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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

#131
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first mistake was thinking that you are the user they care about serving :p

Oh I know, I am pretty cynical and not exactly outraged here. But although they don't care about what's good for us, they do care about what will keep us on the platform. And if it gets harder to find good stuff and filter out the dross, that could conceivably have negative consequences for YouTube in the long run.

I'm not outraged - I'm amused. The ultimate admission the only way they can spread their messaging is through force, not honest competition of ideas. How superior.

Nothing proves you have a worthy argument better than outright hiding from dissent.

Again, they don't care if you stay on the platform. If they did, they wouldn't touch it. The disagreement buttons were added in the first place because they increase and maintain engagement. After a few decades it's now all the sudden a problem?

Ha! The real problem is their desired narratives are being soundly rejected and it's embarrassing. So here we are.

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

#132
post #92
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.

Your first mistake was thinking that you are the user they care about serving :p

.. combined with the idea that there's much of an alternative. If the content creators I like are there...

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

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ca…

You see this very frequently in DIY how-to videos. There's usually about ~30-60 seconds of very helpful instructional content, buried somewhere towards the end of an 11 minute video of rambling and common knowledge. I suspect largely because the monetization gets better if your video is longer than 10 mins...

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

#136
Dislike button is a viable instrument of social pressure. About a year ago popular Russian rapper appeared in a government-funded propaganda-like video. After 1MM dislikes he addressed the public, said he was unaware of the real purpose of video and apologized. The video was eventually taken down.

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

#137
Downvotes have been weirdly wonky and aggressive all over the internet for, say, a year or so.

Maybe we could work harder on the root causes and worry less about people "kicking the dog" all over the internet because life simply isn't working across the entire planet for various reasons.

/Random thought from a random internet stranger

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

#138
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think Youtube is removing dislikes because of white house vids that average out less than ~25000 views each?

They are removing dislikes because dislikes bring negativity to the YouTube space. Imagine what getting dislikes feels like when you have put your heart into a video. People expressing their disapproval without a qualifying comment is not constructive.

You're trolling, right? Just want to make sure, because you never know nowadays.

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

#139
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 stopped using youtube regularly a while back. It's still good for how-to videos, and niche searches. Useless for current events.

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

#140
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (t…

> 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.

I agree with your preference for books, but I am going to add a caveat: the quality of books varies considerably, with a good video being better than a mediocre book.

That was not much of a problem when I lived in a big city. It was easy to walk into a bookstore or library to pick out something of value. Living in a small city limits the options. Buying online means buying sight unseen. In the worse case, ratings can be misleading. In the best case, recommendations are likely coming from someone with different needs. YouTube avoids the problem since there is no financial risk involved in making a choice, and decent quality content isn't too hard to find.

(To give you an idea of what I mean: I live in a city of half a million people. The public library system's most advanced text on electronics is an old edition of the ARRL Handbook. The rest are projects books directed towards amateurs. Book sellers aren't much better since few want to stock technical titles. University libraries offer much better books, yet they are nearly impossible to borrow during the academic session.)

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