Onion parodies lame user-generated YouTube videos (updated)
YouTube Contest Challenges Users To Make A 'Good' Video, from the folks at The Onion, who are actually creating rather a lot of "Good" videos. (LOL, Sean Bonner)
UPDATE: Oh, for the lulz of god! I checked in with a BB pal at YouTube, and they're in on the joke, too, with all good humor. Note the special YouTube user interface modification, screengrabbed and highlighted below. Click for full size, without highlight.
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"the tab remains empty"
Most YouTube videos are a pain to watch, mostly because a fair share of the users don't know how to make effective use of the medium. The Onion folks, however, have been putting out video hilarity for months now. This was the best I've seen so far.
I think the problem is anyone who actually puts good videos on YouTube quickly gets snatched up to produce for someone else. Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation comes to mind.
The only videos that I watch on youtube are music videos. I don't waste my time with other silly videos.
It’s the comments on the YouTube page which really makes this great. The concept of satire completely eludes some people.
I always like to bring up this point whenever someone starts to wax poetic about new media/user-generated content. Not in some awful Andrew Keen way, but just reminding people that the vast majority of it is just completely unwatchable.
WNYC's superlative show 'On the Media' had an interview with the producers of Onion Network News three weeks ago. Highly recommended.
"I always like to bring up this point whenever someone starts to wax poetic about new media/user-generated content...the vast majority of it is just completely unwatchable."
I'd say that applies to old media just as much. Finding something watchable on TV is just as difficult...only my TV has no google.
Don't forget to install YouTube Comment Snob for FireFox before going over there to check out the comments.
The contest is over, see the "actually good" tab for the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4dSsla-q6o
I may be Captain Obvious here, but did anyone who followed TENSAFEFROGS' link notice there was indeed an "Actually Good" tab on that particular page.
It doesn't actually lead anywhere but the front page, but I thought it showed that the guys at Google have no problem going along with the joke. Kind of like the Comment-To-Speech option they implemented on YouTube after Randall Monroe presented the idea in XKCD.
After reading TENSAFEFROGS entry again, and actually, you know, parsing *every* word I must come to the conclusion that I am not Captain Obvious. Rather, I am Captain Oblivious.
There are people in the comments on youtube asking if this is REAL.
Irony isn't dead, it's risen from the grave and walks the earth!
Last year I challenged a coworker to contest to find the most pointless video on Youtube. It came down to my video composed of still pictures of someone's kitty sleeping (with heart shaped wipes and sappy music) to his video of two guys "hanging out on Friday night" which, of course, went NOwhere. We called it a draw.
@fnc, urls or it didn't happen
So how about a BB challenge to find THE most pointless video on Youtube? A video that truly captures the spirit of bad user-generated content.
Reading youtube comments, it's clear that most users don't seem to understand the point of commenting.
Just what is going through their heads when they type a one-liner like "coool" or "totally ghay", and then click submit?
You comment if you have something to contribute to the discussion.
Do they think that they are obligated to comment on every video they watch, even if they can't muster anything more than a single-word response?
Or are they conceited enough to think that their anyone gives a rat's ass about their opinion?
I would really like to know.
@Dequeued:
It's easy enough to fix. Just download the Youtube Comment Snob Firefox Exension. You can set it to filter out comments that are too short, have too many spelling errors, no caps, all caps, or excessive punctuation.
@anonymous #5, The vast majority of user generated content is completely unwatchable /by you/. Which makes sense when you think about it, because you're a unique snowflake and you don't have identical interests as the vast majority of people.
I'm sure the vast majority of youtube watchers would feel that any video you see as worth uploading in fact totally gay sux, u suck retartded fag.
Well, clearly they have never seen kitten's at lunch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNv74rvkAw8
youtube to me is just proof that cellphones should come with a tripod.
Or at least some kind of certification process when purchasing a phone to teach the new owner how to hold the damn thing still.
I think my amateur fashion show for my Etsy shop is as good as kittens at lunch, yes? As you can see I've fully recovered from anorexia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9BZCYXdJ48
Isn't that the girl from mydamnchannel?
I would really like to know.
You and me both, dequeued. You and me both.
these "comments" could be collected, collated and stored for future action.
zizak @ 18 = my hero of the day.