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Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

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Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#31

Post by haunter »

'member when reddit removed the visible downvote count back in 2014, that was really one of the end of something there https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/28hjga/reddi...

Just a random screenshot cause haven't found anything else in Google https://i.imgur.com/3y8W2mk.png

You could see if a comment was highly engaging despite at the bottom, say 200/210 (upvotes/downvotes). Nowdays you only see the + or - number and that's all, only pushing that "meta" narrative that most people want to see.

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#32

Post by HenryBemis »

motbob wrote: post #20
retsibsi wrote: post #9

This seems rather user-hostile. The downvote count is useful for identifying videos that aren't what they claim to be. And how about DIY videos that give terrible advice? A big downvote ratio will get most people's attention in a way that critical comments may not.

I agree that removing public dislikes is a pretty bad idea, but it's not that important of a tool in fighting misleading videos. I mean, there was once a HUGE glut of videos with misleading thumbnails/titles, and what stopped the glut was not dislikes, but rather Youtube's use of watch time as an important metric.

From a YT standpoint, if I am looking for "interview of HenryBemis" and there are 10 likes and 1000 dislikes, it means that this is probably NOT the video, but someone commenting on the video (e.g. I wanted to see the Oprah-Harry-Meghan video).

If YT removes the dislikes from the public eye, I will either have to scroll ahead, OR watch 5-10mins waiting for the thing to start, then go and try some other video.

YT increases user engagement (I have already watched 10mins of one video and now heading for the next.. and the next.. and the next..). So, for YT this is a win-win.. it's the user that gets tricked.

Bravo YT, well played (not!)

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#33

Post by stolenmerch »

I'd love if they just remove Likes as well, honestly. I've been using the 'Hide Likes' Chrome Extension for over a year now. I have to say, not seeing Likes or Dislikes on YouTube and other social media is a huge quality of life increase. There is a perceptible difference in reaction when you don't know how popular or unpopular something on the internet is.

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#34

Post by happytoexplain »

cbozeman wrote: post #14
nigrioid wrote: post #11

It's because of what happens when the White House forgets to disable comments and dislikes. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/359823/former...

It's because of Ghostbusters (2016). It just took this long for everyone else to catch up and realize that, "it can happen to you". We were all supposed to love that movie because it has four women in it! Turns out a shit movie is a shit movie no matter how many SNL alums you throw at it.

>We were all supposed to love that movie because it has four women in it

I see this sarcastic quipping a couple orders of magnitude more often than I see the attitude it is skewering in regards to that movie (not that that attitude didn't exist). I think part of that is the normal overreaction to anything "SJW", but I think the bigger contribution might be because, after the incredible degree of hatred the black actress got, the reasonable backlash to that enhanced the perceived magnitude of the different-but-adjacent attitude you're criticizing.

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#36

Post by davesque »

Honestly, it seems like there's no easy win here. I think people for and against this both have good arguments. For example, getting rid of dislikes could mitigate the effects of synthetic brigading campaigns. On the other hand, keeping them could in certain cases give a better view of the organic reaction to a video. I don't spend every day trying to solve these problems so I don't have a strong opinion about what the right answer is.

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#37

Post by Syonyk »

cbozeman wrote: post #15
swiley wrote: post #8

It's quickly getting to the point where being exposed to youtube at all just opens you up to a ton of intentional manipulation from an organization who's entire product is manipulating people for pay. It's probably best to completely avoid all of it.

There's entirely too much good stuff on YouTube to ignore. I learn so much there, all for free.

But what are the opportunity costs of learning stuff on YouTube, especially if you're watching hours of content?

There is good stuff in there - don't get me wrong. It's just that the good stuff you want to find is often quite hidden, and I've on occasion spent more time trying to find some video that actually shows a tricky part of some bit of equipment maintenance than it would take to just do things the slow way (think "If you know the exact sequence of steps, you can slip the alternator out this hole between the engine and suspension - or you can just unbolt the exhaust and lower the alternator out that way" sort of tasks - if it takes longer to find a video with the steps clearly displayed than to just drop the exhaust, you've taken longer).

I've also found that YouTube leads to a very poor, surface understanding of most issues - and this isn't the fault of YouTube specifically, it's just a limit of video. If I want to learn about a new topic, I'll typically try to find three or so books on it and read those. A single book can have biases and misunderstandings, but by the time you've read a few, it's usually clear enough what the consensus is. Does it take more time than an hour or two video? Certainly. But I also get a far, far better understanding of the material (which, if it's an area I care to learn about, is probably useful) than I would through videos. Plus, I use an awful lot less data in the process.

I'm perfectly happy to be called a curmudgeon or such with regards to my preferences for text and images over video, and there may be part of it that's true - but I've weighed video versus the alternatives, and outside entertainment (which there's certainly some value in), I find video coming up wanting.

Also, books don't keep (buy this!) interrupting the content (buy that!) to feed me ads for (vote for this person because their opponent eats babies!) whatever happens to (watch this movie!) be paying the best rates (check out this new online bank and stock trading app!) at the moment.

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#38

Post by retsibsi »

HenryBemis wrote: post #32
motbob wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that removing public dislikes is a pretty bad idea, but it's not that important of a tool in fighting misleading videos. I mean, there was once a HUGE glut of videos with misleading thumbnails/titles, and what stopped the glut was not dislikes, but rather Youtube's use of watch time as an important metric.

From a YT standpoint, if I am looking for "interview of HenryBemis" and there are 10 likes and 1000 dislikes, it means that this is probably NOT the video, but someone commenting on the video (e.g. I wanted to see the Oprah-Harry-Meghan video). If YT removes the dislikes from the public eye, I will either have to scroll ahead, OR watch 5-10mins waiting for the thing to start, then go and try some other video. YT incr…

> if I am looking for "interview of HenryBemis" and there are 10 likes and 1000 dislikes, it means that this is probably NOT the video, but someone commenting on the video

This is the sort of thing I had in mind. Some of it is complete junk and some is probably interesting to some people, but the titles are sufficiently misleading to attract an eye-catching number of downvotes. I can't remember exactly when I last came across this kind of content, but it was definitely quite recently, so I don't think youtube has stamped it out.

Re: Testing a few new designs that don't show the public dislike count

#39

Post by sthnblllII »

JasonFruit wrote: post #27
swiley wrote: post #8

It's quickly getting to the point where being exposed to youtube at all just opens you up to a ton of intentional manipulation from an organization who's entire product is manipulating people for pay. It's probably best to completely avoid all of it.

I could not repair half the things I have learned to repair without Youtube. 100% worth having to look out for manipulative antifeatures, in my book.

I dont think thats true. If people stopped using youtube people would upload to other sites. Google hasnt taught you how to repair anything.
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