[marcosscriven]

I’m sure I’ve clicked “show fewer shorts” every single time it’s shown me shorts. It seems to make zero difference.

[hightrix]

I’ve noticed this behavior for all Google properties. Every time I click “not interested” “don’t show me this again” or anything similar, it seems to have no effect as the best case. The worst case I’ve seen is when clicking these options seems to acts as a positive signal to show me more of that content. I’ve noticed this over years.

As such, I’ve simply stopped interacting with googles recommendation systems and most of googles content delivery systems. Including using YouTube as minimally as possible.

[SubiculumCode]

I feel like they don't use those signals, just time spent...and you spend more time fishing for the 'not interested' button

[cwillu]

It's the same in tiktok: there's literally a button that says “I'm not interested in any live videos”, but it keeps inserting livestreams into the feed anyway.

[slumberlust]

Yeah they take any interaction as a give me more button. Its gross.

[bityard]

I'm 100% convinced that these 'show fewer' options are there for dark-pattern reasons. They are sprinkled throughout Facebook and LinkedIn as well. My hypothesis is that companies put them there to give consumers the idea that they have any control at all over their "feed." But if they actually try to use them, they discover the options don't actually do anything, and resign themselves to whatever the algorithm feeds them.

[c22]

I clicked the "show fewer shorts" button on youtube for a while--they'd come back every 2-3 weeks, but then I'd click it again. Then I tried a different tactic: as soon as I saw a short in my "recommendations" I closed youtube and didn't return for at least 24 hours. I only had to do that about three times and I haven't seen shorts in my recommendations for at least 6 months now.

[Nextgrid]

It's purely there to provide a signal to the oxygen waster product manager who is pushing the obnoxious "feature" in the first place. Their KPIs are not only "positive" engagement with the feature but also lack of "negative" engagement such as clicking the "show fewer" button. It otherwise has zero user-facing impact.

[kgwxd]

The phrasing alone proves it's a dark pattern. At this point, I think we need some good-guy-AI to fight the algorithms, dark patters, and bad-guy-AI. It should also do everything it can to discourage the bad guys from even trying to implement them...

[dijit]

I do the same, and after a day of doing it- they seem to go away for a time depending on the platform, but they always come back and sometimes they come back a lot.

The web-browser is the least aggressive and I think I haven’t even seen them on Apple TV.

The iPhone App is the most egregious offender of not respecting the request though, it seems to almost not care at all, and now the thumbnails on the home screen have started autoplaying (with audio) and I can’t find how to disable it (older instructions seem to be invalid).

They have all the content though; so I have no choice but to deal with this, until a good enough competitor comes along and my favourite youtube channels upload to both places.

[shermantanktop]

Auto play with audio needs to be controllable for accessibility. May be a regulatory requirement depending where you live. So it’s gotta be there somewhere.

[atoav]

  Do you want $foo?  
  
  Yes | Ask again later  
  

Modern tech companies behave like abusers or creepy stalkers. They won't take No for an answer.

[b112]

That would be a beautiful revival of an ad campain.

"NO MEANS NO!"

[tomashubelbauer]

I'm disappointed that even Signal does this when asking you for access to your contacts.

[marginalia_nu]

To be fair, as long as you aren't logged in, that's the best you're going to get with cookies or local storage.

[Strom]

For me, clicking that hides shorts for 30 days and then I need to click it again. So it's a monthly ritual.

[temporallobe]

That’s like the crosswalk button that does nothing. It’s there purely for the placebo effect.

[globular-toast]

They'll also record the press and probably use it as part of their "KPIs". "The number of suckers trying to have control has decreased 5% this month, well done all".

[bookofjoe]

See also: call elevator to your floor buttons

[api]

Short form video is addictive, so they want to push it. It maximizes time on site.

[rconti]

It's amazing that the algorithms are so universal rather than personalized. You'd think they'd want to notice that I _absolutely never_ watch shorts, and stop showing them to me, instead recommending something else.

I understand why FB/IG do it; I _occasionally_ give in and get sucked into a couple. But that NEVER happens to me with YT.

[derektank]

As someone that pays for YouTube premium (and isn’t served ads), I don’t understand why they push Shorts to me too. Presumably they should want me to spend the bare minimum amount of time on YouTube necessary to keep me subscribed, as any further use just contributes to higher infrastructure and bandwidth costs.

[Manheim]

I have done the same and it seems to have no consequence. I suspect YouTube only wants to track the opposition to shorts, not to provide a personal preference for their users. This uBlock filter is therefore much appreciated

[SoftTalker]

For me, it does result in no shorts on the main recommendations list. They still appear on the recommendations shown while a video is playing (and there they don't have the "show fewer" option) but they eventually (maybe 7-10 days or so) reappear on the main list as well.

this is all in the iOS YouTube app, which is the only place I watch YouTube.

[mcv]

It used to be that they were gone for a month. Now they're gone for a day. Possibly less.

[calmbonsai]

"My Eyes! The Goggles Do Nothing!"--Rainier Wolfcastle as Radioactive Man

[NewsaHackO]

It's like pressing the "close door" button on an elevator.

[fhub]

Door close button is supposed to cancel the door dwell time. But due to some disability codes in some regions all major manufactures allow it to be disabled (as required by some codes). i.e. The owners/managers/technicians can disable it.

[kgwxd]

I "Provide Feedback" every time anything annoys me, repeatedly. And I'm annoyed really easily. I have family premium, so I make sure to mention that.

- Hide all shorts, everywhere on the site, not just on my PC. uBO filters are amazing, but limited.

- The root page to show my Subscriptions instead of "Your History Is Turned Off..."

- I want links to go directly to the video and fill the window. I'll use the back button to go back where I came from, and native "Full Screen" if I want it to fill my screen.

All of it could be non-default settings available with Premium only.

It also seems to make zero difference :/

[drnick1]

Clearly that is useless for people who browse YT anonymously, hence the usefulness of the list.

[lofaszvanitt]

The whole YT front page is an absolute utter clusterfook.

[ncr100]

Chafe them nipples.

Seriously though, do any of our German / French compatriots here on HN have different experience of corporations, versus the USA's "maximizing profit" purpose, given the "corporate social responsibility" mandate of those countries?

Greed (opportunism) is human and I wonder if that's "better" in the Germany or French corporate-world?