(30) 90 in 90: What has happened to youtube? Part 1

Lots of people have already spoken their opinion about the latest actions from youtube and Google. Lot's of people have made videos, blog posts and other rants and in-depth looks at the new rules behind making money from videos and copyright infringement. News on the internet travels fast and by now, this is all old news.

I do not make money off youtube. I do not create content or belong to an affiliate group that allows me to make money. I do not have a large subscriber base nor do I plan on creating new content anytime soon. I teach. I write articles and I try to blog on here when I have free time.*

I do however, enjoy youtube, or rather I do enjoy the content that some of the people on youtube have created. For a video service that started out as a way to simply upload videos and put them for the world to see has evolved into this huge service of new content that caters to my, and thousands of others tastes. As grand as it sounds, youtube and the people on it have created content that has not only broadened my horizons in both my hobbies and work field, but has also given me a place and community to belong to, that no matter where I currently am, gives me a sense of ease and comfort when the real world can be a harsh and alienating place.

That being said, the recent changes brought to youtube through Google's new policies and rule changes, simply, suck. They are awful and outdated practices with an incredibly narrow minded point of view on how the internet and how ownership in this day and age works. This is coming from the little guy, a person who just watches for fun and logs onto youtube on a daily basis. My opinion, much like many others means nothing to the people in charge. I can rant and scream and yell as much as I want and nothing will change, things will stay the same and if the rumors from the major content creators is true, will become even worse in the upcoming year.

The first changes came with the new comments system in which everyone is required to have a Google + account to make a comment. The intention meant well, as a way to keep spam and inappropriate comments down and more meaningful and insightful comments towards the top. Anyone who has spent time looking through the comments knows that they can sometimes contain some of the most vile and inappropriate things uttered by human mouths. If one thing has not changed over the years, its that when given the option to remain anonymous, anything goes in the realm of the internet.

However, the trouble that comes with this new system not only comes from making people sign up for a completely separate service most people did not use, and most likely at this point, do not want to use. The trouble comes from Google's absolute refusal to fix any of the new problems that have developed as a result.

I've seen entire movie scripts posted to videos. I've seen ASCII art of everything from male genitalia to every meme under the sun. I've seen links that would lead to viruses, screamers or even pornographic content that youtube has been so adamant on banning all these years. While the comments were designed to put only the most relevant comments towards the top of the page, but instead often puts some of the most hateful and vile comments near the top, since the comments that have the most responses are deemed the most important, you'll often see troll comments with dozens of troll baiters responding, giving into their trap.

The comments system for all its intents and purposes of doing good has backfired spectacularly in its clunkiness and new ability to showcase its most hateful side of youtube, the one that they tried so hard to bury front and center. Even the action of Google + trying to get you use your real name has backfired as anyone can create a fake account with a fake name and go to town. As of the time of writing this, I have come across dozens of Jesus Christs, Barack Obamas and Kim Jong Ills who have said anything from sarcastic quips to sexually explicit remarks.

Google and youtube wanted to create a more sanitized version of youtube and I can respect that. However at its current state, its a convoluted mess, and despite signs of slowly getting better, it still does not excuse the mess of a system to read personal messages and  the large amount of inappropriate comments and content that still exists that in many ways, is worse than before the Google takeover.

In an incredibly cynical fashion, I will admit that people are the worst. They have the potential to do good but when given an anonymous face, the worst of humanity comes out and you have a legion of people wanting to cause chaos in a entirely dangerous and most often consequence free world. Perhaps its defeatist of me to say this, but I feel that no one could ever stop these kinds of people from doing what they do best, causing havok. When you upset them, their actions become ten times worse and end up causing more harm than good. You can never stop everyone, control everyone, the best you can do is police them the best you can and step in when they cause significant damage. It reminds me of a line from The Dark Knight where Alfred, butler of Bruce Wayne remarks that by Batman trying to crack down on criminals that he has "spat in their faces" of the worst criminals and that things were going to get worse before they got better.

I feel that is what is happening here. I know comments may seem like something completely insignificant to some people and you may be right, but I, and many others can see what is happening underneath and the slippery slope this is becoming. We see that one of our favorite video services is quickly becoming a shell of its former self and like many other people, this makes us incredibly sad.

*The blogger service is also owned by Google. Funny how that works out huh?