Never thumbs down a bad video. Just click away.

YouTube promotes content more based on the number of interactions it gets. That’s likes, dislikes, and comments. Dislikes actually get stuff pushed harder, because they know that nothing engages as much as rage.

But videos with low watch times get pushed less. If you only watch 10% of a video before clicking away, that gets it a lower ranking than if you watch the whole thing (obviously, not getting clicked on at all gets the lowest ranking, since no one cares enough to even try to engage in the first place).

But yeah, if you see trash, just walk away, and maybe hit the “Don’t recommend channel” option.

NewPipe (now also for Sailfish OS), yt-dlp on desktop.

Here’s an ice cold take. If somebody has the capability of using an ad blocker, and they choose not to, they’re a dumbass. These days, nearly every creator has sponsorships and donations, they’ll be fine without a couple cents of ad revenue. Consciously letting ads through only feeds the beast, and nothing will convince me that Google and Microsoft should be treated charitably.

Mildly penis

Is this person saying they reflexively thumbs-down videos because the platform puts ads on them?

Dumbass.

Youtube nerfed the thumbs down button.