# You ever feel like reading YouTube comments is a waste of time in this day and age



## Mr.Underhill (Dec 14, 2022)

Several reasons.
1: Fake users and bots, aka not real humans
2: Often agents of other countries that may have repressive regimes and alas uses western names to influence elections or opinions, sure some YouTube channels may propagate that too but it can be less obvious when a user is named "Kevin Spacey", though the best insult is just "Insert country name + bot" but thats about it
3: Overall its hyperaggressive, i used to love the idea of sharing ideas and opinions online. And i obviously do think YouTube or internet is a good tool to find information online whether its entertainment or tutorials to understand something (though a teacher is mostly effective irl). But yeah i guess i dont see value much with YouTube comments. I guess if one wants to win information war is one thing to just mess back there. But to use it to rely on informative opinions, never basically.


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## Amon Rudh (Dec 14, 2022)

I feel that the problem with Youtube and similar is that they are set up to promote attainment of advertising revenue and the more people like, view (possibly comment) on your video, the more money you make. Many videos with excellent content have relatively few views/likes and those that use clickbait titles win in the end. It makes me laugh when the free-thinking conspiracy theoriser thinks that these platforms (even the special ones only they know about) are not spoon feeding them content through algorithms based on browsing.
The comments are like reviews. You generally only get extremes of angry indignation or sycophantic I love its.
All that said, I watch a fair few that interest me although I rarely comment.


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## Ent (Dec 14, 2022)

In days gone by, when there may have been some value to such things, Ent did not participate. No reception deep in the forest.
In more recent history, Ent did some Facebook for a time, especially in training with groups from other countries. 
It had value in that sense, but was also a channel for many to ask for money when dealing with certain populations.

Then, Ent tried some Tolkien sites when the time came to dig into Tolkien. That was a complete disaster, even the vaunted "Tolkien Society" one in England being but a home for the Religion of Opinion to express itself.

YouTube has very limited value, though it has aided Ent in a couple specific 'how to' things needing to be dealt with.

There is little value to the Internet these days, and even less 'reliable' news or information to be gleaned from it.
Yet as long as one is careful and avoids the many pitfalls, some good things can be both found, and delivered, on it. 

Its biggest issue is it's such a time thief. (Says Ent as he sits here on TTF for hours. But just because he's 'here' does not mean he's 'here'. 😁)


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## Olorgando (Dec 14, 2022)

What the often starry-eyed and naive early propagators (no idea where "early" would start, possibly no one has) of the Internet seem to have been blind to is that *any* place with very limited "policing" (however you want to define the term) attracts one small minority, criminals (to which caste I include loads of people considered respectable in some quarters). One dream was the freedom from censorship by authoritarian regimes. Well, those handfuls to dozens of regimes who fit that bill have managed to clamp down on dissent quite effectively. Burst bubble. And yes, in the freer parts of the Internet, agents (aka hackers) from that authoritarian garbage (these being the few with access to things outside their country) have lots of leeway for their lying propaganda.
One major problem of the "commercial Internet" is what's called perverse incentives. To be found in many other parts of the economy, especially in the rabidly libertarian circles. That leads to clickbait of innumerable sorts in the Internet - and is just another version of that perverted "the ends justify the means" mode of thinking. Sauron territory.


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## CheriptheRipper (Dec 14, 2022)

To be straight to the point, no. I love reading comments on anything.

1. Bots are negligible, their shtick remains unchanged so I read over it most times I would think. Even when I don't it's guaranteed entertainment, the other day I encountered a fourty replies comment thread full of about 30 different bots. Full on replying to eachother ,in order, about a certain product. Crazy co-ordination really.
2. You're talking about propaganda? Well I think there's enough of that to be found everywhere else I look. But great shout.
3. I suppose civilized interactions aren't really youtube's forte, but again I don't mind it. I've long ago gotten accustomed to filtering through text to get to the good bits.
Besides, I'm still of the opinion that more often than not the comment section is in fact more informative than the actual video. (Suppose that's because comments can be edited and posted whenever, whereas the original video will always be around and with time will become outdated). Might also just be a case by case per channel tbh.

So yh overall I think I disagree, always like me a good yt comment section. Plenty of jokes to be had.

@Ent you've such a nice way of words.
The Tolkien Society one produced a good smirk, how would you describe this forum?



Olorgando said:


> One major problem of the "commercial Internet" is what's called perverse incentives. To be found in many other parts of the economy, especially in the rabidly libertarian circles.



Wouldn't wanna call it a problem 👀
If we're talking about the same thing.


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## Halasían (Dec 14, 2022)

Yeah, but it's not specific to youtube.


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