page, is youtube gonna understand that I don't like him because he's an alt-right hack, or is it gonna assume I'm not into science and psychology? I like seeing charismatic people sit around and shoot the shit. I don't like Joe Rogan. Can youtube understand that difference when I say I'm not interested in clips from his show?
I'm just getting ungodly numbers of videos I've already watched and the second the algorithm thinks I'm asleep all of the next auto play videos are like 4 hour long random wolframalpha physics videos, when I just wanted to watch the part 2 of the video I just watched.
@@andrewsad1 Good point. I don't think that it can tell tbh. I've gotten a shtload of far right grifter garbage recommended to me lately. Doesn't seem to make any difference that I never watch them, the algorithm is assuming I want to see it anyway because Ive been interested in something vaguely tangential to whatever wedge issue that their propaganda mills are churning out at the time. And as they just grift from one subject to the next trying to farm outrage off of just about anything, it's pretty much guaranteed that theirs are the channels that'll keep getting recommended over and over again.
@@littlestone1541Thank God I thought I was the only one getting that shit
This video was on my page randomly, BUT I'm glad it was because I'm happy I've discovered your content 😊
I very much agree, I feel like I scrolled through the home page a lot more lately to find something I actually care to watch, and have more recently found myself just giving up and looking elsewhere for entertainment which I feel really means that UA-cam has failed to do it's job if I'm leaving the site to find something else.
LOL … and what will that be?
@@KarmasAbutch not op, but any number of streaming services with series or movies
@@thejadedjester4935 so not creator content then?
It is disadvantages everybody, I don't know why their self sabotaging
Yep I've just been reading books, they give me kids content on here or garbage made for teenagers and it's embarrassing to show other people because I dont want them thinking i watch any of that.
Totally agree, been feeling like the recommended videos have mostly been meh for a long time! But once in a while there’s a video like this that rightfully pops off - glad UA-cam is sending new viewers your way!
@
I love your videos
Thanks Tiffany! Happy to see you here. Your content is great!
Honestly use the "new to you tab" i feel this is how youtube USED to be.
Confirmed popped up out of nowhere. Yes UA-cam recommendations has been "off" so to speak for about a year as you said. Also I noticed UA-cam has started mixing in ads in the normal home page feed as if they are regular videos from a content creator, which is really annoying and you have to be careful so you don't click anything by mistake.
Never heard of you, but, surprisingly, your video popped up at most perfect time: this question just came up in my head 20 minutes ago.
This was recommended to me out of nowhere, and it's one of the very few things that have been worth it. Hopefully UA-cam themselves will watch and know how much we hate this.
I would share your optimism if it wasn't for the fact that UA-cam only tunes their algorithm for maximum profits and not user satisfaction. They don't care if we like what we watch as long as we continue to watch and they make ad money from it.
must be the runescape music
It seems so strange that UA-cam does not allow each person to determine their own path. I suspect the constraints of UA-cam cannot handle the full accommodation of everyone being free to choose their own path. UA-cam search algorithm would probably greatly break down.
I LITERALLY was complaining about this in my head when I saw this video, UA-cam has become so frustrating to use. I can sit and refresh my recommended page for no joke 10 minutes straight while clicking "not interested" on videos I've already watched/ don't want to watch, and STILL get recommended THE SAME VIDEOS. Or alternatively UA-cam will stop showing me any videos and just give me "mixes" to watch, mixes containing videos I'VE ALREADY WATCHED!!! It's gotten to the point where I literally have to sit down and think of what specific UA-camr I want to watch or what might be interesting. It feels like shopping but you're only allowed to look at products you know already exist or have previously bought, and you have to guess the names of the other items to find them. It's made UA-cam so unbelievably UN-relaxing to use because I just get so frustrated with how seemingly purposely bad the recommendation ai is.
ive literaly deleted all my watch history a couple months ago i wouldn't recommend doing that because it'll just recomend you videos you have already watched before reseting it
I recommend the extention "BlockTube". Works completely within the UA-cam system so no weird menus or anything.
Allows you to block videos and even whole channels from ever being recommended. You can also block key words like for instance if you don't like "iceberg" videos (though it's not very smart, it will block _all_ iceberg videos, even ones about actual icebergs like for instance, if you like documentaries you may miss out on something to do with the Titanic if you have such a filter on.
You can not only block Shorts, but also block videos of a certain length. When I'm in the mood for video essays I just pump it up to 3000 seconds and I get plenty of 50+ min videos recommended to me.
But, my favourite part of the extension, is looking at a homepage of 24 videos or so, blocking 20 of them, and feeling confident I will _never_ see them again.
This video has to be the best video for me on my home page because it has literally read my mind... I have to re load the home page 3 times to find something to watch
This video came up on my home page out of nowhere, but the cover picture intrigued me so here I am, answering your question. One thing that you mentioned is something that was happening *all the time* - for maybe 5 days, three weeks ago: Videos I had watched - even watched the day before - showing up in the recommendations. These were almost all videos from a single channel - USCSB. My interests are eclectic - politics, sovereign citizen traffic stops and court appearances, Karens, crocheting, Reddit readers, several kinds of non-current music, Godzilla movies..... and others that aren't coming into my head just now. My home page seems to focus on a few of the topics I've watched most frequently in recent days, odd suggestions (sometimes good ones!), and a lot of things related to something I looked at yesterday. Today I had a Tarot card reader I looked at last night and "help you sleep" stuff. They haven't shown me things from the Polish guy who cleans rugs (ASMR) in at least a couple of months, even though I'm subscribed. (That's okay, though.) I hope this information is useful to you in your research.
It definitely feels different. I’m SO sick of UA-cam constantly recommending videos I’ve already seen! Then again…It recommended this video too and I liked it.
Sometimes I wonder how many good videos are out there that I haven’t seen cause yt won’t show them to me
This! My entire recommended is videos I have already seen or are on my watch later list. Why would you recommend something I already saved? Its so counter intuitive
I *AM* interested in video essays about Internet culture, but this video was indeed recommended to me out of nowhere, and I can confidently say I've NEVER heard of the channel before, though I'm glad to have given it a shot. :) On topic as well, I think it was literally the only new video on my home page, everything else was stuff I'd already seen, or shorts.
Same here!
Yea i too am an avid viewer of video essays, but like i feel theres been a shift in youtube’s ecosystem where the context you get is either one specific thing, videos you have seen recently or things you searched up on google
exactly the same for me!
I agree, while I enjoy video essays it's rare I get them from smaller creators. Hopefully this hits his target demographic hard enough to cause a stir.
@@jameshasnoideas😊😊😊 pooooo😊
Couldn't agree more. You perfectly summed up my gripes. The suggested videos are actually so horrible and disgusting and stand out so much that I often report them by just the title and thumbnail. Starting to think YT hates me for using FF with Addblocker. p.s. Hiding the Shorts feed is good way to get a feeling for the passing of a month though. Almost functions like a calendar to me.
It’s gratifying seeing this all put into words
I can spend several minutes just scrolling, looking for anything interesting. Most videos are so far outside what I care about that I just keep on scrolling.
It feels like it got worse and worse over the last few years, especially this last year.
Your explanation feels spot on!
Don’t say it makes you keep scrolling, they’ll double down 💀
omg yes, I remember like even still a year ago I would be able to find something to watch on the maximum first 10 recommended videos guessing high, now I will scroll for minutes trying to find something to sleep to, I literally just clicked on this video bc I was like ok im scrolling for so long now lets just watch this random one he might be chill enough for me to fall asleep
This is exactly what is happening to me. It seem like it's getting worse every month. Before, I'd find something interesting to click on off the bat. Now I scroll for days, then refresh the page and scroll until I force myself to watch something I don't really have an interest in. Spend a minute on the video, then leave. The new algorithm is not good.
YEEES
@@WrenFairX no they wont, they dont want you to scroll on youtube, they want you to spend your time on the site as watch time. Netflix knows its users will exit the app within 90 seconds if they cant find anything. UA-cam is probably similar
Thank you for acknowledging that youtube is different. It's so annoying and I haven't seen anyone else talk about it. I felt like I was going crazy! I was starting to think it was my own fault, that I had somehow managed to ruin my algorithm.
Omg same! I am a small content creator and recently my click through rate and new subscriber rate has really suffered over the past 8 months and I was getting kinda frustrated 😅 i love video making and animating, but when it felt like all of a sudden UA-cam neutralized all the progress and new traffic to my channel it kinda felt like a kick in the face 😂 I have 2 very popular DIY videos on my channel, but UA-cam doesn't suggest much else to new viewers other than those 2 videos 😐 it's pretty annoying lol
Same
I run a small channel and you can see this on the uploader side - I recently released a fairly hard hitting half hour film on equality and totalitarianism (with those words in its title, description, tags etc.) clearly a video on a serious political topic - in Studio, I can see which other videos it's being recommended under - it was completely nonsensical - Japanese cartoons, in Japanese, makeup artist Vlogs... nothing remotely relevant.
It is a pain... I spent 1000 hours editing that film and they recommend it to kids in Japan watching cartoons.
Must admit, I couldn't help but wonder if that was the algorithm's way of sabotaging any chance of that film going anywhere - since it exposed information many prefer to dismiss today and the result of recommending it in completely inappropriate places was a flat-line after the initial interest from my 350 subscribers was over.
@@JesseP.Watson the more this guy talked the more it sounded like intentional sabotage from UA-cam. I don't truly think it was, but I feel like CTR is one of the first things you learn about when trying to grow a channel ((these days at least)). Surely the people who made CTR one of the most important factors in the algorithm would understand that heavily recommending outside of the niche would be...bad for the videos?
I could get a little bit of outside recommendations. I enjoy finding new niches, despite usually bouncing back to my normal things (lets plays, commentary, art). Maybe it could be more like...1% of impressions are towards people outside of the target audience.
@@nyandoesthings Aye. I've seen the same thing on my previous releases - like videos on history being recommended under some obscure cooking channel in the States... (I'm UK) ...The recommendations I'm assigned very rarely make any logical sense - I'm left scratching my head for some connection through a shared tag word but its not there and these days I absolutely plaster the tags... so it can't confuse the topic... but still practically all the vids I see recommending mine are off on a completely irrelevant tangent.
It may be that they save relevant recommendations under content from successful channels for the stuff they want to push... and small channels like mine get recommended under a random pick of the dregs - some random tick-tocker's makeup video on the other side of the world.
It is frustrating. They've recently said they're now going to be pushing "minority community" creators in full Marxist mode (beginning in the UK) so that's only going to make matters worse.. prepare to have your feed washed in rainbows and BLM... even if you don't have the slightest interest in any of it... oh the joys of progress!
First time I've seen your channel, I wasn't searching for anything related to this topic, but I agree with everything you said here
Great video, thank you! It was recommended to me out of nowhere. My frustration with UA-cam is the same as other commenters.
This video came out of nowhere for me, however I genuinely wanted to know how exactly youtube was getting worse because I knew it was, however I didn't know how bad it was getting tbh.
Same here!
I really hate what has become of the search funktion. It feels impossible to find the things I am specifically interested in. And I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for the creators.
Edit: and what is up with pulling recommendations from my "watch later- list"?!!! I know I I want to watch that! Thats why it's on my list!
Absolutely this. I literally started using a search engine instead of YT's search because of how awful YT's search has become.
it is deplorably bad. too often now are the first few videos i see after i search anything arent even RELATED to what i was looking for
yeah it's so bizarre and only becomes increasingly difficult to use. if i want to find more than just the top few results for something i need to go to the search filter and get it to specifically find videos, and even then it's still not all the results !!!!!
Your comment got liked 69 times.
@@lunaluceatNot only are the videos coming up not relevant, but also those unrelated videos are often inappropriate and some border on dangerous. I have never watched a Eugenia Cooney (sp?) video in my life, but EVERY TIME I scroll too far down when I’m using the search function, it starts recommending some of her/her fan channels’ content. I don’t have an eating disorder, so it just stays in the annoying “why are there no options for me to report this content as ‘Not Interested’ or ‘Don’t Recommend This’ like I can with recommendations OUTSIDE of the search function?”, but I can imagine that for young children or people with eating disorders that content is extremely triggering. I’ve also been suggested weird shorts like “He’s never seen my FEET before!” that feels like it’s catering to fetish viewers.
And this comes up after like… maybe 10-15 videos. Sometimes less.
All of this when I’m searching for stuff like “room declutter”, “asmr fireplace”, “how to organize fridge”.
Video just popped up this morning... I had not heard of you before but I am not sad - great content and presentation. Will definitely check out more of your content - Thanks...
totally out of my regular recommendations but I wanted to see it mainly because I am wondering why I haven't gotten anything new when i search and lots of items I've already seen!
I miss the days when the recommended list under each video actually contained similar content to the video I was current watching, allowing me to sort of rabbit hole into specific topics. Now that that section is almost entire filled with UA-cam drama, videos I've already seen, and Taylor Swift music videos, I don't think I've used that feature in years.
My feed also has Taylor Swift related videos, both main page and shorts, even though I hate this woman and never searched for anything related to her :/
i sweaarrr that was when youtube was actually fun to watch. Right now its all mish mash from small creators, old videos and some weird unheard of content that ive never watched before.
@@sandraswan9008 I got so many unwanted Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Cardi B Videos (I only ever listen to Gospel music or the Oak Ridge Boys/Statler Brothers/Home Free) that, after "Do not recommend channel" was ignored for over a month, I just hit "Violent or repulsive content" every time.
I was getting so annoyed by the suggestions, that I disabled them. Now I only see the suggestions when the clip has ended
yea its so very, very Ass.