Before AI became the defining buzzword of the 21st century, algorithms held that crown. And frankly, algorithmic recommendations have always kind of sucked. YouTube, in particular, has long been criticized for serving up low-quality content — and more troublingly, for functioning as a gateway to right-wing rabbit holes.

The best workaround has always been simple: pause your YouTube watch history. Without it running, your recommendations pull from your likes, saved videos, and subscriptions — not from that one iceberg video you clicked at 2 a.m. that suddenly has the algorithm convinced you want an endless stream of “SJW owned” compilations.

That fix, however, appears to be breaking down. Last week, a wave of YouTube users reported that with watch history paused, the platform has stopped serving homepage recommendations entirely — replacing their feeds with a prompt to re-enable watch history so YouTube can “populate” it.

Credit: Mashable screenshot / YouTube

The issue isn’t universal. Users who recently paused their history still see recommendations, likely because YouTube has enough residual data to work with. The problem is hitting hardest for users who have kept watch history off for years — a group that, until now, had no issues. For the record, this writer has had watch history paused since 2017 without a single problem — until now, apparently.

This change hasn’t gone down well, with many taking to Reddit to voice their complaints. “I’ve had my watch history off since 2013. Why is this suddenly a requirement? Maliciously incompetent company,” says the top comment on one Reddit thread. Another commentor states, “Haven’t had watch history on for 9 years. Now they’re forcing me to turn it on to get recommended what they recommend me on my PC even though the reason they stated they cant recommend anything is because I don’t have watch history on??? Makes no sense and its almost blatant.”

While this isn’t the first time YouTube has nudged users toward enabling tracking, some see this latest move as a more aggressive push to harvest search histories for ad targeting. There’s also a legitimate question worth asking: why does YouTube suddenly need watch history to generate homepage recommendations when it had been doing exactly that for years without it?

Mashable reached out to YouTube with questions about the change and had not received a response by publication time.

Users have already found a workaround. Re-enable your watch history, refresh the page, then immediately pause it again. Your homepage recommendations should repopulate. To access the page to re-pause, head to Settings, click “View or change your Google Account settings,” navigate to Data & Privacy, and toggle off YouTube history.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 17 seconds ago

Do you know what happens when Star Wars fans get together? If you said “embarrassing things,” you’re correct, but I meant more specifically. After a few conversations and a few beers (or maybe spiked blue milks), everyone starts dishing on their favorite franchise plot holes. These are supposedly narrative mistakes that make this famous galaxy far, far away feel that much less immersive. Incidentally, the one “plot hole” that comes up most frequently in these discussions is the idea that Order 66 should have killed more Jedi than it actually did.

In the Original Trilogy, we are introduced to the idea that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are the last Jedi in the galaxy. But the prequels, sequels, and an entire universe of tie-in books, comics, and games have increasingly introduced more Jedi characters that survived Emperor Palpatine’s galactic purge of these laser sword-wielding do-gooders. However, as usual, the fandom is griping for no good reason because, based on the sheer onscreen incompetence of Palpatine and his clones, it’s a miracle that more Jedi didn’t survive this sloppy attempt at mass murder.

The Stupidest Order In The Galaxy

The Star Wars movies A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back presented Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda as the only surviving Jedi. Of course, Kenobi didn’t give too many granular details as to how the Jedi died. All he told young Luke Skywalker in that first movie is that Darth Vader “helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights.… now, the Jedi are all but extinct.” Nobody really questioned this because we had no idea how many Jedi there were to begin with. Plus, it was easy enough to imagine the most powerful guy in the galaxy using all of a vast, galaxy-spanning Empire’s resources to hunt and kill a bunch of hippie space wizards.

But in Revenge of the Sith, we see how it all went down. Palpatine had a hidden command secretly installed in the brains of all the clones who were fighting side-by-side with the Jedi during the Clone Wars. Once the Emperor commanded them to “Execute Order 66,” all of the clones stopped what they were doing to immediately kill the closest Jedi. In a montage of bleak scenes, we see how sudden surprise blaster fire was enough to kill even Jedi Masters like Ki-Adi Mundi, Plo Koon, and Aayla Secura.

Holo Pursuits

At the time, it made a kind of morbid sense. We had previously seen how Jedi like Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi could deflect a handful of blaster bolts, so it seemed reasonable to believe they couldn’t survive if a small army fired on them all at once. However, some of the clones were downright sloppy with their execution attempts. Because of their methods and the whole design of Palpatine’s harebrained scheme, it was basically inevitable that countless warriors would survive this attempted purge. This would explain why popular Jedi like Kanan Jarrus, Ahsoka Tano, Cal Kestis, and even Grogu survived Order 66.

When you re-watch Revenge of the Sith, notice how sloppy the Clone Troopers are. Cody basically fires one shot at Obi-Wan Kenobi and assumes falling into the water will be enough to kill the guy who can take on entire droid armies by himself. The handful of clones who try to kill Yoda somehow forget that he can sense their intent through the Force. Even some of the successful kills are sloppy. Like, sure, y’all blew Plo Koon out of the sky, but other Jedi flying starships could likely hyperspace to safety (yes, they’d have to get to a hyperspace ring first, you can stop writing that comment).

When The Sith Go Marching In

My theory is simple: assuming other Jedi were in similar situations throughout the galaxy, quite a few Jedi would survive Order 66. If the Clone Troopers tried to fire on other warriors who were very far away (like Obi-Wan), the targeted Jedi would likely escape. If other clones tried to sneak up on Jedi in non-combat situations (like with Yoda), these Force users would sense their intent and kill them out of self-defense. Furthermore, if there aren’t enough Clones around when the order goes through, a Jedi could survive, say, only three or four people trying to shoot him, much like Obi-Wan did when fighting Battle Droids throughout the prequels.

Long story not very short, the Emperor came up with a stupid plan and executed it in the sloppiest possible way. Plus, contrary to what Obi-Wan said in A New Hope, later Star Wars shows make it seem like Vader stopped personally hunting down Jedi and left that task to the Inquisitors. Whenever the Inquisitors fight someone other than a helpless child or scared former Padawan, they get their butts handed to them, as seen in everything from Star Wars Rebels to the Fallen Order and Survivor video games. Because Order 66 was done so poorly, and Palpatine’s brute squad sucked so hard, it’s no wonder so many Jedi survived the purge.

In retrospect, this makes sense, too. Palpatine is infamous among fans for his insane plans, which included playing the commander in chief of two different warring armies so he could land the job of “mutilated president for life.” It’s only because of (let’s face it) bad writing on George Lucas’ part that any of the Emperor’s plans ever succeed. Order 66 was so utterly stupid and handled so poorly that it guaranteed plenty of Jedi survivors. But what else would you expect from someone who spent all his Empire’s credits on a space station that’s so easy to blow up … twice!

Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you’re a shining star.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

Sheen.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter S appears twice.

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Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter G.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today’s Wordle is…

GLOSS

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.