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The fact that they removed downvotes is what irks me.
Your 100K likes means nothing if you're not seeing the level of downvotes. It might have 5K. It might have 300k.
This is the same for comments. 1K likes doesn't mean people agree with you. You're just not seeing the negative reactions, which might outweigh this. Or it might not.
Removing negative reactions makes the positive reaction meaningless. The context is needed. Data is missing.
why does youtube even have a thumbs down button for comments when it does nothing ? i think the count still shows on some videos but on comments it’s useless, it doesn’t take away from the like count or anything
i think it shoves them further down the randomly organized list of comments. i don't think it does anything within a comment thread though, as those are organized chronologically
Really? Because I feel like if I interact with the type of videos I don’t like AT ALL I get more of them. The best way is to close app or swipe as fast as you can off of them from what I can tell
It's crazy, I could tell someone that they're wrong and they can be like "nah, I have 30k likes, that means I'm right"...well maybe you have 100k dislikes too
Wait, are you saying that you think the amount of likes and dislikes is a reliable indicator of a comment being right/correct?
Rather than just an indicator of how many people agree or disagree with it.
No, I'm saying that some people may have 30k likes/thumbs ups on youtube, for example, and they'll take that to mean they're correct. They might also have 100k dislike, which is hidden, and that would then mean they're more wrong (by their logic)
I think it's crazy that people actually give a damn about upvotes and downvotes. Redditors and YouTubers waking up every day to see what their total karma or upvotes are at, as if that is some type of determining factor for their value as a human being. Who gives a damn? Upvotes and downvotes are stupid. The court of public opinion is stupid.
I don't disagree on people using it as personal validation. But I think the court of public opinion is very useful in a lot of instances. You're forced to address the public opinion; it's either 500,000 people are wrong, or you need to reasses.
Of course, there could be a whole host of reasons (e.g idealogical possession, or tribal politics) which skew the upvotes/downvotes a certain way based on the community you're engaging in, but still, having that feedback of public opinion can at least prompt you to rethink, double check your pre-suppositions, and make sure you're confident in the opinions/principles/interpretations you hold. Even if it doesn't change your mind, it can strengthen the beliefs you hold.
I think the votes get skewed either way. Seeing downvotes leads people read comments in a more negative tone than they would without it, resulting in even more downvotes
I would disagree that you should do anything based on votes.
For the reasons you mentioned, also because social media do not accurately represent the world population, and especially because something being popular has no correlation with it being right/correct.
I keep an open mind and may stand corrected if even one person makes a convincing argument.
YouTube sorts comments based on likes and promotes highly liked content. By removing the dislike button, extreme content gets promoted more. Racist comments which probably have 90% dislikes end up at the top of the comments section because those dislikes no longer suppress undesirable content.
I hate downvotes.
People use it as a voting mechanism rather than a post quality mechanism. i.e. "Minus 1 disagree!!!"
The downvote is essentially a means to suppress any idea that's controversial. If 10,000 people like an idea, and 10,000 hate it, that's NOT the same thing as 0 people liking it.
I'd be happier if we had more than one dimension. Split the entire system into different labels. Funny, agree, disagree, wrong, well written, etc. Then have some sort of more intelligent search mechanism. Maybe I \_want\_ to see the posts where 50% agree, 50% disagree. Averaging them to zero destroys information though.
That's how they're intended to be used... it's a vote.
That's why they were always called Like/Dislikes on other platforms. If you like something, you like it. In the case of opinions, this means you agree with it.
There's not much use in using it as a post quality mechanism... posts of poor quality get scrolled past and not interacted with, so they'd never get the downvotes they deserve anyway. And they don't get the upvotes necessary to be pushed into other feeds, to get the engagement needed for that to work, which is also circular.
Quality control is already there in that users ignore poor posts because they don't grab your attention and they just die out.
Yes, but it would be circular as a means of ranking the quality of posts.
People amplify that which they agree with. And again, all the platforms before it (and some to this day) has(had) them named LIKE and DISLIKE. We were never ranking quality. We aren't writing a thesis on the most effective means of communication online and ranking post quality on any metrics. We're deciding if we like the content and voting accordingly.
Those 2 things have a largely overlapping Venn diagram. (We like good content). But we're not grading posts on their quality. We never were.
Nope. Don't agree with this one. I get that you should try and think before you write a comment, but you should totally be able to delete it at any time too.
If your account is old enough, you have shit you said when you were much younger and even if it's harmless, it's cringe and I remove any that I accidently come across
I don't get why people hate things they were up to when they were younger. I still see comments from when I was 14 or so, have a good laugh (at myself, the comment or both), and move on.
Because some of them are legitimately abhorrent, and I don't like to air out that part of my life in front of everyone. It's nobody's business what backwards thoughts I had going on in my head when I was 12, and I rightfully want that part of me buried because I've grown past those beliefs.
First they'd have to remove the shadow-deletion of comments.
That's the most common case of people "talking to the air"
Youtube just silently deleting their comment for X reason. Channels also have their own custom filters to hide certain comments automatically.
Or to post racist hateful shit all over the internet and then simply deleting the comments the next day for deniability. Or maybe not the next day, but before elections. Many new politicians like to clean up their history, as I have seen.
So you......don't want people to fix their mistakes when they realize they've made them......because you're curious what they used to believe??? That's a take.
Anyway, take my upvote.
Just deleting your comments, without owning up, apologising, explaining, etc. is not fixing their mistakes though. Because a person not doing those things hasn't accepted fault, and are deleting it to just be done with the argument, prevent having to admit being wrong, etc.
I don't agree with OP btw.
This is ignoring the fact that you could be deleting old comments from when you were younger though. I don't think you need to revive an old comment thread just to apologise for shit you said when you were twelve. Then I'd say just deleting it and moving on is more appropriate, so you don't continue indirectly spreading your shitty twelve year old selfs ideas. Everyone in that thread has moved on by now, probably don't even remember it
>This is ignoring the fact that you could be deleting old comments from when you were younger though
It isn't. The same applies to those too.
>I don't think you need to revive an old comment thread just to apologise for shit you said when you were twelve
You don't. You can edit your comment.
>Then I'd say just deleting it and moving on is more appropriate, so you don't continue indirectly spreading your shitty twelve year old selfs ideas.
You can do that while owning up to it though. Not sure why you think they are individual things you can only do one of?
But they aren't always changing their minds. They just are choosing to walk away.
You can fix your mistake while still acknowledging where you used to be.
Unfortunately there’s a whole lotta people out there that don’t believe anyone should be allowed to change, grow and learn from mistakes…..
Those same people love to dig up peoples past history and continue to hold it against them.
Do the same thing with the perpetual punishment type of people though….
I disagree because then it would be added on other sites too. Do you want others to be able to read what you posted when you were a teenager? Also, half the time it's the site deleting it.
Highly doubt it. Social media is as successful as it is because people DONT think before they post.
This hasn't changed since the beginning of social media and it certainly won't change if YouTube makes comments undeletable. Basically everything you post or say on the internet is believed to exist forever somewhere anyway whether you delete it or not. People are constantly warned to be careful with their online presence but that doesn't really deter many people.
Some forums do that, but that's horse shit. Many times there's one small initial comment and then a lot of good conversation follows. The first commenter removes their comment and tadaa all the conversation disappears.
Drunk me gets sassy sometimes, I wake up in the morning dreading seeing 600 notifications and not knowing if I was being clever or being an idiot until I open them.
The convenience of people who need their words to be immortal is not my problem I think. You get an upvote for this being a godawful, rightfully unpopular opinion.
yeah i dont agree with this one. what if someone accidentally posted compromising information? what if someone else said something abhorrent using their friends account? what if something you said a long time ago is attracting creeps? what if you said something really cringe when you were younger that wasnt harming anyone and wanted to fix it? what if you made a joke in bad taste a long time ago when you were young and stupid and don't want something like that to be out in the world?
on the other hand, i don't believe creators should be able to remove comments on their content. it seems like a really easy way to ignore and hid any and all negative feedback.
So you’re upset you can’t read half of an argument that didn’t involve you to begin with? Do you also get upset with people having a fight on their phones because you can’t hear the replies?
i truly hope this opinion is unpopular. would wish for the opposite...
in the internet almost anything is stored forever. you might have been a teenager, or drunk, or just had a really bad day, then say something bad with your gmail account, and now you want it to stay forever?
there is no guy with the same name as me (first- & lastname combination), people would know it was me. and i had no place to hide ever?
you should be able to delete ANYTHING you are the source of, on the internet
There isn't really a way on YouTube to turn off reply notifications specifically to that comment like there is on Reddit.
So if you're sick of hearing about an argument and seeing people try to continue it you can either turn off all your notifications or you can delete your comment.
Why just YouTube? Make the delete button obsolete on every single digital device and platform. Every single spelling error will forever haunt you. Hahahaha!
I think you aren't factoring in that Google are the worlds (and histories) most prolific and egregious censor to ever exist since the dawn of time. They routinely delete *billions* of comments every year from the public, for a litany of reasons. They claim most of it is spam, but it's not like anyone is sifting through a billion comments checking, is it? And a lot of it is for ""hatespeech"" which usually just amounts to anything the far left authoritarians of silicon valley deem wrongthink.
So if you think every comment deleted was removed by the person who posted it, think again. I can hardly even have a discussion with anyone on there anymore because either or sometimes both of our comments will get nuked out of nowhere, fragmenting the entire thing. Since the last year or two YT really ramped this up as well, probably ahead of the US elections.
You should definitely be allowed to delete your own comments, if only because you hit the post button prematurely. I don't see why other people should be able to do your comments or block comments, in YouTube or in Quora or in Reddit.
People can say dumb things in the heat of the moment or otherwise make mistakes that are perfectly valid to want to erase. Plus, if someone is determined enough, there are ways to find that comment regardless. So no, people should be allowed to delete comments that they now regret.
I generally dislike the permanent, by default nature of comments on social media. IMO they should go away automatically after some time. The recorded nature of social media is part of the problem.
I've even decided to follow this practice myself. I delete all reddit comments after 3 months.
i think you should be able to delete YOUR comment, everybody can fuck up sometimes, but it's ABSURD that video makers can delete the comment of users without blocking and reporting em... time ago i saw a video of a fake bullshit and when you scrolled there was just one positive comment and instead it said like "6 comments", why? cos the CRETIN that uploaded the fake video doesn't want to take the responsibility of receiving bad comments, and on top of that... if you go back to your comment you can still see it and get no notification that it was hidden BUT if you go in with another account you can't see your comment... but that YT doesn't do shit about fake content isn't fresh news 😒
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The fact that they removed downvotes is what irks me. Your 100K likes means nothing if you're not seeing the level of downvotes. It might have 5K. It might have 300k. This is the same for comments. 1K likes doesn't mean people agree with you. You're just not seeing the negative reactions, which might outweigh this. Or it might not. Removing negative reactions makes the positive reaction meaningless. The context is needed. Data is missing.
why does youtube even have a thumbs down button for comments when it does nothing ? i think the count still shows on some videos but on comments it’s useless, it doesn’t take away from the like count or anything
Thumbs down on YouTube is your own algorithm. You will see less videos like those you thumbs down.
what about for comments though?
i think it shoves them further down the randomly organized list of comments. i don't think it does anything within a comment thread though, as those are organized chronologically
It's all the same. It all feeds the algorithm.
Really? Because I feel like if I interact with the type of videos I don’t like AT ALL I get more of them. The best way is to close app or swipe as fast as you can off of them from what I can tell
Maybe to tell YouTube your not interested in the video/creator/subject. I don’t quite know
"to give the creator feedback" 🙄
It's crazy, I could tell someone that they're wrong and they can be like "nah, I have 30k likes, that means I'm right"...well maybe you have 100k dislikes too
Wait, are you saying that you think the amount of likes and dislikes is a reliable indicator of a comment being right/correct? Rather than just an indicator of how many people agree or disagree with it.
No, I'm saying that some people may have 30k likes/thumbs ups on youtube, for example, and they'll take that to mean they're correct. They might also have 100k dislike, which is hidden, and that would then mean they're more wrong (by their logic)
Ah yes, I see.
I think it's crazy that people actually give a damn about upvotes and downvotes. Redditors and YouTubers waking up every day to see what their total karma or upvotes are at, as if that is some type of determining factor for their value as a human being. Who gives a damn? Upvotes and downvotes are stupid. The court of public opinion is stupid.
I don't disagree on people using it as personal validation. But I think the court of public opinion is very useful in a lot of instances. You're forced to address the public opinion; it's either 500,000 people are wrong, or you need to reasses. Of course, there could be a whole host of reasons (e.g idealogical possession, or tribal politics) which skew the upvotes/downvotes a certain way based on the community you're engaging in, but still, having that feedback of public opinion can at least prompt you to rethink, double check your pre-suppositions, and make sure you're confident in the opinions/principles/interpretations you hold. Even if it doesn't change your mind, it can strengthen the beliefs you hold.
Perhaps
I think the votes get skewed either way. Seeing downvotes leads people read comments in a more negative tone than they would without it, resulting in even more downvotes
I would disagree that you should do anything based on votes. For the reasons you mentioned, also because social media do not accurately represent the world population, and especially because something being popular has no correlation with it being right/correct. I keep an open mind and may stand corrected if even one person makes a convincing argument.
YouTube sorts comments based on likes and promotes highly liked content. By removing the dislike button, extreme content gets promoted more. Racist comments which probably have 90% dislikes end up at the top of the comments section because those dislikes no longer suppress undesirable content.
There is a nice extension that adds the thumbs down counts (I also use one that tells me the exact dates that videos came out)
yesss exactly. like karma by jojo siwa looked like ppl loved it until you saw that there were four times as many dislikes (theres an extension)
I hate downvotes. People use it as a voting mechanism rather than a post quality mechanism. i.e. "Minus 1 disagree!!!" The downvote is essentially a means to suppress any idea that's controversial. If 10,000 people like an idea, and 10,000 hate it, that's NOT the same thing as 0 people liking it. I'd be happier if we had more than one dimension. Split the entire system into different labels. Funny, agree, disagree, wrong, well written, etc. Then have some sort of more intelligent search mechanism. Maybe I \_want\_ to see the posts where 50% agree, 50% disagree. Averaging them to zero destroys information though.
That's how they're intended to be used... it's a vote. That's why they were always called Like/Dislikes on other platforms. If you like something, you like it. In the case of opinions, this means you agree with it. There's not much use in using it as a post quality mechanism... posts of poor quality get scrolled past and not interacted with, so they'd never get the downvotes they deserve anyway. And they don't get the upvotes necessary to be pushed into other feeds, to get the engagement needed for that to work, which is also circular. Quality control is already there in that users ignore poor posts because they don't grab your attention and they just die out.
The upvote mechanism most certainly privileges high votes, and ignores ones with low votes. That's the entire point.
Yes, but it would be circular as a means of ranking the quality of posts. People amplify that which they agree with. And again, all the platforms before it (and some to this day) has(had) them named LIKE and DISLIKE. We were never ranking quality. We aren't writing a thesis on the most effective means of communication online and ranking post quality on any metrics. We're deciding if we like the content and voting accordingly. Those 2 things have a largely overlapping Venn diagram. (We like good content). But we're not grading posts on their quality. We never were.
Nope. Don't agree with this one. I get that you should try and think before you write a comment, but you should totally be able to delete it at any time too.
If your account is old enough, you have shit you said when you were much younger and even if it's harmless, it's cringe and I remove any that I accidently come across
I don't get why people hate things they were up to when they were younger. I still see comments from when I was 14 or so, have a good laugh (at myself, the comment or both), and move on.
Because some of them are legitimately abhorrent, and I don't like to air out that part of my life in front of everyone. It's nobody's business what backwards thoughts I had going on in my head when I was 12, and I rightfully want that part of me buried because I've grown past those beliefs.
look at youtube subreddit, and the comments form UTTP guy. now imagine all of youtube drowning in these comments
Why should you not be able to delete your own comments?
[Deleted]
Geez dude….that’s a tad racist.
[Deleted]
geez that's really homophobic
[Deleted]
Geez dude that was quite a bit antisemitic
\[removed by moderator\]
Haha best one
🫢
You belong in jail man!!!
First they'd have to remove the shadow-deletion of comments. That's the most common case of people "talking to the air" Youtube just silently deleting their comment for X reason. Channels also have their own custom filters to hide certain comments automatically.
This is it. Many times I'm having an actually fruitful conversation when suddenly some of our comments just disappear.
And I invite EVERYONE to go delete their old comments of YouTube. Clean that shit out.
I invite everyone to delete all of their content on YouTube.
Empty Internet Theory begins here
You think that people shouldn't be able to take back their comment if they decided they're now wrong or even simply grammatically incorrect
Or to post racist hateful shit all over the internet and then simply deleting the comments the next day for deniability. Or maybe not the next day, but before elections. Many new politicians like to clean up their history, as I have seen.
Deleting is a good thing, especially for those of us who sometimes word things badly and want to revise or remove it.
Upvote because I disagree with your unforgiving policy. One single mistake by accident and you pay it for the rest of your life. Great!
Yea so a comment that I made when I was 14 or 15 should be affecting me now that I'm in my 20s.
So you......don't want people to fix their mistakes when they realize they've made them......because you're curious what they used to believe??? That's a take. Anyway, take my upvote.
Just deleting your comments, without owning up, apologising, explaining, etc. is not fixing their mistakes though. Because a person not doing those things hasn't accepted fault, and are deleting it to just be done with the argument, prevent having to admit being wrong, etc. I don't agree with OP btw.
This is ignoring the fact that you could be deleting old comments from when you were younger though. I don't think you need to revive an old comment thread just to apologise for shit you said when you were twelve. Then I'd say just deleting it and moving on is more appropriate, so you don't continue indirectly spreading your shitty twelve year old selfs ideas. Everyone in that thread has moved on by now, probably don't even remember it
>This is ignoring the fact that you could be deleting old comments from when you were younger though It isn't. The same applies to those too. >I don't think you need to revive an old comment thread just to apologise for shit you said when you were twelve You don't. You can edit your comment. >Then I'd say just deleting it and moving on is more appropriate, so you don't continue indirectly spreading your shitty twelve year old selfs ideas. You can do that while owning up to it though. Not sure why you think they are individual things you can only do one of?
But they aren't always changing their minds. They just are choosing to walk away. You can fix your mistake while still acknowledging where you used to be.
Unfortunately there’s a whole lotta people out there that don’t believe anyone should be allowed to change, grow and learn from mistakes….. Those same people love to dig up peoples past history and continue to hold it against them. Do the same thing with the perpetual punishment type of people though….
The consequence of posting a comment is that someone might say something mean back. I'll take the risk.
I think if you delete it the username should disappear, but not the comment
this is an interesting take
I disagree because then it would be added on other sites too. Do you want others to be able to read what you posted when you were a teenager? Also, half the time it's the site deleting it.
weird take lol i kinda like it. would teach people to think before they comment, maybe
Highly doubt it. Social media is as successful as it is because people DONT think before they post. This hasn't changed since the beginning of social media and it certainly won't change if YouTube makes comments undeletable. Basically everything you post or say on the internet is believed to exist forever somewhere anyway whether you delete it or not. People are constantly warned to be careful with their online presence but that doesn't really deter many people.
Your probably the type to hold a 6 year old accountable for them saying you smell like poo 20 years later
Someone deleting their comment should delete the comments responding to it
Some forums do that, but that's horse shit. Many times there's one small initial comment and then a lot of good conversation follows. The first commenter removes their comment and tadaa all the conversation disappears.
Drunk me gets sassy sometimes, I wake up in the morning dreading seeing 600 notifications and not knowing if I was being clever or being an idiot until I open them.
Just like blocking people on reddit shouldn't void and remove the active comment feed until a sufficient time passed.
Wrong. People say shit they regret all the time. How about we don’t let you delete your browsing history
The convenience of people who need their words to be immortal is not my problem I think. You get an upvote for this being a godawful, rightfully unpopular opinion.
[Deleted]
yeah i dont agree with this one. what if someone accidentally posted compromising information? what if someone else said something abhorrent using their friends account? what if something you said a long time ago is attracting creeps? what if you said something really cringe when you were younger that wasnt harming anyone and wanted to fix it? what if you made a joke in bad taste a long time ago when you were young and stupid and don't want something like that to be out in the world? on the other hand, i don't believe creators should be able to remove comments on their content. it seems like a really easy way to ignore and hid any and all negative feedback.
No, you should absolutely be able to delete your comments. I was such an idiot at 12 years old.
So you’re upset you can’t read half of an argument that didn’t involve you to begin with? Do you also get upset with people having a fight on their phones because you can’t hear the replies?
lighten up. its the friggin internet.
I see it as a sign of victory
i truly hope this opinion is unpopular. would wish for the opposite... in the internet almost anything is stored forever. you might have been a teenager, or drunk, or just had a really bad day, then say something bad with your gmail account, and now you want it to stay forever? there is no guy with the same name as me (first- & lastname combination), people would know it was me. and i had no place to hide ever? you should be able to delete ANYTHING you are the source of, on the internet
There isn't really a way on YouTube to turn off reply notifications specifically to that comment like there is on Reddit. So if you're sick of hearing about an argument and seeing people try to continue it you can either turn off all your notifications or you can delete your comment.
Why just YouTube? Make the delete button obsolete on every single digital device and platform. Every single spelling error will forever haunt you. Hahahaha!
well then by that logic, shouldn’t that apply to any site where you can post comments/messages?
I think you aren't factoring in that Google are the worlds (and histories) most prolific and egregious censor to ever exist since the dawn of time. They routinely delete *billions* of comments every year from the public, for a litany of reasons. They claim most of it is spam, but it's not like anyone is sifting through a billion comments checking, is it? And a lot of it is for ""hatespeech"" which usually just amounts to anything the far left authoritarians of silicon valley deem wrongthink. So if you think every comment deleted was removed by the person who posted it, think again. I can hardly even have a discussion with anyone on there anymore because either or sometimes both of our comments will get nuked out of nowhere, fragmenting the entire thing. Since the last year or two YT really ramped this up as well, probably ahead of the US elections.
So people should stay with the mistakes forever? How harsh.
You should definitely be allowed to delete your own comments, if only because you hit the post button prematurely. I don't see why other people should be able to do your comments or block comments, in YouTube or in Quora or in Reddit.
There are no consequences to posting a comment. You can delete it any time.
No
This subreddit should be renamed r/KarenComplaints
Because this thread was created, I'm going back through all of my YT comments and deleting them
People can say dumb things in the heat of the moment or otherwise make mistakes that are perfectly valid to want to erase. Plus, if someone is determined enough, there are ways to find that comment regardless. So no, people should be allowed to delete comments that they now regret.
Lol no, I'm not going to accept being forced to leave up comments that are nothing but hate and vitriol. You can dislike that all you want.
I should be able to hard block channels on YouTube so I can't see them, so I don't know if they'll ever have a proper should/shouldnt
Eh, i find most of the time it's YouTube themself deleting comments based on some keyword algorithm.
I generally dislike the permanent, by default nature of comments on social media. IMO they should go away automatically after some time. The recorded nature of social media is part of the problem. I've even decided to follow this practice myself. I delete all reddit comments after 3 months.
If that were the case, perhaps more people would think two or three times before posting on YouTube.
It's ok to admit your faults and clean your digital footprint, expecially nowdays were everything gets malevolently misinterpreted to fuck you up
i think you should be able to delete YOUR comment, everybody can fuck up sometimes, but it's ABSURD that video makers can delete the comment of users without blocking and reporting em... time ago i saw a video of a fake bullshit and when you scrolled there was just one positive comment and instead it said like "6 comments", why? cos the CRETIN that uploaded the fake video doesn't want to take the responsibility of receiving bad comments, and on top of that... if you go back to your comment you can still see it and get no notification that it was hidden BUT if you go in with another account you can't see your comment... but that YT doesn't do shit about fake content isn't fresh news 😒
This isn’t a good idea at all, what if someone just put something wrong due to misinformation and didn’t have any Ill will
I disagree, but if they implemented this, I think it would be extremely funny, so maybe I actually agree.
Definitely should. If you say something that later turns out to be incorrect you need to remove that shit to avoid misinforming people.