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I liked the comment system on YouTube provided I wasn't looking at random viral videos with 1M+ hits. On a lot of the channels I subscribed to, the discussions

by nsxwolf 13y ago

I liked the comment system on YouTube provided I wasn't looking at random viral videos with 1M+ hits. On a lot of the channels I subscribed to, the discussions were respectful and interesting. Since the G+ fiasco, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I get asked who I am by this popup that shows me 6 different choices, mostly duplicates, over and over. The thing is just never done with me - always demanding I jump through some new hoop.

booyaa00 13y ago
The hoops are also confusing (at least to me). It gives you a few options, but doesn't tell you which option you should choose if you want to keep things the way they currently are...
jrockway 13y ago
I eventually caved and created a G+ page for my "channel". It is annoying how many times YouTube asked, but the result is quite satisfactory. The sharing settings actually seem pretty reasonable to me: whenever I interact with YouTube, Google is very clear about who will see my content (the "Public" icon from G+ is reused when posting a comment, +1s and upvotes are explicitly mentioned as being public, and so on), and having a "page" for my "channel" lets me not use my real name on YouTube, which I irrationally do not want to do. (jrockway is fine. A two-word Real Name is just too damn formal for trolling YouTube.) Overall I do not think this is such a terrible thing; as someone who used G+ pretty actively before the comment system merge, I do see a lot of relevant comments on YouTube videos I never would have seen before, and since I would probably be sharing the videos I like to G+ anyway, it doesn't bother me that my comments show up in both places. It would be interesting to invent a time machine, go back in time, and try doing the merge the other way: fold G+ into YouTube. G+ users probably wouldn't be mad, since they already use YouTube, and YouTube users probably wouldn't be mad, since they wouldn't notice anything changing. But whatever, the current version of the integration is fine with me, once you decipher what "page" and "channel" mean.
- StandardFuture 13y ago
  Please leave a disclaimer stating that you work for Google, as your GitHub[1] says that you do. Thanks. :) [1] https://github.com/jrockway https://github.com/jrockway
  - Geee 13y ago
    Googlers should be banned from HN as they skew many Google-related threads / comments a bit too much.
    - alanctgardner2 13y ago
      You're right! This single, reasonable opinion from one of the thousands of informed people who happen to work on a wide variety of products from this particular company threw the discussion way off! I'm glad we have your reasoned opinion to put things in perspective. Now, how about we go burn down Mountain View?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - jrockway 13y ago
    People take those disclaimers way out of context, so I avoid them. (Google my name to see how I learned this the hard way.) Most long-time readers of HN know where I work, and I target my comments in that direction, rather than to anyone that happens to stumble upon this page. My apologies.
    - josephlord 13y ago
      Nothing I see on the first couple of pages of Google. A link might be more helpful.
      - rallison 13y ago
        I assume it is this that he is referencing: http://searchengineland.com/google-clarifies-no-ads-shouldnt-help-rankings-no-seo-isnt-bad-110673 http://searchengineland.com/google-clarifies-no-ads-shouldnt...

by nsxwolf 13y ago

booyaa00 13y ago

The hoops are also confusing (at least to me). It gives you a few options, but doesn't tell you which option you should choose if you want to keep things the way they currently are...

jrockway 13y ago

I eventually caved and created a G+ page for my "channel". It is annoying how many times YouTube asked, but the result is quite satisfactory. The sharing settings actually seem pretty reasonable to me: whenever I interact with YouTube, Google is very clear about who will see my content (the "Public" icon from G+ is reused when posting a comment, +1s and upvotes are explicitly mentioned as being public, and so on), and having a "page" for my "channel" lets me not use my real name on YouTube, which I irrationally do not want to do. (jrockway is fine. A two-word Real Name is just too damn formal for trolling YouTube.) Overall I do not think this is such a terrible thing; as someone who used G+ pretty actively before the comment system merge, I do see a lot of relevant comments on YouTube videos I never would have seen before, and since I would probably be sharing the videos I like to G+ anyway, it doesn't bother me that my comments show up in both places. It would be interesting to invent a time machine, go back in time, and try doing the merge the other way: fold G+ into YouTube. G+ users probably wouldn't be mad, since they already use YouTube, and YouTube users probably wouldn't be mad, since they wouldn't notice anything changing. But whatever, the current version of the integration is fine with me, once you decipher what "page" and "channel" mean.

StandardFuture 13y ago
Please leave a disclaimer stating that you work for Google, as your GitHub[1] says that you do. Thanks. :) [1] https://github.com/jrockway https://github.com/jrockway
- Geee 13y ago
  Googlers should be banned from HN as they skew many Google-related threads / comments a bit too much.
  - alanctgardner2 13y ago
    You're right! This single, reasonable opinion from one of the thousands of informed people who happen to work on a wide variety of products from this particular company threw the discussion way off! I'm glad we have your reasoned opinion to put things in perspective. Now, how about we go burn down Mountain View?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jrockway 13y ago
  People take those disclaimers way out of context, so I avoid them. (Google my name to see how I learned this the hard way.) Most long-time readers of HN know where I work, and I target my comments in that direction, rather than to anyone that happens to stumble upon this page. My apologies.
  - josephlord 13y ago
    Nothing I see on the first couple of pages of Google. A link might be more helpful.
    - rallison 13y ago
      I assume it is this that he is referencing: http://searchengineland.com/google-clarifies-no-ads-shouldnt-help-rankings-no-seo-isnt-bad-110673 http://searchengineland.com/google-clarifies-no-ads-shouldnt...