To Hell With Comments

[Crazie_Guy]

Clearly, the only way to win this time is to not leave a comment at all.



FUCK

 

[Two-A]

Wait, the ratings system in ACIV was real? I was convinced it was a joke. Like, since you're playing a code tester for AE, of course they'd ask focus questions of you. But you're telling me those ratings are actually going back to Ubisoft?

Wait, are you serious? What are they going to do with that feedback?

OT: I think it depends on the site, some comment sections are great (the Cracked comment section, for example). From what I've seen, the reputation and popularity of the site (or the article, or the subject of the article) affects the quality of the comments. Having a voting system helps (specially if you can sort by votes) but it won't solve the problem

 

[vasudean]

In some ways I can understand where Benjamin Croshaw is coming from. If one were to take just one glance at a random comment on something like a Youtube video, then yes odds are you'll find a comment from someone that by all rights shouldn't even be near a keyboard. However, sometimes you'll come across a comment that is thoughtful and adds to the conversation made. How I see it, a comment section is like having young children. They're loud and obnoxious and sometimes even rude. However, there are times when that child will do something that makes all the bad things completely worthwhile. At least in my mind it's that way. It's a complicated sort of love. So in that regards I disagree with him saying that comments don't have a place.

 

[IceForce]

This website has an interesting rule: You're not allowed to insult the content creators. If you do, you get warned/banned. If the content creators insult you however, as is the case here, your only real option is to shut the fuck up and stop watching.

I don't like that rule, personally.

If someone insults you, there should always be an option to insult them back.

Well at least the Facebook comments don't suffer from the ridiculous and strictly enforced rules these forums have.

Which is funny, when you think about it.

The mods and people who own this site don't want certain things posted on it, so they made rules against posting that stuff.
But the Facebook comments contain all manner of insults and whatever else, and they appear at the bottom of every piece of Escapist content.

So, insults and other things that are against the rules, DO actually appear on this site after all, inside a Facebook comment box.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Eh, comments can be useful. Constructive feedback is a very good thing, and even relevant questions are appropriate for a comments section. The fact that most comments suck isn't an inherent problem with comments, but an inherent problem with people.

For an example of Miiverse done correctly, look at Super Metroid.

P.S. Thanks

Yeah....about that....

http://www.destructoid.com/wii-u-owners-don-t-know-how-to-play-super-metroid-253895.phtml

 

[IrisNetwork]

And one of the most valid complaints about the game is that all the awesome swashbuckling pirate fun gets interrupted now and then so you can hover around an office ruminating over all the fun you just had

That's my biggest complaint about that game. I think it would've been better if it were a new IP and not an AC game.
It always feels like being called by my mom to do some house chores before getting back to video games.

 

[VoidWanderer]

What an awful artical from someone. I think that commenters are great, because at times, they will show where people did wrong and misinformed.

Forums are good for that because they tend to be moderated. Comment sections however can be a real mess with people whose opinions differ from the poster of the video and the sheer bile that gets thrown at them for 'doing it wrong' aka 'Not doing how I would've done it' is impressive and daunting at the same time.

Most comments would reference someone's bad spelling as a way to point out 'you are wrong', but in forums the person posting has to think about it a little more.

Forums are fine as they more emulate a discussion, but comments are more like two groups of opposing English soccer fans deliberately look to 'prove their superiority'. But forums can slip into this. I have felt attacked by posting about the 19 year old who got 'screwed' getting and XB1 and while I did point out that this was based on my opinion, I got a huge post from another Escapist telling me I was wrong, not that my opinion is different, but wrong.

So I'm with Yahtzee on this, comments are a terrible idea, but forums are fine.

I would also like to point out that I am not defending Yahtzee or his article, but this too is an opinion based on what I have seen.

 

[Mr. Q]

Guess Yahtzee needed to dump some excess bile onto the masses before the new year. Kinda figured he was saving it for his Best/Worst list of 2013.

Joking aside, I'm not supportive of what he had to say but there is a sliver of truth in the article. Go on any YouTube post like Dragonball Z: Abridged and you're bound to find most of the jokes and one-liners like the roaches coming out after someone turns off the lights. And that is not including the racist, sexist, mean-spirited bullshit being puked up by these fuckwits. I may go off the handle on my posts occasionally but I tend to target people who act like assholes who think their shit doesn't stink. Those are the people that need their jaws, tongues, voice boxes, and hands surgically removed. But those are vocal minorities. There are decent people online but there has to be a set of rules made to keep the worst among us out of the conversation. Just don't lump us all into the same pot as those who make the Internet a lousy place.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

The comments on the Escapist are relegated to a separate section of dedicated discussion (a forum if you will) and as such do not intrude as much on the media. This was true until those fucking Facebook comments were enabled. It undermines the accounts and community system. They were a horrible idea and they need to go.

I completely agree. Unfortunately, you know it is never gong to go away, because it is now legally mandatory that all websites must link to and promote Facebook. Almighty Facebook, ruler of us all!

 

[Aardvaarkman]

Your entire article basically says- My words are more important than yours because I get paid to do it. Yours means nothing therefore I don't want to see it.

Thing is though, that view is basically correct. Journalism and criticism in general require a fair amount of qualification in order for it to have any weight or value.

And yet, it wasn't long ago that Yahtzee would have been considered an unqualified punk outsider, who doesn't deserve to have a mouthpiece. Remember when the "professional journalists" mocked the idea of blogging? And now blogging has eaten their lunch, and the blogers are taken more seriously than the traditional journalists.

This is really the icing on the irony cake - that Yahtzee has so easily slipped into the same arrogance that the old media did, when they pish-poshed the idea that the internet could threaten their status.

What Yahtzee has to say automatically has more weight than any opinion of yours or mine simply because he has both a face and a name.

Wait, what? You don't have a face or a name? What the hell happened to you? Was there a freak explosion that burnt your face off and left you with amnesia or something?

By having both of those things he is made to be accountable for things that says, and he develops a backlog of opinions that qualify all his future opinions. So he has reason to avoid saying things that are tremendously biased or false, and we have a sizable backlog of information to go back to that might help us interpret his opinion and weight it appropriately in context to his preferences vs ours.

That really doesn't seem to be the way it works. Once people get famous, they tend to not give a shit about what people think of them or say about them, because they always have enough fans around that it doesn't matter. Less-established people are much more likely to be careful about their words, in my experience.

 

[Mocmocman]

What worries me more than comments, is that they're being disabled on major youtube channels. While I understand that the biggest reason is scamming and bad links, some channels like Nerdcubed prefer not to have them at all and are just sick of of them.

I will not pretend to tell these creators that they should have them enabled or that it will even do any good, but it's a short term solution at best. Without feedback, they're closing off a vital source that will inevitably change the content, for better or worse, the latter which the creator should be able to forsee and avoid.

Nerd^3 uses a Subreddit for his comments, so he still sees the feedback to his videos.

OT: I don't know about this article. It seems odd, when earlier in the year Yahtzee went and changed a joke in his video due in no small part to comments on the video. I think that he is making a rather blanket statement to a specific problem, and to be honest comments are often quite annoying to see when you don't need them.

 

[AngryPuppy]

I find it very funny that someone who relies on an Audience to value his "comments", complaining about comments. Mayhaps someones in the wrong profession?

 

[Aardvaarkman]

The thing is, I'm not going by just this one article. I'm also looking at a number of his previous works, both EP and ZP, where he's displayed an embittered, cynical, and sullenly hateful attitude. Granted, sometimes he's played it for laughs, but the consistency of it makes me seriously question how much is honestly for laughs and how much is just him being honestly venomous because that's his customary outlook on life and people in general.

Listen to his Youtube series called "Let's Drown Out..." where it's basically just him and a friend chatting for a couple of hours. It becomes pretty clear that he really is just like that in real life, it's not an act:

http://fullyramblomatic-yahtzee.blogspot.com.au

And yeah, the irony is intense, because it's essentially him just making comments on whatever he wants to comment on, with no editorial or quality control, no repercussions, etc. I think the problem is that he's just so used to having a soapbox, and having the whole world listen to his comments, that he doesn't have any need for a comments section, as he can easily broadcast his own thoughts to the whole world.

The rest of us don't have that luxury, and it's not a question of competence or qualifications - it's just that the rest of us do not have such a mouthpiece because we have other jobs.

 

[Lyvric]

1) Isn't he a person who is trained to comment on things
2) Comments, themselves, are in 'comment sections' for a reason
3) They can be disabled and/or turned off as he directly states but then chooses not to
4) Reviews, comments and conversations can be useful for reviewing product and/or building a portfolio (I've followed comment links to many online artists)
5) Nobody cares and everybody knows that already. Ironically it's why comments can be so open.
6) You don't care, but some people who watch/read comments, but don't comment all the time, may find this article rude. Please don't upper twat your lower twats

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

As we all know, discouraging discourse because the majority of people are idiots is exactly how to make the world a better place.

Y'know. Like in politics. Let's make it so no-one gets a vote, perhaps, because most people make the wrong vote. Right? And criticism! Let's go onto Youtube, for example, and launch copyright strikes on every single video critiquing a movie, game, book, or person. Because most of them are going to be wrong! So we should just, you know, get rid of everything. I mean the slim possibility that someone is actually going to be calm and intelligent isn't worth taking a chance on, as we all know.

Great idea Yahtzee! I think I'll enjoy this new internet.

 

[2xDouble]

Well, I think [COMMENT DELETED]

EDIT: No. You know what? f it. Enjoy your day, Mr. Croshaw.

 

[Sotanaht]

This was true until those fucking Facebook comments were enabled. It undermines the accounts and community system. They were a horrible idea and they need to go.

This place is infected with facebook? really? I didn't think Escapist could stoop that low, I really didn't, and now I feel betrayed! Then again... I suppose it doesn't actually affect me since I have a plugin in my browser which forcibly removes all social media plugins from all websites, which is why I didn't know this place had succumbed.

Can somebody link me to this plugin? Preferably in PM? I'm using chrome btw, though a firefox version wouldn't be entirely useless.

 

[Deadcyde]

What the hell kind of rant is this?

This basically says fuck comments because mine is clearly superior. Have you ever thought that there are other journalists out there who think your own articles are nothing but paid trash content on a website? And what is stopping the unwashed commenter pleebs from simply posting their own stuff on their own blogs.


If find it funny that you have people hating Anita for say- blocking comments on Youtube on her videos, yet here we are all more or less agreeing with you that we should admonish comments because you don't deem them worthy. This is especially true in the journalism business where feedback is pretty damn important.

Your entire article basically says- My words are more important than yours because I get paid to do it. Yours means nothing therefore I don't want to see it.

You then proceed to complain even more about the stupid comments feature in SM3DW. If it really bothered you that much, just turn it off.

Likewise, if you really hated the Gampad for Pikmin, then use the blasted Wii mote instead of complaining about how annoying it is when you had the option to use an alternative the entire time you played the game for review.

"He hates unfunny hecklers?"
"His self loathing must be starting to manifest!"
"DOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO"

these two combined made my day. It's an internet community. Comment sections are forums. You're basically saying shut up people who say things i don't like.

Well tough. Suck it up yahtzee. Everyone has as much right to express, however stupidily, their opinions as much as you do. If you're even half the person you claim to be, you have the mental fortitude to pick through the flotsam and jetsam like the rest of us. Really, anyone would think you were having a hissy fit.

On the upside, well trolled for being paid to do that.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Spoiler

"He hates unfunny hecklers?"
"His self loathing must be starting to manifest!"
"DOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO"

Okay, that made me laugh.

Yahtzee basically saying "I'm right, because I get paid for it." is utter nonsense. There's was just one good point made there: that people shouldn't get other people's opinions forced on them by a service or game or whatever. That's just damn obnoxious.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I wonder if Yahtzee had a bad day? Maybe he got some negative reviews for his game and book and is unhappy about it

The rating thing in AC4 was fine, it wasnt forced on you and you had no obligation to do it. But with people moaning about "another AC game" maybe these people should use the rating system so the next AC game is structured around gameplay you want. Plus its easier to get real time feedback about the levels after you have played them, because you can make a decision based on your emotion after just playing it. A lot easier and useful than asking people to fill in a questionnaire online a month later. But when you think about it, they could have made you unable to continue until you did rate the level? lol