The Great Debate

[Irridium]

This is why I laugh when people say disabling youtube comments stifles discussion. They're youtube comments. That already pretty much guarantees there will be no meaningful discussion. It can happen, but it's very rare. If the video is about gender-related stuff or video games (or, god forbid, both), then yeah. No hope, abandon all hope ye who enter, ect.

 

[sethisjimmy]

Not censorship and not killing the debate. Also not a sign of weakness (?). Youtube comments are pretty undeniably terrible. Doubly so when trying to debate a complicated, delicate issue in under 500 characters.

 

[Skeleon]

All the YouTube hate around here seems somewhat overblown. I'm quite active on there actually, so... yeah, there's a lot of idiocy in the comments, but... I dunno, maybe it's the videos I watch or something, but those types of commenters I encounter rather rarely.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

It really doesn't matter how inane and idiotic the comments end up being.

Disabling them completely shows weakness. It's just that simple.

Besides, there is no legitimate reason to do such a thing unless you specifically don't want people insulting you.

Turning off ratings is even worse.

My god, why would people want to NOT be insulted? What madness is this!

Because they're thin skinned.

Even if there is a SINGLE constructive comment among 10 million insults, cutting off the comments is still silencing that opinion because you can't deal with people typing mean things.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Oh, you guys want to see moronic comments on something? Go too any Yahoo!News article and read THEIR comments section. It's where conspiracy theories are born.

 

[Right Hook]

Sure there is a LOT of idiocy in the comment section on YouTube but there is also a fair share of good opinions and decent arguments, depending on the video of course. It seems when the uploader disables comments they are either trying to avoid hate, which seriously it is the internet and you should get a little tougher if it bothers you or they are biased one way and they don't want to see someone giving an alternate opinion.

 

[V3rtig0]

I'm all pro-comment, since I've found many answers to questions I got from watching a video simply by scrolling down and checking if other people have also got a similar question. And if not, I just ask it myself and so far I've got a reply every time.

 

[Legion]

You know.

I don't really love Anita. I'll listen to her, but she... frustrates me sometimes.

And yet, even I think the notion of disabling comments = 'silencing debate and discourse' is a load of crap.

Why?

Because... that notion is stated, usually, within threads discussing her and her videos. Which whenever a thread about Anita is brought up, (especially on the escapist) drag on for over a dozen pages. Every time.

So yeah. 'Censorship/Silencing discourse" my ass.

I think people are referring to the fact that she releases videos discussing issues in gaming, and then disables comments so people cannot counter her. There are discussions elsewhere, but not in the places she will see and read them.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with removing comments. I have a problem with people only allowing the ones that make them look good to be shown, while deleting any that make them look bad, or prove them wrong in any way. It comes across as somebody not being comfortable with their work, and having a large ego to feed by only allowing sycophants to respond.

 

[Something Amyss]

Doubly so when trying to debate a complicated, delicate issue in under 500 characters.

This is what kills me about the idea of Youtube "discussion."

Oh, you guys want to see moronic comments on something? Go too any Yahoo!News article and read THEIR comments section. It's where conspiracy theories are born.

Why? Why would you wish that upon people?

 

[Something Amyss]

There are discussions elsewhere, but not in the places she will see and read them.

Unless she's on the internet in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

I think people are referring to the fact that she releases videos discussing issues in gaming, and then disables comments so people cannot counter her. There are discussions elsewhere, but not in the places she will see and read them.

I dunno about that. She is quite possibly the most popular and most discussed woman in gaming media as a whole right now. Even for someone like me, who doesn't even try to keep up with any Anita related news - am still subjected to threads/articles about her everywhere in gaming media.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with removing comments. I have a problem with people only allowing the ones that make them look good to be shown, while deleting any that make them look bad, or prove them wrong in any way. It comes across as somebody not being comfortable with their work, and having a large ego to feed by only allowing sycophants to respond.

I would've actually thought much less about her if she took that route. I've seen channels where users attempt to debate complicated issues, and end up only approving comments that agree with them. That stuff bothers me significantly.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

"Look at my video...just don't talk about it"

That's called television, and no one ever says that they're "silencing the debate" by not having a scrolling 1-800-OPINION line at the bottom of the screen.

It really doesn't matter how inane and idiotic the comments end up being.

Disabling them completely shows weakness. It's just that simple.

Besides, there is no legitimate reason to do such a thing unless you specifically don't want people insulting you.

Turning off ratings is even worse.

My god, why would people want to NOT be insulted? What madness is this!

Because they're thin skinned.

Even if there is a SINGLE constructive comment among 10 million insults, cutting off the comments is still silencing that opinion because you can't deal with people typing mean things.

The O'Reilly Factor doesn't have a comments section (save for when he shows a hate letter or two), but we all seem to have come to the consensus that Bill O'Reilly is a massive douche without it. [del]Censorship would be going into a comments and removing the ones which offend you.[/del] This is not "silencing opinions." This is simply not giving said opinions a floor on your video, which is perfectly reasonable. The idea that anyone who wants to share an idea must then be honor-bound to host, or even listen to, the opinions of the masses is not reasonable. Just as we are free to voice opinions, we are also free to not give a damn about the opinions of others.

EDIT: Strikethrough on my censorship example because THIS:

No meaningful definition of censorship limits it to anti-democratic government-instituted censorship.

Censorship is the ereasal or limitation of communication. If I'm quoting your post, and replacing a word with asterisks, then by most common definitions, I am "censoring" your line. If I'm asterisking out my own words, I am prcticing "self-censorship". When the Escapist is deleting forum posts, they are censoring commenters.

I'm not saying that all these forms of censorship are wrong, they might be necessary, but first of all we need to admit what it is. If you are blocking comments from your youtube page, then you are censoring your youtube page. You are limiting other people's communication. And just because you do it in a way that is within your legal rights, doesn't change that basic fact.

To deny that, just because censorship sounds like such an unpleasant word, is a pointless euphemism.

 

[Hagi]

It's not really a bad thing to do, disabling the comments.

But seeing as with the same amount of effort you can disable the notifications, thus never being bothered by them anyway, and allow other people who do enjoy the comments to still have their fun I'd say it's a lesser good though.

Nothing wrong with disabling the comments, but you could do better.

 

[Entitled]

disabling youtube comments isn't censorship. Not by any meaningful definition of the word. Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee the right to speak in someone else's private space.

No meaningful definition of censorship limits it to anti-democratic government-instituted censorship.

Censorship is the ereasal or limitation of communication. If I'm quoting your post, and replacing a word with asterisks, then by most common definitions, I am "censoring" your line. If I'm asterisking out my own words, I am prcticing "self-censorship". When the Escapist is deleting forum posts, they are censoring commenters.

I'm not saying that all these forms of censorship are wrong, they might be necessary, but first of all we need to admit what it is. If you are blocking comments from your youtube page, then you are censoring your youtube page. You are limiting other people's communication. And just because you do it in a way that is within your legal rights, doesn't change that basic fact.

To deny that, just because censorship sounds like such an unpleasant word, is a pointless euphemism.

 

[Erttheking]

I don't know, as someone who posts content onto the internet myself, part of the process is having to deal with jackasses. I have had to deal with jackasses in the past, to the point where I've ended up banning a couple from commenting on my work, not as many to be honest, but I'm just saying that putting up a video series with no way for her to get feedback seems a wee bit pointless. Not to mention she took it an extra step and disabled ratings. Not to mention other people have gone through this stuff in the past, TotalBiscuit actually got stress related illness from his youtube comments but he didn't disable them, he just doesn't read him and he has his wife and friends comb through them looking for comments that they think he'll actually want to see.

Yes, you have had to deal with jackasses, but you have not had a massive hate campaign against you. It's not just `what comes with the internet` and it's not okay.
Like I said, feel free to disagree with her decision, but after all that- fuck, I would have done the same thing.

I can understand why she did what she did, I just don't agree with her.

 

[Storm Dragon]

Frankly, I find YouTube comments to be a source of endless amusement.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

I don't know, as someone who posts content onto the internet myself, part of the process is having to deal with jackasses. I have had to deal with jackasses in the past, to the point where I've ended up banning a couple from commenting on my work, not as many to be honest, but I'm just saying that putting up a video series with no way for her to get feedback seems a wee bit pointless. Not to mention she took it an extra step and disabled ratings. Not to mention other people have gone through this stuff in the past, TotalBiscuit actually got stress related illness from his youtube comments but he didn't disable them, he just doesn't read him and he has his wife and friends comb through them looking for comments that they think he'll actually want to see.

Yes, you have had to deal with jackasses, but you have not had a massive hate campaign against you. It's not just `what comes with the internet` and it's not okay.
Like I said, feel free to disagree with her decision, but after all that- fuck, I would have done the same thing.

I can understand why she did what she did, I just don't agree with her.

I agree, mostly because her series of videos was crowd-funded via Kickstarter. This implies that she's willing to accept money from her investors, but not their criticism. Also, disabling ratings does nothing to stop the hate campaign against her. There's nothing vulgar or violent about a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Although a two-way rating system can't be called constructive, she's clearly not willing to listen to criticism of any kind.

 

[hentropy]

In the end, not everyone on Youtube is looking for it to be some kind of public discourse. It's just a depository for videos of all kinds, not a never-ending film festival and public square where people can discuss it. It can have consequences when every single video has some kind of vile hatred a few scroll-ticks below it, it's one of the reasons why other sites have simply but the comments on a separate page (sort of like this one, though still mostly unmoderated and uncontrolled). But you have no right to have your free speech facilitated right below the video, it's never worked that way in other mediums and shouldn't be expected on the internet.