TED has began spreading
I was not familiar with TED until about a year and a half ago, but it has existed since 1984. If you are still unfamiliar with TED, check out their website and make sure to watch a couple of talks to your taste.
One thing that surprised me when I first started following TED talks is that just about all of the comments on any given video were either complimentary or constructive. Then at some point there was a YouTube channel, and then that channel got a lot of visibility.
Now, YouTube is crawling with trolls and ill-mannered people - just like most of the Internet, for that matter - who don't really care for what their comments. Most of them won't even watch the whole video, and just throw themselves at a raging flame of trolling. A recent example is this talk by Melissa Gates. Notice how the effect of spreading TED videos causes trollness from YouTube to spill over to the actual TED website.
This, however peeving, isn't necessarily a bad thing or something to be avoided. Surely there will be no "evaporative cooling" at TED, given that the most value-giving members are rewarded greatly, by being the ones to give talks. The TED website and YouTube channel won't go down because of some trolls.
TED is not for everybody, nor does it aspire to be. That statement of fact presupposes that there is a bunch of people out there to whom TED is for. In order to reach those people, this current facing with the trolls could be no more than a necessary stage.
One thing that surprised me when I first started following TED talks is that just about all of the comments on any given video were either complimentary or constructive. Then at some point there was a YouTube channel, and then that channel got a lot of visibility.
Now, YouTube is crawling with trolls and ill-mannered people - just like most of the Internet, for that matter - who don't really care for what their comments. Most of them won't even watch the whole video, and just throw themselves at a raging flame of trolling. A recent example is this talk by Melissa Gates. Notice how the effect of spreading TED videos causes trollness from YouTube to spill over to the actual TED website.
This, however peeving, isn't necessarily a bad thing or something to be avoided. Surely there will be no "evaporative cooling" at TED, given that the most value-giving members are rewarded greatly, by being the ones to give talks. The TED website and YouTube channel won't go down because of some trolls.
TED is not for everybody, nor does it aspire to be. That statement of fact presupposes that there is a bunch of people out there to whom TED is for. In order to reach those people, this current facing with the trolls could be no more than a necessary stage.
Comments
Post a Comment