7 ms·

So YouTube removes down votes and Twitter adds them? Feels like Social Media Companies don't know what they are doing

by Wronnay 5y ago

gnicholas 5y ago
YT still has downvotes — you're just not allowed to see them anymore.
- munk-a 5y ago
  Which is really a shame considering how many informational(ish) videos are on YT. Downvoting was really helpful to tell, when you search for "How do I unblock my sink drain" who is full of crap. Downvoting on opinion, social and gaming videos serves no purpose. Twitter as a platform which has no ability to store and reliably surface informational or factual messages is completely devoid of the types of content where peer feedback is helpful - the only thing tweet scores measure is "hotness" which could be entirely opaque to the user base (both up and down).
  - loceng 5y ago
    There's an extension to show downvote count again.
    - gnicholas 5y ago
      That's amazing. Link is here for others who are interested: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dislike/gebbhagfogifgggkldgodflihgfeippi https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dis...
      - GauntletWizard 5y ago
        It's only going to work for a couple of months, because YouTube has promised that the API will start returning zero for that number fairly soon. They have not committed to a date, and I doubt they will, simply roll it out when they feel they can.
        alexb_ 5y ago
        The API already returns 0. The extension uses extrapolation of it's user statistics to estimate.
- hunterb123 5y ago
  A whole platform change just because the Biden admin had an abysmal downvote ratio lol.
  - Fatnino 5y ago
    I thought it was because YouTube was butthurt about the dislikes on its own YouTube rewind garbage.
    - hunterb123 5y ago
      They just stopped doing those Rewind videos entirely. They tried a lot harder on the Biden admin videos, first culling downvotes, but it was still overwhelmed. A tracker was made during the original culling: https://81m.org/78/ https://81m.org/78/
  - ravenstine 5y ago
    That and all the mainstream media outlets who hate that they can no longer fool everyone by buying off critics for favorable reviews. Oh yeah, and it just so happens they also pay YouTube huge sums to promote their content.
  - pfraze 5y ago
    Citation needed
- lelandfe 5y ago
  Had a fun one the other day: try to figure out which is the correct pronunciation of puissant. They’re all different and the most viewed ones are wrong. https://youtube.com/results?search_query=puissant+pronunciation https://youtube.com/results?search_query=puissant+pronunciat... Previously, downvotes were the sign of which videos were wrong. Now it’s only comments, and most people don’t comment.
  - brimble 5y ago
    I picked the most-viewed one I saw on there and it was like "pWISS-unt" I really hope that's one of the incorrect ones, because otherwise I've never once pronounced it correctly. I pronounce it as in the French but without the nasal on "-ant" and I hit the T just a bit (it's typically written as a loan word, not an italicized foreign word, after all).
Kiro 5y ago
More like people just want to rage. Even HN loves its pitchforks.
- cracker_jacks 5y ago
  lol, 'even', I find HN in particular loves pitchforks.
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    These are some topics which are a lightening rod for this, and I’ve seen some in the last day. Green political parties who don’t support nuclear power. Comments describing positive aspects of covid driven lockdowns.
    - BenjiWiebe 5y ago
      Don't forget systemd.
  - genericone 5y ago
    Is "there's someone wrong on the internets" the same as pitchforks?
FalconSensei 5y ago
Youtube didn't remove the downvotes, just everyone's (besides the creator) ability to see them. But they still matter for internal algorithm and the creators are still affected by them - by both being pushed down in relevancy, and also psychological impact? Twitter is also apparently keeping the downvote number secret except for the poster.
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  If those who downvote lose the ability to see the results they're going to start forgetting to downvote.

So YouTube removes down votes and Twitter adds them? Feels like Social Media Companies don't know what they are doing

gnicholas 5y ago

YT still has downvotes — you're just not allowed to see them anymore.

munk-a 5y ago
Which is really a shame considering how many informational(ish) videos are on YT. Downvoting was really helpful to tell, when you search for "How do I unblock my sink drain" who is full of crap. Downvoting on opinion, social and gaming videos serves no purpose. Twitter as a platform which has no ability to store and reliably surface informational or factual messages is completely devoid of the types of content where peer feedback is helpful - the only thing tweet scores measure is "hotness" which could be entirely opaque to the user base (both up and down).
- loceng 5y ago
  There's an extension to show downvote count again.
  - gnicholas 5y ago
    That's amazing. Link is here for others who are interested: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dislike/gebbhagfogifgggkldgodflihgfeippi https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dis...
    - GauntletWizard 5y ago
      It's only going to work for a couple of months, because YouTube has promised that the API will start returning zero for that number fairly soon. They have not committed to a date, and I doubt they will, simply roll it out when they feel they can.
      - alexb_ 5y ago
        The API already returns 0. The extension uses extrapolation of it's user statistics to estimate.
hunterb123 5y ago
A whole platform change just because the Biden admin had an abysmal downvote ratio lol.
- Fatnino 5y ago
  I thought it was because YouTube was butthurt about the dislikes on its own YouTube rewind garbage.
  - hunterb123 5y ago
    They just stopped doing those Rewind videos entirely. They tried a lot harder on the Biden admin videos, first culling downvotes, but it was still overwhelmed. A tracker was made during the original culling: https://81m.org/78/ https://81m.org/78/
- ravenstine 5y ago
  That and all the mainstream media outlets who hate that they can no longer fool everyone by buying off critics for favorable reviews. Oh yeah, and it just so happens they also pay YouTube huge sums to promote their content.
- pfraze 5y ago
  Citation needed
lelandfe 5y ago
Had a fun one the other day: try to figure out which is the correct pronunciation of puissant. They’re all different and the most viewed ones are wrong. https://youtube.com/results?search_query=puissant+pronunciation https://youtube.com/results?search_query=puissant+pronunciat... Previously, downvotes were the sign of which videos were wrong. Now it’s only comments, and most people don’t comment.
- brimble 5y ago
  I picked the most-viewed one I saw on there and it was like "pWISS-unt" I really hope that's one of the incorrect ones, because otherwise I've never once pronounced it correctly. I pronounce it as in the French but without the nasal on "-ant" and I hit the T just a bit (it's typically written as a loan word, not an italicized foreign word, after all).

Kiro 5y ago

More like people just want to rage. Even HN loves its pitchforks.

cracker_jacks 5y ago
lol, 'even', I find HN in particular loves pitchforks.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  These are some topics which are a lightening rod for this, and I’ve seen some in the last day. Green political parties who don’t support nuclear power. Comments describing positive aspects of covid driven lockdowns.
  - BenjiWiebe 5y ago
    Don't forget systemd.
- genericone 5y ago
  Is "there's someone wrong on the internets" the same as pitchforks?

FalconSensei 5y ago

Youtube didn't remove the downvotes, just everyone's (besides the creator) ability to see them. But they still matter for internal algorithm and the creators are still affected by them - by both being pushed down in relevancy, and also psychological impact? Twitter is also apparently keeping the downvote number secret except for the poster.

BenjiWiebe 5y ago
If those who downvote lose the ability to see the results they're going to start forgetting to downvote.