Does YouTube even need comments? I can't remember any meaningful discussion happening in the comments, it's mostly meme type stuff. Long term I can see this being the final resolution for toxic comments.
The more intellectual the content the more intellectual the comments. If you do a lot of your learning of code and development things on Youtube and watch conference talks online (rather than attend) then you are not going to find drivel in the comments.
Same with music, if you go through the back catalogue of your youth and find that record that only sold 5000 copies the first time around then the comments are going to be overwhelmingly positive.
Youtube doesn't recommend me any of these videos with meme grade comments or whatever these kiddo videos are that now can't have comments in them. I think I am watching different stuff to most people here who have a lot of hate for Youtube comments or maybe I am just not that sensitive.
To think there used to be a time when the BBC had a complete roster of paedophiles presenting all their music and TV shows and nobody noticed. The UK's most prolific paedophile worked for them for decades. How the pendulum of stranger-danger swings!
That's because you're watching pop-videos. There's a goldmine of educational content on YouTube which breed valuable comments. The problem isn't the concept of commenting, the problem is that shitty content attracts shitty comments.