I Am Boycotting YouTube's Like Button
Once again, Google is following in Facebook's guidebook on how to implement 1984.
By removing even this meagre ability to dissent, you take away people's ability to think about dissenting (1984).
This is morally wrong, and it should offend the senses of any true engineer.
Engineers (and other critical thinkers) make observations on the world based on the data they perceive. If the data is corrupted, skewed, or biased, then our observations are equally so.
By removing a critical piece of data - people's dislike of a video, Google has corrupted the observations of their viewers, and in doing so, has made the world less honest.
E.g. imagine you see a video on remedies for arthritis. The video has 11,000 likes. Just from that data alone, you would assume that there may be merit to the remedies suggested. But if the dislike count was displayed, you would be able to see that it had 250,000 dislikes, meaning that this remedy may have caused harm to many more viewers than it helped.
The dislike capability is necessary for making accurate observations of the world in a communal setting, and Google should replace it ASAP.
29 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 70.9 ms ] threadI have long ignored the number of dislikes on a video, because you cannot discern if the dislike was genuine dislike or offense—not a cancel mob, or a troll. Is it possible to look at 2000 dislikes, and then somehow rule out "bad" or "invalid" dislikes? Completely innocent videos get thousands of dislikes, even if it's only a kitten walking across the screen.
So... the dislike button has already meant nothing. The data was skewed to begin with, in my opinion.
If you wish to dissent I suggest you do so in the comments. I read those, and I count the number of "likes" on the comments. That says something far stronger than an arbitrary "10000 / 2000" count.
And according to your logic, the Like button is also useless and should be deleted as well, since you can equally have a mob of people hitting it without really "liking" the video. The same is true of the comments.
I actually support the removal of the dislikes. Before, YouTube would just change the dislike count. You could go to a video and come back later and the dislike count would be lower. (Maybe they are banning bots? Or maybe just manipulating the result. Or maybe just eventually consistent haha)
Doesn't sound like a great plan. How about Google re-instates the Dislike button and works harder to filter out the bots. i.e. Don't harm the product and the UX.
I grew up with the internet and the two absolute rules were don't tell anyone your personal information and never believe anything you see or read on the internet.
Somewhere along the path those rules were forgotten. 95% of the content out there is complete and utter bullshit. Regardless of some arbitrary like or dislike system.
We can do better than “just don’t use it”. The point is that I still want to use it but it’s worse than it used to be.
YouTube is an integral part of sharing information, and the like/dislike ratio is a crucial yardstick of if the content is trustworthy. 95% of the content is not bullsh*t in my mind, and if it is, then why not have the dislike button anyway?
The like/dislike ratio only shows how many people (maybe) clicked a button. Nothing more. It has nothing to do with how trustworthy content is.
Infact I would argue that the moral thing to do would be to remove both the like and dislike count altogether. The like should just tell the system "Yes, I would like to see more content like this" and "No, don't show me content like this".
As far as why not have the dislike count. It isn't up to me or you. We don't own or control YouTube. But what we do control is our own actions and what we choose to use or don't use.
Mmm, but I still have to live in a universe where YouTube exists and everyone else uses it, which impacts my life in a great many ways. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away.
If a guy in the video says "bend your foot at the ankle all the down until you hear a loud pop and feel something give", then reporting the video will do nothing. Downvoting it will inform other users that this is maybe not a good idea.
It is wrong to move the dislike button. Even I published a video for my business and got a dislike on it -- I took notice and moved on with my life. It does suck and I think you're on to something: without a dislike button, there's really no reason to use a like button. However, Facebook has never offered a dislike button, only an angry button, and we all tend to use it.
BUT... you are right about one thing: less focus on your like or dislike which doesn't even really do anything in the first place.
This can probably be scaled up by using S3.
a fly sat on a big Palm tree. when the fly was going to take off, it told the palm:
"i am leaving you!"
to which the Palm tree replied:
"who are you? I don't know you. neither did I notice when you came, nor will I notice when you leave"
I dislike Youtubes transformation towards TV as much as anyone, but we should stay reasonable here. This just makes complaints seem infantile.
Yes, this move is to shield large publishers, their business partners, looking for success in a new digital world instead of the "small contributors" as Youtube itself claims.
I believe this will make Youtube worse and other platforms might take its place. People will invent other metrics like being ratio'd on Twitter. Not that their algorithm didn't already show you heavily disliked content from "reputable" news sources anyway.
Haven't met anyone that likes this move, but they are still in a dominant market position for now. I doubt they will stay there honestly if they continue to consolidate content.