Has a video on YouTube got you thinking? Want to let people know how you feel about it? You can leave a comment on a video, or like or dislike it. In addition, if someone else has commented on a video, you can reply to their comment, or like or dislike their comment. Other YouTube users can also do the same thing for you.
Note that you must be logged into YouTube to leave a comment or like/dislike, either on a video itself or on another person's comment. Also note that some videos will not allow you to post comments or ratings, as per the preferences of the people who uploaded them.
How to comment on a YouTube video
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Go to www.youtube.com in your web browser and log in.
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Find a video that you wish to watch, either by browsing or by searching for it. (See our How to Watch Videos on YouTube and How to Search on YouTube tutorials, respectively.)
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Scroll down to the comments section, where you'll see a box labelled "Share Your Thoughts". Click inside it.
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From here, simply type in what you want to say about the video. You can also click the check box below the text box to share this comment on your Google Plus page (if you have one).
Click Public to decide who can see this comment. Instead of having it viewable by anyone, you can have it viewable by your connections on Google Plus, people who are subscribed to your YouTube channel (see our How to Make a YouTube Channel tutorial), or specific people whose names or email addresses you type in. Click the "X" beside an item in the list to remove it.
Click Post when you're ready to submit your comment, or click the "X" in the top-right corner of the text box if you think better of it and want to cancel your comment.
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To respond to someone else's comment on the video, find their comment and click Reply below it. A text box will appear that will allow you to type in your own comment. Then click the Reply button below that, or click Cancel if you change your mind.
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Finally, if you believe that someone's comment is purposely offensive towards others or completely irrelevant to the current video or discussion, move your mouse cursor over it until a small arrow appears on the right. Click this arrow, and then click Report Spam or Abuse.
How to like a YouTube video
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Below and to the right of the video player, you will see the total number of times that this video has been watched. Below that is the number of times the video has been liked or disliked, with the coloured bar above providing a proportional visual depiction (i.e. blue = like, grey = dislike).
If you enjoyed watching the video, click the "thumbs up" icon on the left to "like" the video. If you didn't, click the "thumbs down" icon on the right to "dislike" the video.
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You can also like or dislike individual comments, too. Simply click the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" icons below a comment to like or dislike it, respectively.
The number next to these icons is how favourable this comment is, measured by how many times it has been liked versus how many times it has been disliked (so, in this example, this comment has received 20 more "likes" than it has "dislikes").
That's a brief overview of how commenting and "likes/dislikes" work on YouTube!
