YT search is dogshit now, rather than just returning results for the keyword you want they mix in random videos you've watched before and "suggested" videos that have no relation to the search
and the lack of likes/dislikes makes it harder to determine quality, which is probably some dark pattern to try and drive more engagement by forcing people to watch multiple videos. Dark patterns work short term, long term they result in TikTok or the equivalent eating your market share
It's also not SHORTS really trying SHORTS to mix its content nicely SHORTS because i seem to find its recommendations boring SHORTS and often can't find videos that SHORTS i know should be there. Maybe SHORTS i should be using bing search to find youtube videos. Yandex also has a nice video search
And if you start browsing shorts you're bound to get the same <9 creators ad nauseam with duplicates mixed in all the time.
It's a terrible experience, honestly.
The YT recommendation system is basically "we know what you want to watch better than you do", so it keeps blatantly ignoring any opposite signal.
No, I do not want to watch wedding videos that I've said I'm not interested in at least 50 times. No, there isn't anyone in my household watching wedding videos.
No, I do not want to rewatch a 6 hour long lecture I watched last month.
Yet it just doesn't bloody care. I am truly terrified to click on anything outside my regular comfort zone for fear that that's what I'll be recommended for the next 12 months. Youtube is the worst product I have to keep paying for — I tried going adblock, but good luck if you have Apple devices. I'd rather be held hostage to Youtube Premium than being brainwashed with ads every 5 minutes.
All of Google search is dogshit these days. You can't search for anything these days without a crap ton of ads and pages of SEO optimized wrong answers.
and the lack of likes/dislikes makes it harder to determine quality, which is probably some dark pattern to try and drive more engagement by forcing people to watch multiple videos. Dark patterns work short term, long term they result in TikTok or the equivalent eating your market share