Thumbs up/down meaning on YouTube skates?

[itsallok]

I watch skating competitions such as the JGP on YouTube, and there's the option to click on a thumbs up or down icon. I sometimes click on Thumbs Up, mainly because it then gets added to my 'liked' list, that I can access again later, so it's a practical thing. Also, it's a combination of the skating and the video quality that decides whether I might want to see it again - some competitions have poor sound, or the video starts in the middle of the program, and that might mean I don't 'like' an excellent skate. And occasionally I click it as a 'hurrah' for the skaters.

But why do people click on 'thumbs down'? As far as I know it has no practical value, so are they saying 'the skating is poor'? And if so, why do they feel the need to do this? Or is it 'these are competitors to my favourite team/country', so is just some sports team/nationalistic oneupmanship?

What do other people do?

 

[brightphoton]

But why do people click on 'thumbs down'? As far as I know it has no practical value, so are they saying 'the skating is poor'?

To be completely fair, your thumbs up on videos have no practical value either. I guess you have a list of liked videos and a silent hurrah, so others have a list of disliked videos and a silent boo.

Does anyone know why the JGP videos often look so yellow? It's like someone put a yellow semi-transparent cloth over the camera lens.

 

[lavenderblossom]

It's just 'like' and 'dislike'. If you liked it you add it to liked videos, and other people can see it was liked (though they can't see who by), it's almost a gauge of how popular the upload is. Similar to the thumbs up here. There is no list of disliked videos, but the uploader can see it was disliked, and other people can see it was disliked. It's like downvoting on forums to say 'this post/video is bad'. If it were, say, a nail art channel, that did a new design, they'd use the likes and dislikes on a video about a new design to gauge how popular it was. If it had a lot of likes, they'd do similar videos. If it had bad ratings, they'd move on to something else or go back to what they were originally doing.

The problem is when people use bots (scripts which are programmed to do one thing over and over) to put a lot of likes/dislikes on a video. It's more of a problem on monetised videos; if there are a lot of dislikes on a video people assume the video is bad, and if it has lots of dislikes, it might make less money or even be de-monetised. The opposite is true as well - videos with more likes get more recommendations, more views, make more money.

However, it's still a problem on skating videos. On skating videos they might take that to mean 'this skater is bad/they skated badly', which is rarely true. It also says 'this skater is not well liked or well regarded' which can damage their reputation. (Again the opposite is also true.) I think you answered you own question at the start - people do it because they don't like that skater and they don't want other people to like them, or they have some kind of nationalistic pride, etc etc.

 

[TontoK]

However, it's still a problem on skating videos. On skating videos they might take that to mean 'this skater is bad/they skated badly', which is rarely true. It also says 'this skater is not well liked or well regarded' which can damage their reputation. (Again the opposite is also true.) I think you answered you own question at the start - people do it because they don't like that skater and they don't want other people to like them, or they have some kind of nationalistic pride, etc etc.

The sad thing is that there are some people stupid enough to take an anonymous person's "thumbs down" as the definitive opinion on anything.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Often Thumbs Down are made by users who simply don't like a skater. Of course, someone might not like the actual performance -- or the competition result of said performance -- and give it a thumbs down, but when a skater is putting their heart and effort out there, it's kinda mean-spirited to give it a thumbs down. I don't think I've ever thumbs-downed a Youtube video and if I did it would be because I saw a video of a politician/celebrity saying something stupid or awful, and not a skater trying their best to compete.

Obviously there are people who will deliberately go to videos of skaters they don't like (or who defeat/threaten skaters they DO like) and give it a Thumbs down and scathing Comment. Which is rather ironic, because they're giving the skater more hits by opening the video.

 

[Tolstoj]

Most of the time thumbs down are from fans of other skaters who can't accept that their favourite lost.

Me personally never thumbs downed a video about figure skating on youtube: it shouldn't be fun for a great skater who work so hard and maybe even skated clean at that event to see all these dislikes on youtube by very mean people.

And even the skater who didn't have a great day doesn't deserve a dislike in my opinion.

 

[russianfan]

The problem is when people use bots (scripts which are programmed to do one thing over and over) to put a lot of likes/dislikes on a video. It's more of a problem on monetised videos; if there are a lot of dislikes on a video people assume the video is bad, and if it has lots of dislikes, it might make less money or even be de-monetised. The opposite is true as well - videos with more likes get more recommendations, more views, make more money.

i actually heard that both likes/dislikes promote video equally

 

[lavenderblossom]

i actually heard that both likes/dislikes promote video equally

Well, I guess it shows more people are watching the video and interacting with the content, but in terms of the skating videos it's just sad for skaters that some of their videos get a lot of dislikes for no reason.

 

[NaVi]

I've never voted down on a skating video... and I rarely vote up on videos unless I really, really, really like them them or if I feel like they've been unfairly voted down.

 

[Mathman]

Welcome to Golden Skate, Itsallok, and thanks for the thread. (By the way, I gave your post a thumbs up. )

 

[Tulipstar]

Thumbs down often means: "I am angry this beat my favourite."

Sometimes it even means: "I am angry this gets attention, even though my favourite did not compete against it this time or has already retired."

 

[Shayuki]

Most Mao videos or Medvedeva videos have the majority of their thumbs downs by Yuna fans / fans of Korean skaters in general. This Korean thumbs down syndrome was also seen in Tarakanova's recent JGP videos for instance, when she beat Eunsoo Lim.

Apart from this specific group of thumbs downers, I mostly see a significant amount of thumbs downs for skaters who got outscored after a terrible skate and unjustly defeated someone more deserving(One example that pops to my head is that one Gracie Gold skate).

I very rarely thumbs down - Only if total injustice was done with scoring. I thumbs up a plenty, however.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I usually thumbs down my own videos that I edit and upload just for perspective...and it's funny

 

[Cherry blossom]

I've noticed a lot of thumbs down on videos where V/M and the Shibs beat P/C or just on any video's of ice dancers who aren't P/C *COUGH*

 

[peepsquick]

A few idiotic fans shouldn't reflect on the skaters... V/M have a plethora of those as well.

 

[Alex D]

Coming from a forum where I was a mod and later Admin, I can assure you that most people use Thumbs up / down or Like / Dislike as an agree or disagree button.

If the user says something they disagree with, it´s an automate thumbs down and YT works very similar. If someone doesn´t agree with a skaters placement or personality, they give a thumbs down, while fans will always thumbs up, no matter what

People also abuse the report feature a lot, but this is another topic

Personally, if I upload something I appreciate a nice comment much more than a simple up vote.

 

[Barb]

In Adelina´s case, the dislikes almost never are about that particular video, performance or even personality, the dislikes in her videos are because of Sochi, always Sochi .

 

[Cherry blossom]

I agree all huge ice dance couples have their fair share of mean ubers its just that a certain current ice dance team has some of the meanest ubers in ice dance that I have ever seen that write some nasty comments on almost every ice dance couple youtube videos and mass downvote them by the packs basically hate on any other ice dance team that isnt theres. It got so bad that even the ice dancer herself had to call out the nasty ubers on instagram and tell them to stop (which of course they didn't)