I know how to block a specific channel on YouTube but how does one block channels from appearing that have a certain subject in them. For example how do I block all the channels with Caitlin Clark from appearing?

I’ve been trying to block sports and gaming channels for years. They eventually still pop up. I’ve gone as far as deleting my watch history but then you just get all the videos you’ve already watched all over again. YouTube isn’t interested in keeping videos FROM you. The algorithm isn’t built for that.

quote:

Originally posted by k5blazer:
I know how to block a specific channel on YouTube but how does one block channels from appearing that have a certain subject in them. For example how do I block all the channels with Caitlin Clark from appearing?

I noticed today that there are tons of videos with AI voice and click bait titles all about her. I watched one or two before I came to the realization they were all bullshit.

I'll be watching this thread so I can block them all too.

It feeds you more of what you’re watching.

Stop watching them.

What do you mean block them? Do they autoplay when the next video comes up? I have downloaded an extension called "Disable HTML5 Autoplay (Reloaded)". So at the end of any video I'm watching it stops and doesn't autoload another video to start automatically. Of course this only works in a browser. I can't think of a way to avoid it in the YouTube app.

I'm not sure. Someone in my family looked up something on skin care and I ended up with a lot of pimple popping videos in the "We think you'd like" category that I couldn't block or say not interested. I didn't try doing the thumbs down, but I did get it to stop by deleting my history on YouTube, but that probably won't help on a general category like "Sports."

To my knowledge, you can't.

But what you CAN do: Below the thumbnail for the video you will see three little vertical dots. Click there and a menu appears.

Click on 'not interestd' or 'do not recommend this channel,' whichever is applicable.

I've heard that the YTBlock extension for Chrome can block Youtube videos based on keywords. I don't know, I've never tried it. You do need a Google API key, which you can get through the app.

As far as I know, there's no way to do it through Youtube itself.

To my knowledge, you can't.

But what you CAN do: Below the thumbnail for the video you will see three little vertical dots. Click there and a menu appears.

Click on 'not interestd' or 'do not recommend this channel,' whichever is applicable.

You may have to do this on a few similar videos, then they will disappear.

“Not interested” doesn’t work.

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Originally posted by mark123:
“Not interested” doesn’t work.

Yes it does work. You might have to do this a few times, so the algorithm catches up.

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Originally posted by ridgerat:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
“Not interested” doesn’t work.

Yes it does work. You might have to do this a few times, so the algorithm catches up.

how many years does it take?

Turn off watch history and it will reduce it. Only when you are viewing will related videos come up as suggestions. When you first open up, it will only show what you are subscribed to

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
“Not interested” doesn’t work.


Yes it does work. You might have to do this a few times, so the algorithm catches up. how many years does it take?

For me it's been as little as 1 refresh, but that's just for a channel I said "Do Not Show..." The more general the subject, the longer it takes the algorithm to stop recommending that subject.

Another thing you can do under "Not Interested" is you can click for further options. The 2 I remember is "I've already seen it" and "I don't like this video."

I watch a lot of YouTube. I don’t have cable or any other type of TV, so I watch a lot of YouTube.

The “Not Interested” function isn’t really that good. I’ll go as far as to agree with Mark, it doesn’t work. I hate all the meme content. It doesn’t understand that. It understands I am not interested in what the title is, which may have nothing to do with the content if the actual video.

The “Do Not Recommend This Channel” was great, and worked well. I was able to see it’s a channel that didn’t have anything relevant, and the algorithm would catch on and things got better.

Then there was an update to YouTube (iPad)last week. It was a significant change. “Do Not Recommend This Channel” has been removed. It’s replaced with “hide from me”, but it definitely doesn’t work the same as DNRTC did.

Keeping your watch history cleansed of things you don’t want to see has a pretty major impact. Keeping it full of the things you do wish to see, has a pretty positive impact. This has been the most impactful change on the algorithm. I will go down a rabbit hole and notice that I start getting recommendations for content like what I saw in the rabbit hole. I go back, cleanse my watch history, restart the app, and viola, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

So I would go as far as to say, keep your watch history up to date with ONLY what you want to watch. It’s the most effective method I have found.