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Some veteran YouTube staff think Shorts might ruin YouTube

TechNews @radiation.party

Some veteran YouTube staff think Shorts might ruin YouTube

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TechNews @radiation.party

Some veteran YouTube staff think Shorts might ruin YouTube

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249 comments
  • Perhaps it's a little too late for YouTube to ride this trend. TikTok is even pivoting to long videos, as they know where the money is.

  • If they forced livestreams in your face like they do shorts maybe people would actually watch their content

  • They're pushing it way too hard, just like the google+ shit back in the day but even more in your face. Stinks strongly of "we have tiktok at home"

  • They are right that Shorts are harming YouTube, in the same way that Windows 8 harmed Windows.

    YouTube and TikTok are different things. People go to TikTok for a specific thing, people go to YouTube for something else. And YouTube sees a bunch of people on TikTok, and says 'if that's what people want we should be the ones to give it to them'. But in doing so, they are ignoring the people who WANT YouTube and NOT TikTok, by making YouTube more like TikTok.

    This is just like Windows 8. Microsoft saw a bunch of people ditching desktop PCs in favor of iPads, so they said 'let's make Windows more like an iPad'. Thus, Windows 8- only one app open at once, touch-focused interface that was frustrating with a mouse. It ignored the people who WANT Windows and NOT iPad, by making Windows more like iPad.

    The simple fact is, Shorts are frustrating. The lack of a scrub bar and volume control are a big part of why I DON'T like TikTok, especially on PC. And seeing that same crappy format on the desktop YouTube web interface is a big turn off.

    If there was an option to just 'never show me Shorts' I'd click it in a heartbeat.


    There are much bigger problems with YouTube than Shorts though. One of the biggest is their content moderation. I get it, there's 50 hours of video uploaded every minute and you can't watch it all so you let automated system handle it. Problem is, people RELY on YouTube to make a living in many cases. And when some asshole can destroy their livelihood by filing a couple hundred obviously false bot reports, that makes creators think twice. Same thing when the policies you DO have seesaw between allowing some really offensive stuff, and persecuting types of content that people in California dislike.


    What YT needs to do is rethink the whole way demonetizing works. Rather than being a single flag that instantly makes a video ineligible for monetization, they should have categories of advertisements. So that way if someone wants to post a video that has controversial themes like (for example) firearms or marijuana use, rather than being entirely demonetized, the video can show ads from gun companies or smoking supply companies. Advertisers could specify what sort of controversial content they are willing to be promoted alongside, so everybody could win.


    Another huge problem is their awful 'engagement algorithm'. It seems expressly designed to make low quality content bubble to the top, while the really good stuff is harder and harder to find.

  • Since they added it I've moved over to revanced which allows you to remove it.

  • I enjoy YouTube Shorts a great deal. It could definitely be easier to curate your feed than it is, but I have a great deal of intractable pain at all times, and I like the fluffy format. It's easy to digest and understand and move on to the next one when my attention span is completely destroyed by the constant intense pain. Sometimes it's the only thing that gets me through the day.

    • As a fellow chronic pain sufferer, I sympathize. But the answer is not to make YouTube more like TikTok, it's for people like you to go to TikTok, which is already set up for viewing like that. The world is not built to cater to people like you and me. We're a minority and we need special care and we can't expect everyone else to accommodate that.

      • Tiktok doesn't have shorts from all my favorite channels though. Shorts is obviously supposed be YouTube's "answer" to Tiktok, but it's a different vibe, IMHO. I've tried to get into Tiktok and it just doesn't do it for me.

        IMHO, I think they just need to add a toggle for shorts so that people can opt out (or in, whichever).

  • I think they are a great addition for the short 1 minute ideas some youtubers have that may as well be posted on their 2nd channel.
    Imo it could be improved with a landscape option and longer than 1min vids.

249 comments