why bother regionalizing Youtube?

bmah · Jan 23, 2009 6:19 AM

Recently, I had this rather annoying experience of being redirected to the Canadian version of Youtube, rather than the main www.youtube.com site. I later found out that by clicking on links from ca.youtube.com, Youtube automatically decides what videos would be in your best interest based on the country or region you live in. For those of you who live in the US, you probably aren't concerned about this at all, since there's no regional site for the US (it's just the main website).
Anyways, someone else using this computer I'm on probably clicked on such a link, and so I was surprised that I kept going to the Canadian Youtube site. Eventually, I found out that there's a way of reverting this redirecting process.

My main point is: since when was it for Youtube to decide on what people's preferences may be? I've done some research on this, and apparently, a great majority of Canadians highly opposed to having a separate site for Canada (apparently the Canadian site was implemented in 2007). That shows that regionalizing the Youtube website doesn't come close to catering to people's preferences.
In addition, this "version" of Youtube is more likely than not to be more restrictive in search results as a result of filters and whatnot that supposedly is for our best -interest-. And of course, you're not going to get the views/popularity you want if you post your videos here.

To sum it up, a Canadian, Australian, UK, or whatever country's "special" version of Youtube is unnecessary. People basically search for whatever they seek; thus, having regional subdivisions of Youtube to restrict content doesn't serve us better in the end.

freak6 · Jan 23, 2009 11:19 AM

that is stupid i agree with you what is the point in doing that

~cornys~ · Jan 24, 2009 5:57 AM

Yeah I've never seen a... well yeah I have... but that's one of the stupidest idea's I've ever heard of...

WHY? THERE VIDEOS!!!! I'm American so I hate Canadian videos...? No I don't care who made it. I justcare that it's what I want to see

freak6 · Jan 24, 2009 6:05 AM

yer i completely agree with you ~cornys~

Sazex · Jan 24, 2009 6:28 AM

happens to me all the time, lol it stopped doing that for me after a billion times lol, now if i click on like www.uk.youtube.com/some video, it takes me
to youtube.com/some video but of course it doesn't always do that i hate
having to fix it gets annoying mad

StratosP · Jan 24, 2009 1:34 PM

I think it's also very stupid when sites do this. I agree.

A Guy · Jan 24, 2009 1:50 PM

Since when were companies supposed to decide what customers like? (For those of you that say we don't pay, that is true, but Youtube makes ad revenue from viewers.) Last time I checked, I got a choice of whatever game I wanted at a game store, not just what the company "thought" I would like. I think it is kind of stereotypical to restrict results based on what you thought a viewer from a certain country would like.

Dimensional spyro · Feb 08, 2009 2:14 AM

i live in slattland and it freakin' is in either arasian (an barley speak any)
and somtimes slattish (fluent) i hate having to correct the *bleep* thing!

LordCrump10 · Feb 08, 2009 3:14 AM

The Japanese regional site is the absolute worst! Seeing as everything's in Japanese, it makes it impossible to understand! @.@

DarkMaster · Feb 08, 2009 5:39 AM

I dont really care just as long there is a youtube

#1 Jan 23, 2009 6:19 AM

why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#2 Jan 23, 2009 11:19 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#3 Jan 24, 2009 5:57 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#4 Jan 24, 2009 6:05 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#5 Jan 24, 2009 6:28 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#6 Jan 24, 2009 1:34 PM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#7 Jan 24, 2009 1:50 PM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#8 Feb 08, 2009 2:14 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#9 Feb 08, 2009 3:14 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

#10 Feb 08, 2009 5:39 AM

Re: why bother regionalizing Youtube?

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