Do you enjoy the comments section of Giant Bomb videos?

Following up on the discussion on this week's Beastcast about comments sections on Giant Bomb content, do you enjoy the comments section on videos? Personally, I would choose to remove them completely as I feel that more often than not they are a toxic environment. I think that any positive aspect that they serve, like good feedback or discussion, would be better served by a dedicated forum post. I used to think that an option to disable the comments would be nice, but I really don't think they would be missed and it would be less work if they were just eliminated entirely.

What do you think?

I like comments, they're a fine place to post gags, elaborate on the featured games from personal experience and so on. I've asked the GB crew about details about games they've talked about before and got answers, and besides being actually useful, it's just nice to be cared about enough by the people you're listening to and watching for them to talk to you. I appreciate it.

But comments take a complete nosedive whenever anything controversial happens, usually a gamergate mob thing on twitter, a public figure shitting the bed, or whenever sexism is brought up(or anything remotely in that vein - like thinking Bayonetta looks bad to women). It happened for that 4th of July series they stopped, too. Anything people get mad about, and I mean really mad, just turns the comment section into pages and pages of bitter arguments that drown out every other topic, and the people that post nice comments just leave or post exasperated comments. It's not a cascade of slurs, Twitch style, but it's no longer useful as a place to comment on the video/podcast. Everyone's just more or less subtly drawing lines in the sand and calling anyone who oversteps theirs a monster. There's no way to step into that mess and have a good time.

I think closing those comment threads would just be in everyone's favor. Save everyone some stress, editors included.

I dont find the comments section at GB to be toxic. There can be disagreements but people tend to be civil about it, i've seen no name calling or anything of the sort.

I dont feel like losing the comments section would be a huge loss but at the same time I find it quite worrying that even the slightest disagreements among the community could lead to something like that.

Wait this again ?

I honestly forget the comments section exists most of the time, but when I do scroll through I tend to find it pretty tame and fun. All public forums of communication will have some toxicity here and there, but the mods here do an excellent job. While it wouldn't personally be a huge loss if the comments section disappeared from videos, I don't think it should be removed just because some people can't be adults (or at least civil) about certain topics.

Yup I do.

The GB community is far above most environments out there. People tend to get a little passionate about certain issues but with so many different folks from different walks of life thats bound to happen - and is that not what comments are about? For people to share ideas and get into conversations even if they do get a little heated sometimes?

You want to see toxic environments then I invite you to GameSpot or basically any other gaming website. I won't even mention YouTube comments.

I love comments, i'm leaving one right now, in fact, you might have just left a comment saying you don't like comments, so that's weird.

Seriously though, comments are a great place for immediate opinions on things, they can be heart warming, hilarious, intelligent and informative just as much as they can depress, troll or insult, i've had many great discussions through comment sections and i'd miss them.
Regarding GB videos and comments, i feel the need to make suggestions and corrections, or otherwise add an opinion to topics that occur within, i know non of the crew will see my comment, but i feel better that there's a chance that they might.

I think Dan should watch the movie U.S. Marshals, assuming he hasn't seen it, i sent 1 e-mail to the beastcast (that wasn't read) and left a comment, that's as far as i'm taking that agenda :P but i'm glad i had the means to pursue it.

I enjoy them sometimes, other times I don't. But I don't see the value in removing them. You have a choice to remove them from your life by not engaging. No need to legislate that for everyone else.

I think it’s a good way for us to further discuss something that was brought up in the content. Plus it’s a good way for GB to see what people are liking and not. Otherwise they could just go down a path of creating content that most of us aren’t in to and waste their time.

Given what prompted this topic, feels more like a referendum on the contents of the podcasts than the commenters. I get that some people don't want political or controversial things discussed on an enthusiast site, but after at least 6 years or so with the staff consistently returning to these kinds of topics I think you either just have to accept that's part what the staff wants to cover or consider alternatives that are strictly product news only.

I don't always like the beliefs and opinions expressed by some commenters (or the way they express them), but that's just life. I don't like what's said to me in person a lot these days either. At least GB comment sections are among the most civil out there.

I think what I'd prefer is if the comments were cross-posted into the forums like blog posts etc are. Not because I want less of them, just to make the forums feel more active. A one stop shop for discussion as opposed to having to search each individual page out.

I often do not read other comments, I merely supply my own reaction.

Ya, I love comment sections, even outside of Giant Bomb.

Even when it's chock-full of awful bullshit, it's still nice to know what people are thinking/what groups are trying to brigade or otherwise dump their bullshit on a video or article.

But I try to not let myself get wrapped up by it. Otherwise I might go too far in the everything and everyone is awful end of things. And sometime I just ain't interested. You're feelin good and then scroll down a bit and get a glimpse of the trashfire and it's like "NOPE, not today."

In general, I can't stand comment sections. However, I feel like Giant Bomb has a pretty diverse group of commenters compared to other sites and the mods do a good job keeping things under control. Would I miss them if they were gone? Not really, but I don't think they're a problem.

I love the comments and community here, but I'd understand someone making a tool for quickly removing the comments section from a video when things get out of hand. As long as the forums continue to work for discussion, it'd probably be easier for the mods (?) if most of the high-tension conversation around a subject was kept to a single, monitored forum thread.

I'll never understand these types of threads, if you don't like participating or reading the comments section, simply avoid them. Especially if you know a discussion such as the one going on this week is taking place. Having said that though, I think in those instances they should be redirected somehow to a forum thread to prevent things that really matter such as pro wrestling talk or moments when Dan says something silly from getting lost in a sea of drawn out back and forths.

I don't really see the point of removing comments on videos when people would just post the same stuff in a forum thread related to a piece of content. Taking comments away from videos/podcasts wouldn't make that stuff go away--it would just move to a different place on the site.

The videos with the shittier comment threads tend to stick out, I think, because most comments sections on giantbomb are fairly benign. I would credit the mods, plus the generally more laid back community (but mostly mods). Take a look at the comments sections on other sites, even Gamespot, and it's pretty unreadable. Not that Giantbomb's comments are some bastion of quality, but they're usually good for a sensible chuckle.

That said, I don't think I would miss them if they disappeared. Maybe there should be a "No Comment Week" trial run or something. It's not like the site personalities read them (and my condolences to them if they actually do).

I like the comment sections on GB; I can't say that about literally any other place I've been to on the internet. If you don't like them, don't go to them.

As for your comment about them being toxic more often than not, I don't know where you're coming from. More often then not it's just a bunch of people making jokes or asking questions. When things do go to a bad place, the mods get on it fairly quickly; I can't remember the last time I've seen any sort of slur on this site. The worst I've seen in years is some folks vehemently defending some pretty questionable positions, and if they go too far, the mods handle it.

I swear, if I hadn't noticed that this was made two hours ago I would have looked top to bottom in this thread to see if I had posted on here already. This thread was made recently, wasn't it? As for the topic, I'll post again just to be on topic. I feel like Giant Bomb is a pretty decent place in comparison to many places you can read comments, like GameSpot or IGN (which, I don't actually go on anymore mind you). I don't think a 'block comments section' thing is necessary since all you have to do is not read them. Obviously, there can be some noticeably negative comments towards things, but that's just opinion. Don't let it bother you.

I mostly think it's okay, but there are some things which just set people off. Certain members of staff being in a video, people getting defensive whenever staff make any vaguely political comment, whenever there's a certain handful of guests, if someone on the stream doesn't know X about a certain subject and oh my god I can't believe them, etc.

It's completely benign until it's not, and the more personal feel of the site makes some people incredibly touchy. The mods do a good job of keeping that stuff under control but at the same time, it feels like pushing back against toxicity ends up getting you in just as much of a mess as the people being toxic. It might be a good idea to lock comments behind a dropdown underneath the video, so that people wouldn't be able to so casually stroll into comments with shit remarks.

Depends on the video. Some videos attract more overtly nit-picky sorts, but for the most part, they're enjoyable.

There's a few bad ones, but most of the time the comments sections here are just fine. And sometimes, like in the bootleg murder island videos Jeff posted, they're downright inspired.

You're being way too ideological. Comment sections aren't there to serve some qualitative purpose, their purpose is to make money. They drive up clicks and viewer retention. It's a marketing ploy that has to be maintained for it to keep serving its purpose. Asking if it would be missed is like asking if people would miss it if McDonalds stopped running commercials.

I like reading comments on most things. I don't say this often, but if Giant Bomb comment sections are too toxic for you, you may need to get a thicker skin. This place is one of the most laid back places I've been. There are certain topics that set people off, yeah. But even reading through those comment sections I just see people with different opinions arguing in circles. Too often I see people confuse ideas they don't like with toxicity. That's not toxicity. Go to YouTube comments and see what it really is.

Also a sidenote, I really have begun to hate the word "toxic/toxicity" in this context. It's the new "cringe" for me.

Comments on this site are generally pretty good imo. To be honest, if you think that Beastcast comment section was toxic then that’s shocking. You are blissfully ignorant of some of the darker sides of the internet

its not that i LIKE them, but they've proven to be necessary. Project BEAST is still my all time favorite giant bomb content, and without the comments they would have NEVER accomplished anything. ITs important to be able to be "hey, the volume on this mailbag is completely unnacceptable" too. as far as "BrAD at games" or whatever they say, that shit can get toxic or at the very best childish. but its still a valuable tool.

The only time I've ever seen comments that I thought were toxic never stayed there very long thanks to the Mod staff, and the rest of the time are at worst filled with an opinion I don't agree with. Toxic doesn't mean angry or vapid, toxic means outright cruel, racist, homophobic or anything else that would violate stuff like the forum rules. Comments are really useful on things like the Vrodeo videos, where other users can say whether or not a feature is in the game because the staff went in blind and didn't see it, and a forum post of "here's everything Jeff said that was wrong about the VR version of Skyrim" is both shitty and not useful, because it doesn't attach that information to the actual video so unless you go looking for it, you would never know it exists.

That being said, it has been a long time since I saw the comments on anything to do with East because I gave them up for serving another audience that isn't me a long time ago. I can imagine other people feeling the same way and yelling about it in comments, but that's still not toxic, just upset.

I enjoy some of the commentaries on the videos. A lot of it is backseat opinions and trolling but shutting them off seems like the nuclear option.

Yeah totally, I think GB's comment sections are pretty alright, all things considered; they get contentious at times, but as others have mentioned, the arguments rarely get as straight-up ugly and full of ad-hominem attacks as they do in the vast majority of comment sections I've seen. A lot of that comes down to the moderators (who I've always felt do a pretty damn good job), but I also appreciate the number of posters who, even when they get upset, are careful to articulate their grievances carefully and without devolving into needles personal attacks.

I generally have no problem with people expressing issues with content in that content's comments section though, and I think that's a stance some people might disagree with; I can totally understand someone feeling differently, and at the end of the day the decision of how to treat comments sections (and what boundaries to set) comes down to the people running the site. As it stands, I quite like the balance GB's struck, even if it means that at times the comments become dedicated more to airing grievances and expressing disagreement than to commenting directly on the content itself; I think that's a fair price to pay for having comments sections that generate more than just regurgitation of funny moments from videos and questions about release dates.

For all the talk of how much toxicity there is in that comment section it's really not toxic at all. I can't really see anything there rather than people just making reasonable arguments

If the argument for shutting down the comments section is that it's a potentially toxic environment, then they might as well do away with the forums too. People being people on the internet is always an environment for potential toxicity. And if someone really wants to comment on a piece of content but can't, because GB has closed that outlet, then that person will just start a forum thread instead, which leads to the same issue of toxicity until someone has to step in and lock that thread/delete comments. So, I don't see how closing one and not the other really solves a problem.

There are some scenarios where the comments serve no purpose and kinda suck, but most of the time I enjoy them. Shutting it down entirely is just the digital equivalency of plugging your ears and saying la la la. People stop doing that at around 9 years old. Same idea with blocking anyone who says something that even barely hints at slightly rubbing you the wrong way.

@peteycoco: Comments sections serve a valuable purpose as a low investment option to interact with a piece of content and the community. Also, I wouldn’t call GB’s comment section toxic by any objective measure.

The only problem I see with GB comment sections is they aren't as active as other places. In general I like them to get a read on other peoples opinions and for the occasional shit/joke post. For the most part they are pretty decent and people can speak adamantly without getting too terrible. Maybe mods clean them up before I see the garbage but at GB it's mostly good.

It certainly feels like a different community from the forums sometimes, but it's not THAT bad. Compared to other sites especially.

@kingbonesaw: you forgot the ? after the first sentence.

@kingbonesaw: Cute.

I don't see the point in upvotes/downvotes. Er, rather I see how it could be used poorly, and that outweighs any potential benefits. In a small community where you can downvote the shitposts, then ya it seems like a good idea, but if you've got people who downvote anything they disagree with, it seems a good way to give the majority an effective tool for trampling on any minority opinions. And by "minority opinions" I don't mean, like, actual racist shit. Not "white girl wearing Chinese dress" racism, actual motherfuckin racism. Downvote that shit to oblivion, yes please. But that sort of stuff already gets sorted out by moderation, so likes/dislikes is kind of superfluous on that front. Anyways, I don't actually use Reddit though, so maybe folks who do can speak to whether or not that potential for misuse is an actual problem or not.

Articles I think do link to the forums. At least, I remember seeing article threads when browsing the "latest" section in the past (not much articles these days). Copying videos to the forums (I assume you mean having an additional forum thread for videos?) would just split conversations and give the mods more work, unless you mean, like, mirroring the comment section in the forums so that there's technically only one place people are talking. One place, but accessible from the forums or under the video. I dunno the technical hurdles for something like that, but it sounds like a cool idea!

It would be also cool--speaking to your idea about seeing comments from users you've found insightful--if users you're following could have something like an additional border around their avatar or something, just so you can quickly scan the comments and easily pick out the ones left by people you may want to particularly hear from. Come to think of it, I think you can already check your own profile page and see the comments left by people you're following on the feed that's there.

I'd be in favor of keeping them. Perhaps certain videos or content that draw a certain crowd should be disabled? The community here seems to be very good for the most part, other than when social or political issues come up, and I try to avoid that at all costs because I'm here to watch random game shit, laugh, relax and not be in a ethical and moral debate class for current events.

This latest Demo Derby is an example of why I like the comment sections. I can (pointlessly) drop my thoughts on a game if the dudes are ambiguous or poop on a title or read through and see if other people had similar thoughts as me. Other comments can build onto stuff in the video that maybe the guys weren't aware of or extrapolate something they mentioned. Like the Windowlicker video or that Patton Oswalt Black Angus bit.

A video comment section on the slight opposite end of things is.. lets say the recent Bens Lens or mailbag, can't remember what it was, where Ben was seemingly drunk [sarcasm] and filming. Bunch of people noted it, including myself, and I imagine Ben or the other dudes probably look at that and roll their eyes and think we're assholes. I think we're all just trying to have fun, and when a bunch of people point out how bad it actually was, even when shaking cam stuff doesn't usually bother them, the guys shouldn't get defensive about it and I'd rather Ben just say "Ha ha yeap, sorry about that. Stabilization wasn't on" or "I was all jacked up on pixie sticks and wasn't thinking" lol So just take that feedback and go from there. We're not asking for a professional film crew, because we like GB for not being that, but hey.. this was like.. something went wrong and we're amazed they even posted it, so maybe there is an explanation.

It's a shame that the crew seems to do everything they can to avoid them because I wish they would read into it and respond. They seem to have dry spells with a lack of good questions submitted to the podcasts or where ever, but I often think that's just because they ignore a fair amount of good questions just because they aren't interested about something. Basically, I think they should give (probably just premium) members a bigger chance to voice their thoughts. Like if they're messing around with a game on UPF or something, and there is a general discussion forum thread about it, someone could just be skimming it and injecting more thoughts and questions into the conversation while others are playing it. I'm not really a fan of the call in shown stuff as it can become a technical mess and awkwardness. Using the content subject to help narrow down the questions and hopefully get better ones might help vs "hey, ask us random shit".. barring the giant bomb wikipedia call in of course.

Weird to say it but I think people (including myself) just need to practice not focusing on the negative. Content producers always say that even if 99% of the comments are positive, if there is a negative one, they zero in on it and let it upset them. I think that issue falls on the reader. If there is a hot topic of discussion, it should be all moved and isolated into a specific thread, which seems to happen already for the most part thanks to the moderators.

@seikenfreak:

After listening to the ArenaNet discussions on the most recent round of podcasts (GB, GBE, and Waypoint), I get the distinct impression that the last thing people in their line of work want is giving members/users a bigger chance to voice their thoughts.

@htr10: And thats what I mean by it's a shame.. because I assume the vast majority of people agree with their point of views. Also, I'm against them hearing opinions from the community about subject matter like the ArenaNet thing. I merely mean that, because of negative comments by a certain segment of the gaming community about certain subject matter, it ruins them being able to read anything from the community about actual game discussion.

So rather than shutting everyone out, just filter it. Ignore that. Don't get involved in that discussion with the community. But lets say, when they're all talking smack on Kingdom Hearts and asking themselves why anyone would like it.. ask someone who actually does like it why. And no, I don't like the game, but I'd be curious to hear someone explain it to them, and hear the crews thoughts. Its just a random example.

But whatever. Continuing as-is is fine by me. Would just be disappointed if they removed comments on everything because of a few bad apples. Kind of like firing some employees because a couple people threw a tantrum. And taking in community game discussion is a way for them to broaden the conversations until they hire on even more people with maybe other tastes. Because like.. BattleTech is totally the Game of the Year at this point but.. none of them want to invest the time to play it ;)

If we want to get real sad and devil's advocate here, if they are implying that.. they don't want to be bothered with the community at all then well.. why even have a forum or comments. Why even have the site? They can just play games at home lol So yea, its depressing. The "we have such a great community and we appreciate of them" comments always feel slightly hollow to me because they don't get involved with it too much and seem to steer clear.

The comments on here are tame compared to the ones on Youtube. If the comments on here ever go, they might as well remove the forum as well as that can get way more toxic than the video comments.

@aristophocles: Pretty much how I feel. The comment sections are fine and mods take care of the people that need to be taken care of.