(mouse clicks)
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How's it goin', bros? My name is PewDiePie.
What day is it?
- (singing) Fridays with PewDiePie. - Are we reacting to PewDiePie?
While I was in New Orleans for holiday,
I wasn't checking Twitter as much.
I wasn't checking Facebook,
I couldn't read the comments.
That's the opposite of me.
This is about the comments, isn't it? Aah!
So when I came back and I read the comments
and I do all these things, I just felt like
you bros weren't really there.
Oh, how sad.
I don't see the same type of support--
Wait, what's happening?
I make videos every day for you bros.
That's my reason of wanting to do this.
And I think the main problem here is the comments.
The comments?
I've been thinking about the comments a lot.
I go to the comments and it's mainly spam.
It's people self-advertising.
Wait a minute.
Are you telling me that somebody with 30 million subscribers
is getting spam in their comments?
Just all this stuff that, to me, it doesn't mean anything.
I've been trying to find solutions to it.
I've been hoping that--
The struggle, the YouTube struggle.
I was hoping YouTube would try to figure a way out,
but it doesn't seem like it and I'm just sick of it
so I'm gonna turn the comments off forever.
Whoa!
- They're not coming back. - I heard he did this.
Is this for real?
Wait, what? You can do that?
..I'm doing that.
I wouldn't say it as we lose something.
I would say it as taking the next step in the right direction.
Okay, "In Pewds We Trust."
..comments being [bleep] and it just bothers me.
That's a huge move.
I'm gonna use Twitter. I'm gonna put up a Reddit.
I'm gonna use it as frequently as I can.
I just wanna connect with you bros.
That's all I care about.
- Does bros include women? - Sure.
If I don't feel like you bros are with me,
- I'm like-- - I'm with you.
Thank you for understanding this decision.
Wow.
As always, we gotta end it with a brofist.
- Don't take me out, bro. - I hope everything is okay.
- Don't cry. - I'm crying on the inside.
(groaning)
But how am I gonna spam my channel now?
(Finebros cracks up)
That was a shot heard around the world.
People freaked out!
PewDiePie cancels comments. What's wrong with that?
That's crazy!
I think he's one of the few people that can actually pull that off.
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
(Finebros) So, first off, what do you think of PewDiePie's decision
and reason for turning the comments off?
I definitely agree.
That's definitely extreme. I'd probably wouldn't turn mine off,
but he has a really good point.
I think it's valid.
I've thought of turning off the comments myself.
It's hard for me to comment on that because I'm not at his level.
There's about a 27 million subscriber difference there.
If you're putting something out into the world,
you're putting it out for criticism.
If you're putting a video on YouTube, comments is part of it.
I don't think I would ever disable comments
I don't see spam, and if I do, or if I see people self-advertising
I just mute them or block them from the channel
and then that's it.
A big part of YouTube is the fact that people get to interact.
If you turn the comments off, then it's no different from TV.
It was really brave of him and, I mean, he is the biggest YouTuber
so this is a huge deal.
I support it and it's working for him.
The Twitter and all that stuff, he does try to engage.
There is a lot of negativity that comes into YouTube comments
and if this screws everything up for him,
well, I'm glad he's the first one doing it.
(Finebros) Do you agree with the issues PewDiePie brought up?
Here's the thing.
I think I'm the wrong person to be talking about this
'cause I don't give a [bleep] about any of this.
Watch the video. That's all I want.
If you wanna leave some crazy comments, I really don't care.
It's hard to actually get feedback on the actual video's content sometimes.
The only thing I relate to or agree with is the negativity.
Not so much negativity towards me.
More towards each other within the comments section.
I feel like the spam has gotten a lot better.
The spam's gotten a lot better?
The spam is ridiculous.
I've seen some stuff in his comment feed that I've never seen on YouTube ever.
(Finebos) Can you talk to us about your experience
in your own comments, the good, the bad, and the ugly?
Lots of lovely things and a lot of ugly things.
I love the feedback, whether good or bad.
I'll get hate every now and then-- everyone does.
But it's never to the point where it's all over the comments
and it gets to me.
It's literally the most racist, hateful, disrespectful [bleep]
anyone can think of to say to you.
I used to never delete comments.
But then when there's just this one annoying negative comment
with all these likes, then I'm like, "Mmm. Remove."
I delete comments.
I will jump on record and say I delete comments.
There's certain lines and if you cross it, actions have to be taken.
(Finebros) What is your perspective on the YouTube comments
after taking over for someone so iconic
and not really having a background in new media?
Honestly, I had no idea what to expect.
Ray had prepped me a little bit, you know.
He was scaring the crap out of me before I did my first episode.
He was kinda like, you know, Game of Thrones.
"Winter is coming."
Like, I didn't know what winter was gonna be.
That might have been the most difficult week
I've had to live.
And the response was way more positive than I anticipated.
(Finebros) What are some of the biggest problems
with the current way the YouTube comments work?
I mean, listen, I think there's a lot of spam on YouTube.
I think there's a lot of horrible comments that probably shouldn't be there.
I like the comments system-- you'll never hear any YouTuber say that.
I hate saying this, but I love the switch over from the old system,
but it's obviously not perfect.
But you know what?
No comments system is perfect.
The good comments, they get caught by the spam filter.
I would almost rather just have my comment blacklist
be the only thing that is referenced when deciding
"Hey, is this comment good enough to go through?"
I don't understand the point of top comments.
The top comment is the first thing you see
when you get to the video.
It sets the tone for the rest of the comments.
Then it starts this huge, annoying conversation
when I'm just trying to read if people thought
my [bleep] jokes were funny.
When I come to your channel, I know there is a pool,
a massive pool of people that love you
so I know what I'm gonna get into when I say something negative
and it becomes the top comment.
Yes, mission accomplished!
The troll underneath the bridge is like,
"(devious chuckling) Yes!"
For people who've been on the platform for a long time,
they kinda know the deal, but people who are like,
"What is that online video thing? What is that YouTube thing?"
and they come over there, yeah, I do think feel
like there's a legitimization problem.
(Finebros) YouTube not too long ago made a lot of changes
to the comments system, including features like a filter
where you can put in words or phrases that will never show up.
Do you utilize that feature?
I actually have and I forgot that they did that.
I have not used it. I should.
Oh, heck yes!
I've got a pretty hefty bit of text in there.
You bet I have.
Bob is nowhere to be seen on my channel,
nor is his tank, nor is his army.
Really? I did not know that.
What? That's censorship.
(feigns disbelief) What?
Whoa.
I mean, I'm not gonna do it, but-- (laughs)
I didn't know that you could block certain key words
from showing up in comments.
- Like, Rhett. - (wry chuckle)
(Finebros) Do you have any ideas of how YouTube can make
- the comments system better? - Some magical fairy that could stop
kids from being mean to each other.
Make flagging more effective 'cause I think you can rely
on the community to filter out for you.
One thing I like to see in the comments is, as a creator,
if I leave a comment, it would be highlighted.
Facebook does that.
Maybe a bigger team to just dedicate to the comments
so spam is not a thing that you associate YouTube with
because that can hurt your brand.
Some sort of system where you could pin comments.
Not necessarily to sway the conversation, but to be like,
"This is the type of discussion that I want to see happening."
What if there was a way where you could pick
your favorite comments to go up to the top, right?
So that way people would be trying to be that comment that you like
so there would be more positivity than negativity.
Every system can be taken advantage of.
It's, I think, the key is for YouTube to continue to be reactive.
(Finebros) Do you think the comments situation will ever get better?
I don't think it'll get worse at this point.
Hopefully it does get better. I think it will
and the more people address it.
Like I'm glad PewDiePie addressed it.
When the internet first came out, I think comments was way worse.
Now there's a lot more anti-cyber bullying stuff,
so I think we are gonna get better.
I think the comments situation is just gonna get worse.
I don't think there's any way YouTube comments are ever going to
become more along the lines of Reddit.
As long as there's a way for people to anonymously talk [bleep],
people will always talk [bleep].
I think this is what it's going to be like forever.
(laughing) I'm, like, the biggest pessimist.
(Finebros) Last question:
what would you want to say to PewDiePie for making this decision
and getting people to talk more about this?
I mean, I think it's a good thing to do.
I've talked about the comments before.
Pewd-- Pie. Can I call you Pie?
I love you. You're beautiful.
I think you should turn the comments back on.
You've gotta turn those comments back on, man.
You can't let the trolls win.
You can't let the spammers win.
You gotta let the community thrive, my brotha.
Felix, I'm sorry you have to go through bull [bleep].
I'll leave you good comments. Just let me comment.
I think that it sends a loud message that, okay, where there's
something fundamentally wrong if the number one guy
on the platform is having a problem.
He's such a hard worker.
Like it's ridic-- I tell my parents about him.
He's really inspiring to me and it's very hard
for me to be inspired these days.
Thanks so much for watching this episode of YouTubers react.
Make sure you check out all these amazing people down below.
Subscribe to them, check 'em out.
In the comments below, make sure to leave lots of nice things.
Let's talk about how great we all are.
Let's just hold hands via comments.
Just keep in mind that opinions are like butt holes--
we all have them and they usually stink.
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