This YouTube buttcrap from Google needs to stop

[greg]

For Usamimi and other YouTube channel owners on here, what do you think about the BS that Google has been doing lately? I have a somewhat popular channel that does not focus on myself at all, but just my nerdy otaku obsessions. And I am rather fond of keeping it anonymous. I'd rather not have potential employers, old high school acquaintencies, crazy people I distanced myself from long ago, etc finding my channel by searching for my name and judging me by it. If I wanted social media, I'd sign up for a FacePalm account where people go to blabber about their own lives and connect with old alumni, etc. I never thought of YouTube on the same social media level as FaceBook or MySpace or the countless blog stuff out there. I still have a late-90s style homepage, and it isn't my real name; I named it after my pet fish who died and I wrote haiku about his death. So I go by Steve The Fish, and it's great because all the dingats, derelicts, and dumbasses think my name is Steve. I'd rather keep it that way. I pay extra for my webhosting so that people won't know my real name, address, etc.

Google has tried over and over again to get me to use my real name, and I have inadvertently created subaccounts: one going by "Greg B" and one was another "stevethefishdotnet" which I thought was my regular channel, but apparently it is a third account I no longer need. It used to be that you could sign into your YouTube account and choose "close my account," however I still get YouTube e-mail sent to my yahoo email address that was tied to my very first YT account, which ironically DID use my first and last name, but I closed it in favor of the anonymous "stevethefishdotnet" account I opened in 2008 or so. That was the year I began uploading videos, and I did NOT want to use my real name! I thought I closed that account. Why am I still getting messages according to subscriptions I had made way back in 2007?

So when it came time for Google to force channel owners to create Google+ accounts just to modify their channels, I played along. One of my best friends is a Google fanboy, who lines his desk at work with all those vinyl Android robot figures and spends money on custom painted ones. He was all on board with Google+, so I thought, "Well, why not?"

So after it created a stevethefishdotnet G+ account, I thought I would try connecting some people with those stupid "circles." It told me that I needed to set up my account. Well, okay... It was asking me for my name, and I only gave it Greg B. It turns out that it was creating A TOTALLY SEPARATE GOOGLE+ account called Greg B that I do not even need! I thought I was updating my first one! What do I need with two accounts? I thought Google was afraid of anonymity and such, so how does it help to allow people to create multiple accounts? Sounds rather devious to me.

I take it back.. I think that is about the time that the Greg B channel was created, which I never asked for. So now I have three channels and two G+ accounts, and all I really wanted was just that one YT channel. I have found a website that gives a guide on how to delete a Google account, but I couldn't get it to work and I am not sure if there is zero danger of accidentally deleting my main channel in which over 1300 people have subscribed to. Why is it so difficult? They never even let me delete my first YT account anyway, and it was far clearer on how to do that back then. With everything tied to just one gmail account, I don't want to risk losing everything!

They did a good job cracking down on all that bogus Sub4Sub nonsense and doing away with that pointless "friends" stuff. But once I got that dumb G+ account, I could no longer go directly to my inbox. I had to search and search for it, and I finally found it. I had to go into my Video Manager screen first, and the Inbox was located on the lefthand side. Gee, thanks a lot, morons!

At least I had just one place I could go to for looking at comments and such. Now that's been taken away from me. They are forcing everyone to use G+ and assuming that everyone wants to use it. This article sums up the backlash, yet it fails to realize that most of us who have signed up for Google+ have done so because Google has forced us. I couldn't care less about G+. I just wanted a YouTube channel.

If Google is so concerned about YouTube's reputation as a haven of trolls, why not consider the following? These are my suggestions, and forcing everyone to create yet another account to something they don't care about wouldn't be necessary.

• Give YT users' accounts a reputation rating. Other sites do this, and if everyone is thumbing down somebody's comments, that could raise a flag saying that the dink is probably a troll.
• Monitor how many times a person has been blocked on other users' channels. It shouldn't be grounds for immediate account suspension because I am sure the 4chan crowd could exploit that for their immature mischief, but it could be a start.
• Monitor how many times somebody's unwarranted video shares have been marked as spam and take action against that user. I think only once or twice I have been sent a video that I actually liked, but the rest have been nothing but crap.

None of these changes would really cause any serious uproar, as far as I can imagine. While removing the 300 word limit could be useful among intelligent, friendly conversations, opening up the floodgates to trolls to lambast others with extremely long dissertations or to insert huge ASCII images of PedoBear or phalluses is NOT a step in the right direction! Somebody pointed out the absurdity of using Google+ to post comments by posting the entire script of the movie Braveheart in one comment on a video! At least it gives the option to "expand comment" and to see its various replies, much like on Yahoo News and such, but seriously, how is this helping?

Out of frustration, I opened a Vimeo account to see what that was like. But then it says that I cannot upload any videos of videogame gameplay and such. Why not? Stupid. I don't think I will be using that site. No wonder nobody uses it. Last night I opened an account on DailyMotion and uploaded my Super Famicom videos. At least DailyMotion accepts the gaming community. I like its usability, and I like how I can choose the video's thumbnail just by pausing the video and clicking on the camera. You'd have to become a Youtube Partner in order to choose the thumbnail of your videos!

So what do the rest of you think about these changes? When will it stop? "What is your real name? What is your bank account? We promise not to charge you anything without your consent. How much is your income? Are you married? What is your blood type?When you pee, do you hold it with your left or right hand?" I believe that their main target is just tracking people's behavior so that they can help marketers make money off them. Maybe eventually it will become like Futurama, in which advertisements are broadcast into your brain, making you dream commercials while you sleep. And before that, after physical media has been removed, they'll figure out a way to make you pay a microtransaction for every time you play a game or listen to a song, even after you've already bought it. We're already heading down that road as it is. It's just sick.

[greg]

More nonsense to complain about:


So here we have an inconsiderate troll. I had no idea that trolls now have the power to post the longest comments in the world that they want, and they can also determine that nobody is allowed to respond to them. I am completely unable to reply to this dink, but I normally just remove the comment and block the user anyway. That is what I did in this case, but as you can see, there was a comment that I was not notified about because it was considered to be potential spam. It turns out that it wasn't spam, and that it was a legitimate question. Good going, Google. Good going.

Of course, I monitor my channel, but for the bigger channels, they have no time to monitor comments. This is ridiculous.

[usamimi]

I don't update my channel super often (as people might've guessed already, lol) and it's not that popular, so I don't mess with it often...but yeah, all this stuff happening is total BS. They're trying to make their Google+ system more like Facebook to try to "compete" with it ( ), which is just making everything else change and being a GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS. Like, Nitro and I use the same computer for a lot of things, and whenever I need to log into Gmail, it always gives me this stupid "HEY YOU WANT TO CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT?" No. "OH SO YOU'RE NITRO?" NO! "OH WELL YOU HAVE TO SIGN UP FOR A NEW ACCOUNT IF YOU'RE NOT NITRO!" SCREW YOU. "OH JUST KIDDING, HERE'S THE LOGIN SCREEN!" -__- Yeah, heaven forbid that two different people have separate Gmail accounts.

I'm not looking forward to logging into the Youtube accounts I made for KOR Theater and such later...I have no idea what it's going to want from me, considering my gmail account's already linked to my main YT channel. Ugh. The whole thing is just a huge MESS.

[greg]

I think it will probably let you log in, and then it's going to shove your face in the Google+ account setup screen. You could maybe close the window and get back into YouTube, but you won't be able to comment on your own videos, or comment anywhere. There's one guy named LukeMorse1 or something that has a godzillion subscribers, and he uploaded a video saying that he can't even respond to people anymore unless he creates a dumb g+ account.

Google fails to realize that a lot of us couldn't care less about FaceBook, Twitter, and any other social media. I never thought of YouTube as social media. It's just uploading videos. Sure, it's social for those who want to do vlogs and such, but I don't care about that. My friend convinced me to get a Twitter account a few years ago, telling me how cool it was. Like how Amazon would post their current deals, etc. Now I rarely ever log into it. Maybe twice a month or so. Which is futile, since the purpose of Twitter (as many people seem to make it) is about constantly flooding it with opinions and ideas, and updating their friends at which Starbucks they're currently at and parking their ass on the Internet.

Despite Google's efforts, I think they fail to realize that most people now have Google+ accounts just to comment on YouTube, but nobody ever bothers looking at the actual Google+ website.

[UniQueLyEviL]

Infuriating. Not only are you not allowed to comment on old comments, I'm fairly sure they've been erasing the old school style comments.

This is all just messy and horrible. Why couldn't they just keep everything separate?! >_<

[Drew_Sutton]

They're trying to make their Google+ system more like Facebook to try to "compete" with it

This is a directive from the top levels of corporate management not because they want to get into social networking for social networking's sake, they want to maintain their ads business, which has been their bread and butter for almost as long as the company has been around. Unifying their product base is the next phase of increasing that advertising margin - because hey, if you watch greg's video on YouTube about toys, then we can suggest circles/plus accounts using G+, feed you more of those ads on search and in your mail browser. Plus, number of users, is the "social media penis contest" and according to Wikipedia, G+ is second behind Facebook in total users. That could have only happened with unifying products because people like me have a different YouTube account and what I consider my primary Google account.

At least YouTube has remained a separate-branded product. I loved using Picasa for photostream stuff but it was folded directly into G+ sometime last year. YouTube probably could have been folded into Google Video and then both merged into G+

Now, I've had an account with YouTube since something like 2004 or 05 but have never used it more for anything than authenticating restricted content. Only recently have I started making restricted playlists for organizing panel clips and sharing them out to co-panelists. And aside from that, I'm not sure I'll get more involved in it.

[greg]

according to Wikipedia, G+ is second behind Facebook in total users.

Perhaps that is true, but unlike G+, FaceBook users actually use facebook. I am sure I speak for quite a lot of people when I say that I have a G+ account merely because it was crammed down my throat for being a YouTube user, and I never even use it. I set it up long ago, but I don't even know what my G+ page looks like anymore.

I used to use Google's RSS reader a LOT, back when I had time to catch up on blogs like Geekdad, Collection DX, and Tokyo Scum Brigade (and when my workplace didn't block it). I love the crap out of Google Voice, because I get to call anyone in the USA for free via my computer (plus it sounds so sparkly clear now that I have fiber optic Internet). I do like how Google Voice was integrated with Gmail. Google Plus though... meh. I have no use for it. My YouTube video uploading automatically updates my G+ and Twitter. I was fine with mostly ignoring my Twitter account. Now I'm obligated to ignore my G+ account, too.

[Drew_Sutton]

Perhaps that is true, but unlike G+, FaceBook users actually use facebook.

Yeah, totally. That's where I was leading with my post - the total number of users that they frequently cite came about from product integration with other successful products - like GMail and YouTube and doesn't accurately reflect the number of active users (which is a metric I am sure they are monitoring). It's true, the only people I know who sincerely use Google+ as one of their primary social networks are Google current and a handful of former employees.

Google products are a mixed bag: Any product aside from mail that I tend to get super excited about have either been canceled (Google Wave) or are integrated to G+ beyond recognition (Picasa).

[ServantOfPriss]

The internet as a whole has been going to shit because of Facebook.

Everyone has been wanting to follow Facebook's model. Which is why I can't make a Yahoo account anymore without having to give my cell phone, I have to constantly switch YouTube accounts whenever I get on my computer to watch something there, etc.

Google is trying to be the new Facebook, which is why it has been forcing users to integrate Google+ to their Google accounts, and why you now have to obligatorily have a Google account if you want to be able to comment on YouTube. I remember when Google started pulling this shit and told me I coudn't use my hotmail email anymore for my YouTube business.

And it's all because of Facebook and the Anti-Christ Zuckerberg.

When Zuckerberg dies and Facebook goes down due to inevitable mismanagement, I'll be cherishing that day with much pleasure.

[ParaParaJMo]

Fuck CorporateTube anyway