YouTube commenters are not known for keeping their opinions to themselves . Angry users of the Google-owned video site are revolting online against YouTube 's new commenting system , which requires everyone to connect their current account to a Google+ account in order to leave a comment on a video . The system was announced in September and fully rolled out on Tuesday . More than 30,000 people have left comments on the original YouTube blog post announcing the switch . Most are angry complaints and , in classic YouTube form , include obscenities , fights and ASCII drawings of phalluses . There are also multiple Change.org petitions asking YouTube to revert to the old commenting system . The most popular petition has more than 50,000 supporters and it was the most active petition on the Change.org site Friday . `` Comments were the No . 1 reason why I checked my YouTube account daily . Now that desire is gone , '' says the top comment on the petition , left by someone calling themselves James Gandolfini . The biggest issue with the change is that Google+ encourages people to use their real names , and some YouTube commenters prefer being anonymous . `` Making it incredibly difficult to have a username other than my actual name , and being forced to display it to the world is also a huge problem I have with this new setup , '' said Dustin Wilson on another Change.org petition on the subject . There are a dozen petitions on the topic . Another , called `` YouTube and Google , Bring Back the Old Comment-Style System and Stop Forcing Google+ on Those That Do n't Want It , '' has more than 16,000 signatures . There 's even one petition asking YouTube to keep the changes , but only 10 people have supported it so far . Intriguingly , Change.org says the biggest source of traffic for these petitions is Google+ . Anonymous commenters are n't the only people who are upset . The co-founder of YouTube , Jawed Karim has even chimed in after eight years of silence on the site just to comment on the change . `` why the f*** do i need a google+ account to comment on a video ? '' he said in a comment on his channel . Karim uploaded the very first video to YouTube in 2005 , a clip of himself at the zoo , and has n't posted there again until now . The move to the new commenting system is part of the ongoing push by Google to make Google+ the underlying identity platform for all its products . But the overhauled system is also an attempt to pull the notoriously rough and troll-filled YouTube comments out of the gutter . In the new system , content creators will have more control when it comes to monitoring the comments on their videos . They can block certain users and make a list of banned words . There are threaded conversations and Google+ will filter and order comments so people see content relevant to their friend groups and interests . In theory , negative comments will be pushed to the bottom of threads and quality conversations will surface at the top . The biggest complaint commenters have is that Google+ strips them of anonymity . When the identity platform first rolled out , Google+ required people to use their real names , but it has since loosened those rules . When YouTube announced the Google+ integration , YouTube product manager Nundu Janakiram said users would never be forced to use their real names . When people link their accounts , they can choose to display their nickname or channel name instead of their full name . The people fighting against Google+ accounts seem to be the minority . Eighty percent of YouTube commenters had already connected to a Google+ account before the update took effect . There are no exact numbers on how many active YouTube commenters there are , but millions of comments are left throughout the site daily . Many people just do n't like it when their favorite products change . Online backlash is common with any major update or redesign on a tech site . When YouTube rolled out a new channel design earlier this year , a Change.org petition asking the site to revert back to the original design got more than 30,000 supporters . `` We are utterly horrified at the new layout and I truly hope YouTube will hear the cries of the loyal users , '' read the petition . YouTube kept the new design and it seems to have been largely forgotten about . Sometimes online outrage can push a company to change . Twitter added an abuse button and Verizon rolled back online payment fees after online feedback and petitions . Games are a particularly popular target for online petitions , with users asking for and frequently getting changes to their favorite games or systems . YouTube has dealt with these types of mini-uprisingings before . YouTube is the fourth most petitioned company on Change.org , after Facebook , Walmart and Apple . In this case , the company , which is used to angry commenters , seems unlikely to revert to the old system .
Some YouTube commenters are angry with the new Google+ commenting system . The updated comments rolled out today , require everyone to connect to a YouTube channel . There are multiple online channels ; a YouTube co - founder has complained on the issue .