"By the way" unwanted and unneeded

[Elijah_Baley]

I want to turn off all the extra "by the way" crap Alexa has been adding to the answers and responses. When I ask something like "What time is it" or "What is the temperature" all I want to hear is the answer no "By the way I have..." or "By the way did you know.." or any such extraneous information. The only to interrupt the noise is to say something like "Alexa, shut up" or "Alexia, stop." I do not want any such useless drivel being spewed by my Echo devices.

I have gone into settings and turned off everything that even remotely sounds like it could be the cause of this unwanted behavior but I still have not found any way to permanently silence this unwanted noise.

Thanks for pointing me to a solution.

[AlanH]

Brief Mode?
https://www.howtogeek.com/346176/what-is-alexa’s-brief-mode-and-how-do-i-turn-it-on-or-off/

[Elijah_Baley]

Brief Mode?
https://www.howtogeek.com/346176/what-is-alexa’s-brief-mode-and-how-do-i-turn-it-on-or-off/

Tried that. It does not help. This has nothing to do with Alexa's initial response but it has to do with Alexa adding things that it believes I "might" be interested in. I just want the answers I ask for.

Thanks for trying.
BTW: Searches on the internet all make it seem that this is not going to get fixed and it is the desired behavior. I have noticed that a lot of the time "By the way..." is followed by a shopping suggestion or a blurb that wants to read some Amazon content. Often it is unrelated to the question asked or anything else in the recent interactions with Alexa.

[scottrods]

I don't remember what the echo was spewing at me one day and I caught her mid sentence and said "Oh Stop it!".... and never another "by the way" moment. Not sure how that made it work permanently, but I was a bit exasperated by that time too...

[renegade600]

I think I have only heard it around five times this year, the latest was a couple of weeks ago.  Not sure if it can be turned off.  I just tell it to stop or ignore it.   I just hope it won't get worse.  I guess I should start sending feedback every time it does it. 

[jwlv]

I just say "Alexa shut up!" According to Amazon, Alexa is capable of recognizing voice tones to determine emotional state of the person speaking. So if you really yell at Alexa, she should get the message.

Speaking of voice tones, the new Amazon Halo device has that emotion ability. I don't own a Halo device but I've read a lot about it.  Here's a write-up about it: https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-skeptical-amazon-halo-judges-emotional-state-from-voice-2020-8

[renegade600]

I just say "Alexa shut up!" According to Amazon, Alexa is capable of recognizing voice tones to determine emotional state of the person speaking. So if you really yell at Alexa, she should get the message.

Speaking of voice tones, the new Amazon Halo device has that emotion ability. I don't own a Halo device but I've read a lot about it.  Here's a write-up about it: https://www.businessinsider.com/experts-skeptical-amazon-halo-judges-emotional-state-from-voice-2020-8

The last time I yelled at alexa and asked if it was stupid, It had problems with commands for the next few hours.    Might not be related because I don't have a Halo device.   I think someone else here had a similar experience. 

[Elijah_Baley]

I thought I had found a solution by turning on follow up mode but it turns out Alexa will still spew out its "by the ways" even with follow up mode on.

However it turns out the after strongly telling Alexa to "shut up" several times (following advice from the posters above) the frequency of "by the ways" has dropped to a mostly manageable level. I have had days go by with no such inane banalities spewing from Alexa.

It is still irritating but is at least now down to a less intrusive level.

[renegade600]

just send feedback to amazon about the feature.   Amazon does listen if there are enough complaints.