[HunterV]

Has anyone else noticed a recent decline in inappropriate Youtube comments now that they pushed for real name accounts?

[chjj]

Actually, no.

I see people posting horrendous stuff with their real names all the time on youtube. I don't think anonymity is what causes these horrible comments: it's more the fact that the internet creates a "barrier" between two people. It's easier to say something with conviction in text than it is in person, even if you're typing it under your real name.

[stusmall]

I heard road rage explained in the same way. We would never act to each other face to face as we would in a car. The car feels like an extension of your own home and you feel more violated when someone invades what you perceive to be your space and we view what we are lashing out at as an object and not as person with feelings. I can see it being the same mentality when you are sitting at home nerdraging at your computer.

[bcoates]

Lots of pseudonymous forums are reasonably civil. I suspect the problem with Youtube's comments is more an absence of signal than the presence of noise. Videos are far more accessible to the barely literate, "People who watch videos on YouTube" has no community identity, and there's no external purpose to the commenting to overcome the weakness of text as a medium to discuss cat videos.

I'm not sure why Youtube even bothered allowing text comments in the first place, let alone why they didn't go to video-response only years ago.

[Bockit]

I think the barrier you describe has helped lead to the phenomenon of claiming 'I was just trolling' or some variation of that comment when people are called out on inappropriate behaviour on the internet.

[minimaxir]

You're not watching the right videos. Anything with 1+ million viewes or videos by people with large, young fanbases will still contain such comments.

[homosaur]

It really depends on the video. I still see people spouting stuff straight out of Stormfront and calling people fat and blah blah but for the people with channels with following? I do see a change. I think the bigger deal is that YT finally brought up a system to deal with the troll commments by downvoting. You only really see them when you click "show anyway" now.

[notatoad]

i haven't noticed, but facebook's real name policy doesn't seem to deter terrible comments.

[fragsworth]

It probably has much more to do with the voting system they added.

[gcb0]

I'd love to see a study or data on that.