HN Explorer

Ask HN: What happened with video commenting?

1 points by grif-fin ↗ HN
What stops the comment sections (on any website) to have a video commenting option?

I'm wondering where are we with this. Is it starting to get popular or is it one of those things that we have the technology but it doesn't really fit in (not enough people want to broadcast themselves as comments)?

I cannot imagine 2-5 years from now and video commenting not becoming a default in comment sections but I do not have a great reason for it and it is just a cloud of feeling and vague reasons, am I wrong and missing something here?

10 comments

[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 22.4 ms ] thread
douche
Who is ever going to watch video comments? I certainly would not. Most corners of the internet, this particular one being a rare exception, have comment sections that are less pleasant to enter into than an old septic tank. I don't need to see that in video form.
grif-fin
But don't you think it may reduce the trolling in comments as there is a less likely hood of one knowing when his/her face is showing more responsibility comes with it?

Also wondering, do you think we will never have video commenting essentially?

gus_massa
You can use a mask to hide your face :), in case you are pointing the camera to your face ...

Also, video needs more bandwidth. Hosting a text comment implies storing and sending 500 bytes. A video is much much bigger and the browser support is more complicated.

grif-fin
If you do hide your face then the person you are replying gets the hint that this person that kind which chooses the option of video instead of text and hides himself/herself which indicates to me not a bright fellow.

Regarding the video bandwidth, what if I say I have a product which handles the video comment hosting and your website can just integrate to it, would that help?

douche
I think what happened with Chatroulette would be the first example of why video commenting is a terrible idea. Designed to allow people to video chat with random strangers, within days became a venue for showing your penis to random strangers.
grif-fin
So are we saying due to the fear of people on Chatroulette we can no longer expand the technological tools to comment? :)

How come people on Periscope are fine?

brudgers
Compared to text, creating and editing and watching video is incredibly time consuming. At least if quality is any sort of concern...e.g., writing a script is a 'best practice' for producing good video content; many video edits require reshooting; and there's no good technique for skimming video while picking up the important points.

That's outside of the attraction of video to naked people.

grif-fin
The point of getting it right on first recorded video is interesting but again what about people using snapchat? do they re-take? Or is it the seriousness and comments require more attention so users may be more picky...
brudgers
If you're not convinced, that's fine. My take is that social apps that share content on a graph are a significantly different context than publicly accessible forums such as blog comments. Maybe my mother cares about a picture of me at the beach, but probably nobody else does.

Out of curiosity, were your question and comments here typed out verbatim in one go, or were there typos and rewrites?

grif-fin
I am currently on no side to be convinced from. I just simply do not know and getting others opinion.

It was in one go except this comment, why? :)