No Stupid Questions

I use the subscription feed and it's how I've always used YouTube. I certainly don't want it giving me random notifications. It's not like I need to drop what I'm doing during the day just because someone published a video. When I want to watch videos, I'll go check my subscriptions.

I think most people sadly don't use subscription feed. They just blindly watch whatever youtube algorithm throws at them.

Wait…. Thats not how people use YouTube? I browse almost exclusively from my subscriptions page.

It is my default page for Youtube. I want to see the most recent content from creators I have subscribed to.

After exhausting the subscriptions page, then I will go to the main page for related content. Shorts and the Explore are avoided at all costs.

I want to know who has seriously ever clicked the notification bell. YouTubers are constantly telling me to and I have never even come close. Why would I want more pointless notifications in my life?

I always use the subscription feed, in fact, my custom homepage has a link to specifically that page. However, my husband didn't even notice that there was such an option and only uses the recommended feed (we talked about it recently). I personally can't stand recommendation engines. These have destroyed my art business in social media platforms. I need chronological.

youtube feed is a toddler you're trying to tame. even the slightest misdirection will end you up with infinite crochet videos for 2 weeks because you watched a video about the last crochet artists in cambodia

That is how i use youtube, but now it is poisined with those crappy shorts. They are changing youtube into tiktok

Thank you for asking this question because this has bothered me too. I subscribe to a bunch of mostly educational Youtube channels and then the only thing I do on Youtube is go to my subscribed feed and watch them.

But then I hear people talk about how channels they subscribe to just don't ever show up on the home feed so they end up missing things. Then Youtube implemented an additional system where you not only have to subscribe but you also have to set it to be notified of new videos. Thus starting the whole problem all over again where the home feed algorithm has too much stuff you are subscribed and notified to for it to all show up.

There is this nice little feature that shows you a chronological view of subscribed video releases that everyone ignores for no reason.

I use an RSS feed. I never miss a video and it always keeps my backlog in tact for me to comb through later.

I only use the Subscriptions feed, and use an extension that blocks recommendations and shorts.
Additionally, before watching any video I'll check the channel page to see if YouTube is hiding any of that person's videos from me (which they do even on the Subscriptions feed sometimes).
Fuck the algorithm.

I've heard that the subscription feed doesn't always show you uploads from the creators you're subscribed to.

I must not be subscribed to enough people for that to happen.

Otherwise, I don't let a non-subscription video live in my history unless liked it, and I generously block channels for the slightest click bait bullshit, so my home feed is pretty consistent as well.

TBH I don't use the subscription feed often. I subscribe to many channels and rarely clean them out after not watching them for years. So that feed is full of videos that I'm not really in the mood for right now but I might watch some day. My home feed is filled with videos that I'm currently in the mood for - from subscribed channels and new ones I can then discover.

I had no idea people didn't use the subscription fees. It's the only way I engage with YouTube

I just use subscriptions as a super-like: please keep putting this channel's videos in my feed.

I'm generally not interested in seeing all the updates for every channel I like in one place, especially not per-artist. I just want a mix of stuff I'll probably like in with stuff I might like, so I stand a good chance of finding something cool.

I very much use the subscription feed. I don't know how alone I am with this, but I usually only subscribe to channels when I want to watch almost all videos they post.

A lot of the time if a creator gets a little bit popular they start to spam videos and that's when I unsubscribe, even if I generally like their content. I feel like I cannot ever keep up anymore so I just watch their videos sporadically from then on.

Dude I've had that exact same thought. Like, yeah, the subscription is where everything is. I never use the regular home page, my bookmark for YouTube goes to my subscription.

There's zero need for me to use the bell. I never understood why people complained about videos not showing up, etc.

I use it consistently. I, however, do not like the shorts panel taking up a ton of space in the feed now. My subs feed shouldn't have shorts from people I am not subscribed to, but it does.

I use it almost exclusively - I've bookmarked Subscriptions instead of any other page. But it does feel like I'm unusual in this sometimes.

There was a short time when YouTube was removing videos from the feed, and the only guarantee was the bell. But that is not true for like 4 years now.

I guess those people still erroneously believe that's how it works.

I have zero notifications enabled and use the sub list exclusively (about to switch to RSS), although I'm probably an outlier since I have a habit of sacrificing comfort just to stick it to big tech.

I used to, but then I got so many subs it wasn't really practical anymore. Now I just let the algorithm recommend new vids. Just too much great content creators, what can you do.

I have seen myself times where someones video just is not in my sub feed, but I can see it on the Youtube channel. Happened twice in the last year with Louis Rossmann for some reason?

The one thing I hate about the sub feed is that I can't seem to filter out shorts. I have no interest in shorts, and they make up more than half of my feed.

If you turn off history, it is very important and definitely shows in your Home feed, actually, it is the no.1 reason to turn off history

I use an extension called PocketTube to manage my subscriptions into categories. I'm sure there's a better way, but it works for me.

Man, the bell doesn't even fuckin' notify me of new shit. That was the point of subscribing in the first place: So I don't have to come and check the channel for new content all the time. It would just fucking tell me. I should not be surprised to find a video from someone I am both subscribed to and enabled notifications for on my recommended feed from 3 days ago. I should have been informed of it 3 days ago when it was uploaded.

At the very least, brand new, unwatched videos from subscriptions should be the first thing shown in your Home feed. I don't even feel a need to subscribe to things that post several videos or even 1 video a day. If I already know their schedule because it is so regular, I can just go to their channel every day for new content so I don't even subscribe.

The only merit subscribing and notifications have is for channels with sporadic uploads, which already get fucked over by the algorithm because they aren't generating as much engagement due to not having as many videos.

Personally I remember when the main page used to be the user's subscription feed. After they changed it, I just updated my bookmark and continued to land on the subscription feed. At some point everyone else seems to have forgotten that that happened and started pushing the bell.

I use the rss feeds, so much better.

There was a period of time a few years ago (around whenever the bell was implemented, or perhaps caused the bell to be implemented) in which the subscription feed would often just not a show a video, or maybe it wouldn't show up until hours or even days later. I suspect for some people that made them suspicious of the subscription feed and more reliant on push notifications.