Genre: YouTube Comments
Popular
video-sharing site Youtube.com has a functionality that allows registered users
to leave comments. The commenting system was praised when YouTube was first
launched because of how collaborative it was compared to previous video sites.
However, comments posted on YouTube have become infamous throughout the
internet community because of their characteristic stupidity and immaturity.
YouTube
comments are directed at people who watch the videos or in a reply to another
comment. Generally the audiences that the comments target are similar to the
original poster because they are localized to one specific video.
The
purpose of a YouTube comment varies, but can be categorized into 2 broad groups.
The first type of comment is someone making a remark relevant to the video and
provides constructive collaboration. This type of comment is rare on the site. An
example of this is can be found on video "How to assemble & install a
ceiling fan with light kit", user Papa Poo provides a useful tip for
future ceiling fan installers: "Here is a tip. For emergencies when you
almost are going to drop the fan because you can't handle it weight don't take
chances by releasing for the fan to drop it might tear the wires in the celling
instead quickly cut the wires from the fan and quickly bring the fan down".
He received multiple up-votes and thanks because other users found his advice
useful.
The
second type of comment is very common on YouTube and is what gives YouTube
comments its infamous reputation. These comments were described by The Guardian in 2009 as "Juvenile,
aggressive, misspelled, sexist, homophobic, swinging from raging at the
contents of a video to providing a pointlessly detailed description followed by
a LOL." These are all valid conventions of a typical YouTube comment.
The
writing style of comments also vary. Some are concise yet make no sense. For
example, user Branbits comments on the video "SEAWORLD WOMAN TRAINER
KILLED BY KILLER WHALE!!" with "did he died?". The title specifies
a woman was killed by a killer whale yet the commenter decides to post his
comment anyway. On the other end of the spectrum, some are long and rambling rants (usually found on political
and religious videos) where a commenter makes an attempt to communicate their
own philosophical ideas to viewers. Since the internet is widely accessible and
YouTube is a large website, it is inevitable that people with different
personal viewpoints will interact. YouTube user The Amazing Atheist discusses rogue feminists in his video the
"Failure of Feminism". Expectedly, this created much disagreement.
User ktelle words disagreement in a long rant attached in the screenshot. Her
comment, like most others presenting opposing views on YouTube, follows the
typical convention of one that expresses personal opinion. Many other comments
have conventions that combine both to create many different unique yet equally
stupid replies.
Despite
YouTube's various efforts to stem the reputation of ridiculous comments by
adding an upvote/downvote system and requiring a full name through a Google
Plus account, the flow continues. Some users have even turned the comments
section into a source of entertainment that can transcend the amusement
provided by the video itself.
Wow, this reading certainly came out of left field! I love the choice of genre you made; while it’s a really specific genre of text, it also brings some bigger topics to light, such as internet etiquette. The ability to create an online persona may have helped start the YouTube hate comments. While there are a countless amount of hateful comments, I think it becomes more interesting to look beyond the scope of cyberspace and realize that someone, somewhere in the real world, typed such a comment and posted it. Whenever I see comments like that, it sometimes makes me wonder what this genre would be like if there was no anonymity on the internet. If people were no longer able to hide behind their computer screens, would these comments still be around? It’s interesting to think that such a nuanced genre can bring out bigger questions like this. Thanks for a great read!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really entertaining project builder to read. It was a cool idea to use youtube comments as the subject. I thought it was it was a good idea to separate youtube comments into two distinct categories. The examples you used to describe the helpful and hateful comments were nice, because they showed the difference between the two really well. I would also mention that the grammar and spelling of the helpful comments is often much better than the spelling and grammar of the hateful comments. Overall, nice project builder and cool and well executed idea.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your insightful work on Youtube comments. I never saw it as a specific and separate genre until you showed and revealed all the conventions and similarities that Youtube comment have. Youtube comments were a great topic to pick because Youtube has become such a daily aspect of our lives and as a result so has the comments too. Your inclusion of the separate spectrum of comments pertaining different videos was on point. I have seen a lot of videos and have seen the occasional ignorant or idiotic comments followed by some videos as well the bias and subjective comments for other videos. Also I liked how you included examples from Youtube to strengthen your work as well as quotes from articles. I especially enjoyed the “Did he died” example because that perfectly encompassed the silliness and stupidity of a Youtube comment with the faulty grammar and disregard of the video. Great job.
ReplyDelete