Is it just me, or is the flood of joke (misleading) videos on Youtube, as well as irrelevant tagging, starting to make it useless when you’re searching for something specific?

First, here’s my problem with adding tags that really have nothing to do with the video. I’m not just talking about your normal spam, but inaccuracy that might be unintentional. For example, if I search for something like “Paul Gilbert guitar solo,” I don’t want to see a video of what you can do after 1 guitar lesson on an out of tune guitar with rusty strings, just because you listen to Paul Gilbert as well. Don’t put Paul Gilbert as a tag.

And don’t put Picasso or Michelangelo in with your tags if you’re posting a video of your kid going way outside the lines in his coloring book.

Next, we have the joke videos. Let’s use the guitar example again…

I like to search for some of my favorite bands/guitarists to check out interviews, lessons, etc… There are plenty of good videos out there, but lately, it seems like you have to sort through more trash to get to them.

Awhile ago, a user there (StSanders, now suspended for some reason) made a few funny joke videos, which were basically spoofs of some of the more popular guitarists/bands (Metallica, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, etc…). He would take a video clip of them, usually live footage, then overdub it with horrible playing and fake applause.

Quick side note: I’m not much of a Santana fan and could barely tell that his “Santana Shreds” video was tampered with. Anyway…

His videos were hilarious. He’s apparently good enough on guitar to know how to make it sound as bad as possible, but where it still somewhat syncs up with the original hand positioning, making it look like the greats were just sloppy noise makers.

His videos were funny, but most importantly, they didn’t ruin the search results because he always used the same title format: “[Insert Name Here] Shreds.” So, if you searched for Joe Satriani, and you saw a “Joe Satriani Shreds” video, you knew to skip it… unless you felt like having a good laugh!

The problem is that everyone else does the same thing, except for a few major differences:

1. Zero originality. Not only has it already been done, but it has been done much better.
2. Not funny. The originals were brilliant. Now, people seem to think they can just record anything and it’s funny because it’s not what you’re looking for and because people laughed when someone else did something similar.
3. It has actually become a spam problem. There are topics you can no longer get accurate search results for. They target people that aren’t looking for that crap and fail to identify the actual content. It’s like searching for gardening tips and ending up on a Viagra site.

So, what can you do?

Not much. You could sit around and complain about it, like I’m doing right now. If you’re really talented like me, you can multi-task by watching The Simpsons and complaining at the same time. Twice the fun, while accomplishing the same amount of nothing!

Well, you gotta at least throw out a decent idea for a fix when complaining, or it will just be pointless whining. So, what could Youtube do about it?

Youtube could add a new option to the “Flag this video” feature, where you report stuff like spam, porn, abuse, or anything else that isn’t appropriate.

The new option would be to flag it as either a parody or misleading title/description. I don’t expect them to watch every video and decide if it’s an original, but if 5,000 people watch it and 4,999 flag it as a spoof, then it should be recategorized. They should also add a way to flag individual tags as irrelevant.

But what if I want to watch the silly videos? Well, they should either be identified as such so you can find them when you do want to watch them. Not disguised as what they’re not, to waste time of those that don’t want to watch them.

They could add a link to results for something like “Eddie Van Halen guitar solo” to an alternate search, like, “Click here to check Eddie Van Halen parodies in our humor section.”

That’s not really an original idea, just something that works, similar to when a search brings up zero results and you’re offered an alternate search.

I’m not saying these videos need to be banned, as some people do appreciate them, including me (when they’re actually funny and I feel like watching them).

Another easy thing they could do is simply put a “Mark as irrelevant” link next to the titles in the search results page. Then, when you have to click through 20 things to find 1, you can mark them off as you return to the results.

Exception: RickRolling is, of course, above the law. BUT… you really only need one video to link everyone to. There’s no reason for 100 people to upload the same video.