YouTube is changing its revamped comments system to fend off a new wave of spam, but the company is sticking with its controversial decision to tie the system to its Google+ social network.
The original changes were made in early November in what YouTube described as an attempt to ensure "YouTube comments will become conversations that matter to you". Channel owners were given more tools to moderate comments and block certain keywords, while the comments section was re-ordered to bubble up "engaged discussions" to the top.
Since then, creators have loudly complained that the changes have fuelled a new wave of spam – YouTube's own video explaining them featured a prominent ASCII-art penis for some time.
The site's most popular creator, Swedish gamer PewDiePie, even turned off his comments, claiming that his videos were being overrun with "Links to virus sites, advertisers, self-advertisers, spam, copy and paste pics of dogs".
In a new blog post, YouTube admits that there have been problems. "While the new system dealt with many spam issues that had plagued YouTube comments in the past, it also introduced new opportunities for abuse and shortly after the launch, we saw some users taking advantage of them," it explains.
Source : theguardian.com
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