I’ve been aware for many years now that YouTube comments attached to videos that I enjoy are a fairly consistent source of wholesomeness from complete strangers. The comments attached to “Doodles”, the video that I linked to in my previous post, are just one example: a vertical scroll of notes, from people all unknown to one another, sharing how the cartoon emotionally resonated with them, or pointing out subtle fun details, or just praising the animator’s taste and talent.

This stands against the long reputation of comments sections attached to media usually stinking like a cesspool—certainly still the case, with online news articles and such. But YouTube comments used to be so remarkably bad that an early XKCD skewered its comments sections in particular. I remember thinking, at the time, how bitingly true this satire felt, and referring back to that cartoon for some time after.

That was in 2006, which I need to remind myself was nearly 20 years ago. I suppose that social media stole that particular thunder soon after. But how odd that YouTube comments would respond to this shift by greening over. More often than not, scrolling down a video’s comments is something like strolling through a well-kept cemetery, filled with emotionally potent notes and remembrances from people who passed through just before me. It really seems like the opposite of how these digital spaces usually decay in quality over time, doesn’t it?