back to article Google asks YouTube commenters to stand up and be counted

Google has altered the comments system on YouTube to encourage those who wish to share their views to step up and identify themselves. Under the new system anyone trying to leave a comment on YouTube will be asked if they would like to identify themselves using a Google+ account. It's not compulsory, but those that decline …

COMMENTS

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  1. LinkOfHyrule

    Where's the "I'm a cowardly troll who lives in my mums basement and despite my racist and homophobic commenting past I actually jack off to inter-racial gay porn on a daily basis" option?

    1. dogged

      That's the default for Youtube comments and the BBC's Have Your Say.

    2. toadwarrior

      So says the guy posting here under a fake name. People say dumb shit on FB under their real name. Real names do not stop trolling, it does stop people from being honest out fear of their government or those smart enough to hand their whole life over to the largest advertiser.

      1. LinkOfHyrule
        Happy

        Yes I am posting under a fake name - I conduct all online "business" under a fake name and actually have two names I use "in real life" too plus a few other names I use as aliases for musical works I produce.

        In all I have probably twenty to thirty names! It comes in handy for avoiding cross contamination, it means I can talk shit here unscathed too!

        Here's a idea for those worried their government will arrest them for posting youtube comments - if google asks for your real name, lie! Or is that too hard?

      2. James Hughes 1

        @toadwarrier

        Seems a bit hypocritical to call someone out for using a false name, unless of course, your real name is indeed Toadwarrior. If it is, I'd have a word with your parents, if you know who they are.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have to post anonymously on the register because their Google indexing is really good at showing any comment I make on here to the whole world as the most important search result. I really miss not being able to choose my own icon though, so I might have to invent myself a 'handle' which is not my name or stop posting register comments. Have not commented on YouTube for millions of years.

    1. ForthIsNotDead
      Thumb Down

      Totally agree.

      I had to trawl through a few years of my el reg posts and delete them after once googling my name and seeing all my el reg posts! Some of them contained bad language/rants. Imagine being sat in an interview and your interviewer has printed out all your rants from el reg... "It appears you have anger management issues".

      Just before I punch him in the face for being a nosy bastard*.

      Regarding YouTube's 'real name' thing: Ha! It's voluntary *now*. Give it 12 months... I also noticed there was no "I'd prefer to remain anonymous in case the owner of the kitten that I said was ugly hunts me down and shoots me" option.

      *Don't worry: I'll delete this post later!

    2. Medium Dave
      Trollface

      Open a new Reg account using the pseudonym "Sergey Brin"...

      ...and go for broke (It's not a proper name anyway).

  3. Chris Thomas Alpha
    Mushroom

    dear google

    please suck my balls.

    that is all.

  4. Homer 1
    Terminator

    'Sadly no "Because I'm an immature coward" option'

    How about a "Because I don't have a G+ account, and never will, because I value my privacy and don't want to be stalked by a Redneck nutter with a gun" option?

    The day Google forces me to choose between "identifying" myself or not using its services, will be the day I say pasta lasagne, and go back to Yahoo! (or better, DuckDuckGo).

    Not a Screw Googler, but just sayin'.

  5. heyrick Silver badge

    Sadly no "Because I'm an immature coward" option

    Here, let me fix that for you.

    Sadly no "Because I don't want a bloody Google+ account" option.

    If Google want to clean up the comments, perhaps they ought to do so more literally. A while back I was looking at a listen-and-repeat story for young children on YouTube, trying to help a friend decide if the woman's somewhat cute American accent would be a problem for a Brit toddler. The comments... My god... We start with describing the female presenter as a MILF, and others run with that idea in extremely graphic detail. I just hope the woman concerned never ever reads the comments...

    I don't really think the real names will help much. Some people are just dumbasses and will splatter their ill conceived ramblings where they don't belong.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. YARR
    Big Brother

    Big Brother's Fabian deception strategy

    In the real world people don't walk around with name tags on all the time or with an ID number tattooed across their forehead, so why should we submit to this form of oppression online?

    If we can go to a public place and express our views to anyone who will listen without being identified, tracked and potentially discriminated against forever after, the same right to anonymity should exist online.

    Niemals kapitulieren to Big Brother, even if he bears a deceptive "don't do evil" charade.

    And no LinkOfHyrule, expressing racist or homophobic opinions is not trolling, it's freedom. Get over it.

    1. LinkOfHyrule
      Happy

      Re: Big Brother's Fabian deception strategy

      I never said it was trolling. I was expressing my freedom of speech in saying it males you a pussy ass bitch.

    2. Mike Flugennock

      Re: Big Brother's Fabian deception strategy

      ...And no LinkOfHyrule, expressing racist or homophobic opinions is not trolling, it's freedom. Get over it.

      Amen to that, pal. Nowhere does the First Amendment guarantee free speech only if it's "nice". I think racist and homophobic opinions of the kind blurted out by politicians and the like on public airwaves are vile and disgusting, but if those creeps are OK dealing with the kind of backlash they're going to get, then, fine; they pays their money and takes their chances.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Big Brother's Fabian deception strategy

        is that the First Amendment to the constitution of the WHOLE UNIVERSE?

        Inquiring minds etc

        1. David Dawson

          Re: Big Brother's Fabian deception strategy

          "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

          ----

          Nope, nothing about google doing whatever the hell it wants to in there. Thought not.

          The first amendment to the US constitution is just that, the US CONSTITUTION. Nothing to do with me, as I live in the UK.

          Secondly, it deals with the government, not commercial, or personal interactions. When you post on a google website, you sign a contract with them to get an account. Thats a private agreement, nothing to do with the government, and nothing to do with the 'first amendment rights'

          FFS. get another tune.

  7. MrWibble
    Thumb Up

    Youtube Comment Snob

    Solves pretty much all comments - I barely see any!

    http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/youtube-comment-snob/

  8. Wibble
    Gimp

    ... and the winner is.... moderation

    It always will be the ultimate answer to sorting out comments. Look at El Reg; who would possibly want to upset The Moderatrix? I know that we're given a lot more latitude, but I'm sure El Reg would implement mandatory moderation if we all started to get fractious.

  9. dotdavid

    NEVER!

    You will never uncloak my anonymity!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: NEVER!

      Oops forgot to hit the anon checkbox. That's better!

  10. Paul Bristow
    Thumb Down

    Sod google

    I too have multiple indents I use online. I don't want to mix my work persona with my personal persona. If Google insist on using my real name, I'll simply never post on anything google-owned again.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. jaminbob
      Big Brother

      Re: Sod google

      Agree.

      How about "I don't want the people I actually know in reality to know that I like looking at strategy game walkthroughs and other such geekness".

      I don't want to mix personal and net all the time.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I am posting under a real name.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'd click the ok button, my google+ name is fake anyway...

  13. Jim 59

    Google

    Hate idiots on YT but when it comes to Google, we should be using all the false names we can. Anything to slow down their stalking and top-peepery.

    Identify yourself on YT and the whole Google machine will explode into life, profiling you, investigating you, desperate to identify and tie together all your online personas, your Gmails, your Android conversations, your GPS locations etc. etc. They are like the Lidless Eye these days, except more evil.

  14. Mike Flugennock
    Mushroom

    those who choose to remain anonymous

    ...those that decline this option are shown a new page asking why they chose to remain behind a cloak of anonymity...

    Why? WTF do you mean, "why"? None of your goddamn' business.

  15. Mike Flugennock

    But, seriously, folks...

    I'm active in a number of dissident movements in the US, including local antiglobalization and antiwar groups and Occupy DC, along with being active in activist media as a videographer and cartoonist, and using my real name on my work is out as I also earn my living as an illustrator and designer, and it just wouldn't do for my "straight" clients to see my real name on samizdat newsreels, posters and cartoons posted at Indymedia or Occupy. So, about fifteen years ago, when I registered my domain for my cartoon site, I created an alternate persona, complete with a pseudonym which I've used consistently across the Internet. I'm "Mike Flugennock" on my blog, my YouTube channel, Twitter, Facebook, The Reg, on the macosx.com user forum, and a couple of MST3K and Deadhead forums I hang out on.

    As much as I'm appalled by Google's latest push for "real names", I can totally agree about the quality of the discourse in the YouTube comment threads -- bottom of the barrel, at its very best. This is why, when I first set up my YouTube channel, I decided to disable comments on my videos. The first couple of pieces I posted had comments inadvertently left "on", and I was amazed at how quickly the comment column filled up with flamage, trollage and spam, and how much time it took to scrape all that crap out of there.

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