

We hear you: Better commenting coming to YouTube - cramforce
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2013/09/youtube-new-comments.html

======
bpodgursky
Internet yesterday:

"YouTube comments are the cesspool of the internet, and you will lose brain
cells by reading them"

Internet today:

"Anonymous and uncensored YouTube comments are the only thing standing between
us and a dystopian surveillance state overseen by Google+"

I understand there are there are tradeoffs, but so much of the hate seems to
be arbitrary anti-Google ranting.

~~~
parennoob
* anti-Google+ ranting

is what you meant I think :)

It _is_ a bit amusing how Google+ can do no right. From my point of view,
everyone I know uses Facebook and no one uses Google+, so that's the only
reason this feature doesn't serve me at all.

~~~
psbp
Does everyone really have such a hard time creating multiple google accounts?
Google makes this as accessible as possible, or maybe people don't like
Google+ for some other reason? I don't really get it either.

~~~
sp332
I'm not allowed to name any of my G+ accounts "sep332". Which sucks because
that is my primary online identity.

~~~
Shooti
That's only if you base the Youtube channel on a G+ profile, if you base it on
a G+ Page you can name it anything you like:

[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2848323](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2848323)

~~~
parennoob
Why should he be forced to create a "Page" rather than a normal "Profile"? No
service should lay down rules on what you want your username to be. That's
only one of the ways Google+ fails abysmally, as skud and other people have
demonstrated.

------
Geee
No, Google does not hear it's users, they just want to lock everyone in their
ecosystem. No, please, I don't want to see comments from my 'friends'. No one
asked for this. All I'm hearing is how everyone hates the Google+ integration.
Eagerly waiting for a new video host that doesn't push 'social' down your
throat.

~~~
hobs
My thought exactly, if they "heard from us" they would hear that we absolutely
loathe the new interface and would like them to try to fix it or make
something else (I wont say revert, they never will)

------
leokun
I've been pretty reluctant to comment ever since I created a Google+ account
and it switched to my real name. I've never had too terrible comments, but I
just don't want my real name anywhere near YouTube comments. I've never seen
the value in comments there. Early on in YouTube's history it was a real
community building tool, now it's just terrible.

~~~
pjbrunet
I agree. Seems their strategy is to offer some teaser feature/product/whatever
and the only way to access it is to create a new Google Plus account. So now I
have THREE separate Google Plus accounts. Personal, Business and now YouTube.
I would just delete YouTube but I have thousands of views and my Adsense
account is linked to that. I'd like to make more content for YouTube but they
make it difficult to manage multiple accounts for multiple channels. For
example, I don't want my abstract painting videos associated with my primary
business, that would be bad for my business. If I make another channel, I
think that means I need a separate email address, separate password and a
separate Google Plus profile and then logout, login, logout, login, there's
got to be a better way. I'd put my art videos on Vimeo but YouTube has all the
traffic and I'm a YouTube partner! That's just the tip of the iceberg.

~~~
tene
You do not need a separate account for a new channel; just go here and click
'Create a new channel':
[http://www.youtube.com/channel_switcher](http://www.youtube.com/channel_switcher)

~~~
m_mueller
Well, until they decide _Good news everyone, we just made even easier to
engage with your viewers by linking all other videos of your account in 'what
else to watch by..'_. There's a good reason for parent to use separate
accounts.

~~~
Shooti
Under the hood Youtube channels based on Google+ Pages actually belong to a
separate Google account so its unlikely.

Even if in the universe where they lost there heads and did do it, G+ pages
are designed to support multiple owners so you're not locked in since you
could just chuck it over to another account.

------
bendean
I'm co-founder of CueNotes. We all agree YouTube comments are broken - we've
been working on making YouTube comments social, higher quality - and a better
overall experience. Like being able to view and add comments _while_ you're
watching, and timed comments that "pop up" at the right time. Give it a try,
we'd love your feedback:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cuenotes/kgnmfppmh...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cuenotes/kgnmfppmhpnoogejhkadapflcbegjacf)

~~~
jefarmstrong
Hey everyone, I'm also a co-founder of CueNotes. Try installing the chrome
extension we built and then watch this Limp Bizkit video with comments by Fred
Durst:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx9n-1ginEc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx9n-1ginEc)

------
minimaxir
Comment sorting-by-best only works if the best comments are actually good
comments and there's no bandwagoning. Considering the fanbases of famous
YouTubers such as RayWilliamJohnson and PewDiePie, this could actually make
things _worse_.

But atleast the new comments will be _functional_ , which alone is an
improvement.

------
yliu
Not sure if "better commenting", or just another attempt to integrate G+ into
every Google-owned property.

The part about floating "engaged discussions" to the top is interesting. One
hopes the algorithm distinguishes between "ongoing informative discussion" and
"blazingly active flamewar".

~~~
psbp
Can we stop claiming that Google+ can absolutely not be usefully implemented
in other Google products?

~~~
yliu
Nice strawman. Did I claim at any point that g+ is "absolutely not [useful]"?
No need to start white-knighting for Google.

~~~
psbp
"Not sure if "better commenting", or just another attempt to integrate G+ into
every Google-owned property."

"Nice strawman."

------
coldtea
I never found YouTube comments problematic. On the contrary: they are the
closer to a universal, democratic, ununcensoredsensored dialogue we have ever
achieved as a planet.

There's racism, sexism, nationalism etc? That's exactly because those also
exist in the world. That's what makes YouTube comment threads democratic and
uncensored. It gives people living in their microcosm and social bubble a
chance to find out what other people believe and think.

It's also the visual nature of the medium: unlike a blog post or some web
essay, a video can attrack visitors from more walks of life, more ages, more
countries, more educational levels, and more perspectives. Even the language
the video is in is not an absolute barrier (people can still enjoy what's
shown without it).

~~~
psbp
I've written some terrible crap on youtube that I don't feel are authentic
representations of what I think/ who I am.

~~~
coldtea
Well, you might not think they are, but if you wrote them then that's how you
felt at the time, so they do provide an authentic look of part of you (which
you might have outgrown, but that's beside the point).

~~~
psbp
I think people are compelled to act certain ways in certain environments. I
wouldn't say the same things to my family as I would to my friends and vice-
versa. If you're in a cesspool, you're not afraid to throw shit because
everyone's already subsumed in it.

------
angersock
I appreciate that we're long past this point, but I'll say it anyways:

I don't want comments or social--I just want to watch my damned video and be
left alone.

EDIT: Has anyone ever really said, "Man, my whole day was made better by that
comment on YouTube! I'm really glad I could be part of that!"?

~~~
Urgo
It really depends on what you're on YouTube to do. For me YouTube is my #1
Social Network and has been for many years. Comments are a big part of every
video, a place for you to interact with those who watch your content. A place
to get ideas, feedback, and just add a personal touch thanking people for
engaging with something that took you a lot of work to produce or something
you really wanted to share.

That being said I absolutely can't stand google's continued attempt to force
people to link google plus to youtube and am iffy on what this new change will
do, but I am all for making the comment section more useful especially since
they just took away our ability to respond to a video with a video (video
responses).

~~~
shocks
Which videos do you watch? Where is this mecca of decent comments on YouTube?
99.9% of the comments I read are _awful_.

~~~
Urgo
I watch a lot of vlogs as well as skits, music, short films and some gaming
videos as well. I make vlogs myself mostly and between my several channels
have over a quarter million subscribers.

~~~
shocks
So basically you're obliged to commend the quality of your comments? :P

Heh, I kid I kid. I'm glad you've got a good community there.

------
dasil003
Why not embrace the fact that YouTube has the best worst comments on the
Internet? I'm sure moot has shed a silent tear when witnessing a YouTube troll
that surpasses even the best of /b/. There's certainly some kind of postmodern
digital street cred to be garnered there so run with it Google! It'll never
happen on Google+ that's for sure.

------
pdknsk
Better commenting, maybe. Better comments, almost certainly not.

------
mratzloff
Better commenting? They've already done it: "safety mode", which hides all
YouTube comments.

------
bane
I deal with this by using the Chrome extension "YouTube Options" [1]. It takes
a bit to setup, but it works pretty well by filtering out various fluff crap
like comments, increasing the video size etc.

1 - [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-
options/bd...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-
options/bdokagampppgbnjfdlkfpphniapiiifn?hl=en)

------
untilHellbanned
The most interesting part of THESE comments is how many people were nodding in
agreement until they saw the word "Google+".

------
parennoob
We hear you: You said you wanted Google+ hamfistedly shoved down your throat
for youtube comments, and we gave you what you wanted. Yay!

Pretty sad that funny top comments like "15 people fell into the well cause
this is Sparta" on Youtube videos are going to be replaced by my grandmother
commenting "Wow, this film is really violent."

[wow, probably downvoted by the one person on HN who likes Google+ :)]

~~~
untilHellbanned
you're fortunate its only one downvote. I'm no G+ fan but you do realize your
comment is exactly how people mock Facebook and get downvoted to oblivion.

~~~
parennoob
Well your comment says it better "The most interesting part of THESE comments
is how many people were nodding in agreement until they saw the word
"Google+". reply"

Guilty as charged. I don't want to be pushed towards using some ghost town
social network to comment on a video for laughs. Facebook is different, people
actually use it by choice.

------
zengr
I have decided to quit youtube since google is forcing me to create a G+
account.

Is there an alternative of Youtube to upload private or unlisted videos? How
is vimeo?

------
xemoka
Wait, Google heard its users? I guess persistence and yelling help... better
late than never huh?

Now if only they could hear the real bug reports too...

~~~
slig
And yet they have been deaf about merging Google+ accounts with YT accounts.

~~~
artursapek
That has to be the most annoying and aggressive product push I've seen in a
long time. The way they hide the opt-out button is really obnoxious.

------
jeroen94704
The best commenting experience on YouTube is already available through the
CommentSnob browser plugin. No action by YouTube necessary.

------
nfoz
Anyone know of good competitors to youtube?

------
artursapek
A couple years ago I Adblocked the comments section on YouTube and never
looked back. I recommend it!

------
moron4hire
YouTube is a content hosting site, it is not a social networking site (or at
least it doesn't do it well). Google+ is a social networking site, not a
content hosting site (or at least it doesn't do it well). See the pattern?

I never want to interact with any content where it is hosted, I always want to
interact with it where I found it. That means G+ or Facebook or Tumblr.

To my purposes, the separation is a severe annoyance. I want to be able to
engage everyone on all facets and see how they are engaging back. I may not
necessarily want the three crowds to interact with each other, as I have
curated my followership differently on each.

Incidentally, Google+ does an amazing job of letting me control how my
followers interact with each other and how I interact with them via Circles.
But G+ users don't interact as often with my content as Tumblr users do. I
have 5 times the followers on G+ than I have on Tumblr, but I get 10 times the
shares and likes on Tumblr as G+ (so that seems to mean that engagement is 50
times higher).

------
shizzy0
If you build it, they will EFF U UP!

------
6d0debc071
What do I want to see at the top of comments? Something well thought out.
Personal isn't the same as important.

