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Has anyone else noticed a recent decline in inappropriate Youtube comments now that they pushed for real name accounts?

by HunterV 13y ago

chjj 13y ago
Actually, no. I see people posting horrendous stuff with their real names all the time on youtube. I don't think anonymity is what causes these horrible comments: it's more the fact that the internet creates a "barrier" between two people. It's easier to say something with conviction in text than it is in person, even if you're typing it under your real name.
- stusmall 13y ago
  I heard road rage explained in the same way. We would never act to each other face to face as we would in a car. The car feels like an extension of your own home and you feel more violated when someone invades what you perceive to be your space and we view what we are lashing out at as an object and not as person with feelings. I can see it being the same mentality when you are sitting at home nerdraging at your computer.
  - chjj 13y ago
    That's exactly the kind of analogy I was looking for. Thanks.
  - jack-r-abbit 13y ago
    Ya. A friend of mine was driving one time and some asshat got all bent out of shape over something he did and started doing all sorts of douchbaggy things while driving. So my friend decided to discreetly follow this guy. When the guy had stopped and parked and was getting out of his car, my friend confronted him and inquired about his problem. The guy nearly crapped himself as he never expected to actually have to deal with someone he had just been a dick to on the road. Classic. Edit: I guess I need to clarify that my friend was a perfect gentleman to the guy. Very non threatening. Not in the same road-rage way the other guy had been on the road. The situation ended very peacefully and the other guy apologized. This was not one of those "I'll throw your dog into traffic" situations. I can't imagine why confronting a bully like that would be looked down upon but I guess HN is fickle that way.
    - sukuriant 13y ago
      I imagine they were down-voting you because you chose to explain the story that, as far as many could tell, was a bit off-topic; and was spoken in a more 'street' way, that might be perceived as trolling.
      - jack-r-abbit 13y ago
        huh... a road rage story in response to a post that talked a bit about road rage compared to cyber-bullying and safety in anonymity, etc. It sounded on topic in my head.
        1123581321 13y ago
        It was on topic.
- bcoates 13y ago
  Lots of pseudonymous forums are reasonably civil. I suspect the problem with Youtube's comments is more an absence of signal than the presence of noise. Videos are far more accessible to the barely literate, "People who watch videos on YouTube" has no community identity, and there's no external purpose to the commenting to overcome the weakness of text as a medium to discuss cat videos. I'm not sure why Youtube even bothered allowing text comments in the first place, let alone why they didn't go to video-response only years ago.
  - lesbaker 13y ago
    There also seems to be an impermanence to commenting on a video, especially one that's popular, because responses (unless sufficiently up-voted) don't stick around, and there's no way to easily search through them. So a YT comment stream takes on a party line vibe and (IMO) there's not much point taking the time to write something thoughtful. Mainly when I have commented is on videos on niche subjects when I'm reasonably sure the video poster/artist/producer will see it.
    - saraid216 13y ago
      There was a period when I was able to Have A Conversation in YouTube comments but I was never able to do it more than a few times. On the other hand, I see people having legitimate conversations on random occasions quite frequently.
- Bockit 13y ago
  I think the barrier you describe has helped lead to the phenomenon of claiming 'I was just trolling' or some variation of that comment when people are called out on inappropriate behaviour on the internet.
gcb0 13y ago
I'd love to see a study or data on that.
minimaxir 13y ago
You're not watching the right videos. Anything with 1+ million viewes or videos by people with large, young fanbases will still contain such comments.
notatoad 13y ago
i haven't noticed, but facebook's real name policy doesn't seem to deter terrible comments.
homosaur 13y ago
It really depends on the video. I still see people spouting stuff straight out of Stormfront and calling people fat and blah blah but for the people with channels with following? I do see a change. I think the bigger deal is that YT finally brought up a system to deal with the troll commments by downvoting. You only really see them when you click "show anyway" now.
fragsworth 13y ago
It probably has much more to do with the voting system they added.

Has anyone else noticed a recent decline in inappropriate Youtube comments now that they pushed for real name accounts?

by HunterV 13y ago

Has anyone else noticed a recent decline in inappropriate Youtube comments now that they pushed for real name accounts?

chjj 13y ago

Actually, no. I see people posting horrendous stuff with their real names all the time on youtube. I don't think anonymity is what causes these horrible comments: it's more the fact that the internet creates a "barrier" between two people. It's easier to say something with conviction in text than it is in person, even if you're typing it under your real name.

stusmall 13y ago
I heard road rage explained in the same way. We would never act to each other face to face as we would in a car. The car feels like an extension of your own home and you feel more violated when someone invades what you perceive to be your space and we view what we are lashing out at as an object and not as person with feelings. I can see it being the same mentality when you are sitting at home nerdraging at your computer.
- chjj 13y ago
  That's exactly the kind of analogy I was looking for. Thanks.
- jack-r-abbit 13y ago
  Ya. A friend of mine was driving one time and some asshat got all bent out of shape over something he did and started doing all sorts of douchbaggy things while driving. So my friend decided to discreetly follow this guy. When the guy had stopped and parked and was getting out of his car, my friend confronted him and inquired about his problem. The guy nearly crapped himself as he never expected to actually have to deal with someone he had just been a dick to on the road. Classic. Edit: I guess I need to clarify that my friend was a perfect gentleman to the guy. Very non threatening. Not in the same road-rage way the other guy had been on the road. The situation ended very peacefully and the other guy apologized. This was not one of those "I'll throw your dog into traffic" situations. I can't imagine why confronting a bully like that would be looked down upon but I guess HN is fickle that way.
  - sukuriant 13y ago
    I imagine they were down-voting you because you chose to explain the story that, as far as many could tell, was a bit off-topic; and was spoken in a more 'street' way, that might be perceived as trolling.
    - jack-r-abbit 13y ago
      huh... a road rage story in response to a post that talked a bit about road rage compared to cyber-bullying and safety in anonymity, etc. It sounded on topic in my head.
      - 1123581321 13y ago
        It was on topic.
bcoates 13y ago
Lots of pseudonymous forums are reasonably civil. I suspect the problem with Youtube's comments is more an absence of signal than the presence of noise. Videos are far more accessible to the barely literate, "People who watch videos on YouTube" has no community identity, and there's no external purpose to the commenting to overcome the weakness of text as a medium to discuss cat videos. I'm not sure why Youtube even bothered allowing text comments in the first place, let alone why they didn't go to video-response only years ago.
- lesbaker 13y ago
  There also seems to be an impermanence to commenting on a video, especially one that's popular, because responses (unless sufficiently up-voted) don't stick around, and there's no way to easily search through them. So a YT comment stream takes on a party line vibe and (IMO) there's not much point taking the time to write something thoughtful. Mainly when I have commented is on videos on niche subjects when I'm reasonably sure the video poster/artist/producer will see it.
  - saraid216 13y ago
    There was a period when I was able to Have A Conversation in YouTube comments but I was never able to do it more than a few times. On the other hand, I see people having legitimate conversations on random occasions quite frequently.
Bockit 13y ago
I think the barrier you describe has helped lead to the phenomenon of claiming 'I was just trolling' or some variation of that comment when people are called out on inappropriate behaviour on the internet.

gcb0 13y ago

I'd love to see a study or data on that.

minimaxir 13y ago

You're not watching the right videos. Anything with 1+ million viewes or videos by people with large, young fanbases will still contain such comments.

notatoad 13y ago

i haven't noticed, but facebook's real name policy doesn't seem to deter terrible comments.

homosaur 13y ago

It really depends on the video. I still see people spouting stuff straight out of Stormfront and calling people fat and blah blah but for the people with channels with following? I do see a change. I think the bigger deal is that YT finally brought up a system to deal with the troll commments by downvoting. You only really see them when you click "show anyway" now.

fragsworth 13y ago

It probably has much more to do with the voting system they added.