YouTube's recent front page change

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mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,903
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136
If you're not signed into a Google account in your web browser (or if you have YouTube history in your account set to 'off') the YouTube front page has absolutely no content, for example:

youtube.png

I find this to be really odd. On one hand, I love it. If I'm thinking of wasting a little time with random browsing, this serves as a solid reminder to me that this isn't a particularly productive use of my time (I'm self-employed so my self-discipline is often challenged without external observers). On the other hand, I have the feeling that Google thinks that this is the ultimate check-mate to get the likes of me to sign in with a Google account for suggested content and it really isn't.

I once had to delete my site history metadata in Firefox for the YouTube website because YouTube got so good at predicting stuff that serves as clickbait for me, and now, nothing.
 
KMFJD

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
31,485
49,298
136
mikeymikec said:
If you're not signed into a Google account in your web browser (or if you have YouTube history in your account set to 'off') the YouTube front page has absolutely no content, for example:

View attachment 92055

I find this to be really odd. On one hand, I love it. If I'm thinking of wasting a little time with random browsing, this serves as a solid reminder to me that this isn't a particularly productive use of my time (I'm self-employed so my self-discipline is often challenged without external observers). On the other hand, I have the feeling that Google thinks that this is the ultimate check-mate to get the likes of me to sign in with a Google account for suggested content and it really isn't.

I once had to delete my site history metadata in Firefox for the YouTube website because YouTube got so good at predicting stuff that serves as clickbait for me, and now, nothing.
Click to expand...
sweeeeeeet, no more mr beast and other random annoying shit plastered at you
 
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purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,449
6,295
126
I just opened an incognito tab and went to their homepage and it's full of content. Sounds like this is an issue on your end.
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,060
9,443
126
I don't really use youtube, but that looks ideal. If I'm going to youtube, I'm usually looking for something specific, and I only want to see matches based on the description I gave. I pretty much never see things anywhere unless I actively searched for it.

I got a mastodon acct during the first twitter migration. I was never on twitter, but I'm a huge fan of federation, so I joined to see what's up. Everything in my feed is stuff I specifically asked for, or is boosted by people I follow. No bullshit algorithm feeding me stuff it thinks will make a company money. That's how the web should should work. If I want something recommended to me, there should be a [Recommend] button. Otherwise, give a blank page until something's specified by the user.
 
mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,903
14,132
136
purbeast0 said:
I just opened an incognito tab and went to their homepage and it's full of content. Sounds like this is an issue on your end.
Click to expand...

Nope. I've just tried a separate, freshly-created Firefox profile and Chromium. The only common factor is that when one visits YouTube for the first time, they get a sign in and "do you agree to allowing all this stuff" prompt, to which I click on 'reject all'.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,449
6,295
126
mikeymikec said:
Nope. I've just tried a separate, freshly-created Firefox profile and Chromium. The only common factor is that when one visits YouTube for the first time, they get a sign in and "do you agree to allowing all this stuff" prompt, to which I click on 'reject all'.
Click to expand...
Yah I dunno, it must be something on your system. I'm on MacOS.

I just tried in Firefox and Safari, both of which I've never signed into a google profile and never use, and I see stuff on the home pages too. Same behavior as if I opened it in Chrome incognito mode.

I also tried going to it on my EC2 instance for work which I have never used youtube on, and same thing. It's Chrome running Linux.
 
nakedfrog

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
61,013
16,405
136
purbeast0 said:
Yah I dunno, it must be something on your system. I'm on MacOS.

I just tried in Firefox and Safari, both of which I've never signed into a google profile and never use, and I see stuff on the home pages too. Same behavior as if I opened it in Chrome incognito mode.

I also tried going to it on my EC2 instance for work which I have never used youtube on, and same thing. It's Chrome running Linux.
Click to expand...
I was thinking maybe it's because he's in the UK or something, I'm also seeing no change whether I look in a private window or simply signed out in a regular window.
 
mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,903
14,132
136
purbeast0 said:
Yah I dunno, it must be something on your system. I'm on MacOS.

I just tried in Firefox and Safari, both of which I've never signed into a google profile and never use, and I see stuff on the home pages too. Same behavior as if I opened it in Chrome incognito mode.

I also tried going to it on my EC2 instance for work which I have never used youtube on, and same thing. It's Chrome running Linux.
Click to expand...
Maybe it's a regional thing that YouTube is trying/rolling out?
 
KMFJD

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
31,485
49,298
136
Not getting it on my end either unfortunately, FF incognito mode while VPN'd into Singapore
 
mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,903
14,132
136
Added twist:

As you can see in the OP screenshot, there's an option to 'update setting', which out of pure curiosity I clicked on, then I selected the option to turn on YouTube history. When the front page reloaded, it was inundated with all the usual crap (e.g. MrBeast). I then opened site management in Firefox settings, removed site settings for YouTube, and now I'm back where I started (ie. OP screenshot).
 
KMFJD

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
31,485
49,298
136
I think this is a UK thing, when i jumped to a UK VPN server i do get that option now, i did not see it when i was on Singapore, Australia, US or Canada

1705918545130.png1705918568056.png

Also getting it in Spain,Netherlands,Ireland so it looks to be an EU thing? Tried South Africa and get the normal page

Tried a bunch of different ones in South America, all the normal page, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong all normal, only European one that i got the normal one was Serbia and Ukraine
 
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mikeymikec

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,903
14,132
136
KMFJD said:
I think this is a UK thing, when i jumped to a UK VPN server i do get that option now, i did not see it when i was on Singapore, Australia, US or Canada

View attachment 92308View attachment 92309

Also getting it in Spain,Netherlands,Ireland so it looks to be an EU thing? Tried South Africa and get the normal page

Tried a bunch of different ones in South America, all the normal page, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong all normal, only European one that i got the normal one was Serbia and Ukraine
Click to expand...

Ok, this is super weird. I haven't heard of any privacy-centric laws coming into the UK (especially with this conservative government!), so this logically has to be GDPR (EU law)... which was introduced in May 2018 yet this site change occurred in late 2023 at the earliest.
 
D

darkswordsman17

Lifer
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,846
146
Apparently some people are getting pages saying they have 3 views, and to disable Ad-Block (or something) or else YouTube won't function at all.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,449
6,295
126
darkswordsman17 said:
Apparently some people are getting pages saying they have 3 views, and to disable Ad-Block (or something) or else YouTube won't function at all.
Click to expand...
That's been going on for a while now and there is a thread about it on here already. It's very easy to get around.
 
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