YouTube Is Fighting Back Against Comment Spam (Again)

Alright, let’s try this one more time. After YouTube‘s much-hyped comment overhaul has resulted in a mountain of user scorn, the video sharing site is doubling down on its promise to rid comment sections of spam and virus-filled links.

YouTube initially promoted its new system as a way to highlight comments most meaningful to individual users, but that approach backfired as spammers quickly figured out how to game the system. The decision to allow links in comments has only worsened matters. The average comment section is now filled with five people who know how to use Google+ and a dozen commenters who want to show you how to make $65000 a week on the Internet (all you need to do is follow their links.)

Hopefully, the spam is about to subside. A recent blog post from YouTube

has announced newly toughened security measures meant to sniff out bad links and crude ASCII art. “We know the spam issues made it hard to use the new system at first, and we’re excited to see more of you getting involved as we’ve fixed issues,” says the blog post. “New features like threaded conversations and formatted comments are coming to life, thanks to you and your fans.”

Some creators have responded positively to the changes. PewDiePie‘s comment section is back online after the top creator briefly disabled it in protest of the new system.

Of course, like it or not, Google+ will remain an integral part of the YouTube comment system. To remove that, you’ll have to follow HowToBasic‘s NSFW instructions.