How long will YouTube survive?

[evensgrey]

I have no idea. Sometimes I don't even see an option to downthumb; just +1.

Coincidentally, I've got a video up that I watched earlier, and it's got two comments, of roughly the same age (3 months).  One with up and down thumbs, and the other without, for no apparent reason.

[Altimadark]

What about downthumbed comments?  Is it just me or are they disappearing?

I'm certain the same thing is happening to me. On more than one occasion, I see people I'm debating with stop posting, and some days later, my comments just up and vanish, so it looks as though I'm the one that gave up.

Clearly giving thumbs down does something to comments, it just can't be seen or measured until the comment vanishes. So if you can't refute somebody with actual proof, now you can just keep downthumbing their comments until they go away! Yay!

[ArtemisVale]

it looks like youtube changed its formating again. Subscriptions isn't up first but at least its easy to get to.

[evensgrey]

I'm certain the same thing is happening to me. On more than one occasion, I see people I'm debating with stop posting, and some days later, my comments just up and vanish, so it looks as though I'm the one that gave up.

Clearly giving thumbs down does something to comments, it just can't be seen or measured until the comment vanishes. So if you can't refute somebody with actual proof, now you can just keep downthumbing their comments until they go away! Yay!

A few days ago I noticed a whole comment section where one commenter was clearly missing. There were numerous replies directed to the missing commenter specifically, clearly correcting errors in the missing comments.

[VectorM]

I'm certain the same thing is happening to me. On more than one occasion, I see people I'm debating with stop posting, and some days later, my comments just up and vanish, so it looks as though I'm the one that gave up.

Clearly giving thumbs down does something to comments, it just can't be seen or measured until the comment vanishes. So if you can't refute somebody with actual proof, now you can just keep downthumbing their comments until they go away! Yay!

Or it's flagged as spam.

[MrBogosity]

Or it's flagged as spam.

And apparently un-flagging doesn't always work.

[dallen68]

And apparently un-flagging doesn't always work.

I wonder if it makes a difference if the message you're unflagging is your own message. (Every spammer thinks THEIR spam isn't spam.)

[Altimadark]

Or it's flagged as spam.

Right. The point is that YouTube allows people to get comments removed regardless of who's video they're on, without recourse, and nobody is quite sure how that even works.

And apparently un-flagging doesn't always work.

I don't even see the un-flagging option anymore, does it even exist?

[MrBogosity]

I wonder if it makes a difference if the message you're unflagging is your own message. (Every spammer thinks THEIR spam isn't spam.)

These are comments by others on my videos flagged as spam.

I don't even see the un-flagging option anymore, does it even exist?

I get alerted about marked comments on my videos. I don't know if anyone else even knows they're there.

[Altimadark]

Okay, I think I might have figured out why comments sometimes just disappear. Feel free to let me know if this seems to be what's going on.

[yt]M3UdRljV0wY[/yt]

So there's this comment by YoSeCualEsMejor, made on/about March 21 (it's about the 10th comment down, as of this post):

Bob and David Duke are the best, All the DrinkingWithBob fans should support the politician David Duke because he will truely save USA from the wall street banksters, war mongers, and illegal immigration invasion.

It's at least the second time he's made such comments on Bob's videos. I can't tell if he's serious or just a poe, but in either case, he is a bogon-spewing jerk. So I reported the message as "hate speech," which YouTube said they'd look into. When I reloaded the page, the message is still visible to me, but it's been marked as "Muted."

Now, clearly I can't see this from YoSe's side, but I suspect this is what's causing some comments to just vanish. Someone reports a message which YouTube simply mutes, and they never actually check the message as they claim to do. If this is indeed what's happening, YouTube has dropped the ball through the bedrock, straight down into the mantle.