Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-27258569-20181213060126

Hello. Given that soon we will no longer be able highlight threads, I decided to use this ability while I still can on something that's obviously super important and relevant to this site. YouTube Rewind 2018, with (at the time of me typing this) over 9.95 million dislikes how now overtaken Justin Bieber's Baby as the most disliked video in the history of YouTube.

Baby had not only kept this record for over 7 years, but prior to YouTube Rewind it had more than 2 and a half times more dislikes than the second most disliked. So the fact that YouTube Rewind not only took down this titan, but did so in 6 days is truly a memetic feat.

For those who don't know, much of the hate surrounded around the video was because many felt that it was soulless and corporate. That it prioritized mainstream trends over faithfully representing the YouTube community. That it tried to revise history and sweep many issues with the site under the carpet. That it overly patted itself on the back, even for topics they haven't had the best track record with such as mental health. That it excluded many of the actual most popular YouTubers/events that were a nobrainer to include. Most of all, that the video represented YouTube trying desperately to pretend that it's something that it really isn't. I typically hate The Verge, but this article in particular does a great job explaining why it got the backlash it did.

A video meant to be a celebration of YouTube ended up becoming the epitome of everything people have come to hate about the site. How ironic that the video's main theme was that we controlled it and we decided what's in it, yet it ends up becoming the most disliked video of all time.

Feel free to post all your YouTube Rewind memes to celebrate history in the making! 