We hear you: Better commenting coming to YouTube | Hacker News Reader

We hear you: Better commenting coming to YouTube

youtube-global.blogspot.com

60 pointscramforce71 comments

Internet yesterday:

"YouTube comments are the cesspool of the internet, and you will lose brain cells by reading them"

Internet today:

"Anonymous and uncensored YouTube comments are the only thing standing between us and a dystopian surveillance state overseen by Google+"

I understand there are there are tradeoffs, but so much of the hate seems to be arbitrary anti-Google ranting.

There are other options. Maybe you didn't meant to come off this way but that seems a bit like a strawman.

Or there's always the possibility that those are two sets of people you're conflating.

Internet every day:

"Here's a comment from Bob, and another from Alice. I'm going to ignore that they're not the same person and pretend that if you smash them together like play-doh you get a single hypocrite."

* anti-Google+ ranting

is what you meant I think :)

It is a bit amusing how Google+ can do no right. From my point of view, everyone I know uses Facebook and no one uses Google+, so that's the only reason this feature doesn't serve me at all.

Does everyone really have such a hard time creating multiple google accounts? Google makes this as accessible as possible, or maybe people don't like Google+ for some other reason? I don't really get it either.

I'm not allowed to name any of my G+ accounts "sep332". Which sucks because that is my primary online identity.

Have you tried creating a G+ Page?

That's only if you base the Youtube channel on a G+ profile, if you base it on a G+ Page you can name it anything you like:

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2848323

Why should he be forced to create a "Page" rather than a normal "Profile"? No service should lay down rules on what you want your username to be. That's only one of the ways Google+ fails abysmally, as skud and other people have demonstrated.

It could be that YouTube videos are the cesspool of the internet and that adding google+ to them isn't a solution to this, just an excuse to try and increase the adoption of google+.

There isn't anything wrong with thinking that YouTube comments are often terrible while also disliking that google is trying to push their own social integration into all of the their services.

No, Google does not hear it's users, they just want to lock everyone in their ecosystem. No, please, I don't want to see comments from my 'friends'. No one asked for this. All I'm hearing is how everyone hates the Google+ integration. Eagerly waiting for a new video host that doesn't push 'social' down your throat.

My thought exactly, if they "heard from us" they would hear that we absolutely loathe the new interface and would like them to try to fix it or make something else (I wont say revert, they never will)

I've been pretty reluctant to comment ever since I created a Google+ account and it switched to my real name. I've never had too terrible comments, but I just don't want my real name anywhere near YouTube comments. I've never seen the value in comments there. Early on in YouTube's history it was a real community building tool, now it's just terrible.

I agree. Seems their strategy is to offer some teaser feature/product/whatever and the only way to access it is to create a new Google Plus account. So now I have THREE separate Google Plus accounts. Personal, Business and now YouTube. I would just delete YouTube but I have thousands of views and my Adsense account is linked to that. I'd like to make more content for YouTube but they make it difficult to manage multiple accounts for multiple channels. For example, I don't want my abstract painting videos associated with my primary business, that would be bad for my business. If I make another channel, I think that means I need a separate email address, separate password and a separate Google Plus profile and then logout, login, logout, login, there's got to be a better way. I'd put my art videos on Vimeo but YouTube has all the traffic and I'm a YouTube partner! That's just the tip of the iceberg.

You do not need a separate account for a new channel; just go here and click 'Create a new channel': http://www.youtube.com/channel_switcher

Well, until they decide Good news everyone, we just made even easier to engage with your viewers by linking all other videos of your account in 'what else to watch by..'. There's a good reason for parent to use separate accounts.

Under the hood Youtube channels based on Google+ Pages actually belong to a separate Google account so its unlikely.

Even if in the universe where they lost there heads and did do it, G+ pages are designed to support multiple owners so you're not locked in since you could just chuck it over to another account.

Thanks! That's a cool new feature.

Under the new system you just create multiple G+ Pages for each channel. G+ Pages don't have the real name requirement: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2848323

Mainly because the population in general is just terrible. Racists, bigots, 13year olds (either in actuality or trapped in a 40yo mind)

I'm co-founder of CueNotes. We all agree YouTube comments are broken - we've been working on making YouTube comments social, higher quality - and a better overall experience. Like being able to view and add comments while you're watching, and timed comments that "pop up" at the right time. Give it a try, we'd love your feedback: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cuenotes/kgnmfppmh...

Hey everyone, I'm also a co-founder of CueNotes. Try installing the chrome extension we built and then watch this Limp Bizkit video with comments by Fred Durst: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx9n-1ginEc

Comment sorting-by-best only works if the best comments are actually good comments and there's no bandwagoning. Considering the fanbases of famous YouTubers such as RayWilliamJohnson and PewDiePie, this could actually make things worse.

But atleast the new comments will be functional, which alone is an improvement.

Not sure if "better commenting", or just another attempt to integrate G+ into every Google-owned property.

The part about floating "engaged discussions" to the top is interesting. One hopes the algorithm distinguishes between "ongoing informative discussion" and "blazingly active flamewar".

Can we stop claiming that Google+ can absolutely not be usefully implemented in other Google products?

Nice strawman. Did I claim at any point that g+ is "absolutely not [useful]"? No need to start white-knighting for Google.

"Not sure if "better commenting", or just another attempt to integrate G+ into every Google-owned property."

"Nice strawman."

Nice affirming a disjunct.

I never found YouTube comments problematic. On the contrary: they are the closer to a universal, democratic, ununcensoredsensored dialogue we have ever achieved as a planet.

There's racism, sexism, nationalism etc? That's exactly because those also exist in the world. That's what makes YouTube comment threads democratic and uncensored. It gives people living in their microcosm and social bubble a chance to find out what other people believe and think.

It's also the visual nature of the medium: unlike a blog post or some web essay, a video can attrack visitors from more walks of life, more ages, more countries, more educational levels, and more perspectives. Even the language the video is in is not an absolute barrier (people can still enjoy what's shown without it).

I've written some terrible crap on youtube that I don't feel are authentic representations of what I think/ who I am.

Well, you might not think they are, but if you wrote them then that's how you felt at the time, so they do provide an authentic look of part of you (which you might have outgrown, but that's beside the point).

I think people are compelled to act certain ways in certain environments. I wouldn't say the same things to my family as I would to my friends and vice-versa. If you're in a cesspool, you're not afraid to throw shit because everyone's already subsumed in it.

I appreciate that we're long past this point, but I'll say it anyways:

I don't want comments or social--I just want to watch my damned video and be left alone.

EDIT: Has anyone ever really said, "Man, my whole day was made better by that comment on YouTube! I'm really glad I could be part of that!"?

It would be interesting to see what would happen to YouTube if the comments were removed from video / channel pages for a week or a month.

I don't see how that would keep people from visiting the site or watching videos (and of course, ads).

Try using the Feather experiment, it gets rid of a lot of things including comments, iirc: http://www.youtube.com/feather_beta

It wouldn't keep people from the site, but they would spend less time on it. Not sure if that would decrease their ad views, or increase views because users aren't wasting time reading comments.

I have some technical videos with a few hundred views, and I am pleased when someone comments to say that the content was useful to them, or to ask a clarifying question.

Hypothesis: comments are more civil and useful in the long tail...

Depending on the video there are very good discussions in the comments. Youtube is not made of cats.

Oh wow, your edit really corresponds to an illustration by Matthew Inman: https://plus.google.com/+VicGundotra/posts/CNcAzVKo2RH

There are lots of situations where youtube comments would actually improve the quality of the content. Educational videos, for example, are often clarified and elaborated on in the comments.

Unfortunately, trolling comments often ruin this opportunity. If I wanted to show my nephew a video from khan academy or a news report, I would probably have to turn off or hide the comments before showing him the video.

Okay, here you go: http://kidsfriend.ly. But I built it for kids, no like/rating/comments/related/recommendation.

Sample playlist: http://www.kidsfriend.ly/playlists/6FD474E496A111E2969E12313...

There are lots of trolls, but I always enjoy the occasionally hilariously clever comment or interesting information/opinions people can offer on more technical subjects.

You're right, nobody has ever said that. I hope that's the point. I hope the end goal is that people will say that occasionally.

I never even glance at the comments on certain sites (e.g. YouTube, Yahoo Sports) because I know they are going to be awful. I do read comments on other sites (e.g. Deadspin, AVClub) because they often add to the story and are also often hilarious.

It really depends on what you're on YouTube to do. For me YouTube is my #1 Social Network and has been for many years. Comments are a big part of every video, a place for you to interact with those who watch your content. A place to get ideas, feedback, and just add a personal touch thanking people for engaging with something that took you a lot of work to produce or something you really wanted to share.

That being said I absolutely can't stand google's continued attempt to force people to link google plus to youtube and am iffy on what this new change will do, but I am all for making the comment section more useful especially since they just took away our ability to respond to a video with a video (video responses).

Which videos do you watch? Where is this mecca of decent comments on YouTube? 99.9% of the comments I read are awful.

I watch a lot of vlogs as well as skits, music, short films and some gaming videos as well. I make vlogs myself mostly and between my several channels have over a quarter million subscribers.

So basically you're obliged to commend the quality of your comments? :P

Heh, I kid I kid. I'm glad you've got a good community there.

Why is the possibility that Google saw Plus as a way to improve youtube, maps, search, so egregious?

I won't be linking my actual name with my youtube or even my google+ account, but, unless google somehow tries to force me, I would be glad to see most users coerced into doing so.

You might like CommentSnob, you can use it to hide bad (or all) comments on YT, etc.

I find it somewhat ironic that you say this in a comment! Why not read the damned blog post and be left alone?

I think the popularity of comments on sites like this one demonstrates that comments done right can add a significant amount of value in many cases; not sure that mainstream videos where the commenters are basically sampled from the entire population are such a case, but comments can be useful on videos aimed at a narrower audience.

> I find it somewhat ironic that you say this in a comment! Why not read the damned blog post and be left alone?

Because he said Youtube, not comments in general. It's perfectly non-ironic to expect different things from different sites.

>Has anyone ever really said, "Man, my whole day was made better by that comment on YouTube! I'm really glad I could be part of that!"?

Yes, me, tons of times. Comments of YouTube have made me feel connect to a common human "soul" with people all around the globe, unlike any other medium.

Nothing like a 18 year old American, a 30 year old French and a 70 year old Asian praising the same Louis Armstrong video for example. Or people enjoying some cat doing feline stuff.

Even the feuds are enlightening, seeing that people over country X and Y, fight between them for similar issues to the ones your country has with country Z.

I've also seen tons of humor there.

Why not embrace the fact that YouTube has the best worst comments on the Internet? I'm sure moot has shed a silent tear when witnessing a YouTube troll that surpasses even the best of /b/. There's certainly some kind of postmodern digital street cred to be garnered there so run with it Google! It'll never happen on Google+ that's for sure.

Better commenting, maybe. Better comments, almost certainly not.

Better commenting? They've already done it: "safety mode", which hides all YouTube comments.

I deal with this by using the Chrome extension "YouTube Options" [1]. It takes a bit to setup, but it works pretty well by filtering out various fluff crap like comments, increasing the video size etc.

1 - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-options/bd...

The most interesting part of THESE comments is how many people were nodding in agreement until they saw the word "Google+".

We hear you: You said you wanted Google+ hamfistedly shoved down your throat for youtube comments, and we gave you what you wanted. Yay!

Pretty sad that funny top comments like "15 people fell into the well cause this is Sparta" on Youtube videos are going to be replaced by my grandmother commenting "Wow, this film is really violent."

[wow, probably downvoted by the one person on HN who likes Google+ :)]

you're fortunate its only one downvote. I'm no G+ fan but you do realize your comment is exactly how people mock Facebook and get downvoted to oblivion.

Well your comment says it better "The most interesting part of THESE comments is how many people were nodding in agreement until they saw the word "Google+". reply"

Guilty as charged. I don't want to be pushed towards using some ghost town social network to comment on a video for laughs. Facebook is different, people actually use it by choice.

I have decided to quit youtube since google is forcing me to create a G+ account.

Is there an alternative of Youtube to upload private or unlisted videos? How is vimeo?

Wait, Google heard its users? I guess persistence and yelling help... better late than never huh?

Now if only they could hear the real bug reports too...

And yet they have been deaf about merging Google+ accounts with YT accounts.

That has to be the most annoying and aggressive product push I've seen in a long time. The way they hide the opt-out button is really obnoxious.

The best commenting experience on YouTube is already available through the CommentSnob browser plugin. No action by YouTube necessary.

Anyone know of good competitors to youtube?

A couple years ago I Adblocked the comments section on YouTube and never looked back. I recommend it!

YouTube is a content hosting site, it is not a social networking site (or at least it doesn't do it well). Google+ is a social networking site, not a content hosting site (or at least it doesn't do it well). See the pattern?

I never want to interact with any content where it is hosted, I always want to interact with it where I found it. That means G+ or Facebook or Tumblr.

To my purposes, the separation is a severe annoyance. I want to be able to engage everyone on all facets and see how they are engaging back. I may not necessarily want the three crowds to interact with each other, as I have curated my followership differently on each.

Incidentally, Google+ does an amazing job of letting me control how my followers interact with each other and how I interact with them via Circles. But G+ users don't interact as often with my content as Tumblr users do. I have 5 times the followers on G+ than I have on Tumblr, but I get 10 times the shares and likes on Tumblr as G+ (so that seems to mean that engagement is 50 times higher).

If you build it, they will EFF U UP!

What do I want to see at the top of comments? Something well thought out. Personal isn't the same as important.

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