Related Products Don't Change

The related products that are displayed are selected from a pool of related products. By default though, the pool is the same size as the number to be displayed. The products selected for the pool will be in date-of-creation order, not random order. Those selected may be displayed in random order, but they will be the same products.

So, we need to make the pool bigger. This can be achieved using a hook, and retrieving a bigger pool of products. Code to do this is here:
https://pastebin.com/mPdhkSNq

I have a number of WooCommerce sites running, and have noticed that related products are no longer working like they should. I am developing a site with the current version of WooCommerce (2.4.10) and realised that the same boring first three products loaded onto the site in the category are the only ones being shown as ‘related products’. No matter which products I look at, the SAME ‘related’ products appear.

In an other site I have WooCommerce 2.3 running and am now noticing the same thing is happening there, the same first products in the category loaded onto the site are only being shown as ‘related’ products, not even being shuffled.

I an other site with WooCommerce 2.2.11 running, the products are how they should be, a variety within the category and different ones appear every time.

So to me WooCommerce 2.3 changed how ‘related products’ appeared, and this is not meant to be as they are even less ‘related’ than ever. The only time I would want the SAME related products to be shown is if I wanted a focus on them, like if they were featured, but they are not. I can imagine some may benefit from highlighting old products to help promote and sell old stocks, but I would much rather have that option available to me, especially as most of my WooCommerce sites are not active eCommerce stores, and I’d rather there be a variety of ‘related products’ shown across the category.

This needs fixing.