Controversial - disable youtube comments?

[brimstoneSalad]

It's almost impossible to follow these youtube threads, it's a huge mess. And spread out on the comment sections on multiple videos.
Would you consider trying disabling youtube comments, and just put a link to the forum?
I know some people will bitch about that, but it would be a much more orderly means of discussing things in the long run.

Not sure if it's viable or not on youtube, but it would also probably encourage more signups.

[zeello]

There seems to be a negative stigma against disabling comments. Anita Sarkeesian did it and everyone basically just focused on that one issue and drove it into the ground. "zomg she disabled comments, she is teh devil". Even though I don't see the problem with disabling comments, I see it as no different from not wanting people to spraypaint your house. Unfortunately if you do this, people will take it as a sign that your arguments are weak.

[TheVeganAtheist]

that is something I am not for. While it may be near impossible to follow the comments on a youtube video, I think not allowing commenting will dramatically reduce viewership. There may be a marginal increase in people joining the forum, but it would be at a cost of video views that I would not entertain.

[Volenta]

Please don't. Let people discuss it however they like, it's a good thing. And it's not like the comments are mostly negative (even if it were I wouldn't recommend it). It could only negatively influence the video and TVA's channel as far as I can tell.

[brimstoneSalad]

Signups vs. views; I think that's almost always the case.

But "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"

To compare,

The more strongly presented an argument is, the more polarizing it will be. You'll have people saying it's the best thing you've ever done, and the worst.

More measured approaches, the middle ground, will certainly gain more followers overall (at least in the short term), but they will tend to be more lackluster as well, being less offensive to anybody and everybody, but carrying a message that isn't as strong. At least, that has been my experience.

In the comments, many people mention just being atheists, and I think the MD personality cult may have been the exodus, but maybe also some carnists who took exception to the stronger criticism.

There seems to be a negative stigma against disabling comments. Anita Sarkeesian did it and everyone basically just focused on that one issue and drove it into the ground. "zomg she disabled comments, she is teh devil".

Everything she did generated a lot of backlash, and publicity. Frankly, it can be useful to do stupid stuff just to get attention (like PETA does, in a calculated way). "There's no such thing as bad press" While not entirely true, it is usually true.

And it's not like the comments are mostly negative (even if it were I wouldn't recommend it). It could only negatively influence the video and TVA's channel as far as I can tell.

The problem is that some of the comments are actually borderline coherent arguments, and it's just not practical for them to be replied to on Youtube.
It's not that they're negative or positive.

The thing I worry about is that there are a lot of arguments going unanswered, or poorly answered.
I would actually anticipate more of the negative comments to come to the forum, rather than the positive ones, since a person who only want to say "good job this was awesome" is unlikely to go through the trouble to come to the forum, but somebody who is angry or thinks he or she has the ultimate argument against you will.


I would say, yes, there would be a drop. But it's important to weigh the cost-benefit.
Anyway, it's up to the TVA.

I don't know what would be better in the long run, it's just something to consider.

Here are a couple articles about PewDiePie doing it:
http://www.thevideoink.com/news/pewdiep ... VVWEI6qqko
http://www.businessinsider.com/pewdiepi ... ts-2014-11

[miniboes]

I have seen many youtubers just provide a link of a better place to discuss the video in the description, but not disabling comments. Most of the time it's a reddit thread, but you could also link to a thread on this forum (e.g. one named Stupid X Comments #X Discussion). In that case there is at least an alternative for people to go to. The people that stick to the youtube comments then are most of the time not really looking for an honest/productive conversation anyway.

[brimstoneSalad]

I have seen many youtubers just provide a link of a better place to discuss the video in the description, but not disabling comments.

That could be a good idea. Also, maybe we can enable guest posting in one forum section, so they don't even need to register.
The issue, of course, is not that the comments are there, it's that they're so hard to parse and read through.

Maybe say something like:

If you have a comment, complaint, criticism, etc. post on our forum here: link
Guest posting IS allowed -- No registration required.
I will be sure to read it, and you're likely to get a reply. I do NOT read comments posted on Youtube.

So, we would just need to make another forum section, and enable guest posting in that section.
We'd have to find a way to disable posting of links in that section, though.
There should be addons that give the ability to control link posting. We should really figure that out.

If a post or a thread turns out to be interesting or worth replying to, we could move it to the main forums, and the user could register to continue the conversation.

[knot]

I think giving a link in the description and saying something like, "please go to the link in the description to discuss the video" would be a good idea.

Disabling comments sends too much of a wrong message I think. I pretty much only see very dogmatic videos with comments disabled

[TheVeganAtheist]

Maybe say something like:

If you have a comment, complaint, criticism, etc. post on our forum here: link
Guest posting IS allowed -- No registration required.
I will be sure to read it, and you're likely to get a reply. I do NOT read comments posted on Youtube.

So, we would just need to make another forum section, and enable guest posting in that section.

Its a good idea. I will add that in to a future video and create the forum section.