Do you still watch YouTube? Who do you follow?

I know this will get hate, but I still enjoy LTT.

Video Essayists:
Barely Sociable - mysteries and dark stuff
CGP Grey - stuff you forgot you wondered about
Computerphile - explanations of topics tangentially related to Current Tech Thing
Defunctland - documentaries about theme parks and their experimental ventures
Disrupt - thought provoking dark topics; a bit over the top (this is why I don't watch Nexpo)
hbomberguy - venting about video games and pop culture
Jacob Geller - existentialism framed through video games
LEMMiNO - investigations into things that have left a societal impact
Numberphile - professors geeking out
Philion - explorations of sticky situations in pop culture
Quinton Reviews - mercilessly in-depth explorations and reviews of millenial and gen z nostalgia
Slightly Sociable - more mysteries and dark stuff
Solar Sands - existentialism framed through pop culture rants
Summoning Salt - mostly retro gaming speedrunning content
Veritasium - educational content
Wendigoon - paranoid nerd content
Wendover Productions - explorations of how the world works

Other stuff that interests me:
Captain Disillusion - breakdowns of digital trickery; digital media education
danooct1 - examining retro viruses
Surveillance Report - an approachable, not-too-paranoid, privacy news podcast (breaches, legislation updates, commentary, etc)
TechLore - privacy info and commentary
videogamedunkey - video game critic; pop culture commentary

Here's my superlist..

Critique of dumb capitalist ideas: Adam Something https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcvfHa-GHSOHFAjU0-Ie57A

Science/Design Practical: ALEX LAB https://www.youtube.com/c/ALEXLAB

Most awesome demonstrations of DIY science shit ever, dude is a genius, 100/10 do recommend.. Applied Science https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333

Material Physics and other Physics stuff: AlphaPhoenix https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCWeRTgd79JL0ilH0ZywSJA

Model rockets, flight computers and other cool shit (dude builds a landable solid rocket booster, very cool): BPS.space https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILl8ozWuxnFYXIe2svjHhg

A younger Veritasium/Tom Scott: Atomic Frontier https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCq5Y0WPGimG2jNXhoQxGw

Machine shop shit and good humour: AvE https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil

Good humor and crazy ideas: Boy Boy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_S45UpAYVuc0fYEcHN9BVQ

Interesting sciency stuff, not too technical: Brainiac75 https://www.youtube.com/user/brainiac75

Practical Morons: Allen Pan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVS89U86PwqzNkK2qYNbk5A

Material physics, general science stuff, usually on a nanometer scale, dude owns a SEM and some other cool tools. Breaking Taps https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC06HVrkOL33D5lLnCPjr6NQ

South African dude, was an apprentice at Hacksmith labs: Build IRL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gbCGiEov1VAcOFpfGKPiA

Surely everyone knows that hexagons are the bestagons: CGP Grey https://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey

Cool chemical reactions in slo-mo ChemicalForce https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqONNjBkukcc2yXbmHL8niQ

Chemistry vids: ElementalMaker https://www.youtube.com/user/ElementCollector1001

Chemistry vids from a rambling (smart) idiot: Explosions&Fire https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVovvq34gd0ps5cVYNZrc7A Extractions&Ire https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvFApMFo_AafXbHRyEJefjA

Very detailed Chemistry videos: NileRed https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRedNile 2nd Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1D3yD4wlPMico0dss264XA

Chemistry stuff: Thoisoi2 - Chemical Experiments! https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThoisoi2

Crazy medical edge cases: Chubbyemu https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKOvOaJv4GK-oDqx-sj7VVg

Interesting medical stuff from a cardiologist: Medlife Crisis https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgRBRE1DUP2w7HTH9j_L4OQ

Impressive redneck DIY projects: Cranktown City https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ3KKU5-uaoLyKnGVzv1XNw

Woodworking projects: DIY Creators https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChKlSK39lLg8eZHIX0iVzLA

Crazy high quality DIY projects: DIY Perks https://www.youtube.com/user/DIYPerks

In depth engineering videos focussed around cars: Engineering Explained https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineeringExplained

Optics, dude makes lenses n' shit: Huygens Optics https://www.youtube.com/user/huygensoptics

Australian redneck DIY projects: I did a thing https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJLZe_NoiG0hT7QCX_9vmqw

Lots of 3D printing, lots of jet engines and turbines: Integza https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2avWDLN1EI3r1RZ_dlSxCw

Large scale 3D printing stuff: Ivan Miranda https://www.youtube.com/user/superazote

Very in-depth practical game prop DIY projects: JAIRUS OF ALL https://www.youtube.com/user/jairust

Dude hates his life but builds cool robots and shit: James Bruton https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbruton

Movie and game inspired crazy DIY projects: JLaservideo https://www.youtube.com/user/JLaservideo

Interesting and strange DIY projects: Joel Creates https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHk0IYEDJxQGQ-nbd3yP_KA

Discussions of science and other weirdness: Kyle Hill https://www.youtube.com/user/ScienceBasedLife

Full Mac repair videos from angry repair man: Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup

Some DIY stuff, not my fav but he's okay: Louis Weisz https://www.youtube.com/user/WeiszCracks

3D printing and other projects: Maker's Muse https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMakersMuse

Heavy technical electronics stuff: Marco Reps https://www.youtube.com/user/reppesis

High voltage electronics: Plasma Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg45A-ph7Eu8jQgfrwDkHLg

Electronics/DIY projects with an artistic flair: SeanHodgins https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE-bw6PRKuDlH6fP1mP4nOw

Electronics, 3D printing and other crazy projects: Zack Freedman https://www.youtube.com/user/ZackFreedman

Electronics: GreatScott! https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab

Electronics and bad DIY booze: bigclivedotcom https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom

Ozzie electronic engineer: EEVblog https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog

Dumbass electronic engineer who likes blowing shit up and shocking himself: ElectroBOOM https://www.youtube.com/user/msadaghd

Your weekly space/rocket reports: Marcus House https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNHHEoiSF8pcLgqLKVugOw

Space and astronomy news/info: Scott Manley https://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg

Dude who does crazy stuff to pianos: Mattias Krantz https://www.youtube.com/user/Mattiaskrantz

Dude who builds useless robots: Michael Reeves https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtHaxi4GTYDpJgMSGy7AeSw

Minis and dioramas: Nerdforge https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggHsHce2n3vvbJf_8YKrMA

Thalasso hobbyer たらそほびや https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdYAt_kceIuiDwklp0EeIFw

Cool science and DIY stuff: NightHawkInLight https://www.youtube.com/user/Nighthawkinlight

Super interesting socail documentaries: Oki's Weird Stories https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjDQKxiTVpXutZc2Ra9wCAg

Model planes, drones, rockets, racing cars etc: PeterSripol https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7yF9tV4xWEMZkel7q8La_w

ProjectAir https://www.youtube.com/user/ThatScienceGuyJames

rctestflight https://www.youtube.com/user/rctestflight

Tom Stanton https://www.youtube.com/user/tomstanton282

RCLifeOn https://www.youtube.com/user/RcLifeOnSimon

Interesting physics stuff: Physics Girl https://www.youtube.com/user/physicswoman

3D printing and design: Proper Printing https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqfMW0tMZEciSXQym8x0EoQ

Podcast hosted by a bunch of science youtubers: Safety Third https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QE72cxiBkiwnvGoFfqYOg

Random DIY projects, like turning a Tesla into a truck: Simone Giertz https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3KEoMzNz8eYnwBC34RaKCQ

Science and practical stuff: SmarterEveryDay https://www.youtube.com/user/destinws2

Interesting experiments and simple explanations to strange phenomenon: Steve Mould https://www.youtube.com/user/steventhebrave

Crazy engineering by a genius: Stuff Made Here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1VqrHhDte54oLgPG4xpuQ

Lasers and high voltage: styropyro https://www.youtube.com/user/styropyro

Long form DIY stuff with detailed explanations: Tech Ingredients https://www.youtube.com/user/TechIngredients

In-depth explanations and history of technology: Technology Connections https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0tKL1T7wFoYcxCe0xjN6Q

Testla coils: teslista555 https://www.youtube.com/user/teslista555

Science and bioengineering: The Thought Emporium https://www.youtube.com/user/TheChemlife

Redneck science: TheBackyardScientist https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBackyardScientist

3D Printing: Thomas Sanladerer https://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasSanladerer

Dude who tells you about interesting things and places: Tom Scott https://www.youtube.com/user/enyay

Ozzy redneck DIY: Turnah81 https://www.youtube.com/user/Turnah81

DIY projects and fabrication: Tyler Bell https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL0FT83RjTWCmc6n9lLojmQ

Interesting theory, math, physics and science subjects: Veritasium https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium

Insanely detailed miniture mechanical projects: W&M Levsha https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLt9kIslIa1ffiM8A04KORw

Dumb but entertaining DIY stuff: William Osman https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfMJ2MchTSW2kWaT0kK94Yw

Fun videos and skits:

Chris and Jack https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Liv5-jdU2Qk53lTtYDG2w

Matthew McCleskey https://www.youtube.com/user/foreignduckslap

MattColbo https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyqjn-9rKdcAe0gTMAkqyg

Joma Tech https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV0qA-eDDICsRR9rPcnG7tw

Gus Johnson https://www.youtube.com/user/gustoonz

Goat-on-a-Stick https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyR_C_QVjZR24ze0fl5S_Q

brian david gilbert https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCakAg8hC_RFJm4RI3DlD7SA

FilmCow https://www.youtube.com/user/SecretAgentBob

Max Fosh https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb31gOY6OD8ES0zP8M0GhAw

Lee Hardcastle https://www.youtube.com/user/leehardcastle

Joel Haver https://www.youtube.com/user/MakingShorts

Steven He (emotional damage) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP0_k4INXrwPS6HhIyYqsTg

Trent Lenkarski https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAj9NhvUTfNaq4YwOHGEyA

YT is basically my television or my background music during work. As long as I can use adblock to avoid ads, i'm happy.

I don't read books or watch TV shows or watch movies or watch sports.

I watch a ton of educational, engineering, cooking, BMX, woodworking, and retro game channels.

Favorites are:

• Technology Connections
• Mark Rober
• Backyard Scientist
• Allen Pan
• Lockpicking Lawyer
• Smarter Every Day
• Rex Krueger
• Stuff Made Here
• Retro Bird
• Spencer Foresman
• Action Lab
• Veritasium
• Vsauce
• Ethan Chlebowski
• That Dude Can Cook
• Stumpy Numbs
• Electroboom
• Styropyro
• Nile Red
• Anthony Panza
• Sam O'Nella
• Collin Furze
• Sam Pilgrim

Oh my. I should stop. There are so many more.

Generally, I tend to focus on smaller creators, their qualities are usually better.

The channels I watched include Nitro Rad (gaming), MattKC (tech), and Modern Vintage Gamer (retro console/gaming).

Nebula is pretty great, I like a few people there. I'm also on YouTube a good bit, but only the channels I subscribe to

On YouTube itself, a few I like:

• Tom Scott, every week is something unexpected and somehow also something I want to know more about (link)
• A Great Big Story: My family really enjoys this one. It's short interesting videos about different places and cultures. I like the ones where the host compares a food/practice from different places (link)
• About Here: Local creator in Vancouver/Canada that does stuff about local issues (link)
• Neo: I think it might be tied to a company, but the videos are interesting and very high quality. I like the 3D renders that they use. This one's also on Nebula (link)
• Babish, mostly the basics series and any foods from shows/movies I've seen (link)
• Jun's Kitchen: Really nice and peaceful cooking clips. Their cats are great too (link)
• Mustard: cool videos with nice renders about historical planes, trains, and stuff. Also on Nebula
• Thomas Flight: nice analysis on movies and TV, for things like visuals and sound design

Otherwise, here is a messy list of some more:

• Captain Disillusion: learning about visual effects and trickery
• Colin Furze: whatever crazy thing he's building today
• EngineerGuy: a bit technical, but interesting
• EuroCarGuy: to fall asleep to, no talking just driving
• Hagerty: also a company run channel, but it's got fun car content
• Ice Cream Sandwich: it's funny
• Kurzgesagdt: watching this one for years
• Memable Data: a recent one, also cool visuals
• Michael Reeves
• Simone Giertz
• Technology Connections
• The slow mo guys
• Veritassium

Coding and computer science:

• Andreas Kling
• Ben Eater
• TsodingDaily
• Computerphile

Physics, chemistry, and engineering:

• Practical Engineering
• Applied Science
• Tom Scott
• ElectroBOOM
• CuriousMarc
• Great Scott
• Big Clive
• Nile Red
• Extractions&Ire
• Explosions&Fire
• Cody's Lab
• Numberphile
• Periodic Videos
• Veritasium
• Technology Connections
• Steve Mould
• Colin Furze

Food:

• Tasting History
• Adam Ragusea

Philosophy:

• Big Think
• Royal Institute
• School of Life

Townsends: great colonial cooking channel can't believe the guy doesn't have a PBS show.

Karl Jobst: good @ explaining speed runs, truly an absolute legend.

History matters: Consice answers to obscure history questions that you've wondered about or forgotten. Also check out history marche/historia civilis if you like history.

The Tim Traveler: European Tom Scott lite.

RedLetterMedia: skanies analyze bad VHS tapes

The operations room: Extremely well done summaries of warfare & battles.

YouTube uses an algorithm to recommend videos to you. If you have difficulties, this may as well be specific to you. Either you subscribed to the wrong people. Or your algorithm is stuck in some kind of vicious circle. My YouTube feed is pretty much alright.

Your comment about finance videos has nothing to do with YouTube at all. That’s literally the entire industry. Both my dad and myself have worked in finance and it’s been that way as long as I can remember. YouTube is good for educational science content, car stuff, and video game stuff. Keep politics, finance, and any sort of channels who can only stay in business by churning out new idea after new idea off of your list.

I usually watch educational content with a little bit of 3blue1brown and Kurzgesagt to name a few.

Only thing I watch on youtube anymore are, like, 8 out of 10 Cats does countdown and TaskMaster.

I used to watch a lot more, but a lot of the channels I used to watch ended up losing their god damn minds with covid and i just checked out and moved on.

I dont know i actualy rarely have those types of scummy videos on my feed. But then again i might have Just trained my Algorithm well.

I don't know when it started but nowadays I love 1 hour+ video essays, and some light gaming content.

Wendigoon, Jacob Geller, Nexpo, Inside a Mind, jwlar, hbomberguy, ssethtzeentach, mandalore gaming,

Mumbo Jumbo, Vinesauce Vinny / Joel, Mickey D, Joov.

Ashens. Steve1989mre

Just here to mention Techmoan. I think he deserves a lot more love for his attention to detail and his excelent production.

Really? Maybe I'm not on this side of YouTube but for me there are tons of great channels to watch. I'm more interested in science/tech/engineering/video games stuff. I watch Tom Scott, nilered, explosions&fire, Scott the Woz, 8bit guy, summoning salt, electroboom, captain disillusion, I did a thing, William Osman, LGR, Michael Reeves and plenty of more good, not clickbaity, drama free channels I'm watching.

The beautiful thing about YouTube is that fundamentally, it is still an incredible platform for anyone to be able to create content for the entite world to watch. That is so cool when you really think about it.

However, the horrible thing about YouTube, is the algorithm that is designed to push all sorts of views and opinions onto people, burying all of the actual good content beneath thousands of hours of utter shite and adverts.

If you know where to look, you can still get all the entertainment and information you need from it!

The majority of the content I consume comes from YouTube these days. Here are a couple of my favorite channels:

• Usagi Electric - old computers and vacuum tubes
• Diesel Creek - big equipment restoration and salvage
• Robot Cantina - silly car projects
• Look Mum, No Computer - analog synth madness
• RCTestFlight - RC cars, drones, etc.
• Project Air - experimental RC stuff
• BPS.Space - Amateur Rocketry
• Tasting History - Food history
• Tokyo Lens - exploring and discovery in Tokyo
• Integza - mad science stuff
• Jeff Geerling - Raspberry Pis etc.
• Nile Red - backyard chemistry
• Studson Studio - making models from garbage
• Mr. Chickadee - super chill, traditional woodworking

I have away more niche channels too for bicycles, retro computing and model building. Just too many to list here unless someone’s interested. I can make a list for a particular niche.

I do. And it’s mostly Linus Tech Tips and Formula 1.

I second the folks I see talking up Nebula. Great shit on there.

The ones I spend the most time with are probably Fact Fiend, Animalogic, vlogbrothers, Seth Skorkowsky, XP to Level 3, Hello Future Me, Gus Johnson, Reuben Solo, Andrew Rousso, EVNautilus, David Firth, Adam Millard…

Then there’s a bunch that I only watch on Nebula now: Extra Credits/History, Legal Eagle, Nerdwriter, Adam Neely, Philosophy Tube, Innuendo Studios, Tale Foundry, Just Write, Like Stories of Old, Lindsay Ellis, RealLifeLore, TierZoo.

Then there’s this guy who just makes long, quiet videos of him interacting with stray cats. Good, good, gooooooood shit. Changed his name recently.

Yeah, it's my main form of entertainment. What am I supposed to do, stare at a wall!

Gamers Nexus, Vaush, Keffals, Renegade Cut, Jacob Geller, Philosophy Tube, Moon Channel, Not Just Bikes, Armchair Urbanist, Sam O'Nella Academy, PatricianTV, RedLetterMedia, Polyphonic, LoneVaultWanderer, Writer Brandon McNulty, Ladyknightbrave, HiTop Films

Happy to say I don't watch YouTube much anymore, except when someone recommends some random video.. And then I use Newpipe to watch it.

I'm just so over big tech. You know that feeling when you get so tired of a person that even seeing them from a distance fills you with anger? That's big tech for me now.

A lot of good ones have been mentioned already, but one that I'm missing is Ghost Town Living. It's a guy that bought a old abandoned miners town and moved there at the start of Covid and is slowly bringing it back to life while exploring the town's history and its many mines.

Edit:

Others that I haven't seen mentioned yet:

• Let's game it out - playing games...the wrong way
• T90Official - commentator on Age of Empires matches
• AI Explained - thorough explanations by someone who actually reads the white papers
• Xiaomany - Dude that speaks many languages and surprises people by talking their native language
• Device Orchestra - Making music using devices such as electric toothbrushes
• Dad, how do I? - The Youtube dad. Explaining how to do stuff as if he's you're dad

Others that have been mentioned before but worth mentioning again:

• Captain Disillusion
• Max Fosh
• Tom Scott
• Peter Santenello
• Louis Rossmann

DankPods is pretty cool. It's been on hiatus since late July, but I still cannot get enough of it. If you're into old electronics, audio and the sort, check it out.

The dude who owns it, Wade Nixon, also owns Garbage Time (fixing cars), The Drum Thing (drums and cymbals), Hello, I'm Gaming (gameplay of cheaply made games) and Dankmus (Simpsons remixes, although this one is much more inactive than the others).

Here's a few slightly lesser known creators that I'm a big fan of:

• Aliensrock, let's player who mainly focuses on puzzle games. He gives good commentary on his though process and there's just something comfy and satisfying about watching a smart person solve puzzles.

• Atrocity Guide, makes long form documentaries on unusual people and groups, etc. She always dives down some absolutely bizarre and fascinating rabbit holes. Personal favorites are her videos on Ullillillia and Nasubi.

• Bloodrunsclear, stitches together clips of movies and TV shows to create fake movie trailers.

• Britanick, legendary sketch comedy duo, every one of their videos has had me in tears laughing. They stopped uploading as much after becoming professional movie and TV writers, but have come back with a patreon in light of the writers strike.

• Monstergarden, this guy who's been designing a strange and fascinating twist on the traditional fantasy setting via artwork, in universe writing, and even a short animation or two.

• The Exploring Series, an SCP youtuber who goes into very in depth explanations of various SCP articles, as well as occasionally talking about other franchises like 40k or reading Lovecraft stories. Pretty much my only connection to SCP stuff anymore, I mainly like his voice and use his videos to go to sleep.

• Venjent, a drum n bass artist that started blowing up on tiktok after he made a dnb track out of a creaky door. Extremely cheesy, but he's so sincere and friendly that the cheesiness is charming, it helps that the songs are all bangers too.

• Night Mind, explores and discusses various pieces of internet horror and "unfiction". As someone that grew up on ARGs and creepypasta, Night Mind is singlehandedly keeping my love of internet horror content alive.

I like to watch a couple guys for cooking, J Kenji Lopez -alt and binging with babish are really great channels for that kind of thing.

I still sub to the Awesome Games Done Quick channel, they do the big charity speedruns. I don't watch most of them but there's a few gems in there.

Videogamedunkey is still great. His real life person stuff from earlier in his channel really turned me off from the guy, but everything else is stellar.

Electroboom is a great channel for electrical engineering knowledge, but it's broken down in a way that makes it easier to understand for people like me that don't know electrical engineering. In general a pretty entertaining watch and I always learn something or get something popular debunked.

I'm a big fan of video essays. But I feel like the algorithm sucks for that. I like the deep dive newsletter, because it just sends a recommendation of a couple of great video essays once a week. They also describe why the videos are so good. I've watched a solid number of video essays I would not have clicked on if I was just scrolling.

I am subscribed to dozens of channels. Some that consistently put out interesting/good content are:

Donut Media (with SponsorBlock enabled)

The Proper People

Tom Scott

The B1M

Vox

Joe Scott

BBC Earth Lab

My favorite YouTube channel, hands down, would have to be Sampson Boat Co. It is chronicling the ongoing efforts by a young shipwright to rebuild and restore a 112 year old wooden sailing yacht named Tally Ho. Episodes come weekly/biweekly, the cinematography is fantastic, and the people involved in the project are extremely skilled. As a woodworking hobbyist myself, it's magical seeing the things they're capable of doing. And also, wooden boat building is infinitely more complex than I ever would have imagined...

I would highly recommend watching the playlist with the episodes in chronological order.

The only YouTube channel I currently wat h is Cracking the Crypic. It's 2 British guys that solve various logic puzzles; mostly sudoku and most of those are crazy variations on sudoku. Each video also has a link so you can also play the puzzle if you want to.

There is one of the presenters I much prefer to the other but the entire channel and community around them is one of the most wholesome things on the web.

Highly recommended if any of that sounds interesting to you.

Posts like this make me feel so old. I never watched YouTube. I mean, I'll search for and find videos that I saw elsewhere to watch again from YouTube. But I have never browsed YouTube for something to watch.

And I think that's a generational thing.

Less now that I have this wonderful extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/watch-on-odysee/

But unfortunately there's some creators you can't find elsewhere yet.

Nick Johnson who does amazing (and kind of depressing) videos showing you all around the cities and towns in America: https://www.youtube.com/@NickJohnson

AItrepreneur for AI tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@Aitrepreneur

Ordinary Things for hilarious deep dives: https://www.youtube.com/@OrdinaryThings

Climate Town for hilarious deep dives into climate change: https://www.youtube.com/@ClimateTown

I recently saw this: What are some great YouTube channels worth checking out? which indirectly answers your question I guess for the people that posted suggestions.

Mine were:

• https://www.youtube.com/@TheTimTraveller - Utterly charming and funny travel videos
• https://www.youtube.com/@AtomicShrimp - Incredibly wholesome nerdyness in a multitude of forms
• https://www.youtube.com/@anderspuck - Insightful and considered observations about the war in Ukraine
• https://www.youtube.com/@TheCriticalDrinker - Unashamedly non-PC reviews and observations on film and TV

Matt’s off road recovery, Real Civil Engineer, Heavy D (Sparks), Practical Engineering.

Those videos are a result of people min/maxing for the algorithm; the fact that you see them so much shows that they are unfortunately succesfull. Its a symptom of people being able to make (good) money from it.

There is still plenty of good content, but you would find it in the recommendations. You have to go searching for it. Search for your hobbies and interests. The more niche your search terms the better.

Tom Scott - short documentaries about places and things that are are out of the ordinary

Climate Town - comedic video essays on how certain parts of our lives impact the climate

CGP Grey - in-depth animated video essays on nerdy topics like flag designs or airport runway numbering

Dashner Design and Reatoration - realistic furniture restoration where the guy is honest about flaws and failed techniques. Not too much talking, but enough to let you know why he’s doing certain things

Beau of the Fifth Column is a channel I love to watch. He offers really good insights to news and politics.

I use newpipe to not have to struggle with all the ads.

My goto channels that id always recommend and support via patreon/ donations:

(General stuff) Clickspring Ben Eater Sebastian Lague Steve Wallis Luetin09 JunsKitchen

(Gaming) TomatoAnus Pete Complete Rhadamant Nivarias

I absolutely hate all the screaming that some youtubers think they have to do....

If anyone has any great (calm) youtubers, especially something strategy gaming related, please drop them!!

Hermitcraft and Red Letter Media

I watch Audit the Audit and CodeBlueCams, but I don't subscribe to them. And Mark Rober, sometimes. I don't have a Goog account, so I only browse as a guest. This is by choice.

there's still plenty of great content on YouTube it just depends on what you're watching

I watch more YouTube then I'd like to admit honestly, but with ad blockers it's not too bad. Some of my frequented channels/creators:

Gaming:

• Haelian: Used to be purely Hades content, now mostly a rogue like variety streamer/creator.
• GrandPOOBear: lots of Mario romhacks and high level Kaizo play, with a decent amount of variety games as well. Super funny/chill dude.
• CarlSagan42: Mostly plays SMM troll levels, although sometimes his reactions can be a little much. Entertaining if you like Mario though.
• Frost Prime: Mostly Slay the Spire content, although I think he's pretty funny as well.
• Iron Pineapple: Finds and plays every souls-like he can on Steam. Usually pretty entertaining.
• Mukluk: A lot of Guild Wars 2 content, but has a 2nd channel of many types of games. Currently he's going through Baldurs Gate 3
• A Mighty Teapot: Another GW2 creator. Recently did a "Zero to Hero" series in which he created a fresh account and leveled/geared from scratch.
• Josh Stryfe Hayes: A well spoken brit who does commentary on MMOs and gaming in general. I suggest his "Worst MMO Ever" series.
• Flophouse Plays: Variety games, recently enjoyed his videos on finding obscure games on old systems (SNES, Genesis, etc)
• Wulff Den: heavy emphasis on emulators and hacks. Lots of comparisons, like Steam Deck vs ASUS ROG Ally

Music:

• Ola Englund: Swedish metal guitarist and owner of Solar Guitars. Lots of chugs, caveman riffs, and gear reviews.
• NikNocturnal: While the running joke is that he's a "poser" because he likes metalcore, he's a very solid guitarist and makes fun content.
• Ben Eller: Super talented guitarist who gives practice techniques and song/riff breakdowns.
• Adam Neely: Jazz bassist who does video essays on various music theory topics.
• 66Samus: Goofy metal drummer
• Bradley Hall: Goofy metal guitarist who loves to sweep.
• Ichika Nito: Guitarist, think Polyphia condensed into 30sec videos
• Sebastiside: Same as above, but metal.
• Dean Lamb: Insanely good Guitarist from Archspire, love his "4 levels of death metal" series.
• Brandon Ellis: Guitarist of Black Dahlia Murder, mostly playthroughs and practice runs. God-tier shredder.

Other:

• Drawfee: 4 super talented digital artists draw based on crazy prompts. Highly recommend anything Pokemon related of theirs.
• Jolly: 2 British dudes travel and eat different foods. Fun times
• Game Grumps: while their newer stuff doesn't hit the same, I can rewatch their old playthroughs (Paper Mario TTYD, Pokemon Fire Red,etc) repeatedly.
• Angry Video Game Nerd: Similar to the above, newer stuff is alright but I regularly play seasons 1-4. So nostalgic.

I might have a problem....

A lot of my favourites have already been mentioned, but one I didn't see is Peter Santenello.

He makes vlogs going into dangerous areas, ghettos, gang and criminal areas in general, or in really rich neighborhoods, and he hangs out with some locals asking them a lot about their life.

It's really interesting stuff

Watcher is a fun channel, educational and stupid at times.

Wristwatch Revival is a great turn off your brain kind of channel but now I'm building watches in my free time.

Primitive Technology is just fantastic all the time.

Chubby Emu is a great medical channel and his meme game is on point.

Brutalmoose is a beautiful storm of chaotic editing techniques.

Sam O'Nella!

Kurtzgesagt.

Technology Connections.

Goniloc used to be kick-ass.

Smarter Every Day.

I'm not even deep into the algorithm. You need to stop clicking on garbage.

Block those channels.

Autorestomod mechanic is one I watch.
Joel haver.
Lots of long-form bedroom dj mixes.

Honestly I don’t see any of what youve described on YouTube but I’ve spent years blocking garbage.

Tomatoanus does speed run explanation videos and they are always interesting to me

I love CallMeKevin, he’s so funny and generally wholesome, his content is great. Beyond that it’s all over the place. Tolkien Untangled, Wendigoon, Contra Points, Cracking the Cryptic for wild sudoku solving, Ryan Hollinger, a lot of history channels, things like Real Engineering, and coding stuff when needed

I use the ASMR channels. They're very relaxing when I read. I also watch Trixie Mattel and Katya's show which is hilarious. Today I watched one where Trixie asked Katya if she were to have a child would she send it to boarding school, and Katya said "Yes, and then I would move away", which slayed me.

Johnny Harris just released a video on the history of the Mormon Church.

As an exmormon, it is awesome to see stuff this high quality from someone with the same perspective as me. I'll link the video: https://youtu.be/hUW7j9GmXjI

You absolutely should keep on watching YT. In fact I can specifically highly recommend the channel DukeUnivLibraries. This video with almost 1M views will sway in just the first 15 seconds but you will not be able to peel your eyes away for the entire 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Prepare yourself. Get some popcorn. https://youtu.be/e1iGEM9NMFM

Rick Beato - music theory Meat Canton - animation James Lee - animation Tasting History - food and history Bunch of cop watchers and civil rights folks. Bad Cop No Donut stuff.

Oh. Also:

Captain Disillusionment - VFX and skeptics Corridor - VFX Movies with Mikey - film video essays In/Frame/Out - film theory and savage commentary Emmet Short - pop tech Daryl Talks Games - psychology of video games. I cry. WrySci - small channel but funny science stuff. Wish it’d have taken off.

No, I stopped using YouTube overall.

The scams / weird aggressive marketing + politics / solutions that don't work for problems no one has... is part of it. The next part is it fails to suggest reasonable content. The last part is that video is a really, really slow way for me to absorb information. Text, please!

The are very rare exceptions. One is clickspring. Others are specific colleagues who engineer unique-in-the-world stuff (so... people like clickspring, I guess). If it's less good than that, I cannot bear to use YouTube, and refuse to post content there too.

Then again it would be really weird to show you videos of circuit diagrams and code. So it's not a great medium for the stuff I do anyway.

RedLetterMedia. I re-watch their 'best of the worst' movie reviews over and over.

My current favorites are Kruggsmash, civvie11, cheaprvliving

Big fan of Mighty Car Mods. Been going since the mid 2000s, but still don't do any BS, just good car videos. From long Top Gear Special style videos like Kei to the City down to quick and small videos like How to change your steering wheel.

It seems that everything turned into scams, aggressive self marketing and just click bait irrelevant content.

Oh, maybe the newest video of one of my most favorite youtubers can even answer you why that is! Introducing Tom Nicholas: Griftonomics: Why Scams are Everywhere Now

Soft white underbelly.

Sounds like your algorithm is pretty badly poisoned.

It's my primary video entertainment service. I have a premium family plan so I don't have to deal with ads on any device and neither do my wife kids or parents.

I don't see any crypto scams. I do occasionally see clickbait BS in the suggestions, but I've gotten pretty good at avoiding it. Even creators who put out things I like, I'll delay watching stuff with clickbait thumbs or titles so as not to reward it. I found the Veritasium video on clickbait informative. (Funnily enough he's now on my shit list for clickbait)

An inexhaustive list of my follows off the top of my head:
Gaming:
Many a true nerd, mainly for the fallout stuff but I like their other content.
T90official, for AoE2 match coverage, the nearest I get to watching sports
Best Guest (he deserves more subs, with his surreal challenge runs) SorcererDave.
Karl Jobst

Science:
PBS space time.
Anton Petrov.
Sabine Hossenfelder.

Legal commentary:
Leonard french.
Steve Lehto.

Tech:
Linus Tech tips (although they're all in on the clickbait titles & soyface)
Gamers Nexus
Der8auer EN
Louis Rossman (I've become less of a fan over the last few years, but not enough to drop him)

Other
Meatcanyon/papa meat
Rainman rays repairs (the algorithm offered him up, and I've found him fixing stuff pretty compelling lately)

There are more but that all I want to type out right now. Some also broadcast on Twitch, but I'm not a fan of that platform. I like some editing, and can't stand the "look at me, look at meeeee" aspect of twitch chat (or any 'live' content)

Do you still watch Youtube ?

Yes, pretty much a lot (like averaging 1h per day I think)

---

If you want recommendations for videos from community votes, check out Tournesol website (Note: recommending more about scientific, economics & life health subjects than entertainment)

Mostly Townsends and Steven1989 with some Primitive Technologies thrown in for light watching, plus ContraPoints and Philosophy Tube for when I have an hour to sit down and focus on really heady topics.

Hyperspace pirate is currently working on making a cryocooler to make liquid nitrogen, out of cheap and readily accessible components. He's not done yet, but the progress videos are very interesting to watch. https://www.youtube.com/@HyperspacePirate

Guga, Real Civil Engineer, FutureCanoe to name some who haven't been mentioned

The only person I'd trust with finance stuff is Joseph Hogue cuz he doesn't seem to be a scummy bastard, unlike most others.

Also, I think he's the only Certified Financial Advisor on YT Link: https://youtube.com/@josephhogue

The only cultural people I follow are The Critical Drinker for film reviews and Better Ideas for inspirational content, also Nate O'Brien for both investment stuff and life advice stuff.

Everything else I follow is tevh-related, and in a niche without a lot of pushy sponsor crap.

To avoid Sponsors, use SponsorBlock.

Been watching a lot of Ordinary Sausage lately. Such absolute culinary insanity and yet weirdly wholesome.

On the more soothing side of things, Townsends' cooking videos are usually just plain nice, not to mention surprisingly tasty. Never would've thought "literally put an unpeeled onion in the oven until it smells delicious" would be a viable recipe but it turns out it's amazing. Also, Mushroom Ketchup rules.

Hones trailers (game and movies/TV series), HISHE, Steven He, Pitch Meeting, Ryan George, Linux Experiement

Jarvis Johnson, Atrioc, Pitch Meetings, Philip DeFranco

I watch quite a bit of YouTube. Favorite channels right now (in no particular order):

Anders Erickson-cocktail recipes, tips and general banter Steve Wallis-relaxing camping videos Snazzy labs-tech/apple Becki and Chris-helicopters, photography, DIY MrMobile-phone reviews Rctestflight-all sorts of drone/3D printing/electric vehicle projects Digital Foundry-in depth technical game/console videos The Proper People - relaxing urban/abandoned exploration TheUnlockr-phone reviews/tech vlogs

You have to find your way past the 99% commercial, screaming crap and the toxic stuff that its algorithm recommends. Adblocking or premium is a must but even then the constant in-video ads have become a cancer. It’s sometimes unbearable and makes me unsubscribe.

YouTube is like a bowl of shit with a few gems at the bottom. You just have to dig to get there.

There are already a bunch of good recommendations here so I won’t repeat them but:

Recently I found HowardHandsTV, pop culture analysis, very funny and feels like an old school channel.

Also Common Sense Skeptic ripping apart Elon Musk and Andrew Tate lately has been entertaining.

I also fall asleep to Michael MJD and his weird and fun reviews/projects, I think it’s the voice that is soothing.

Breaking Taps - Makes lab grade equipment and other wild science shit...at home.

The Thought Emporium - Genetic engineering at home.

Technology Connections - Deep dives into the tech that surrounds us.

Good finance channels imo The plain bagel Patrick Boyle Modern MBA

I like McNally on youtube. He's like The Lock Picking Lawyer with the agression setting turned up to 11.

SUSD is the only thing good on YT

My favorite channels (not previously mentioned)

• Red Letter Media - bad movie fun, and movie reviews
• Joel haver - great short form sketches
• Friday Beers / Almost Friday - wkyk style sketches
• screen crush - nerd content analysis
• 3 brown 1 blue - great math content
• number phone and computerphile - great short form educational content on math and computer science

Hey Hey! Marcus House here …

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A lot of great recommendations in the tread and I don't have much to add but for something a little different, here are my suggestions :

DayDream Gaming - Cool and/or relaxing walks through game worlds like Skyrim, Cyberpunk 2077, horseback riding in RDR, etc.

dulevoz - Cabview train rides full of cool details like the number of tunnels, elevation, engine types, etc. You don't need to be a train nerd, try it, it's absolutely fantastic and relaxing!

Virtual Railfan - Live cams at famous railroad crossings, just for the fun of watching trains go by or watch the scenery

StreamTime Live - live cams at various harbours in the US

M. B. Archives - Commentary tracks from various movies (the latest being The French Connection, rip William Friedkin)

I've got a few creators I subscribe to and only ever look at my subscriptions and never at the recommendations. My YouTube experience has been pretty consistent over the years. Still greatly enjoy it, subscribing to creators once or twice a year.

I'm subscribed to Linux Tech Tips and Givemeabreakman. I've been following both for over a decade.

Other than that, I use Youtube to listen to really long (10+ hrs) videos of walking across skyrim and other elder scrolls games to relax.

If i had to pick my top 2 YouTube channels... Project Farm
Good Mythical Morning

Louis Rossman

It's been going downhill for a long time. Popular content do the same as tv-cable network where they try to generate outrage. If the videos I watch start to change in ways I don't like I just move on which is what I think people should do. Decrease in viewership will definitely be noticed. Luckily, the creators I follow have stayed the same where they are a one person or small group who create videos to inform or for entertainment.

Game Grumps is my breakfast, lunch, dinner entertainment, and bedtime story.

I don't watch a ton of YouTube anymore, but when I do it's usually the likes of techtubers and gaming creators that incorporate humor with a few "I create dumb stuff for the internet" type channels mixed in.

I'll list few of my favorite channels, with Piped links of course :)

DankPods, Alpharad, Failboat, I did a thing, Bobby Duke Arts, maxmoefoePokemon, Michael Reeves

Probably missed a few but that's most of them.

Mostly ASMR - it's how I get to sleep.

Also, Pitch Meeting, which I sometimes watch instead of the film.

I watch some science and education channels, programming related. Notable channels are

• Louis Rossmann
• The mad watch collector
• Kyle Hill
• Tom Scott
• LTT
• Watchfinder
• Just one more watch
• Captain Disillusion
• EEVblog & 2
• SAMTIME
• Nexpo

Anything else that looks interesting, Car histories, movie/TV reviews

Scott the Woz (video games) and Patrick H Willems (films, but leans towards action)

My subscriptions feed (food and science) is mostly channels I’ve been subscribed to for years now and they’ve all maintained their high quality or improved.

For food, Carla Lalli Music is an entertaining chef and recipe developer who shares recipes from her books. She takes inspiration from all sorts of cuisines and blends them into delicious, adaptable recipes. Crispy gingery ground beef like lime and herbs earned an instant spot in my regular meal rotation.

Claire Saffitz and her team bring mostly baking videos with occasion forays into cocktails, dinners, and lifestyle. Expect lots of cat cameos and fun editing easter eggs.

NYT Cooking has a good variety but their stars are Sohla and Ham El-Waylly, a wildly creative culinary power couple who can make a multi course tasting menu out of anything.

For all things science, basically anything out of Complexly Studios is worth your time. My personal favorite is SciShow Tangents. The various MinuteScience channels are great too (minutephysics, minuteearth, and minutefood ), and while the titles/thumbnails can feel a little bit clickbaity at times, the content is solid and informative.

Okay so I’m a nerd. I didn’t get into YouTube until recently and I just watch storm chasers, airplanes taking off, and power washing/landscaping porn.

This Old Tony, Abom, Tested (mostly just One Day Builds by Adam Savage), Wirtual, Isaac Arthur, CityNerd, Intelligence Squared debates, FloridaMan Diplomacy, Abom79

If you are into fishing, hunting, cooking, and a a bit of Southwest history check out Sin City Outdoors. They have family friendly content. For outdoor recovery Matts Off Road Recovery is good and Heavy D Sparks sometimes has great content if you don’t mind fast forwarding a bit.

For food/bbq a few that I like Guga Foods, Mad Scientist BBQ, First We Feast (hot ones), and Munchies.

Lots of good tech channels depending on your interests but here are a few smaller ones I like. Matt Moniz does good laptop reviews, Brandon Butch digs deep into every iOS release, All Things One Place only reviews power adapters and cables.

Stop Skeletons From Fighting.

Video game channel with absolutely top tier writing, production, and presentation that stacks up against the biggest channels out there, but it's from a team of only 2 people. The host is super likeable and entertaining. No low effort click bait videos. Criminally underrated with only 330k subscribers. I know that's still a lot, but they easily have 1m+ sub potential.

The "punching weight" series about ambitious and wacky titles/peripherals are my favorite. They also have some super well researched video game history videos that are great.

Learn Linux TV

I like casual gaming videos, and often watch Mr. A Game and QuinBoBin, particularly their Zelda videos.

I also enjoy a good analysis, so Cinema Therapy is my go-to.

I have young children in the house, so it can be hard to find entertaining videos that don't have bad language that I don't want parroted back to me.

H3 podcast best show on the internet

I mostly just use it to find new music.

There's a couple of cooking channels I keep an eye on, a bit of tom scott and contrapoints/shaun/etc - but mainly just music.

No, I don't have or want spotify. I like music videos, and I like being able to easily skip through and sample fragments of songs, rather than just have them on in the background.

I mostly watch high elo games of LoL, TFT, Chess. like @PekinWoof, @Bebe872, @Frodan and many more.

I watch a few, but the first worthy one that comes to mind is TBSkyen.

Hey DoisBigo,

Since you're into finance videos, here are some creators I like:

Ben Felix,
Patrick Boyle,
The Plain Bagel.

Enjoy!

Anton Petrov has a great channel if you are into science and space. He posts a video every day explaining new findings in a really approachable way.

Erin Parsons Makeup is my newest rabbit hole. A really neat look at makeup through history!

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I watch LBRY (I use it directly and bypass odysee btw)

For youtube I proxy it through piped

I love Outside XBox (they do more than Xbox content) And Outside Extra. I think its the best short-form gaming variety content there is

Stefan Milo - Been really enjoying his videos "digging" into archaeology and pre-history.

I would recommend ChrisFix on top of the recommendations already given. Excellent videos on simple car repairs using hand tools. Even if you don't own a car or have the need to fix one, I would still recommend watching some of his videos.

I'm still enjoying the engineering and maker channels, along with a few other educational channels.

Fall of Civilizations

I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but it's incomparably good (if stories about past civilizations is your thing).

Yeah youtube has massive amounts of good content. The only downside is that it's owned by google.

Some of my favs in alphabetical order:

Anton Fomenko

BeardMeatsFood

GeoWizard

I did a thing

Jet Lag: The Game

Joel Haver

Ludwig

Max Fosh

Modest Pelican

NFKRZ

RAINBOLT

Steve Wallis

STORROR

Tom Scott

Uri Tuchman

Xiaomanyc

I do yes as I also have a channel that I do videos for (my only income as I fund my own website without ads or 3rd party trackers). I do make my videos' ads skippable though. And yes my own browser blocks ads.

But the pleasantness, or lack thereof, comes down to a site's rules and moderation. The vast majority of people don't want to be aggravated, and they also don't really want to pay to use a website.

But scammers and clickbait are everywhere. I think a lot depends on whether they can game the algorithm to force their way into your home feed or not. Many news media sites also use clickbait, and the same goes for politicians wanting to get attention through fear and anger. But I agree very often clickbait crosses the line - it is really irritating when you see a thumbnail of something, and that image literally appears nowhere inside the content.

I mostly follow technology channels though.

Second Thought, First Thought, Our Changing Climate, Polymatter, Kurzgesagt, The Grayzone, Geopolitical Economy Report, Breakthrough News, Democracy Now.