YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#41

Post by sokoloff » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:48 PM UTC

posharma wrote: post #27

Curious why this is important enough to be on the front page. Even as a techie I don't find this news interesting, at least not HN front-page worthy. (Instead of down voting it would be nice to hear what others think as valid reasons). How does this affect our day-day lives?

A change in leadership of what is almost surely a top 10 online property and something that >98% of HN readers use?

That seems like something that would be of enough interest to make the top-30 stories for a period of time.

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#42

Post by aliqot » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:49 PM UTC

robmusial wrote: post #28

Hopefully this brings back the dislike button. Intellectually I know a change of CEO shouldn't/wouldn't impact a feature like this, but I am still annoyed at its absence and find it makes YouTube substantially less useful. Edit: I understand the dislike button is still there, I misspoke. But for my purposes of seeing like/dislike ratio, it might as well not be there.

http://returnyoutubedislike.com/

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#43

Post by mkaic » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:49 PM UTC

posharma wrote: post #27

Curious why this is important enough to be on the front page. Even as a techie I don't find this news interesting, at least not HN front-page worthy. (Instead of down voting it would be nice to hear what others think as valid reasons). How does this affect our day-day lives?

YouTube is one of the largest and most influential tech companies in the world, and wields huge social power. Some of the greatest content on the internet is hosted there, so it makes sense to me that HN readers would find a major change like this of interest. Wojcicki has been in charge of YouTube for a long time now, so hearing that she is stepping down and will be replaced opens up tons of space for speculation about where YouTube could be heading in the near future. Personally, as someone who spends many hours a week using YouTube, I find this article to be absolutely HN-front-page-worthy!

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#44

Post by kerpotgh » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:49 PM UTC

robmusial wrote: post #28

Hopefully this brings back the dislike button. Intellectually I know a change of CEO shouldn't/wouldn't impact a feature like this, but I am still annoyed at its absence and find it makes YouTube substantially less useful. Edit: I understand the dislike button is still there, I misspoke. But for my purposes of seeing like/dislike ratio, it might as well not be there.

Completely disagree. Getting rid of that button has significantly cleaned up the associated comments sections. I’ve also noticed a general improvement in my recommendations. Great move imo.

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#45

Post by Arrath » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:49 PM UTC

5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #26

- increasingly ignores your search keywords, instead shoving unrelated stuff at you - removed ability to sort videos by date - removed dislikes what else.....youtube UX has being getting worse for a few years.

You can only hide the SUGGESTED SHORTS section temporarily, they pop up again like a nasty smell every week or so.

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#46

Post by ajorgensen » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:50 PM UTC

robmusial wrote: post #28

Hopefully this brings back the dislike button. Intellectually I know a change of CEO shouldn't/wouldn't impact a feature like this, but I am still annoyed at its absence and find it makes YouTube substantially less useful. Edit: I understand the dislike button is still there, I misspoke. But for my purposes of seeing like/dislike ratio, it might as well not be there.

I've been using this chrome extension [1] and actually forgot they removed the dislike button.

[1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/return-youtube-dis...

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#47

Post by yazzku » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:50 PM UTC

posharma wrote: post #27

Curious why this is important enough to be on the front page. Even as a techie I don't find this news interesting, at least not HN front-page worthy. (Instead of down voting it would be nice to hear what others think as valid reasons). How does this affect our day-day lives?

It's not, but there is a large Big Tech fanbase on HN. Posts like these caters mostly to them.

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#48

Post by hummus_bae » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:51 PM UTC

gpt5 wrote: post #37

I always saw her as one of the best candidates to become the Twitter CEO. She has the industry credence, and the experience of leading and making both google ads and YouTube successful (the two parts that Twitter needs help with). I wonder if Elon Musk would notice.

It would be ironic if Twitter turned into a graveyard for former Googlers, considering how many of them have been shut out from ever working at Google again/being rehired by the company end of their respective non-compete periods.

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#49

Post by mkaic » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:52 PM UTC

dtx1 wrote: post #35

We can all hate Youtube here for sure but when you listen to for example Linus from LTT he is very adamant that while youtube does have it's fair share of problems, when it comes to compensating creators fairly on their platform, they are much better than almost all others. And I personally enjoy Youtube very much. So much great content for free. If I need to learn about something i find myself looking into youtube f…

Agreed. I would not be where I am in life today without the skills and knowledge I learned from YouTube. I am a huge fan of the way they compensate creators and align their incentives with creators' incentives, and generally just very pleased with the product they provide. I pay for Premium and it's the best monthly subscription I have imo — the sheer quantity of expertly-produced content on YT is unparalleled, and I've discovered so many new hobbies, interests, and people through it.

Re: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down

#50

Post by pzduniak » Thu, Feb 16, 2023, 5:52 PM UTC

ramraj07 wrote: post #39

So much hate for her on all fronts, yet she made the most rewarding media platform today on the internet. Any creator or consumer who has half a brain should realize the magnitude of the feat and how unobvious it is that YouTube exists as it does today.

Rewarding to who? And _she_ made it? To me YT continued its successful streak despite of the poor changes with not much to attribute to people actually making the calls.