Over the next few weeks, YouTube plans to test several new interface designs that won’t publicly display how many dislikes a video has earned. In the design the company showed off, the dislike button is still there for people to tap, but it doesn’t have a count that’s updated in real-time. According to YouTube, content creators will still see that information through YouTube Studio.
The company says the test follows feedback from content creators on “well-being and dislike campaigns,” but notes people will still be able to use the dislike button to share feedback as well shape their recommendations.
What to do with the Dislike button is something YouTube has been thinking about since at least 2018. That’s the year its annual Rewind feature became the most disliked video on the platform. One year later, the company floated the idea of trying things like turning off rating counts by default and removing the button altogether to prevent a mob of people from bombing a video. We wouldn’t say this latest experiment spells the end of the dislike button just yet, but YouTube is clearly thinking about how to tackle the problem.
ICANN allows TLD .sucks domains
CALLER 2: Okay, he did a campaign to try to get a series of subdomains that were like consumer advocate subdomains like dot consumer, dot tax payer, dot shareholder, and most famously, dot sucks.
PJ: Dot sucks?
CALLER 2: Yeah, dot sucks.
PJ: So like Walmart dot sucks, like McDonalds dot sucks?
CALLER 2: Yes, and he proposed that they should, ICANN should create a dot sucks foundation which would be a independent organization that makes sure that dot sucks was only used by people who actually wanted to talk about the corporation sucking.
PJ: Huh wait, and just for people that don’t know, ICANN, they’re the, basically like the regulatory body that decides which top level domains are going to exist. So wait, so they would have like an internet right to, that every single website would have like a mirror image version of it where people just complained about the company that ran it?
CALLER 2: Yes. Yes.
PJ: That is a great idea.
ALEX: I agree.
CALLER 2: (laughs)
PJ: And who, do you know who shot him down?
CALLER 2: So ICANN decided not to go with it, but here’s the crazy thing: when they did the rerelease of all the major subdomains like when dot xyz and dot nyc, and all the new ones came out a few years ago, dot sucks made it through, and now all the companies are just buying up their own dot sucks.
PJ: Aaaaagh. So like McDonalds dot sucks is just owned by McDonalds?
CALLER 2: Yes, so–
ALEX: Yeah, McDonalds dot sucks forwards to the Contact Us page on McDonalds.
CALLER 2: A lost revolution.
PJ: Wait, hold on one second, okay?
CALLER 2: Yeah.
PJ: Yes. Alex Goldman dot sucks is available.
CALLER 2: (laughs)
ALEX: Why are you doing–why do that to me?
PJ: PJ Vogt dot sucks. [typing] Oh! I got both of them.
ALEX: PJ, don’t fucking buy my name.
CALLER 2: Maybe he’s protecting you from other people buying it.
ALEX: He’s not protecting me. You’re–have you ever listened to this show? You’re being so naive right now. He’s not protecting me.
PJ: I don’t know why you’re yelling at him, but it seems like something that will be chronicled on Alex Goldman dot sucks.
ALEX: Dude, come on.
PJ: Oh, it’s maybe not worth it. They’re $329 each.