YouTube Comment Snob
YouTube Comment Snob is a Firefox extension that filters out undesirable comments from YouTube comment threads. You can choose to have any of the following rules mark a comment for removal:
- More than # spelling mistakes: The number of mistakes is customizable, and the extension uses Firefox's built-in spell checker.
- All capital letters
- No capital letters
- Doesn't start with a capital letter
- Excessive punctuation (!!!! ????)
- Excessive capitalization
- Profanity
YouTube Comment Snob is compatible with Firefox 2.0 through 3.0.* and Flock.
If you like YouTube Comment Snob, check out some of my other Firefox extensions:
- Feed Sidebar: Adds a feed reader to Firefox's sidebar
- URL Fixer: Fixes common misspellings in URLs entered in the address bar
- TubeStop: Disables autoplay in YouTube videos
Or, subscribe to my feed to be notified of future updates to this extension.
Christopher Finke is a software engineer at Mahalo. He is available for birthday parties and bar mitzvahs. 
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:55 am
looks nice, but my ideal youtube script would be a word-specific block ability, such as blocking any content/comment that has the words, for example, "cam" (its ALL spam), "LisaNova" (dito), etc
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:03 am
It works because reputable writers make links to things they consider reputable sources. So readers, when they find something distasteful or unreliable, don't just hit the back button once, they hit it twice. They remember not to follow links again through the page which took them there.
October 12th, 2007 at 10:22 am
But can it be used for any site that has comments? I can think of some discussion sites where this would help lower my blood pressure. (I usually ignore comments on YouTube.)
November 7th, 2007 at 7:54 am
Thanks for your work! Now let's see how you'll interact with all the junk coming from social blogs, social networks, social software and the whole good load from web 2.0 ;) Tough luck on that!
January 18th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I just tried this an it doesn't seem to be working. Using the latest nightly firefox (3.0b3pre?). It installs, but doesn't hide comments beginning with lower case letters. The settings default to all being on.
Could it be that the extension is out of date? I guess YouTube's site changes occasionally.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Extension does seem to be out of date. But was great when it was working, I will keep an eye out for an update.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Doesn't work, no comments were blocked.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Add it to the firefox official add-ons page.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I like the way the first comment here would be blocked.
April 25th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
A barn win fan spindle camp bringing trap. Latin tumble we quality housing tin. Before, expansion lisp vent cabin handle.
April 26th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Please update it for compatibility with Firefox 3b5
April 26th, 2008 at 7:50 am
wouldn't this end up blocking all comments on the count that they all suck?
April 26th, 2008 at 9:50 am
It's been updated today for compatibility with Firefoc 3.0 and YouTube's latest redesign.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
[...] updated YouTube Comment Snob to work with YouTube's latest redesign, as well as to add compatibility for Firefox 3. It's [...]
April 28th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Hmm..anyone else make out what that 80 pound butt is saying?
April 28th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Yes, everything is fine, but why do we have to log-in in order to download the bloody extension?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
[...] comment threads. You can choose to have any of the following rules mark a comment for removal:http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/youtube-comment-snob/RE: vintage rc official old school threadRE: vintage rc official old school thread - 2/8/2008 [...]
April 28th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I love you.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:02 am
On ubuntu 8.04 with Firefox 3 beta 5 youtube causes Firefox to become completely unresponsive. Please fix this, as I would very much like to use this extension.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:04 am
almost as idiotic as those it attempts to censor
May 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Can you block the swear words? I, for one, find them VERY offensive. Kids check out this site and what parent wants them to read that?
May 11th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Ooh! Can this thing also be altered to block comments containing "jajaja"? I HATE THAT, when used in an English-language comment. Makes no sense.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:10 am
[...] n’est pas toujours très fin, notamment sur les vidéos politiques. C’est pour cela que Chris Finke (via Fluctuat) a créé un petit plugin pour Firefox , qui filtre les commentaires sur les pages [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Is anyone finding that firefox has a MASSIVE memory footprint when using this extension? Firefox becomes unresponsive for me for up to 5 minutes when I click on a youtube link. I like this extension though, help would be most appreciated.
A quick google tells me i'm not the only one: http://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+comment+snob+memory
http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?comments_parentId=50277&forumId=1
May 14th, 2008 at 9:02 am
backstabb: I've fixed the performance problems in version 1.2: http://code.google.com/p/youtube-comment-snob/downloads/detail?name=youtube-comment-snob-1.2.xpi
May 24th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Add it to the firefox official add-ons page.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Firefox 2.0.0.14
And it doesnt seem to be working, doh!
June 9th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Ah nevermind, updating to 1.2 works great.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Crashes Firefox with greasemonkey Scripts
June 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Add it to the firefox official add-ons page
June 17th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I have no use for this, but I think this is a brilliant idea. I had a good laugh at the "No capital letters" and "Doesn't start with a capital letter" These are good indications I don't want to read the comment. I wish it could be used for all blogs/websites. Good job.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 am
Anyone who wants this, just simply for wanting it, must be a retarded mentally ill mongaloid who is a waste of c02 emissions.
July 5th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I love this extension, but when is it going to be reworked so it starts working on the YouTube again and to make it Firefox 3.0 compatible?
July 9th, 2008 at 4:25 am
on my pc when ever i want play any video it show " this video no longer available " in fact this is not true because when i ask my neighour about this issue he says it works on his system could someone please let me know what is the main issue of not being play the videos on youtube
July 9th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
PLEASE DONT READ THIS. YOU WILL GET KISSED ON THE NEAREST POSSIBLE FRIDAY BY THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE. TOMORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER IF YOU DONT POST THIS COMMENT TO AT LEAST 3 VIDEOS YOU WILL DIE WITHIN 2 DAYS. NOW UV STARTED READIN DIS DUNT STOP THIS IS SO SCARY. SEND THIS OVER TO 5 VIDEOS IN 143 MINUTES WHEN UR DONE PRESS F6 AND UR CRUSHES NAME WILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN IN BIG LETTERS. THIS IS SO SCARY CAUSE IT ACTUALLY WORKS 2114795
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Shit, yesterday I downloaded the source to StupidFilter for this exact idea! Except, ya know, using StupidFilter.
August 24th, 2008 at 5:32 am
[...] they are sub humans, Morlocks, cannablistic, subterranean. beasts, best avoided Fortunately some clever coder at Firefox had created a plugin that eliminates any comments that contain stupidity, venality, [...]
August 24th, 2008 at 7:03 am
[...] links YouTube Comment SnobKingswood Warren: The end of an era | PDA: The Digital Content Blog | guardian.co.ukBuilding [...]
August 24th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
It's a great extension but unfortunately, whole double byte words are hidden as an "All capital letters".
I can't see all Japanese comments on YouTube.
August 24th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Very nice, I like. I've only noticed one small problem with it, though: if comments with excessive capitalization are blocked, so will comments with a lot of proper nouns, even if the grammar and spelling are perfect.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Oh, one more thing. Comments that have a bunch of awful shorthand can't be hidden. For example, "r u gay is that y u r sayin that? is that how u became gay" That wasn't hidden. I guess single letters aren't seen as typos. Too bad! :(
Is that fixable?
August 25th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Found some more leftover annoyances: When a comment is nothing but one shorthand or repeated/stretched out word.
"funnnnnnnnnnny"
"lololololol"
"rofl"
"kawaiiiiiiii~"
etc.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Also filter out any comment that says "FAIL!"
August 25th, 2008 at 7:29 am
[...] you a delicate flower? Does spelling mistakes and profanity in comments feeds make you cringe? YouTube Comment Snob may be a for you. This is a Firefox extension that filters out “undesirable” comments [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Well, there are certainly props to be had for coming up with this but...really? You mean people even read the Youtube comments, let alone care about what they say?
August 25th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
[...] YouTube Comment Snob is a Firefox extension that uses a number of clever rules to filter out potentially meaningless comments on YouTube videos. Some of the criteria available are excessive punctuation and capitalization, profanity, and spelling errors. [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
[...] He puts YouTube in perspective and reminds me I love it despite the fact that one needs a tool like Comment Snob sometimes to appreciate [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
[...] Chris Finke’s YouTube Comment Snob filters out unwanted YouTube comments based on your criteria. With it, you’ll be able to filter by the following attributes: [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I want it not only to remove undesirable comments but to also punch the writers of said comments in the throat.... can someone mod it to do that?!
August 25th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
pwn3d!!!!!11!!!!! omg!!!LOL!!
August 25th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
LOLLLLZZZZ! diz da shitz. nstailling nows :)
August 25th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
[...] stupid filter. The YouTube comment filter. Removes [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 8:14 am
[...] | Download Squad Descarga | YouTube Comment Snob trackback ¿Recomendarías este post? Más noticias sobre: Windows, Mac, Navegadores, [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 8:59 am
[...] YouTube Comment Snob - That might actually make Youtube tolerable. (none) Tagged linkage|Permalink|Comments RSS |Post a comment|Trackback URL « About “Spot Us” « Spot.Us - Community Funded Reporting [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 10:34 am
[...] This is the answer to the problem, but I would kind of miss such helpful comments as “y dun’t u suck a bag of dicks,” when trolling the internets. YouTube Comment Snob is a Firefox extension that filters out undesirable comments from YouTube comment threads. You can choose to have any of the following rules mark a comment for removal: [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
[...] YouTube comment Snob http://www.chrisfinke.com/addons/youtube-comment-snob/ [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
ANTE UP....GET THAT FOOOOOOOL!!!!!
August 26th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
[...] Via Download Squad, conheci uma extensão para o navegador Firefox chamada YouTube Comment Snob. [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
[...] YouTube Comment Snob is a Firefox extension that filters out undesirable comments from YouTube comment threads based on various criteria (such as bad spelling or capitalization). [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
[...] videos lacks substance, proper grammar, and semblance of constructive criticism. That’s where YouTube Comment Snob comes [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
[...] accidentally looking at the utter stupidity of the comments. It looks like Chris Finke of Mahalo has done it. Thank you, Chris, you’ve made Youtube a better place. No Comments Share: del.icio.us, [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 1:06 am
[...] che vi rivoluziona il modo di leggere i commenti ai video di Youtube. Questo addon si chiama YouTube Comment Snob. Questa estensione non è un’addon che vi semplifica la lettura dei commenti, ma è un vero è [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 9:26 am
[...] Trött på idioter som skriver skit i kommentarer på Youtube? Det var Christopher Finke också och byggde ett skitsnacksfilter till videosajten.Christopher är mjukvaruutvecklare på Mahalo och hans program Youtube Comment snob är kompatibelt med Firefox 2.0 till 3.0.Du kan ladda hem det här. [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 10:45 am
[...] download YouTube Comment Snob [...]
August 27th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] axe an annoying rebuttal, I mean clean up the crap. Interestingly, a Youtube savant has created a comment clean-up tool, too bad this is site specific, I have a friend who could use [...]
August 28th, 2008 at 8:14 am
[...] Youtube Comment Section YouTube comment snob. You know it's bad when someone writes this little piece of [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 5:05 am
Doesn't seem to work very well here. For instance, on a given page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCChcczky-U) it hides the first three comments properly and then just stops, showing for instance two all lower case comments. I'd really like this extension if it worked properly. (I'm using FF 2.0.0.11)
August 29th, 2008 at 8:38 am
[...] YouTube Comment Snob - and the reason why, brought to you by XKCD [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 8:43 am
[...] You make me SIC! Youtube Comment Snob - A firefox plugin that serves as a filter for bad spelling, obscence language and generally demolishes unpretty grammatical errors left by those who choose to spend their days productively by spamming the site. « Girls Not Allowed [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I have a couple of suggestions:
1. Add an option for excessive numbers, the same way you have an option for excessive punctuation. Helps weed out spam and leetspeak.
2. Add an option for excessive whitespace. Many spam comments use multiple carriage returns to make the posts appear bigger.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am
[...] YouTube Comment Snob “is a Firefox extension that filters out undesirable comments from YouTube comment threads. [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
[...] auf einige Perlen vor den Säuen des Internets (die sich, sofern sie sich auf YouTube rumtreiben hiermit vertreiben lassen) hingewiesen, die ich begeistert weitergeben kann für die Gruppe der wenig- bis [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
[...] Boing-Boing, this Firefox plug-in, which conveniently hides the YouTube comments least likely to be useful–those filled with [...]
August 30th, 2008 at 2:00 am
[...] YouTube Comment Snob - "YouTube Comment Snob is a Firefox extension that filters out undesirable comments from YouTube comment threads." [via bb] [...]
August 30th, 2008 at 6:56 am
The best advice I can give to the pedants, who have created this silliness, is: Keep it to yourselves. Illiteracy, often the product of deprivation, is excusable, pedantry, usually the product of a bloated ego, is not!
August 30th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
FUCKinkg wank idea-!!!- <-now filter this
August 30th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
OMFG!!!!!!!! ROLF THIS IS JUST WHAT I FUCKING NEEDED THANKS I"M A TOTAL COMMENT SNOB I LIKE TOTALLY KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN ALL THE IDIOT NOOBS CAN EVEN BLOODY TYPE WHAT AJL THEY FUCKING WANT IS TO SEE MY DONGS LOLZ!!!!!!!!!!! RTAD !!!!!!! KEWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#@#@$@$
August 31st, 2008 at 7:58 am
[...] You have to appreciate the ingenuity of something like the Firefox extension YouTube Comment Snob. This plugin hides the horrid and profane comments written by the adolescents, griefers, and other [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Brilliant extension, keep up the good work. My only comment would be the option to block comments based on substring matches. Specifically, anything with " lol ", " ur ", and " idiot " in it. Personally I would customize this extension to filter solely on those criteria.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
You are a god among mere mortals. Now if only this could work for the whole internet ... I can dream.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 am
U R RUining tEH INTERNETS>PLZ plzpzlaZ LEV NU
HAxxoR LOLZ
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I'd like to file a bug report. Though the obvious functionality is working, it breaks too easily on valid comments (massive false positive rate). This is not so much a bug as a design flaw. It groups poorly written comments with valid comments. If everyone was aware of such a plugin in common use, you would also get far less false positives, but a huge false negative rate. Therefore, this plugin only offers the ability to snobbishly hide all comments. Perhaps a way to reduce false positive rate is to have the ability to not hide items that have been vetted with the thumbs up/down buttons. That way, people who are logged in can counteract your add-on.
Here is an example (not a rickroll):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPrHH3DOaSE
The output of your script is:
Comment hidden (No capital letters) Hide
MASTERDARKPETE (2 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
where can i obtain the complete march, and the tuba's part¿
Comment hidden (No capital letters) Hide
king1pepe (2 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
how would i transpose this into bass clef for a tuba?
Comment hidden (Doesn't start with a capital letter.) Hide
trompettor (1 month ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
first note is not G but an F
Comment hidden (Doesn't start with a capital letter.) Hide
MoonSighted (4 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
its so easy to play on flute:D:D:D thanx for putting it up:D:D
marco1meijer (5 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
Is it one handed on this sheet?
Comment hidden (No capital letters) Hide
layeuf (5 months ago) Show Hide
Marked as spam
Reply
yes, it's a trumpet part
davedjrongo12 (6 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
Thanx finnally someone with the notes!
Comment hidden (All capital letters) Hide
ElphieGirl2 (8 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
?
Comment hidden (49 spelling errors) Hide
agueb (10 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
Méa Culpa. Je vois que tu as retiré tes vidéos. C'était pas sympa de ma part de me moquer comme ça. Maintenant, sans blague, prends quelques cours. Tu as l'air passionné, sinon, tu n'aurais pas risqué de poster des vidéos pas très au top. Mais les conseils sur internet, même valables, ne remplaceront jamais des cours. Tu vas progresser, et nous reposter un truc un peu plus maîtrisé.
Courage, sans ironie cette fois.
Comment hidden (No capital letters) Hide
Curly4232 (11 months ago) Show Hide
0 Poor comment Good comment
Marked as spam
Reply
sweet. thanks!
September 5th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Excellent idea; in action it seems to work-as-advertised, too.
Other than scratching your own itch re mitigating YouTube discussion idiocy, is the input source extensible? Any reason this couldn't be extended to include input from other forums' comments? (Is that StupidFilter?)
That could make it an interesting moderation tool, e.g., for this and other blogs.
S
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
Awesome idea but I never read youtube comments. Would it be possible to get this working for craigslist too?
September 26th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Wow. This looks excellent. I must ask - is there an Opera equivalent?
September 26th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Is there sourcecode available for this?
Thanks, it's an amazing advancement to save life as we know it.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Thanks a million for this! I wish you could set it to completely hide all comments though.
November 28th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Chat Thank You.