[MR_T3D]

youtube: great, much prefer thumbs to stars
google: indifferent, I use bing more nowadays.
_{configured firefox to use it when i search in address bar even}

[Mongoose]

Which I think is why Google made that change.

Precisely.  There was a post on the YouTube blog about the changes which contained a graph of the average ratings given to videos under the old five-star system.  As you'd expect, there were massive spikes for 1-star and 5-star ratings, while the others were pretty much negligible.  The new system simply formalizes what was already happening under the old system.

[Klaustrophobia]

there was still no need to change it though.  the like/dislike added NOTHING, but it did take away, however small it may be.  and there's still the major issue of not being able to see the rating.  i could look at a video in the list, see 1/2 stars, and not waste my time before.

[Scotty]

However, seeing the rating also predisposes viewers based on the rating alone.  If several people were to give a great but seldom viewed video bad star ratings, it would keep people from watching it, or influence what rating they do give it.  Without seeing ratings beforehand, watchers objectively evaluate the video on merits they see, not what someone else thinks.

[redsniper]

the like/dislike added NOTHING, but it did take away, however small it may be.

Ah, but if what it took away is not statistically sigificant, then what does it matter?

[Klaustrophobia]

However, seeing the rating also predisposes viewers based on the rating alone.  If several people were to give a great but seldom viewed video bad star ratings, it would keep people from watching it, or influence what rating they do give it.  Without seeing ratings beforehand, watchers objectively evaluate the video on merits they see, not what someone else thinks.

that would be fine if the ratings actually matter at all.  i'd rather not have to watch crap than have slightly lower ratings.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

* Androgeos Exeunt visits YouTube.

Hey, did Google just add a like/dislike bar beside the buttons?

[The E]

In other news, Wikipedia has been ruined forever as well.

[Goober5000]

Not really, because they prominently featured an option to switch back.  I was impressed that they did that, and said so on the feedback page.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Editing toolbar improvements: We have reorganized the editing toolbar to make easier to use. Now, formatting pages is simpler and more intuitive.

Oh, phooey. Real editors enter Wiki syntax with no aids.

Reminds me of this, really:

[BloodEagle]

* Androgeos Exeunt visits YouTube.

Hey, did Google just add a like/dislike bar beside the buttons?

Yes. That wasn't there, before.

[Scourge of Ages]

I could be crazy, but google's language tools seem to have improved about 200% (in accuracy).
I wrote a fairly simple message, translated it into French and then translated that back into English and it was almost identical to what I put in at first!
Layout-wise, I'm indifferent. It's still cleaner than yahoo.com.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

If possible, try translating to Japanese and back.

[Mongoose]

In other news, Wikipedia has been ruined forever as well.

Looks just fine to me.  I can barely notice the difference.

[The E]

I should have put sarcasm tags around that. The new wiki layout is quit nice.

[Mongoose]

I really should have caught that.

*falls into sarchasm*

[el_magnifico]

The difference being, if I'm reading correctly, that Wikipedia just added more features and improved usability.
Youtube did exactly the opposite.
And vanilla Google is not supposed to have more features, it's supposed to be fast, simple and minimalistic. If you want more, use iGoogle.

[The E]

Actually, no. Wikipedia moved one of its most important UI elements (the little search box) from the sidebar to the top navigation bar. I would have thought that that one would get more reactions.

[Klaustrophobia]

the only thing i've noticed is the logo is shifted to the right and overlaps with titles. 

[S-99]

The wikipedia search box moving to the top of the page reminds me of microsoft changing the start menu picture in vista and people claimed they didn't know where the start menu was.

Let the dumbards come to use wikipedia, get confused now, and have a head slam on concrete realization experience.