YouTube comments overhaul draws ire from co-founder, users

Google rolling out a new style of commenting on YouTube videos has not gone down well with loyal users of the video-sharing service. Funnily enough, the move doesn’t seem to have gone down well with one of the founders of YouTube either. In his first comment in eight years, the service’s co-founder, Jawed Karim has made his displeasure known at having to use his Google+ ID to comment on YouTube.

Years after having uploaded the first ever YouTube video, Karim came back onto the video-sharing website to see that he needed to log in using his Google+ credentials in order to comment on a video. In a short, simple line that seems to sum up most people’s feelings towards Google+ comments being introduced for YouTube videos, Karim wrote, “why the f**k do i need a google+ account to comment on a video?” on his channel.

Why indeed?

Of course, there is no way to ascertain that the YouTube co-founder’s account had not been compromised to post this angry response but it is definitely being a good representative for a move that’s not going down too well with regular YouTube users. Google rolled out a Google+ powered commenting system this week, in the hopes of fixing the long-standing issue of YouTube comments. The website has been a breeding ground of spammy, snarky comments since its inception and Google thinks showing up more relevant comments will solve the issue.

One ingenious YouTube user has even come up with a melodious number called “My Thoughts on Google+” where she vents about the YouTube and Google+ integration making life difficult for users. “F**k you Google+,” Emma Blackery sings. “If it was gonna happen, it would’ve happened by now. Maybe ask Yahoo! to fix it somehow,” she takes a dig. “No one gets videos they subscribed for. Video responses are dead in the water. You can’t leave comments unless you’re linked up. Can you please listen to us?  F**k you, Google+”

Guess Google isn’t winning the congeniality award this year.