4 ms·

I think for communities to work, there need to be a somewhat close-knit group with shared interests/expectations and people that are actively fostering and if n

by smoe 5y ago

I think for communities to work, there need to be a somewhat close-knit group with shared interests/expectations and people that are actively fostering and if necessary enforce the kind of culture they want to be in. Otherwise you just end up with lowest common denominator between whoever happens to come by. I wouldn't say YouTube overall has good comments, but there are certainly channels with very high quality comments and it's in my opinion often due to the tone set by the content creators themselves not by any YouTube policy or algorithm.

ravenstine 5y ago
Yeah it may be certain channels. I primarily watch intellectual content, which if I'm going to be honest is a sort of niche part of YouTube overall. Although I still think in general there's a better sort of control against vitriol and snark on there. And now I'm thinking that may be because places like Twitter are designed to make everybody feel like they have some form of celebritydom even if they've never produced content beyond tweets. On YouTube, I'd suspect the vast majority of users don't have accounts of their own, thus no one can subscribe to see their comments; those comments can only be seen in the context in which they are relevant. An asshole in the YouTube comments may appear uncalled for in relation to the video and surrounding comments, but on Twitter anyone can be subscribed to and their comments are mostly standalone. If you're a jerk on Twitter, you will almost certainly be selectively reinforced by the cult you've created with your subscriber base. (I once did an experiment to see if I could amass thousands of Twitter followers with no meaningful content, and it was beyond easy. Anyone can start a cult on Twitter.)