# No pets, infants or toddlers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2021, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179 "2021-02-04T05:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/1 "2021-02-04T05:07:07Z")
Not in real life, on my YouTube feed. I have been rigorously marking all channels with videos about pets, infants, toddlers, pets and infants, pets and toddlers, infants and toddlers, or anything of that ilk, as “Don’t recommend channel.” I have been doing this for several weeks now. Of couirse, YT is still throwing new ones at me, but fewer than before, and I have been fairly successful at whacking those moles. Why? you may well ask. The reason is that, if I watch one 20-second video like that, suddenly that’s half my feed, and I’m sick of it. I have a number of subjects about which I like to watch videos, and I’m perfectly capable of looking up others I’m interested in. So I weed the garden and whack these videos whenever they show their cutesy little heads. Yes, I spend, and possibly waste, some time on YouTube, pretty much every day. So shoot me. At least I’m not watching cat videos (not that there’s anything wrong with that). ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/2 "2021-02-04T12:49:44Z")
I would like a way to tell YouTube, “Show me more variety”. There’s only so many videos worth watching on the same subjects. Surely with all the data they’ve got they could make a pretty good guess on what else I might want to watch. I know, they only care about maximizing views, not maximizing my satisfaction. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/3 "2021-02-04T12:51:08Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I would like a way to tell YouTube, “Show me more variety”. Hell yes. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/4 "2021-02-04T14:58:22Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Why? you may well ask. The reason is that, if I watch one 20-second video like that, suddenly that’s half my feed, and I’m sick of it. One way not to have your subsequent search results contaminated is to open YouTube in a private/incognito window. That way, it won’t associate whatever your watching with whatever profile Google has built about you. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/5 "2021-02-04T15:29:48Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I have been rigorously marking all channels . . . Try deleting your browser cookies. If you delete history, cookies etc. each time you close your browser, often that’s not good enough. You must dig a little further. For example, I use Firefox and can delete History etc. But if I want to do a more complete cleansing I must go into Firefox Options, select the Privacy & Security tab and come to the Cookies & Data heading. Click on Clear Data or Manage Data — you’ll figure it out from there. If you scroll through the list you’re bound to see a You Tube entry. You can just select that one, or personally, I usually delete the whole lot. It won’t affect any stored login information. If you use Chrome, I’m sure there’s a similar method. Or do a search ‘how to delete cookies from, whatever browser you use’. No guarantee but I think it should solve your problem. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/6 "2021-02-04T16:04:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > One way not to have your subsequent search results contaminated is to open YouTube in a private/incognito window. > [@Keith1](#): > > Or do a search ‘how to delete cookies from, whatever browser you use’. The problem is, then YouTube gives you the generic “whatever is most popular” front page, which is usually execrable. I want to discover more small-time creators. Simone Gietz, James Hoffman, Technology Connections: all very different, and there must be more like them doing something else innovative, but YouTube thinks I just want to know more about makers, coffee, and technology. Also, stop recommending videos I’ve already seen. I rarely want to watch them again, but it’s half of what I get recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/7 "2021-02-04T16:22:19Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I would like a way to tell YouTube, “Show me more variety”. That would be great. Perhaps an algorithm that would suggest areas tangential to what I am already watching, and an option to say “no thanks” to a subject matter instead of to a specific video or channel. > [@Keith1](#): > > No guarantee but I think it should solve your problem. I realize you’re trying to be helpful, but ye gods, why would I want to go to all that trouble? I’m fine with the solution I’ve chosen, to zap any channel that shows up that shows content I don’t want. Yes, I wish YouTube worked better, but this works for me. > [@tofor](#): > > Also, stop recommending videos I’ve already seen. I rarely want to watch them again, but it’s half of what I get recommended. Funny how that works. On channels I’m following, once I watch a video it doesn’t show up again. On channels that I watch a lot without following, watched videos pop up randomly. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/8 "2021-02-04T17:00:57Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > but ye gods, why would I want to go to all that trouble? May have sounded like a hassle typed out, but in reality it takes 2 seconds. Glad you found a work around though. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/9 "2021-02-05T14:55:38Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > Also, stop recommending videos I’ve already seen. I rarely want to watch them again, but it’s half of what I get recommended. This is _really_ annoying. I wish YouTube had category filters like it used to. Every time I do a search half the results are gaming, which I don’t want, half the results are not in English, which I also don’t want, and if I’m lucky due to rounding this adds up to less than 100% and there’s something good in there. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-pets-infants-or-toddlers/932179/10 "2021-02-05T22:45:15Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I would like a way to tell YouTube, “Show me more variety”. [Here you go.](https://youtube.com/c/variety)