The comments section of a typical YouTube video often lead one to worry for the future of humanity, dominated as they are by the kind of petty squabbling you'd be pretty ashamed to see in a school playground.
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Of course people can comment on YouTube using an alias, so their comments are not directly attribituable to their real name. This is something that Google are actively looking to change, with a push being made to force notorious commenters to start using their real name (via their G+ account).
I'd like to think that YouTube is a pretty extreme example of how things can descend out of control when you let people hide behind an alias, but for your community, should you allow anonymity or should you force people to post under their real name?
Can't see this making any difference. Easy enough for people to create a fake G+ account with a photo and use that instead.
Unless someone announces plans to go on a terrorist rampage through YouTube comments, who really cares what people write there? What's criminal about insulting someone via comments on a video? If you're going to tie this into that cyber-bullying BS forget it. People that succumb to that stuff just aren't mentally strong enough to deal with and ignore that kind of crap, or just ignore it.
As an oldster who has been posting messages online since the early '80s I still believe that people who use their real names online are fools and suckers.
I am not sure of any context in which anonymity would be favorable on the net, unless it was some kind of voting site or space in which questions seek a maximum of opinions, no matter their provenance. I think this recent move by Youtube is long-overdue, and will only add credibility to comments and conversations being held in comment sections. It's just too easy to hide behind an alias and bitch away at others, your competitors or people you want to dismiss with no retaliation possible.
I would also like to see this happen on major sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp, where reviews can sometimes make or break restaurants, hotels and attractions. Last year, a very popular online newspaper here in the province of Quebec decided to require people to post with name and surname in the editorial comment section, in order to ensure proper etiquette, and it's been a great turnaround ever since. Less acrimonious tone, more constructive criticism since you now know who is writing what, so one must assume one's opinions rather than hide behind an alias.
I agree Frederic. Services like Google+ Local require you to use your G+ account when writing your review and it does add credibility. Some argue that using ones real name will discourage people from giving their true feelings because it can then be searched by a current/future employer, but I've never really got that argument as if you don't feel your views are fit for the public domain then they probably shouldn't be said in the first place.
I think this is a great idea. YouTube comments are a horrible mess right now. I'd be quite happy with much fewer comments if they were better quality.
I agree with Frederic. The kind of comments one sees on YouTube are at times outlandish, indecent and plain insulting. True, there is some degree of moderation but many comments are just left there for the world to see. With accountability, these kind of comments will be greatly reduced. I thank that for this reason, Google had little choice in the matter and are doing the right thing.