YouTube Etiquette

To understand the web, the only thing to do is to dive in and hope that you make it back to the surface. There are perils and joys to discover. The Internet is unique in that it can both reward and rob you at the same time. The world is at your nearest mouse click, but it eats up all of your time trying to find the next new thing. For any form of technology offering several billion pages of information, this is inevitable.
Of course, one of the most popular web pages out there is YouTube, a site that allows one to see amateur musicians, bad dancers, and almost-forgotten television programs which can now be enjoyed before they are pulled by the networks over copyright infringement laws. It has redefined what we can use the web for because it allows to the viewer to be a participant instead of the normally passive figure in front of a screen. And it is no surprise that television has lost viewers to the Internet. Why be a spectator when you can both play the game and coach yourself?
As with any new toy, there are those who are willing to abuse it. There are a lot of web pages and links that can offend, bore and just make you think that the best instincts of the World Wide Web community are perverse, predictable and just plain ugly. YouTube is just as guilty as any other page when it comes to this link of abuses. Think of the endless number of negative comments that are posted over a simple message; or the uploaders who have decided to get their messages heard by promising porn. Antagonism is rife and will not end without some sort of general understanding of how the site should be used.
With this point of reference, it is necessary to propose some rules of usage, a list of etiquette that should be applied to this page. It is not a list to start some sort of censorship, or self-censorship. A viewer already has the option to flag videos that they do not like or think are offensive. It is simply listed to show just how absurd things have become on the page that encourages you to Broadcast Yourself.
Let’s start with the names. Number one rule: Choose a decent handle for yourself, not something that reminds browsers of the already low standards of grammar on the web. jazzoholic works (it is witty, clever and speaks of two obsessions that often go hand in hand); whizzypoo does not (the reasons for this are obvious, in a scatological sense), and both are very real and very used names in the Comments section of the page.
Next: the comment itself. Please don’t quote lines from the clip that you and the rest of the surfers on the Web have just watched. Apart from the hearing-impaired viewers out there, people know what they have just seen. Leave comments that comment, not ones that repeat.
No more ads for porn web sites that do not offer anything for free; also, no more multiple ads for the same porn web site with one comment (doesn’t anyone understand the concept of diversifying?). Add to this the desire to straight-out porn on the regular YouTube site (and no more nonsense like using a sexy still shot for an upload of your drunken idiot friends pretending to act). If the web site's founders really want to compete, they should be giving YouPorn and xHamster a hard time (so to speak…)
Now, if you have made it to the web page and have become a subscriber, please learn a little about punctuation and spelling before leaving a comment. It simply looks better on the page if you get these things right instead of telling the world how much “yu lurv de chic wif the beeg nawbs”.
And this is a personal one: more information on the great Mentos/Diet Coke experiments. If you have not seen this in action, you should get onto the site right now and experience the joy of propulsion and carbonation in tandem with “the freshmaker”.
And then there is this: not in itself a bad thing, but please keep the lesbian kissing to a minimum. And tell the truth: most of those girls are not really lesbians and are providing the wrong sort of information to all of the lonely and horny teenage boys out there. Truth in advertising is a precious thing.
Now, about the comments on the comments: if someone receives more than five thumbs-down clicks, that is just wrong. They usually remain hidden, but it seems like overkill or abuse to see -15 next to the downward-turned digit just because someone doesn’t like a video. And don’t bother adding more and more negative written comments against one idiot you don’t like. This is distracting and perhaps a way of falling into a carefully-laid trap (there is no such thing as bad press).
Finally, the pulled videos: why do the networks do this? They hate the free advertising? The interest in their product is drawing people away the boob tube? No, it is all a question of money and advertising. So, here is what you can do: screw with them! Keep posting their clips, no matter how often they pull them down. Their writers were just on strike; maybe their viewers should join them.
YouTube is here and we have gotten used to it. We should know how to use it.