YouTube is seeking the opinions of content creators with a view to amend the current “like” and “dislike” mechanic of its platform.
Right now, viewers can choose to pick either option to express their views on the video. An unfortunate trend that can be seen on lots of videos right now is the YT version of review-bombing, with hundreds or even thousands of people disliking a video just because it’s a meme to do so. This is exactly what YouTube wants to combat, and it’s reportedly looking to see if content creators want to be able to hide likes and dislikes, keep them or scrap them for good.
Currently, the most disliked video is one from YouTube itself: the notoriously cringe-inducing YouTube Rewind 2018. Really, it’s not too surprising the platform wants to scrap the mechanic…
People are pretty angry about the proposition, believing it takes away a lot of the democracy of YouTube. Over on Reddit, the r/pewdiepiesubmissions forum has kickstarted a movement to “dislike YouTube in the App Store if they remove the dislike button.”
With over 18 thousand upvotes before the thread was locked by a moderator, there’s clearly a lot of interest in saving the dislike button.
Over on Twitter, everyone’s saying the same thing: why aren’t more people talking about this?
I just don’t like “YouTube Rewind 2018” and now they want to remove the dislike button..? pic.twitter.com/mXPJM7TmkF
— AlexFlipnote (@AlexFlipnote) February 8, 2019
I’m surprised no one is talking about Youtube toying with the idea of removing the ability to dislike a video, just all around getting rid of that system. They’re calling it “weaponized dislike mobs” and it’s their strategy to deal with this new comic supervillain
— Published Author (@MoistCr1TiKaL) February 4, 2019
Although it’s not made much of a wave, those who are discussing the idea are pretty angry about it. Hopefully YouTube will still take note of what its community wants…
Featured Image Credit: YouTube.