Why Doesn't YouTube Regulate Its Comment Section?

[DSC]

I'm genuinely getting really tired from this. Every time I go into any popular YT video there is a very, very good chance in the comments I just find some kind of idiocy and stupidity going around. I ain't even looking for it, it just seems to find a way. People being able to hide behind theirs screens can lead to alot of crap without proper moderation like here. Hell, even DW, with its stellar work by our awesome mods ^{don't worry I didn't say this under threat of my organs being removed or anything} still gets some BS thrown around every now and then. Thats why I'm asking, YT aren't short on money, so what's stopping them? Greed? Lazyness? Is the amount of videos uploaded just too large? Why don't they do anything?

 

And no don't worry, I'll make it very clear: I'm not advocating for censorship of content I don't agree with, deleting or demonetizing videos and locking down comment sections. I just want a slightly more peaceful place.

[Hawk of The Crystals]

This is the same website that constantly screws over small channels, i doubt they'll really fix their comment system unless it's to remove comments the bot thinks are bad.

Plus, we've seen that youtube's staff is incompetent, considering that some certain people that shall not be named don't get their channels rightfully removed, yet innocent creators have their stuff constantly at risk.

 

That being said, sometimes you gotta do it yourself as a channel, i personally think that it's a right to moderate your own comment section if you have one.

Other then that, let's hope youtube finally gets a brain and stops being weird, especially with the bots.

 

 

 

[Grimosaur]

I don't think we should be blaming Youtube for what people are saying in comments. There's just a lot of stupid people out there saying stupid things and you can't expect Youtube to be moderating every single video on the site, painstakingly filtering out any comments that aren't considered up to the standard.

If that's what everyone is commenting then what can ya do? We should be focusing more on educating those people not to say stupid things instead of trying to filter them out of existence.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Grimosaur

[DSC]

11 minutes ago, Grimosaur said:

If that's what everyone is commenting then what can ya do? We should be focusing more on educating those people not to say stupid things instead of trying to filter them out of existence.

We can't just change people this easily. Its something much bigger than that, there isn't anything that can be done to "cure" someone's personality. Unless you want to brainwash them or something.

[Murdoch]

The logistics of such an operation would be insane. 

[DSC]

Just now, Murdoch said:

The logistics of such an operation would be insane. 

Can't there be some kind of algorithm that does anything? I mean, I know there other ones are crap, but still.

[Jimmy]

There are browser plugins out there that let you completely disable comment sections outright.

 

Use them. Feel better.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Jimmy

[DSC]

1 minute ago, Jimmy said:

There are browser plugins out there that let you completely disable comment sections outright.

 

Use them. Feel better.

Wait, WHAT?!? I thought they were illegal, believe it or not! Thanks Jimmy!! Any good one you can recommend?

[Silhouette 03]

Youtube is known for screwing over smaller content creators, ones that don't act like morons, not that I'm saying that all big content creators are morons, before someone inevitably accuses me of calling all big content creators morons. I just can't stand it when people who actually put actual effort and spend years honing their craft don't get the recognition they deserve. 

 

To get back to the topic, it depends on what kind of channel, since some channels are seem to attract the worst vestiges of humanity. Typical racists, bigots, misogynists and trolls. I usually tend to ignore them. Don't waste your time on scummy people.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Silhou3tte

[Jimmy]

4 minutes ago, DSC said:

Wait, WHAT?!? I thought they were illegal, believe it or not! Thanks Jimmy!! Any good one you can recommend?

 

"Shut Up".

[DSC]

2 minutes ago, Silhou3tte said:

Typical racists, bigots, misogynists and trolls. I usually tend to ignore them. Don't waste your time on scummy people.

Thats the problem, I try to avoid that kind of stuff, but even in the "lighter", more "mainstream" and fun-oriented channels and videos I still find some kind of stupidity.

[Loud Silence]

Most of videos on YT are not better than comments.

[Silhouette 03]

4 minutes ago, DSC said:

Thats the problem, I try to avoid that kind of stuff, but even in the "lighter", more "mainstream" and fun-oriented channels and videos I still find some kind of stupidity.

 Outright avoiding of these people is impossible. Choosing to ignore these comments is the only way, unfortunately. They are upsetting, but giving these (pardon my language) assholes any of your time is giving them validation. A kind of validation for people who hate themselves and use that hate to make others miserable. That or they are just crappy people.

 

  

[Bridgeburner56]

First time on the internet eh? :D

[DSC]

4 minutes ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

First time on the internet eh? :D

Nah, just my breaking point.

[Kurogachii]

It's all automated nowadays, less admins and more bots with a specific program, if you find a way to bypass or exploit them.. you won basically.

Youtube as a community is cool but as a site i prefer twitch.

[Dubbag]

You know what I'm sick of? Every single video I put up there's some fucking bot saying something like "0:46 vom.gen.in" I'm SO sick of those. Every time with out fail. I'll upload videos and get a notification of a comment on them within seconds and I already know it's going to be that garbage. I think they can give a like to your videos too which is bullshit as well.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Dubbag

[Chopkinsca]

I know how terrible Youtube comments can be, yet I still always check them. Maybe because now and then I get an informative or heartwarming comment/thread that isn't the usual crap. Also I always check the comments on a smaller Youtuber that I watch, no crap there.

[AndrewB]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

There are browser plugins out there that let you completely disable comment sections outright.

 

Use them. Feel better.

 

Or you could, you know, just not scroll down?

[wallabra]

1 hour ago, DSC said:

Wait, WHAT?!? I thought they were illegal, believe it or not! Thanks Jimmy!! Any good one you can recommend?

 

It's called, not looking at them. :)

 

I mean, really, what you (or any other random reader) thinks of what people talk online is the least of concerns of anyone, and it shouldn't be any more than, anyway. If you don't want to see something, just don't. It's none of your business if people want to be stupid and cringesome for the sake of it. It's their business.

 

I don't like when people act like they have privileges over what others say, in any way. In smaller communities, it's completely normal and perfectly fine to show someone the door (AKA losering, AKA banning, etc) when they get annoying, but when you have such a massive traffic of people typing and reading platform-wide, then the platform should limit its coercive powers to only when it is most urgent.

 

From the perspective of the platform, trying to curb some people for being a bit less polite than ideal would be pretty stupid; and for everyone else, I'd say that words have no action potential of their own; they won't jump out of the screen and cut you up, so if you don't like them, just scroll past, or don't scroll at all. Don't try to tell what others can and can't do, because you're not the only one reading. Only the platform shall have anything close to a say on that, and it is aware that it's usually better not to have any at all.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Gustavo6046

[Major Arlene]

Comments come down to moderation- granted, larger channels can't regulate as well but it's either something that is up to the viewer to ignore or channels to moderate better. People are going to say dumb, hateful shit over the pettiest things, that's the internet for you. 

[wallabra]

@Major Arlene Indeed, I think moderation is important to maintain a minimum modicum of decency, but it should be used sparingly.

 

When there are many people typing, and lots, lots more reading, it's much more practical to have readers decide what they do and don't want to read (and maybe provide tools to assist with "blocking" content from certain people, which YouTube doesn't provide), than to always try to appeal to everyone down to the lowest common denominator. Ironically, the latter is much more likely to backfire, since there is a correlation between the strictness of a reader's standards of "acceptable" content and the finickiness of said reader with regards to that content; in other words, people who want to be harsher on what should and shouldn't be said will have the most dramatic reactions to the least actual deviations from said standards.

 

Therefore, it is exponentially easier to remain within said standard when the standard is actually pretty broad and lenient, while at the same time allowing the more sensitive types of people to systematically filter content on their end of the wire if they so desire.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Gustavo6046

[DSC]

Well, its just like I said earlier then: can't change human nature. What a shame...

[Hawk of The Crystals]

Tis the nature of free will.

 

[Murdoch]

6 hours ago, DSC said:

Can't there be some kind of algorithm that does anything? I mean, I know there other ones are crap, but still.

 

Yes and no. Algorithms need to be developed and, for want of a better word, trained. And they can make mistakes. Much like Facebook, YouTube has essentially become it's own worst enemy. Arguably very successful, but that success has bough pretty severe consequences.

[Vorpal]

8 hours ago, DSC said:

I'm not advocating for censorship of content I don't agree with

 

Well wanting youtube to remove "idiotic and stupid comments as determined by me" is exactly this.

 

It's possible to be both pro-censorship and pro-free speech tho. I am in favor of website owners having the freedom to curate the data that lives on their servers til the cows come home. But as a user of a website I'm in favor of unmoderated open discussion (i.e. while I respect the right of the owner to do so, I avoid communities that seem heavy handed with the rules and censorship).

[DSC]

8 hours ago, Vorpal said:

Well wanting youtube to remove "idiotic and stupid comments as determined by me" is exactly this.

I don't see why. Alot of those comments are either spam or repeated unfunny jokes, which we can universally agree suck, or flat-out objectively wrong, like comments advocating support for conspiracy theories.

[Vorpal]

3 hours ago, DSC said:

I don't see why. Alot of those comments are either spam or repeated unfunny jokes, which we can universally agree suck, or flat-out objectively wrong, like comments advocating support for conspiracy theories.

 

Do you not know what censorship is? And do you not know what objectivity is?

[DSC]

19 minutes ago, Vorpal said:

Do you not know what censorship is? And do you not know what objectivity is?

If someone says things like "vaccines don't work", he is objectively wrong, for example. If its just spam sending out impossible to undesrtand garbage, it is universally agreed to be crap.

[LexiMax]

If a community is too large to reasonably moderate, maybe the solution is to not have a community that large in the first place?

 

But YouTube will likely always have a comments section because YouTube comments are not about fostering a good community and instead are about driving engagement, aka ad revenue, by having people return to the video over and over again.