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August 27, 2008

“Can we have this for the entire Internet?”
Posted by Patrick at 08:36 AM * 23 comments

For those of you who think the comment-section moderation style around here is too lax, check out YouTube Comment Snob, a Firefox extension that filters out YouTube comments with multiple spelling errors, incorrect capitalization, excessive capitalization or punctuation (“!!!” or “???”, etc.), profanity, and other user-configurable characteristics.

Of course, YouTube being the honey pot for morons that it is, use of YouTube Comment Snob tends to yield acres of white space punctuated by occasional coherent remarks. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.

Comments on "Can we have this for the entire Internet?":
#1 ::: xeger ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:04 AM:

"Mommy -- make the bad people go away!"

#2 ::: Alex R ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:08 AM:

If the work of these guys bears fruit, maybe you *can* have this for the entire internet one day.

#3 ::: Tracey S. Rosenberg ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:13 AM:

Thats tottally SO WRONG!!! I cant believe there so mean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

Okay, I can't even keep that up for more than ten words.

Do people really think the moderation is lax around here? Or do I just miss all the good stuff?

#4 ::: Daniel Martin ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:15 AM:

As for "can we have this for the whole internet", for a while I've been maintaining a greasmonkey script that provides the equivalent of a usenet killfile for the comments sections of a whole bunch of different blogs. Some people swear by it (in the good way); I find it helps more with the cluelessly bizarre than with actual trolls per se, who do tend to get stomped on by the blog owners. (there are a few regular commentors at "Good Math/Bad Math" who seem to define "cluelessly bizarre")

However, I've never made that script cover Making Light - there simply isn't a need here. True trolls are swiftly disemvoweled, and those that aren't are made quick sport of by the social environment. It seems acceptable.

#5 ::: Doctor Science ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:16 AM:

I am *definitely* putting this on my 12-y.o.'s system. Her generation lives by YouTube.

#7 ::: John Chu ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:35 AM:

Even if the net result is merely properly capitalized, properly spelled, and properly punctuated stupidity, that's still an improvement.

#8 ::: C. Wingate ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:50 AM:

I'd be happier with it if the Firefox spellchecker weren't so lame. But what I'm really looking for is something to tell Google to quit giving me commercial sites when I don't want to buy something, and omnium gatherum fulfill all searches sites ever.

#9 ::: Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers) ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 09:58 AM:

If it doesn't filter LOLcats, we'll have an entire internet that can haz cheezburgers.

#10 ::: John Houghton ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 10:13 AM:

OMGWTFBBQ!!1! Thats so coiting lamé!

#11 ::: ethan ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 10:25 AM:

C. Wingate #8: Yeah, if it uses the Firefox spellchecker, all references to Rhode Island would be blocked.

#12 ::: j h woodyatt ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 12:03 PM:

Alas, this would practically eviscerate Sadly, No!

#13 ::: Alan Hamilton ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 12:27 PM:

Woo hoo! I've wanted this for a long time, or at least a way to hide comments. 1500 comments saying "this is fucking gay!!!1!!" doesn't do much for me.

#14 ::: Jim ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 12:33 PM:

#11: I think we can live with that.

#15 ::: Dave Bell ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 12:41 PM:

"Stop your Polish chitchat and steer two three zero!"

This tool won't stop the comments which hit that video.

#16 ::: Katherine Farmar ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 01:15 PM:

There's a script called YouTube cleaner, which hides all comments automatically. It stopped working a while ago when YouTube started changing their templates frequently and the scripter couldn't keep up, but it's been updated recently and now it works like a charm. It also removes related videos and promoted videos (which I find really distracting). And any or all of these features can be switched back on at will, which is handy for those rare occasions when you do want to read the comments.

Now if only somebody would do something similar for Veoh. Commenters on Veoh make commenters on YouTube look like Fellows of All Souls...

#17 ::: Nix ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 02:13 PM:

One wonders how this thing differentiates novel words (especially proper names) from spelling errors. Maybe something's only a spelling error if it's a short distance from a valid word, but that would kill dialect as well.

(But then, I suppose that's part of the point.)

#18 ::: John ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 02:47 PM:

There are only a couple of sites at which I read (or contribute) comments, and this is one of them. Otherwise, there's simply too much stupid to bother with.

Thank you all for being so literate and polite!

#19 ::: pedantic peasant ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 03:16 PM:

I am reminded of the old joke:

Mom: Did you tell your father you wrecked the car?
Son: Yes.
Mom: What did he say?
Son: Should I leave out the swears?
Mom: Of course.
Son: Not a thing ...

#20 ::: pedantic peasant ::: (view all by) ::: August 27, 2008, 03:18 PM:

I am reminded of the old joke:

Mom: Did you tell your father you wrecked the car?
Son: Yes.
Mom: What did he say?
Son: Should I leave out the swears?
Mom: Of course.
Son: Not a thing ...

#21 ::: Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little ::: (view all by) ::: August 28, 2008, 01:46 AM:

Daniel Martin @4: I run greasmonkey/killfile, but I've never even seen the option to apply it to Making Light. I just assumed ML's blog software (Movable Type?) didn't play nice with it. And I didn't worry about that too much, for the same reason you don't use it here.

It used to play nice over at Slacktivist, which was good for my blood pressure in very very specific situations involving very very specific people. Then Greasemonkey went V.3 and the "kill" "hide comments" etc. links stopped showing up there.

Seeing your comment about choosing not to use it here, I wonder whether there's a killfile functionality I'm missing.

#22 ::: kouredios ::: (view all by) ::: August 28, 2008, 12:17 PM:

Sadly, it still blocks out people ironically misspelling or over-punctuating things.

Happily, it still gives you the option of bringing individual comments back into view if you so choose.

Very cool, thanks!

#23 ::: BuffySquirrel ::: (view all by) ::: September 04, 2008, 06:52 PM:

Eh, I was just on YouTube today, and amazed by the inanity of the comments. Nice when a problem and a solution coincide so neatly!

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