Youtube removes the dislike button

[clearspira]

You know how you cannot dislike a comment on Twitter? And how its a cesspit of abuse regardless?
That is the future of the Youtube comment section. You may think it already is, but my prediction is that it'll get 10X worse.

[TGLS]

YouTube could just give the video creators ranging from Joe Shmoe in his bedroom making cat videos to Marvel the option to include the like/dislike buttons. Just like they can remove the comment section.

Given that they're just getting rid of the dislike counter, I think the dislike votes are probably important to the algorithm.

If it's important then why remove it then? So basically now, either you like the video or you don't like it enough to give a like.

Because they aren't removing the dislike button they're removing the dislike counter. You can thumbs down a video all you like, but you won't see the bar go into the negatives.

[McAvoy]

YouTube could just give the video creators ranging from Joe Shmoe in his bedroom making cat videos to Marvel the option to include the like/dislike buttons. Just like they can remove the comment section.

Given that they're just getting rid of the dislike counter, I think the dislike votes are probably important to the algorithm.

If it's important then why remove it then? So basically now, either you like the video or you don't like it enough to give a like.

Because they aren't removing the dislike button they're removing the dislike counter. You can thumbs down a video all you like, but you won't see the bar go into the negatives.

Ahh. Nevermind.

Maybe I should have read the article then.

[TGLS]

Yeah here's an article so you can judge the situation yourself.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/10/youtu ... -platform/

[McAvoy]

Yeah here's an article so you can judge the situation yourself.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/10/youtu ... -platform/

OK, I can understand this. So only the maker of the video will see the amount of dislikes. Not the public.

Though I suspect while on face value, it will curb the mass 'dislike' of a video due to social media mob hysteria (lack of a better term). But at the same time, if a user's like or dislike is not displayed, it may scare away those who do actively likes and dislikes videos.

I don't know if that makes sense...

[TGLS]

OK, I took a random sample of 10 videos off the front page of YouTube, and noted their Likes, Dislikes and so on.

Code: Select all

Title				URL						Views		Likes		Dislikes	Like Ratio	Engagement Ratio
Suits Ultimate Playlist Best 2	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB0ipPSq76o	758,098 	14,000 	 	155 		98.90%		1.85%
When Your Clap Game Is On Anot	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUyJFHgrrZc	34,012,468 	944,000 	13,000 		98.64%		2.78%
Anything You Can Fit In The Ci	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXWw0_UfSFg	136,017,639 	3,500,000 	50,000 		98.59%		2.57%
Golden Retriever Meets Puppies	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B83nmCSwRuw	18,246,143 	212,000 	6,000 		97.25%		1.16%
SQUID GAME but ALL 456 PEOPLE 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPQCkPUYQDM	15,168,195 	261,000 	8,000 		97.03%		1.72%
Prisoners In Finland Live In O	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l554kV12Wuo	7,553,596 	167,000 	5,500 		96.81%		2.21%
The little Kittens start walki	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMTeRLCFKzM	18,905,969 	164,000 	17,000 		90.61%		0.87%
How poor people survive in the	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHDkALRz5Rk	21,449,013 	237,000 	29,000 		89.10%		1.10%
Tom & Jerry | Game of Cat and 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC7kXsnYCWk	268,950,422 	1,100,000 	463,000 	70.38%		0.41%
COVID-19: What to expect when 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jmYgueWMM	8,685 		59 		230 		20.42%		0.68%

Now, News videos seem to score relatively badly. I think this is probably a clear case of "Social Media Mob Hysteria" or at least a symptom of the same disease. There are two other videos that score relatively badly: Tom & Jerry and "The little Kittens start walking" video. I think the cause of the screwed up scores here have less to do with the content, as much as it has to do with the audience. In particular, how much of the audience is small children who are touching the screen of a tablet without knowing what's happening.

--

Now what does this say about the "small creators are impacted" that Google argues? Well, that's harder to test. Finding videos on small YouTube channels in a random way is effectively impossible because the algorithm doesn't push videos to the top in a random way. I can't click around for ten minutes and find 10 low view videos. I can find videos with no likes or dislikes, but those are all random videos with titles like "desc 1234".

But I can theorycraft. Let's say you're one of the first hundred or so people to see a video on YouTube. This is a really young channel, so it's not as if the thousands of subscribers are watching at the same time either. If you see the video has a wide proportion of dislikes (which given the nature of YouTube, means less than 90% positive), it's probably going to make you go: "Nah, next video." Or worse, even if you watch the video all the way through and enjoy it, the bar might make you go, "Nah, won't vote" as people don't like making popular choices.

I don't think YouTube really cares about their content creators. Apparently YouTube has been thinking about this since March, and testing it even earlier. Now, unless removing a dislike counter is an unbelievably Herculean task, (ignoring everything else, there's like 30 ways to visit YouTube these days, so it's not out of question), I think this means that they've been focus grouping or doing some other UX tests to see if removing the dislike count increases engagement. If removing the dislike count increases engagement (by having more videos watched or more likes registered), YouTube is at least theoretically better off.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Now, News videos seem to score relatively badly. I think this is probably a clear case of "Social Media Mob Hysteria" or at least a symptom of the same disease. There are two other videos that score relatively badly: Tom & Jerry and "The little Kittens start walking" video. I think the cause of the screwed up scores here have less to do with the content, as much as it has to do with the audience. In particular, how much of the audience is small children who are touching the screen of a tablet without knowing what's happening.

I don't get it. Tom and Jerry has a 70% like ratio.

[TGLS]

Now, News videos seem to score relatively badly. I think this is probably a clear case of "Social Media Mob Hysteria" or at least a symptom of the same disease. There are two other videos that score relatively badly: Tom & Jerry and "The little Kittens start walking" video. I think the cause of the screwed up scores here have less to do with the content, as much as it has to do with the audience. In particular, how much of the audience is small children who are touching the screen of a tablet without knowing what's happening.

I don't get it. Tom and Jerry has a 70% like ratio.

Small children at pure random is 50% like ratio. If the audience also includes adults, then the total may skews back towards the near 100%. So if half the audience were small children, and the other half were regular users, you'd see a like ratio of about 75%. As it dips all the way down to 70%, that indicates that more than half the audience is small children.

[clearspira]

I don't think YouTube really cares about their content creators. Apparently YouTube has been thinking about this since March, and testing it even earlier. Now, unless removing a dislike counter is an unbelievably Herculean task, (ignoring everything else, there's like 30 ways to visit YouTube these days, so it's not out of question), I think this means that they've been focus grouping or doing some other UX tests to see if removing the dislike count increases engagement. If removing the dislike count increases engagement (by having more videos watched or more likes registered), YouTube is at least theoretically better off.

I still maintain that the likes of Disney are behind this. But I also have a feeling that this has actually been on the cards since the last Youtube Rewind became the most downvoted video in Youtube history followed by all of those incredibly downvoted ''special day'' videos that Youtube keeps making. Y'know the ones, those vids pushed onto the front page for International Women's Day or Black History Month that are so saccharine you have to go and purchase some insulin afterwards.

[Frustration]

YouTube did have the one through five star rating long ago. They switched over to just like or dislike.

Sadly, enough people will abuse a five-star rating system that going to a trinary system (Like/Dislike/No Vote) was probably the right way to go.