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YouTube home page is now completely blank with watch history off.

LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
I've always kept watch history off on YouTube as I don't care for the whole algorithm stuff on YouTube and it would just keep my home page pretty basic, sometimes updating with kinda cool things to watch but overall staying static which I liked. Recently noticed that now it just completely removed everything that used to be there and tells me if I want videos tailored to me on the homepage I can turn watch history back on.
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If I open YouTube in an incognito window not logged in it shows me the regular YouTube home page like it always used to. This also applies to the YouTube app.
 
zeher

zeher

Member
Mar 20, 2019
325
Does turning your watch history on but "pausing" it instead get around that? If I pause mine it still shows my current recommendations but won't add more to my history as I watch.
 
Cipherr

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,502
Isn't that preferred? I keep my history on. But if you dont want any tracking and thus recommends, then this seems like it makes sense. There's an option on the left for you to click and see what's "Trending" (which is probably what happens for incognito visits) or for other categories like News, Learning, Fashion etc etc. Perhaps bookmark one of those direct pages instead?
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
zeher said:
Does turning your watch history on but "pausing" it instead get around that? If I pause mine it still shows my current recommendations but won't add more to my history as I watch.
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I think it now considers turned off and paused as the same thing. When I went into my Google account the overview shows YouTube history paused but the advanced options when you click on the overview shows turn on from turned off.

Cipherr said:
Isn't that preferred? I keep my history on. But if you dont want any tracking and thus recommends, then this seems like it makes sense. There's an option on the left for you to click and see what's "Trending" (which is probably what happens for incognito visits) or for other categories like News, Learning, Fashion etc etc. Perhaps bookmark one of those direct pages instead?
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I kinda liked having a homepage that sometimes, not always, would randomly update without feeding off of or saving my search history. The home page on incognito is different from the trending page, it's just the regular home page it has always been.

They're now just locking that same home page away from you if you have watch history off.
 
Silver-Streak

Silver-Streak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,011
That's fantastic. Now let me switch back to my subscriptions being my youtube homepage.

The algorithm has never been great, and I care not for it.
 
bgbball31

bgbball31

Member
Oct 25, 2017
596
Weird, I have had my Youtube search history off for years (just confirmed it) and my home page is still full, though almost every video is from a channel I sub to. A few stragglers that aren't.
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
bgbball31 said:
Weird, I have had my Youtube search history off for years (just confirmed it) and my home page is still full, though almost every video is from a channel I sub to. A few stragglers that aren't.
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Ahh yeah I don't sub to channels I'm weird about that, that's likely what's populating your home page instead of it being a home page that practically never updates.

It just feels weird having it load to a completely blank page. Feels empty 😭
 
Adryuu

Adryuu

Master of the Wind
Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,621
Yeah I've got subscriptions to a few channels and a couple watch later lists and liked videos so it shows me things in the app/homepage.

Worst thing though is it started auto playing some shitty shorts on the app that had nothing at all to do with anything I watch.

But it's an improvement for sure when it works for you like that.
 
UltraMav

UltraMav

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,772
They've been bugging me the past week every time I open the app to turn on watch history. Of course they are this desperate. Fuck off.
 
Alent

Alent

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,760
I don't think Ive been on the yt homepage in years, all my bookmarks lead straight to my subs page.
 
notusingthis

notusingthis

Member
May 31, 2019
194
but why would you want the youtube homepage without any personalized recommendations? if you open youtube in a incognito window, all the videos on there will be the WORST kind of garbage imaginable (except for the occasional lofi beats thing). i would never use the homepage if that kind of stuff would be all i'd ever see there.
 
Ostron

Ostron

Member
Mar 23, 2019
1,972
Whenever I'm not logged in to youtube the first page is filled with IBIZA PARTY MUSIC OMG EXTREME CUTE BABY ANIMALS 🤪🤪🤪 and thumbnails with anime eyes and gigantic asses... that's what you want?
 
Lampa

Lampa

Member
Feb 13, 2018
3,720
notusingthis said:
but why would you want the youtube homepage without any personalized recommendations? if you open youtube in a incognito window, all the videos on there will be the WORST kind of garbage imaginable (except for the occasional lofi beats thing). i would never use the homepage if that kind of stuff would be all i'd ever see there.
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I know, right? Responses to this thread surprise me, how can you all find anything to watch in the generic youtube homepage? Also having history means I can easily find that one video I watched days ago and now want to share or reference.
 

Deleted member 23094

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,217
I have zero complaints about the YouTube algorithm. It's always showing me new and interesting stuff mixed in with videos I haven't seen from people I'm subscribed to.
 
Jubilant Duck

Jubilant Duck

Member
Oct 21, 2022
6,119
good?

only YouTube homepage I want is my subscriptions page.

the algorithm suggestions are always garbage.

no videos on the homepage = site loads a lot quicker
 
Wraith

Wraith

Member
Jun 28, 2018
8,892
If they're going to force this nag prompt on people with watch history off, at least make it dismissible, so they can access the normal "home" experience again if they prefer it.

Me, I leave watch history on, but I make sure to delete items from watch history that I know I don't want to skew the algorithm. And most of my Home feed is fine, I see how it got there. Every once in a while, there's something inexplicable, or "I guess I see how this got here, but that is not my jam."

My main problems with YouTube are ad related. Off hours video ads are straight up trash, and still image ads in the phone app are often terrible. (Video ads during the evening, generally inoffensive, if annoying in their frequency.)
 
Funkelpop

Funkelpop

Banned
Sep 2, 2022
5,312
I keep my watch history on? I thought most people did no? It's helpful finding a video I may have seen that I cant remember the channel or video name.
 
Neghis

Neghis

Member
Dec 29, 2022
290
Great, that means no more getting spoiled from random youtube homepage recommendations.
 
TeenageFBI

TeenageFBI

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,343
I keep my history on but I'm careful to delete stuff that would fuck up The Algorithm. The recommendations are actually pretty good, and I find the watch history page too useful to lose.
 

mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,564
This seems... like the desirable outcome? If you don't want to feed the algorithm, which is fair enough, it really shouldn't make any assumptions about what to show you?
 
KillingJoke

KillingJoke

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,676
I guess im lucky because my algorithm is pretty in tune for what i watch without the need of subbing to everything. Also comes in handy for live events.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,358
Indonesia
Yup. This sucks.

mclem said:
This seems... like the desirable outcome? If you don't want to feed the algorithm, which is fair enough, it really shouldn't make any assumptions about what to show you?
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I don't want content from channels that I have no interest in. I only want content from channels that I've subscribed to. It's that simple.
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
Ostron said:
Whenever I'm not logged in to youtube the first page is filled with IBIZA PARTY MUSIC OMG EXTREME CUTE BABY ANIMALS 🤪🤪🤪 and thumbnails with anime eyes and gigantic asses... that's what you want?
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Sounds like you got that underground algorithm going on. I would never see stuff like that on my generic page lol.

Honestly this doesn't really bother me that much, I'd just rather take those basic ass videos populating my homepage over a blatant prompt if I had the choice but it's obvious what YouTube is trying to do with this prompt. I'm not turning it back on.
 
B4mv

B4mv

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,073
...I don't understand why you'd want to turn off your watch history. How do you find a video you watched 6 months ago? I search mine all the time.
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
B4mv said:
...I don't understand why you'd want to turn off your watch history. How do you find a video you watched 6 months ago? I search mine all the time.
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Unless I'd have the urge to do so I can't remember the last time I rewatched a video I saw that long ago. My YouTube watching is usually one and done with very rare repeats and if I like a specific channel I just search it up once in a while to see what's been added since I was last there.
 
B4mv

B4mv

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,073
LightKiosk said:
Unless I'd have the urge to do so I can't remember the last time I rewatched a video I saw that long ago. My YouTube watching is usually one and done with very rare repeats and if I like a specific channel I just search it up once in a while to see what's been added since I was last there.
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Now that I think about it, a lot of stuff I watch in that way ends up being DIY or work related. If I was watching a tutorial for setting up a Radicale server, I want to go back to the same one.
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
B4mv said:
Now that I think about it, a lot of stuff I watch in that way ends up being DIY or work related. If I was watching a tutorial for setting up a Radicale server, I want to go back to the same one.
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Oh yeah if it's DIY related I just bookmark the video on Chrome to study later before I do the work. If I delete it and need to go back to it later I somehow always remember how I found the video in the first place and the specific one it was to do the job.
 
onpoint

onpoint

Neon Deity Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
15,115
716
I dunno... the History section is useful. The algorithm isn't perfect but it definitely shows me interesting stuff from time to time. I also prune mine to make sure my recommendations are fresh and relevant. But I do get not wanting to be tracked.
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,872
My Watch History is turned off and I still see stuff on the homepage.

Honestly, I'd happily trade that experience to someone else if I could; I pretty much never visit the YouTube homepage anyways.
 
Thrill_house

Thrill_house

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,705
Sounds like a win. Think I'm going to have to do this myself. If it keeps those stupid reaction videos off my main page that would ne wonderful. The thought of never seeing a goofy linus face or mr beast looking like a preteen with facial hair super glued on with that shit eating grin brings me joy.
 
qaopjlll

qaopjlll

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,817
I never intentionally visit youtube's home page, I just go directly to my subscriptions. On the rare occasion i accidentally go to the home page I can't help but shake my head at the straight garbage content they happen to be peddling that day.
 
J75

J75

Member
Sep 29, 2018
6,707
Sounds like a glitch. Even with history off, I'm sure google would want to feed you stuff for you to watch. That Mr beast crap is always shows by default when i log in in incognito
 
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LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
J75 said:
Sounds like a glitch. Even with history off, I'm sure google would want to feed you stuff for you to watch. That Mr beast crap is always shows by default when i log in in incognito
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Yeah that's the interesting part, you'd assume they'd want it there regardless to keep feeding videos to people but maybe they think it's more worthy to try and get people to turn their watch history back on if they're logged in with it off.

I don't think it's a glitch cause it even applies to the mobile app in the exact same way.
 
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