YouTube announced today a new comment moderation setting called “Pause” that lets creators and moderators prevent viewers from adding new comments yet keep existing comments on videos.
Instead of turning off comments completely or holding comments to review them manually, you can temporarily pause comments until you have enough time to filter out trolls and negativity. The Pause option is located in the video-level comment settings in the upper right-hand corner of the comments panel on either the watch page in the app or in YouTube Studio. When Pause is turned on, viewers can see under the video that you’ve paused all comments as well as comments that have already been published.
The video-sharing platform has been experimenting with the Pause feature since October. According to YouTube, the experiment group reported they feel less overwhelmed by managing too many comments and have “more flexibility.”
YouTube also renamed some of its comment moderation settings as part of today’s announcement. The new, more straightforward names may make it easier for people to determine what the tools do. For instance, “On,” “None,” “Hold All” and “Off.” Other settings are less self-explanatory, including “Basic,” which holds potentially inappropriate comments for review, and “Strict” where a wider range of potentially harmful comments are put on hold.
In related news, YouTube is also testing a new feature that summarizes topics in the comments.