This board is for Unity and game dev, I know that, and this is kind of related to that.
I don’t say anything in the Youtube comments any more. Its literally once in a blue moon. Well. I did that the other day. I made a stupid comment on a video about some guy fanboying about Star Citizen. Suddenly my pretty innocuous comment gets me under attack. Words used by the other parties were primarily “You”, “Hypocrite” (???), and “Antagonizing”.
After my initial steam, I realized they were being very direct when they were attacking me. I mentioned that youtube commenters like to antagonize everyone, and the two who replied were doing exactly that to me by calling me a hypocrite for my quite harmless comment.
I just realized that posting even one comment there is a terrible idea, and not worth it. My entire f****ing morning has just been ruined for the moment1!
I have to ask though: What kind of person has the will and courage to keep posting there? What kind of person can argue endlessly there without resorting to killing something? There seems to be an endless stream of trolls just ready to attack anyone. I have a theory about that…
Once Google+ got involved I never made a comment. Now that it’s not even necessary anymore, I still don’t see any need to make any comments on YouTube.
Then again, I also don’t upload anything. If I did, I would probably be more likely to reply to comments (on my own videos). I might be inclined to ask a question on a tutorial video. Maybe.
Other than that, it’s just a retched hive of memes, trolls, scum and villainy, and I don’t even bother with it.
I find Tube comments funny, but it definitely ain’t the place to have a constructive conversation. Or any sort of conversation containing any type of logic…
I wouldn’t let it ruin my morning though, a quick ROFLMAO and crack on… Some game feedback I got had to be worse, apparently someone spent ages looking for a Plasma WEP we put in as a “special reward” and apparently it wasn’t as good as their current wep.
So we should all jump off a bridge… Mmm yeah! Don’t even know what to say to that.
If you made a stupid comment why do you care about the aftermath?
Really? How fragile are you?
I enjoy trolling and I enjoy proper comments. Youtube has both, just like any other forum or comment section. I have e-mail notifications turned on so I can watch the replies I get, but if I get obvious troll comments then I can just delete the e-mail. Problem solved, right? Learn how to not give a shit, I guess. It’s healthy in the long run, especially if you create a successful game like, ohh I don’t know, Fez?
The world has many a-holes. Nothing can be done about those (well in person but they generally all hide behind the computer screen - that makes people brave). So just ignore them as the waste of time they are.
I skip videos that don’t allow comments. If people are not allowed to comment on a video then the video must be bad or something else is wrong. Maybe I think too simple and you think that’s silly, but whatever.
Dude, you posted a yt comment others don’t like? … Man you’re so lucky, I love when that happens, because youtube now lets you delete reply comments and disable/enable replies whenever you want. You’re your very own dictator of your comment board. Just delete those silly/evil replies that you don’t like - unless you have something witty to reply back, so you do it and insta-disable comments so he can’t have the pleasure of comeback with something dumb to say.
Worst that can happen is that they reply by posting a new comment, outside your comment, so you have no power over that. If they care that much it means you won.
I will answer the question more broadly. Why do trolls troll?
They are wusses. They can’t say this stuff IRL so they play pretend online. They like the attention and to be perceived as being good at something, at least. Any deeper thought into it is not needed.
The troll is the apex predator of a bottom-feeding ecosystem. He feeds on those who fish for likes and compliments and those who use the web as a substitute for a social life. In other words, he only has power over you as long as you are in his realm. Once you say “don’t really care, hombre” and get off your computer or go do something constructive, he loses and will have to have a brief moment of introspection where he realizes he sucks… until the next hapless victim posts “Hi guyz I am new here so anybody want to be friendz???”
This seems like a bad idea. Every time I see a video with comments disabled I think “something is up with this, he must be hiding something.” It’s better to have useless comments than to have no discussion at all.
Honestly, as far as trolls go, it’s not just YouTube, but the internet in general. You aren’t ever going to be able to get rid of them, it just isn’t possible. In this industry, you have to be ready for trolls to come around, especially when you’re trying to make something on your own. There are a lot of different types of trolls with different motives, but the majority are people who despise success in others. They will go to your forums, they will nit-pick, call out your fans and just generally run you through the mill of childish insults.
I can tell you that your gut feeling was a good one. The best way to handle trolls is to just ignore them outright. A common phrase in this situation is “Don’t feed the trolls.” When you reply to a troll statement, you are essentially giving that troll everything he/she wants, a continuation of the trolling. Ignore them, however, and they will squeal and squirm, constantly hitting the “refresh” button in hopes that you have replied.
The good thing about trolls is that a quality forum will recognize who is there for a genuine reason and who is there to provoke reaction. No matter what situation presents itself, however, you’re going to have to deal with them and you’re going to have to separate their baseless insults from yourself.
Realize that these people don’t know you. You know who you are and you are the only one who can make those kinds of judgements of yourself. Or you might try this; wait a few hours, maybe even a day, before making a reply. That usually gives you the chance to release those initial angry (and warranted) emotions so that you can reply better.
There are plenty of practical reasons for disabling comments. For instance…
You don’t want to maintain the comments section of multiple videos as a support channel - people frequently ask questions in the comments when other avenues are available and significantly more appropriate.
You don’t want to deal with random people reaching out to you through YouTube’s terrible alert system and expecting support.
You don’t want to risk having trolls instigate a controversial comment train that detracts from the video.
You don’t want to communicate via YouTube (because its not made for that anyway).
You simply want to publish videos on YouTube, and not engage in communication through it.
Etc…
I prefer videos with no comments. YouTube comments section is not the place to get valid information on something I’m watching or interested in. It’s has a reputation of being degrading, immature and unmoderated.
a satisfied person won’t comment that much and will only talk positively about it to other 3 persons
a troll will comment and talk negatively to other 9 persons
(from a study about customers satisfaction perception)
in other words, in comments you often get all the crap
I watched a documentary on Netflix recently about “hacktivism” and such. I can’t recall the name, and wouldn’t recommend it as it is an utter waste of time. In it they interviewed some apparently well known trolls. They claimed that they were doing it for noble reason, they fighting against hipocracy and making the world better. Trolls are apparently cultural freedom fighters. Or some bullshit along those lines. They may have been trolling the makers of the documentary, but it felt like the believed it.
It’s healthy in the long run, especially if you create a successful game like, ohh I don’t know, Fez?