4 ms·

This will make the site useless for finding new content and content creators. And what's the point of a Like count without a Dislike count? I'll just assume ev

This will make the site useless for finding new content and content creators. And what's the point of a Like count without a Dislike count? I'll just assume every video has as many, if not more, dislikes and will turn to other sources for finding quality content (if at all). And they might as well get rid of the comments section too cause that's where people will voice their opinions.. but maybe that's part of the plan. Anyway, I've been a paying premium member since the beginning but the second I stop seeing dislike counts is the second I find other things to do with my time. Sad, because I really enjoy surfing YouTube.

ryanisnan 5y ago
Completely - What does 13,478 likes mean if 1,000,000,000 people have viewed the video, and 20,104,189 people disliked it. Batshit stupid.
- da39a3ee 5y ago
  This comment is the key isn't it? If someone tells you there's an election in some province of a country that you know nothing about, and they tell you there were two candidates A and B, and they tell you that candidate A received 17,652 votes, do you not need to know the total number of votes cast in order to assess the election results? I always thought you did.
bsder 5y ago
Personally, I'd rather they keep the dislike count and dump the comments section. I can probably count the number of times I've come across a comments section on YouTube that hasn't been a dumpster fire of idiocy on two hands (and I'm being generous).
- sojournerc 5y ago
  Really depends on the content. I love surfing comments on a lot of videos (even dash cam vids, hehe). I see a lot of positive comments for my favorite creators too. Would hate to get rid of the encouragement.
- OisinMoran 5y ago
  Whoa now, steady on! The comments on YouTube are one of my favourite parts and I would miss them much more than the dislikes (don't really pay much attention to those but do seem useful). I'm guessing you don't listen to much music on YouTube then? The great comments honestly at least double the enjoyment. E.g https://youtu.be/q4xKvHANqjk https://youtu.be/q4xKvHANqjk
  - prawn 5y ago
    The comments used to be horrific but on a lot of videos now, they're actually quite entertaining. I laugh at the top comment on this video every time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FssULNGSZIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FssULNGSZIA
- eftychis 5y ago
  This really depends on the content. A lot of areas of content have useful comment communities actually.
- Noumenon72 5y ago
  I read some comments for most videos I watch, especially Doom, standup comedy, music videos. YouTube seems to surface the funny comments and has cut down on the repetitive ones about what year it is.
  - azth 5y ago
    > especially Doom The game?
- franciscop 5y ago
  I've found that the more the niche a video is, or the more "cultural" videos (what the masses might call "boring"), the better the comments are. For example "Baumgartner Restoration" are decently popular at X00,000 views/video and comments are definitely civil, but it definitely doesn't target the typical youtube viewer. Game making tutorials in Godot are normally in the X,000-X0,000 range, which is "niche" for youtube, and they are normally not only civil but some times even contain useful tips!
- SNosTrAnDbLe 5y ago
  So true! The comments section feels like the people who shout or whistle while watching a movie in a theater. Moreover, I find the videos which have commenting turned off much more enjoyable.
dntrkv 5y ago
HN doesn't show dislikes and it manages to surface content better than the vast majority of aggregators and forums out there. Subreddits that remove the dislike function have much better content and levels of discourse. Removing dislikes (hiding them being step one) seems to be one of the better ways to improve the quality of content and commentary. Just for the fact that it removes the ability of a single group to brigade any content/creator they dislike or disagree with.
- GhettoComputers 5y ago
  It shows total score though. Moderators and a community culture with quality control matters way more, there is no evidence that it increases quality. Just look at 4chan with no scores.
  - TheRealNGenius 5y ago
    It doesn't show votes on comments for me. I can't even downvote!
    - chairmanwow1 5y ago
      You can after 500 karma
  - Nesco 5y ago
    Except that on 4chan people adapts and mostly reads threads that already possess replies. The multiplicative effect it creates ensure that only the threads that are the most interesting get most of the views. And because it is an image board a similar effect happens for posts: the presence of an image and the length of a post give a quick proxy to evaluate the effort put in it. Yes it will never be as effective as a karma / like system but imo it’s well suited to an anonymous imageboard, particularly for boards where threads without replies tends to get replaced quickly.
    - GhettoComputers 5y ago
      I disagree, many reply to trolling. General threads are large, often a graveyard of questions and in my experience the ones that have too much perceived effort looks like copypasta you didn’t read yet. Succinct, witty, usually somewhat negative comments that show incredibly concise insight, that distilled knowledge/wisdom are more appreciated, usually trolling someone by pointing out an obvious error in an insulting way.

ryanisnan 5y ago

Completely - What does 13,478 likes mean if 1,000,000,000 people have viewed the video, and 20,104,189 people disliked it. Batshit stupid.

da39a3ee 5y ago
This comment is the key isn't it? If someone tells you there's an election in some province of a country that you know nothing about, and they tell you there were two candidates A and B, and they tell you that candidate A received 17,652 votes, do you not need to know the total number of votes cast in order to assess the election results? I always thought you did.

bsder 5y ago

Personally, I'd rather they keep the dislike count and dump the comments section. I can probably count the number of times I've come across a comments section on YouTube that hasn't been a dumpster fire of idiocy on two hands (and I'm being generous).

sojournerc 5y ago
Really depends on the content. I love surfing comments on a lot of videos (even dash cam vids, hehe). I see a lot of positive comments for my favorite creators too. Would hate to get rid of the encouragement.
OisinMoran 5y ago
Whoa now, steady on! The comments on YouTube are one of my favourite parts and I would miss them much more than the dislikes (don't really pay much attention to those but do seem useful). I'm guessing you don't listen to much music on YouTube then? The great comments honestly at least double the enjoyment. E.g https://youtu.be/q4xKvHANqjk https://youtu.be/q4xKvHANqjk
- prawn 5y ago
  The comments used to be horrific but on a lot of videos now, they're actually quite entertaining. I laugh at the top comment on this video every time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FssULNGSZIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FssULNGSZIA
eftychis 5y ago
This really depends on the content. A lot of areas of content have useful comment communities actually.
Noumenon72 5y ago
I read some comments for most videos I watch, especially Doom, standup comedy, music videos. YouTube seems to surface the funny comments and has cut down on the repetitive ones about what year it is.
- azth 5y ago
  > especially Doom The game?
franciscop 5y ago
I've found that the more the niche a video is, or the more "cultural" videos (what the masses might call "boring"), the better the comments are. For example "Baumgartner Restoration" are decently popular at X00,000 views/video and comments are definitely civil, but it definitely doesn't target the typical youtube viewer. Game making tutorials in Godot are normally in the X,000-X0,000 range, which is "niche" for youtube, and they are normally not only civil but some times even contain useful tips!
SNosTrAnDbLe 5y ago
So true! The comments section feels like the people who shout or whistle while watching a movie in a theater. Moreover, I find the videos which have commenting turned off much more enjoyable.

dntrkv 5y ago

HN doesn't show dislikes and it manages to surface content better than the vast majority of aggregators and forums out there. Subreddits that remove the dislike function have much better content and levels of discourse. Removing dislikes (hiding them being step one) seems to be one of the better ways to improve the quality of content and commentary. Just for the fact that it removes the ability of a single group to brigade any content/creator they dislike or disagree with.

GhettoComputers 5y ago
It shows total score though. Moderators and a community culture with quality control matters way more, there is no evidence that it increases quality. Just look at 4chan with no scores.
- TheRealNGenius 5y ago
  It doesn't show votes on comments for me. I can't even downvote!
  - chairmanwow1 5y ago
    You can after 500 karma
- Nesco 5y ago
  Except that on 4chan people adapts and mostly reads threads that already possess replies. The multiplicative effect it creates ensure that only the threads that are the most interesting get most of the views. And because it is an image board a similar effect happens for posts: the presence of an image and the length of a post give a quick proxy to evaluate the effort put in it. Yes it will never be as effective as a karma / like system but imo it’s well suited to an anonymous imageboard, particularly for boards where threads without replies tends to get replaced quickly.
  - GhettoComputers 5y ago
    I disagree, many reply to trolling. General threads are large, often a graveyard of questions and in my experience the ones that have too much perceived effort looks like copypasta you didn’t read yet. Succinct, witty, usually somewhat negative comments that show incredibly concise insight, that distilled knowledge/wisdom are more appreciated, usually trolling someone by pointing out an obvious error in an insulting way.