Google wouldn't want to miss out on that data.

In the update, the reason they give is:

> You can still dislike videos to further personalize and tune your recommendations

Not long ago in history, such a statement would have been totally incomprehensible, I mean completely nonsense. Even linguistically, there's so much baked into this. For starters, that there is an algorithm which which the viewer has a relationship with, and that the viewer wishes to further refine that relationship by expressing preferences. Yet, the interpretation of those preferences (by servers) are held within a black box.

It is interesting to put things into perspective like that, but I'm not quite sold on the idea that you need to know these background details (of algorithms and black boxes) to understand that expressing your preferences (dislikes) to a business may lead them to tailor what they serve you.

If you don't know what an algorithm is, then expressing preferences to a (non-human) web service does not make any sense.

The fact that this is truly a nuanced idea is why it's such a troubled case as a feature for the uneducated masses.

I chuckled - but so very true.

The way they tell it, the perceived relationship between dislikes and bullets is the sort of thing they're trying to end.

I think OP may have been using a literary device known as an analogy.

Aren't analogies a comparison of two things based on their being alike in some way?

Ok, I'm being disingenuous, that is the Webster definition.

Do you think Google is satisfied that people will readily associate dislikes with metaphorical bullets?

Yes, the analogy they are intentionally trying to break...

> What use is a gun if you remove the bullets?

It turns out YouTube didn't see much benefit in providing a way to (metaphorically) shoot content creators. Taking the bullets out seems like a positive step for the community as a whole.

Helps to know who are the people that don't buy whatever it is that Google is pushing. At the very least serve them carefully selected content to change their ways.