Prank Patrol
2.4M subscribers · Pranks and challenges every Friday
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- “Don’t recommend” vs blocking
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“Don’t recommend channel” not working? Here’s why
It may be working, just at a smaller job than its name suggests. YouTube’s help page calls “Don’t recommend channel” feedback that “may be used to tune your recommendations”, offered on pages such as Home and Watch Next. It was never meant to keep a channel out of search, Subscriptions or links. If you want the channel gone, you need a block.
Coming soon to Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera · Free · No account
Press Block channel on a result. Unlike “Don’t recommend”, the channel leaves search too.
challenge
The 10-pound pizza challenge
Big Bite Bros
3.3M views · 1 week ago
Last to leave the pool challenge
Prank Patrol
7.2M views · 2 months ago
One-board challenge: a stool from a single plank
Weekend Builder
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Reacting to the hardest challenge videos
React Room
1.8M views · 3 days ago
Shorts
Cheese pull level: impossible
3.1M views
He did not see that coming
9.8M views
What it covers
According to YouTube’s recommendations help page, you find it in the ⋮ menu next to a video, Short or post on pages like Home and Watch Next. A related option, Don’t recommend posts from channel, does the same for community posts. Both are inputs to the recommendation system, not filters. Nothing in the help page promises the channel will never appear again.
Why the channel comes back
| Where you saw it | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Search results | Search isn’t part of the feedback. | Block it in search |
| Subscriptions | You still follow the channel. | Unsubscribe from its page |
| Home, after a while | The feedback was cleared, maybe during a reset of recommendations. | Mark it again, or block it |
| Another device | That device is signed out or signed in to another account. Feedback belongs to the account that gave it. | Check the profile picture |
| Videos that look the same | They come from another channel: a re-upload, a clip channel, a reaction. | Block the words in the titles |
| Comments | Feedback doesn’t touch comments. | A block hides them |
How feedback gets cleared
All your “Not interested” and “Don’t recommend channel” choices live in one place: My Activity, then Other activity, then YouTube ‘Not interested’ feedback. Choosing Delete there wipes all of it at once. If you, or someone using your account, did that while trying to reset recommendations, every channel you marked can come back together.
“Not interested” not working either?
“Not interested” works on a single video. It drops that video from the feed and, if you answer Tell us why, records whether you’ve already watched it or simply don’t like it. It’s a nudge for the next round of recommendations. A different video on the same topic is still fair game.
How to make it stick
Feedback asks YouTube to show something less. A block makes sure you don’t see it. There are two ways to get a real block:
- For a child’s supervised account, a parent can block a channel from their own linked account. See blocking channels for kids.
- On your own computer, FeedCut adds a Block channel button to every video, channel page and comment. The channel disappears from Home, search, Up next and the comments, and stays in a list you can review and undo one channel at a time.
It’s worth keeping both. “Don’t recommend” follows your account to the phone and TV apps; FeedCut takes the channel out of the browser completely.
Questions
Is there a list of channels I’ve marked “Don’t recommend”?
No. YouTube stores them together as “Not interested” feedback in My Activity, and you can only delete that feedback all at once.
Does it work in the app and on a TV?
Yes. In the app it’s in the ⋮ menu next to a video. On a TV, press and hold select on a video, choose Not interested, then Tell us why, and pick Don’t recommend channel.
Does “Not interested” block a video?
No. It removes that one video from the feed you’re looking at and counts as feedback. The video still turns up in search.
Will the channel know?
No. YouTube doesn’t tell creators about feedback, and FeedCut doesn’t send anything to YouTube.
Take YouTube back to what you came for
Block channels, words and Shorts everywhere on YouTube. Free, no account, nothing leaves your browser.