Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 293 posts

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#31

Post by criley2 »

exabrial wrote: post #11

On a side note, the creators of YouTube ought to [at least informally] unionize. There's no reason Adam Neely should be getting copyright "strikes" for explaining music to the masses, or Cody's Lab should be forced to take down videos on mining with explosives [on his family's ranch]. YouTube needs to have a hotline for problem solving for their most profitable content providers, and until the creators collectively h…

MCN's are basically the private version of this.

Content creators join MCN's "Multi-Channel Networks" with the idea that the MCN will handle some of the more administrative and legal tasks while the content creators focus on content.

MCN's try to help with the copyright striking and often do have a direct line to youtube due to their size and importance.

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#32

Post by _eht »

AlexB138 wrote: post #21

What a dystopian nightmare the internet is turning into. Anything that isn't in line with "right thought" isn't Responsible and is therefore hidden away? How did we end up here? How did Silicon Valley go from a place focused on ideas and building the future to generating systematic censorship and endless puritanical moral panic? We badly need some new blood guiding tech development.

It’s very clearly a scenario where money drives the narrative. They can literally lose advertisers overnight because of a single rogue user tainting the ad dollar pool.

Business wise it makes absolute sense.

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#33

Post by krapp »

maceurt wrote: post #12
rwj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that deplatform is the right idea here. Presumably, the videos will still be present and watchable. However, the algorithms used to sort and present videos must be seen as playing an editorial role, and that brings a different set of questions.

That is the equivalent of deplatforming in a lot of ways, especially on youtube where millions of videos are uploaded daily. If your videos are not suggested, and do not show up high in trending or search results, then they practically don't exist except from word of mouth and outside promotion.

Then by definition most videos on Youtube are already "deplatformed," since the space for recommendations and the front page is limited. Why is this suddenly a problem?

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#34

Post by nafey »

coldtea wrote: post #5

> Creating the right metric for success could help marginalize videos that are inappropriate, or popular among small but active communities with extreme views. So, deplatform what's not mainstream, accepted by the establishment, favorable to Google...

I would actually be glad if some of the more extreme and irresponsible opinions are deplatformed. It cant be argued that Youtube is expected to platform all range of opinions.

There is however a strong likelihood of this being exploited by Youtube for its own purposes.

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#35

Post by lsniddy »

krapp wrote: post #24
AlexB138 wrote: post #21

What a dystopian nightmare the internet is turning into. Anything that isn't in line with "right thought" isn't Responsible and is therefore hidden away? How did we end up here? How did Silicon Valley go from a place focused on ideas and building the future to generating systematic censorship and endless puritanical moral panic? We badly need some new blood guiding tech development.

Why is it a dystopian nightmare for Youtube to curate its content according to "quality", but it wasn't a dystopian nightmare for Youtube to curate its content to maximize engagement for ad revenue?

the latter is demand driven

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#36

Post by softwaredoug »

AlexB138 wrote: post #21

What a dystopian nightmare the internet is turning into. Anything that isn't in line with "right thought" isn't Responsible and is therefore hidden away? How did we end up here? How did Silicon Valley go from a place focused on ideas and building the future to generating systematic censorship and endless puritanical moral panic? We badly need some new blood guiding tech development.

I don’t think based on recent history there’s any real risk of people not finding a community that shares their crazy ideas.

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#37

Post by simias »

maceurt wrote: post #12
rwj wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that deplatform is the right idea here. Presumably, the videos will still be present and watchable. However, the algorithms used to sort and present videos must be seen as playing an editorial role, and that brings a different set of questions.

That is the equivalent of deplatforming in a lot of ways, especially on youtube where millions of videos are uploaded daily. If your videos are not suggested, and do not show up high in trending or search results, then they practically don't exist except from word of mouth and outside promotion.

Only if you rely on Youtube to give you exposition instead of merely using it as a video hosting site that you link from somewhere else (personal website, other social network, mailing list, whatever). In this case Youtube's algorithm doesn't really matter and even if they ban your account you can just switch to some other host (or even self-host).

But then if you rely solely on Youtube for exposition (and, generally, monetization) you're setting yourself up for this kind of abuse. You need Youtube but unless you're a huge channel commanding millions and millions of views Google doesn't care about you. Worse, if you start bringing controversy you're actually a liability.

I think Youtube's behavior is perfectly rational here. I don't understand on what grounds they should be expected to host controversial channels (and on top of that, give them money) if they think it's hurting the website.

Google is not the internet (yet), just host somewhere else. Find like-minded people and create your own platform. Make the web decentralized again.

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#38

Post by fatjokes »

krapp wrote: post #24
AlexB138 wrote: post #21

What a dystopian nightmare the internet is turning into. Anything that isn't in line with "right thought" isn't Responsible and is therefore hidden away? How did we end up here? How did Silicon Valley go from a place focused on ideas and building the future to generating systematic censorship and endless puritanical moral panic? We badly need some new blood guiding tech development.

Why is it a dystopian nightmare for Youtube to curate its content according to "quality", but it wasn't a dystopian nightmare for Youtube to curate its content to maximize engagement for ad revenue?

People can agree on the definition of 'ad revenue'.

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#39

Post by beaconstudios »

krapp wrote: post #24
AlexB138 wrote: post #21

What a dystopian nightmare the internet is turning into. Anything that isn't in line with "right thought" isn't Responsible and is therefore hidden away? How did we end up here? How did Silicon Valley go from a place focused on ideas and building the future to generating systematic censorship and endless puritanical moral panic? We badly need some new blood guiding tech development.

Why is it a dystopian nightmare for Youtube to curate its content according to "quality", but it wasn't a dystopian nightmare for Youtube to curate its content to maximize engagement for ad revenue?

both are pretty bad options. Better to let users curate and allow popularity to dictate visibility, surely?

Re: YouTube is trying to reward “quality” content

#40

Post by duxup »

AlexB138 wrote: post #21

What a dystopian nightmare the internet is turning into. Anything that isn't in line with "right thought" isn't Responsible and is therefore hidden away? How did we end up here? How did Silicon Valley go from a place focused on ideas and building the future to generating systematic censorship and endless puritanical moral panic? We badly need some new blood guiding tech development.

Youtube is a brand like any other, like a TV channel.

If they want to have a theme or specific content ... that's their call.

Post reply on HN