Community Activism

Poor old YouTube – driven by profit, presumably hiring expensive software engineers, but the cheapest administrative staff that they can find.

The result of this is that some of the YT user community is brighter than the YT staff. (Not I – the video makers on the big science channels.) These tubers are much, much brighter than the majority of creationists and religionists who are using YT as a forum for their illogic, misinformation, and dirty tactics.

In lieu of good arguments, creationists and religionists have been forced to resort to cheating. The votebot is their latest tactic in the war on anyone with the temerity to disagree with them. Honest voting does not interest them. Oh no, they need to use computers to cheat down the ratings of those who are armed with knowledge and logic.

One of the interesting aspects of this ongoing battle between rationality (evolution, atheism) and petty-minded delusion (creationism, bigotry, hate-speech, religionism) has evolved (I love that word) since the attack of the bot-slaves. (Forgive the machines, Lord, they know not what they do).

Creationist and religionist foolishness and malevolence – and now YouTube ineptitude – has forced grass roots activism and community organization.

It's like watching a sociology experiment.

Atheists and scientists tend to be an independent-minded lot, who have naively assumed that providing factual information would be sufficient to help the ignorant to learn the truth. Belatedly, atheists and scientist are realizing that they must co-ordinate their efforts and take a political stand against the Forces of Darkness and Ignorance.

Acting rather like the Bush administration, YouTube has turned a blind eye to hate speech, while acting as dupes to petty-minded, religionist flagging of mild content, and to malicious, false DMCA claims.

YouTube apparently regards tubers as pests, who are best ignored and avoided. This is particularly so when tubers have complaints about YouTube’s failures to provide service in accord with their own guidelines.

Like any greed-bloated corporation, YouTube has focussed on advertising revenues while ignoring the fact that its very survival actually depends upon uploaded videos. Our uploaded videos. Our creations. Videos, which remain on our computers. Videos that we can delete from YouTube and upload onto an alternative site. In other words, we are both the fans and the producers. Boycotts work well, emigration would be even more effective.

YouTube would be well advised to remember not to cut off the hands that grow the food.