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Comment by corobo | Hacker News Reader

For me that's every attempt at social they've ever tried. Even the most successful, YouTube, is known for its toxic comment section.

Google hasn't been exceptional since they shuttered Labs. Man I used to be excited when something new popped up in Labs, haha. Now it's just.. lame.

Area 120 doesn't have the same feel, partially because it's branding is something your dad would think is cool, but also because nothing interesting has ever come out of it. Mostly just "this is Google's version of x". Where'd all the innovation go?

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Whose dad would think Area 120 sounds cool? Area 51++ sounds better than 120.

>Where'd all the innovation go?

who wants to innovate something cool when in a matter of months the GoogOverloards will decide to shutter it. that's not an enticement to spend time developing something.

As a 50 year old dad, I can confirm I initially thought Area51++ sounded v. cool, then immediately felt a sinking sense of getting old.

Haha for the record it's not thinking the name is cool that is a problem or anything, the name would be cool to me too at 34 if they'd put anything decent out under it, it's knowing if you're in business for a while you've got to start targeting the next generation's vocabulary!

Idk call it Google Poggers or something (I never said I had the answers, hah)

YouTube used to be known for that, but I thought the comment sections got cleaned up?

(I couldn't really say. I just watch music videos and it's all fans praising the musicians. It's probably different elsewhere.)

The comment issue on YT also predates google acquisition.

And applies to basically every public site with a comments section but insufficient resources to moderate it.

Remember what it was like when it was semi-obligatory for newspaper websites to have a comments section on every article?

On videos I usually watch, the comments are alright now.

That's fair, I am probably outdated on that one.

Fair play if they managed to tidy it up, admittedly I've not checked a YouTube comment section in ages. I'll update my knowledge :)

There is no meaningful innovation at Google. All of the super smart VPs with hundred-million salaries and business ventures amounted to nothing except an inefficient way to consume the ad revenue.

Like many a big organisation, it's been taken over by the managerial class, which will strangle any efforts at innovation, and prefer keeping things the way they are.

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