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Making the dislike count private across YouTube

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Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#621
post #67

Bummer. I often use like vs dislike ratios as a gauge on whether a video is worth watching. If I see a 3,000 up / 48 down video on a topic I'm interested in there's a really good chance the video is great. I'm a small time creator (~13.5k subs) and don't care at all about upvotes or downvotes being public. There's only been a handful of videos out of hundreds that received more downvotes than expected because the vid…

It depends, stuff like videos critical of foreign countries political regime end up spammed by politically sponsored griefers to delegitimize them, exactly playing to your heuristic. edit: :^)

Ok found it! Everyone can mark off 'China' on their HN bingo cards.

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#622
post #67

Bummer. I often use like vs dislike ratios as a gauge on whether a video is worth watching. If I see a 3,000 up / 48 down video on a topic I'm interested in there's a really good chance the video is great. I'm a small time creator (~13.5k subs) and don't care at all about upvotes or downvotes being public. There's only been a handful of videos out of hundreds that received more downvotes than expected because the vid…

What about... number of views : number of likes ... ratio

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#624

Since it's about to be hidden and unverifiable: Susan Wojcicki's "Freedom of Expression Award" (sponsored by Youtube) video currently has 227 upvotes, 56000 downvotes, and 185000 views. That's a 99.6% downvote ratio.

So in defense of keeping the dislikes pubic you are pointing to a video in which the dislike count is gamed by an Internet mob?

Why do you considered that ratio "gamed"? Seems like a normal reaction to deplorable behavior. Calling it "gamed" kind of proves the point that this is about silencing actual criticism of actual bad behavior rather than some poor innocent creator getting slammed by random internet mobs looking for scalps. How do you defend her buying herself an award in a transparent attempt to paste over her behavior?

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#625
post #67

Bummer. I often use like vs dislike ratios as a gauge on whether a video is worth watching. If I see a 3,000 up / 48 down video on a topic I'm interested in there's a really good chance the video is great. I'm a small time creator (~13.5k subs) and don't care at all about upvotes or downvotes being public. There's only been a handful of videos out of hundreds that received more downvotes than expected because the vid…

> I often use like vs dislike ratios as a gauge on whether a video is worth watching

You summarized why Youtube is doing it. Sure harassment is one aspect of it, but this drives up the clicks for Youtube and therefore the ad revenue. I'd be curious to see if people get overly annoyed by how many unworthy videos they watch and thereby reducing overall engagement.

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#626
post #67

Bummer. I often use like vs dislike ratios as a gauge on whether a video is worth watching. If I see a 3,000 up / 48 down video on a topic I'm interested in there's a really good chance the video is great. I'm a small time creator (~13.5k subs) and don't care at all about upvotes or downvotes being public. There's only been a handful of videos out of hundreds that received more downvotes than expected because the vid…

And for people who are sensitive to downvotes, there's already the option to make them private.

I really don't understand this move... this will seriously limit our ability to filter bad content. I hope that they'll provide an alternative.

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#627

This is a damned shame. I use dislikes to gauge if a video is relevant to the topic at hand. For example, I like fixing stuff and use Youtube for unfamiliar items. Often videos with a high number of dislikes are Spam (usually a bot reading text from some website), Videos where the person handwaves through the steps, videos where the fix is improper, or videos where the creator spends more time monetizing than working…

Same thoughts I had, the more niche the topic the more important this feature was for finding a workable solution. A year back I was fixing a microphone and 9 of the 10 videos I looked at on it were convoluted expensive or ineffective work-arounds while one actually showed how to fix the issue relatively easily. I'm really gonna miss this feature.

Another example of this: pronunciation videos.

Downvotes are a massive indicator if a chosen video is inaccurate.

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#628

All is not lost, as the dislike count is not independent of the number of views and the like count. Specifically, if a popular video has a small number of likes, one can safely assume that it has a large number of dislikes.

That is not a safe assumption at all. You're assuming the total number of votes is proportional to the view count. But a more provocative video will prompt more people to vote

A video that makes people angry might encourage people to vote who otherwise wouldn't have voted

Re: Making the dislike count private across YouTube

#629
post #67

Bummer. I often use like vs dislike ratios as a gauge on whether a video is worth watching. If I see a 3,000 up / 48 down video on a topic I'm interested in there's a really good chance the video is great. I'm a small time creator (~13.5k subs) and don't care at all about upvotes or downvotes being public. There's only been a handful of videos out of hundreds that received more downvotes than expected because the vid…

I just canceled my premium subscription. I'm not taking this lightly, YT has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. But at this point it feels like the responsibile thing to do is to vote with my wallet. Not that a change in course is likely; their leadership has been hell bent on ruining the platform for years.

I still see dislikes but will be cancelling my premium the second they go away.
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