Most people seem to think of YouTube as simple a vehicle for online entertainment. Who doesn't want to watch videos of pranks gone horribly bad or baby sloths in a sanctuary? But the one thing that's allowed for the exchange of pretty much unregulated analysis, commentary and discussion is the ability to comment on a video. Keeping in mind the several thousand videos I've seen over my YouTube career, I'd have to say that YouTube's place as the leading entertainment video site on the net is slowly transitioning into that of a serious forum for online discourse.
For example, people can argue on a musician's page why a particular artist is their favourite, or skateboarders can decide which grip tape is best by scrolling through various video demonstrations. While some video uploader's choose to disable comments on a certain video, usually because of sensitive subject matter or the expectation of racist or sexist comments, a reply can also be made on a video in the form of a video response. This is done by referencing the topic in the video or in the video details section.
What prompted me to write about this is some of the shocking comment's I've read under some videos. Because of the anonymity that anyone can have online, the comment sectiosn on popular videos have turned into battling grounds for 'trolls', internet users with nothing constructive to contribute to a discussion. Trolls resort to profanity, personal attacks. Just look at the comments section for this Justin Bieber video (seems to bring out an opinion from everyone!)
It seems the only constructive dialogue is coming from the more 'niche' videos, such as discussions about a certain type of tennis string or relatively obscure musicians. This civility is immediately noticeable as soon as you scroll down. After going through several more YouTube videos, I've just noticed a relationship: the less views a video has, the more polite and civil the comments are.
What does this say about YouTube users? That 'trolls' just need a place to be noticed, being the type of people that will say something controversial purely to stir up opinion and response. So in order to avoid some of the stupidity that internet anonymity provides for, stay away from Justin Bieber videos. It's for your own good!
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