Do You Think YouTube Should Monitor What Videos Are Being Uploaded?
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
April 15, 2009 11:50pm CST
As many mylotters know, especially those that are writers, when we submit articles to a writing website, such as Associated Content, our article is reviewed to see if it's "worthy" to be published. This same policy goes for a lot of other writing sites as well.
Well what about YouTube? It seems videos are uploaded without any censorship, without any regards to whether it's offensive, disgusting, abusive, tacky, choose your adjective of choice. Shouldn't there be better policies, that when a video is uploaded, the admin/moderators should view it first before it's put "live" for all to view?
Many of us enjoy going to YouTube for the music videos, or snippets of movie scenes, ballet/dance or opera performances that we may not get the chance to see otherwise. There are documentary or informative type videos that are great to view and one might learn something from them, I know I have, and I've often watched many of these and enjoyed them. Some of the latter type can be hard to watch, such as graphic videos of animal abuse and rights issues, though while not pleasant to watch, can make people aware of what is going on in the world as far as cruel treatment of animals...THESE I think should remain there so others can be informed. Then maybe people upload videos of their family, cute pet videos, memorial tributes of either family or pets. I'm not talking about these being censored. But what about all the other sheer crap that is there? Videos that are downright cruel and sickening.
For instance, one recent big hoopla came about of blatant animal abuse in February of this year. A teenage boy filmed himself as he was abusing a cat named Dusty. He took the poor cat into the bathroom, slammed the cat against the wall, hit it, slapped it over and over again....all this being filmed. He then uploaded the video to show the world his "deed" Shocked YouTube members caught this video, and outrage began by many members there and groups were even started in such places like Facbook to stop such abuse and to find the tormentor of Dusty. Somehow one member of youtube was somehow able to pinpoint the location of this animal abuser, Kenny Glenn, nicknamed in the video as Timmy, and it turned out he lived a town in Oklahoma. Not only was the video quickly pulled off YouTube, but Kenny Glenn was arrested..don't know what the update is on his case, but at least he was caught.
But this is precisely the kind of offensive, abusive, cruel videos that are uploaded without being viewed first by the YouTube members, and I'm sure there are just as many other sick type of videos as well. Shouldn't there be a monitoring system by the owners of YouTube? Or is it up to us to flag down these kinds of videos?
Have any of you seen really repulsive, sick, abusive, cruel videos and wonder how the hell do people have the nerve to post them there? Did you report them? Flag them down? I just flagged one video that I thought was in extremely poor taste--don't ask but it too had to do with a cat
6 people like this
23 responses
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
16 Apr 09
I have seen many of those you mentioned. One was so sick that I start questioning Youtube. It was boa eating rabbits...I send an email to Human society about, because it is always good to involved the right people.
I know what you are talking about. We as the society are responsible to stop animal abuse and catch sick people....I am hoping they get punished for animal cruelty...
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
You just gave me a brilliant idea and thanks! I never thought of writing to the Humane Society about animal abuse videos at Youtube...thanks ever! Are you talking about HSUS? They're always after animal abuse issues
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
16 Apr 09
I have never seen any of the sick, cruel video you describe. I am sure they are there but I do think as long as this site has owners it is entirely up to them as to whether they censor it or not. It would be a huge undertaking and probably expense for the owner to hire people to watch every video and decided whether it offended their sensibilities. I do not think they could put a piece of software in place that could decide if it was viewable or not. Perhaps if they got enough comments requesting a particular video be deleted then that could work with software. Personally I could care less as it is just the same as some discussions here on my lot...if I do not like what I see I just ignore it and move on.
3 people like this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
16 Apr 09
I can certainly understand how you feel as I hate animal cruelty more than anything but it seems the only recourse is to leave a comment saying that it should be removed. I have not seen any option to request it be deleted or force the owners to delete it.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Well there is a means to flag an objective video there and I just did that the other night for a video I found in really sick and poor taste
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
16 Apr 09
I agree to a certain point that if one doesn't like what they are seeing as a video to move on....but to move on and not do anything about objectionable videos, not to report blatant animal cruelty like that sick teenager torturing and abusing a cat then thinking it's cute to upload it?
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes, YouTube should have monitored such videos. They would have the person's personal info I think like where they lived and the kid would have been caught sooner.
2 people like this
@mikeysmom (2088)
• United States
16 Apr 09
they surely should monitor the content of what is being uploaded onto their site. it is their forum and i know they have rules and regulations and they should be strictly enforced and certain things should just not be allowed. some of the stuff is disgusting and unwarranted.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes there are a lot of videos that are disgusting
1 person likes this
@prncesfrmheaven (452)
• United States
17 Apr 09
OMG yes! I even send emails if there are comments that aren't proper. I mean I don't have children but I still wouldn't want them to see some of the things that are on there. I think it was a few years ago that the teenagers did the video where they beat up another teenage girl. They all went to jail for that. I couldn't believe that they actually recorded themselves beating up that poor girl and then had the audacity to put it on youtube. I didn't see the video about the cat but I definitely would have reported it. I absolutely hate people who abuse animals and people.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes I heard about that video as well since it was on the news. Yes, I'm stunned sometimes by the nasty, vulgar language in the comments. They should have a filtering system that would bar certain words
1 person likes this
@thezone (9394)
• Ireland
16 Apr 09
Yes I would agree Youtube is open to all kinds of abuse and videos involving cruelty to animals are all to common, some mindless idiots think it is a good idea to film such things. The only thing we can do as users of Youtube is to flag such videos and hope action is taken. The case you mention is one such example where the guilty party was brought to justice. I personally don't think I could watch a video with some A-hole abusing any animal and I am glad that I have not come across any so far. The only trouble I find with Youtube, is that it can take a long time for any video to be pulled after reporting it. All we can do is try and hopefully make a difference. 
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Well I think that one video was pulled off real quickly as so many were reporting it, not only that but managing to find the person to arrest him for animal cruelty...I think within a day that the video was posted..so that was real fast
3 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
16 Apr 09
I'm not sure what the obsession is lately with these young kids committing crimes, then video taping them and putting them on Youtube!
There was a case in the news a little over a year ago about two girls that video taped themselves bullying another girl. They ended up prosecuting those girls! You'd think if you were going to break the law, you certainly wouldn't video yourselves doing it.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes I remember about those girls...it was in the news, but I'm glad they managed to find those girls and prosecute them
1 person likes this
@irishmist (3814)
• United States
16 Apr 09
My goodness I did not relize stuff like that was going on over that at Youtube, I pop over there sometimes because it is fun, but I never knew that. Thank you for giving the heads up on this. Basically the stuff I look at is harmless, but to abuse an animal is terrible.. What a SOB he is.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
I'm glad they managed to find that animal abuser and hope they catch more who have the stupidity to upload videos like that
2 people like this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
17 Apr 09
Yes I do think that videos need to be monitored by youtube before being seen for the world. Sure we have the whole 18 and over thing in place but even with that in place some of the things you've mentioned would be a shock to see for anyone. Although I'm glad that the cat's attacker is being brought to justice, I personally don't think I want to watch the video.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
I can't believe the foul language of many of the comments that is made on videos either...they should have a filtering system to bar such language and many members are so abusive to each other in the comments
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (167019)
• Boise, Idaho
16 Apr 09
I thank whoever for Youtube. It is just great! I would report a video if I felt it was over the edge. I have found some very interesting and revealing videos on there. I think the whole idea is marvelous. Glad they got Kenny. Teehee. I love the old ones and all the history Youtube expresses. It is great and no other can even stand next to it.
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes the great and good videos there outweigh the bad or sicko ones, but it's a shame that some take "amusement" in posting these animal abusive ones
2 people like this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
16 Apr 09
I don't go to YouTube all that often but I do appreciate what you're saying because I've come across the odd 'sicko' video there by accident (honestly!)and I've been left feeling quite disturbed.
I don't think it would hurt to monitor what is uploaded and for users to have the facility to flag inappropriate material. It would mean more work for the administrators I guess and perhaps that is one of the reasons it is not being done currently.
I agree that some disturbing information should be seen for education purposes but there is a difference between information and sickness.
All videos should be approved before publication or at least carefully monitored; it is the professional thing to do to maintain integrity on any site. 
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
I flagged one video the other night that I thought was in the sicko category. Will have to see if it's still there...hope not
2 people like this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
16 Apr 09
Pye-
There is a wait period for it to process and that is supposedly when they are supposed to check for content violations. I do know they have an "adult" section that you have to be 18+ to view, so at least that is in place for more well, umm adult videos.
I'm not sure about the rest. I think it's tricky for any large website to put into place algorithms that will automatically filter out. Most filters work on keywords and if that were the case innocent videos could be taken out simply because of one word. I'm not sure I like the idea of total censorship in any market.
I do agree with Myk that like Mylot, Youtube does rely heavily on reports. It's how the one babysitter was caught bouncing a kid off the aircushion, by his own teacher. I do think that youtube does it's best.
I just read a story on Comcast news about the Domino's employee prank pulled by two 30 year old staff members who are now wanted on warrants. The video link is disabled (as it was listed in the article but disabled by youtube), so I think they are on top of things such as this. However, the mass volume of people posting does make it impossible to catch everything every day. I'd say, if you see something inappropriate report it to Youtube, and if you can determine the city and state the video poster is from, report it to their local authorities. Most city police have websites that allow you to email them, and a great many of them really do rely on public citizens to help them out reporting crimes.
I've not seen a lot of cruel videos on there, because quite frankly I don't go looking for them. Typically when I use Youtube it is for my own family videos, as well as my husband's promotional videos. I also use it when doing videos for classes in which I may want to show a clip of a particular movie or such.
Namaste-Anora
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Well thanks to another poster here, she gave me a great idea. Not only to report such offensive animal cruelty videos to YouTube, but I just emailed HSUS, ASPCA and the Animal-Abuse.com sites about such videos. If anyone might get on the case about this, it might be these organizations. But it boggles the mind why such sickos not only think to "make" offensive animal cruelty videos like this in the first place but then to actually post them up. And not only abuse to animals, but in the news sometime ago was a video posted of two girls beating the crap out of another girl. They were caught and later arrested as people complained about that video and somehow managed to track the location down of where the girls were.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes I heard that story to about the woman taping up the dog. What IS with people?
1 person likes this
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Pye-
I'm not sure why people do what they do to be honest. I just read a news story early this morning about a 21 year old girl who taped her boyfriend's dog to the fridge because he wouldn't get rid of the dog. The dog was bound at the muzzle, feet, and hung upside down! They are both facing felony charges because in the state of Colorado they voted not to long ago to increase animal cruelty charges to that of a felony. That's the type of penalty all states need to enforce.
Namaste-Anora
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
If and when I do come across such abusive videos plan to report them. I sometimes can't even believe the comments made on the videos as language isn't censored either.
1 person likes this
@liveorfall (17)
• United States
17 Apr 09
Wow i didn't realize that they can upload such things since young kids go on there all the time.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Kids can probably always lie about their age. The kid who posted his animal abuse video was only 14
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
18 Apr 09
No. Censorship BAD. I don't care how rude, hateful, or disgusting people are...they need to be able to upload a video.
Youtube actually DOES censor, it seems like they -try- to be reasonable, especially 'cause it hurts their popularity, but they still do and usually it's bad (like deleting alternative news video peoples' accounts, censoring people taking a creative license with materials, stuff like that).
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
18 Apr 09
*sighs* If someone committs a crime, obviously video content becomes evidence and therefore isn't a question of free speech (it moves into a seperate category entirely)...and can be pulled from the site and transferred in a manner that it can be put to best use; putting away those who've committed a crime.
Censorship is generally done to silence free speech. I feel it's better to seperate these two ideas because even seperately they have a chance of sliding into questionable, even rights destroying habits if left unchecked, to have the idea as one in the same seems to be worse. *shrugs* But that's just MY definition...if we ignore that bit, then we're not as much in disagreement.
The question of what's a crime and what's not, on videos, though, is something that's usually less sticky than stuffs like definitions and semantics ^_^' I mean no offense, I'm just saying.
@BarBaraPrz (47334)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
16 Apr 09
On the one hand, I agree with you. On the other, though, if that video had been taken off immediately, "Timmy"/Kenny Glenn would not have been arrested. YouTube has become quite a valuable crime-fighting tool.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Mmmm....you're right...an angle I hadn't thought of
2 people like this
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
17 Apr 09
Hey Pye, thanks for letting us know about these types of videos.... I'll have to be extra careful going to that site for I don't or rather can't handle seeing animal abuse videos. It gives me horrible nightmares and I can't function during the day for weeks on end. Yes, I do believe that youtube should monitor the videos that are downloaded onto their site. After all, they put up the site so they should monitor it much better than they have been because it's their responsibility to do so.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
29 Jun 09
i've seen funny things, tricks, and some musical videos. i've never seen any like you saw like that. i think yes they should be monitoring these. i can not even stand to watch that commercial on tv where the AKC or is it animal rescue, show hurt animals and peoples abuse. it makes me have nightmares. and makes me want to kill people like that. to bad we cant shoot or even torchure them
im sorry but to me animals are nicer than people most times.
im sorry but to me animals are nicer than people most times.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
18 Apr 09
Yes YouTube needs to "clean up their act"
1 person likes this
