Yuuki said:
I see nobody has managed to answer my question yet lol, so I'll ask again:
I see why Anita turned off comments, she wanted to avoid a huge sea of trolls and hurtful comments.
But then why did she turn off ratings?? EXPLAIN THAT.
There is no room for trolls or hurtful comments in ratings, you will only get an idea of how many people agree or disagree - nothing more. So there is no excuse (but please, do explain if you can come up with one).
As I said before, Anita is well-known for only speaking/presenting (or "preaching" as I prefer to call it) in events where feedback or debate isn't allowed. She does this with almost all her content to avoid getting criticism and I'm sick of people defending her bullshit. Her MESSAGE may not be bullshit, but her her PRACTICES certainly are bullshit.
Stop defending her poor practices Cory Rydell and Grey Carter (assuming both of you are responsible for this comic). Maybe I don't feel like uploading a whole fucking video because Anita's work is just not WORTH that much time/effort! Maybe I just want to drop in a rating after I've watched it. Writing some random article somewhere or posting in random forums doesn't have anywhere near the same amount of impact as leaving some form of feedback (if not comments then at least RATINGS) on the video itself.
I heartily disagree with the message in this comic and recommend the editors at least think for a minute before they post stuff like this. I'm not against opinions and stances, but I am against irrational opinions and teaspoon-narrow perspectives - especially coming from the more influential people on sites like these.
Have you ever heard of review bombing, flagging campaigns or heck, even band wagoning? When you have a substantial part of a wider community with an agenda against you as a person, not just the subject you are discussing, expecting to be fairly judged is ludicrously naive.
Look up any video of say, someone criticising Pewdiepie or heck, even satirising him. Now look at their channel and check out some of their videos that are not pewdiepie related. What would you expect to see? There is a proportional similar amount of dislikes across the board on all their videos, regardless of content. Why? Because a community had an agenda to basically rage at them as hard they can.
Normally, when ratings are being made by viewers, the average viewer is not inclined to vote either way unless they feel REALLY strongly about the content. However, doing something controversial will automatically irk some folk simply for existing in opposition to their viewpoint. More often then not, this person won't even acknowledge the content and simply vote in the negative.
Meanwhile, the average viewer who may or may not agree with her, will not vote at all. Because they don't feel compelled to do so.
Ratings on youtube over controversial issues are not representative of the quality or integrity of that video. There is a clear and present "enemy" to anita, who care not for what she has to say, but that she simply has something to say... and that is enough to set them off.
Not to mention there are people who WANT to see her videos flop, because it would reaffirm everything they were preaching before the videos ever existed.
Just as a point of reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DQuVSL8BYQ
I find this guys videos boring, but I stumbled on this one under youtube recommendations. After watching a few minutes I switched off and moved on, not rating either way due to indifference. This is the average users reaction to something they don't actually like. Only fandoms and rage mobs make significant pushes and pulls in ratings.
Anyway, I had enough time to notice the 10,000+ dislikes compared to the 1000+ likes. Clearly the video is just so awful right? Well, no... 100,000+ views. There are 89,000~ unaccounted for opinions.
Ratings offer noting other then to have a button for ragers to press and feel satisfied or for fans to ritualistically click to show their support.
Thinking they represent something more is ludicrous.