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Building good, strong, communities is hard. Does anyone know what stopped YouTube from being able to make comments a friendly, welcoming environment?

throwaway98237 10y ago
Just a guess, but, because it was a Google effort? Google may get software and systems (and even hardware now), but Google has failed spectacularly when it comes to social.
- flukus 10y ago
  It wasn't a google effort though. I don't think it's even changed substantially from when google bought them, except for the whole google plus thing.
  - throwaway98237 10y ago
    It's Google's property, Google can make whatever changes it'd like, so it's Google's responsibility.
    - flukus 10y ago
      I agree, just pointing out that youtube wasn't a "google effort".
thescribe 10y ago
Maybe I don't want a community, I want a place to host software, or a place to host videos.
- serge2k 10y ago
  I'd like to be able to post a video without having fear of harassment and threats. That doesn't seem like too much to ask.
  - z0r 10y ago
    You can disable comments.
    - serge2k 10y ago
      and have no more community interaction.
      - z0r 10y ago
        Not everything has to be a social network. Host it on youtube, post it someplace else. Blog, facebook page, website with comments... Youtube seems to work fine in its current form for many content creators.
        geofft 10y ago
        But GitHub is a social network, and that's why it succeeded over the myriad other git hosts like git.or.cz, literally every web host, etc. The product wasn't git hosting, the product was the community. Not everything has to be a social network, but many things (including software engineering) are better if they are. Not every social network needs moderation, but many of them are better if they have it.
        flukus 10y ago
        How is github a social network anymore than sourceforge was/is?
      - falcolas 10y ago
        It is impossible to have interaction with other humans and not have some risk of being offended.
      - flukus 10y ago
        Post it to a private forum then. They were very common not long ago.
  - 10y ago
detaro 10y ago
YouTube comments on channels with predominantly a fixed followerbase can be nice environments, but they never provided the tools to moderate larger comment sections and form communities. (+ of course moderating larger communities in "a bad neighborhood" is a lot of work, and many channels have very limited resources) AFAIK YouTube ranking also prioritizes controversial comments, which increases interactions (metrics!) but also highlights bad stuff.
forgottenpass 10y ago
Does anyone know what stopped YouTube from being able to make comments a friendly, welcoming environment? Do we have any reason to suspect they even tried? Maybe it's because they just slapped comment functionality onto their pages to increase user engagement?

throwaway98237 10y ago

Just a guess, but, because it was a Google effort? Google may get software and systems (and even hardware now), but Google has failed spectacularly when it comes to social.

flukus 10y ago
It wasn't a google effort though. I don't think it's even changed substantially from when google bought them, except for the whole google plus thing.
- throwaway98237 10y ago
  It's Google's property, Google can make whatever changes it'd like, so it's Google's responsibility.
  - flukus 10y ago
    I agree, just pointing out that youtube wasn't a "google effort".

thescribe 10y ago

Maybe I don't want a community, I want a place to host software, or a place to host videos.

serge2k 10y ago
I'd like to be able to post a video without having fear of harassment and threats. That doesn't seem like too much to ask.
- z0r 10y ago
  You can disable comments.
  - serge2k 10y ago
    and have no more community interaction.
    - z0r 10y ago
      Not everything has to be a social network. Host it on youtube, post it someplace else. Blog, facebook page, website with comments... Youtube seems to work fine in its current form for many content creators.
      - geofft 10y ago
        But GitHub is a social network, and that's why it succeeded over the myriad other git hosts like git.or.cz, literally every web host, etc. The product wasn't git hosting, the product was the community. Not everything has to be a social network, but many things (including software engineering) are better if they are. Not every social network needs moderation, but many of them are better if they have it.
        flukus 10y ago
        How is github a social network anymore than sourceforge was/is?
    - falcolas 10y ago
      It is impossible to have interaction with other humans and not have some risk of being offended.
    - flukus 10y ago
      Post it to a private forum then. They were very common not long ago.
- 10y ago

detaro 10y ago

YouTube comments on channels with predominantly a fixed followerbase can be nice environments, but they never provided the tools to moderate larger comment sections and form communities. (+ of course moderating larger communities in "a bad neighborhood" is a lot of work, and many channels have very limited resources) AFAIK YouTube ranking also prioritizes controversial comments, which increases interactions (metrics!) but also highlights bad stuff.

forgottenpass 10y ago

Does anyone know what stopped YouTube from being able to make comments a friendly, welcoming environment? Do we have any reason to suspect they even tried? Maybe it's because they just slapped comment functionality onto their pages to increase user engagement?