For some people, the comments are the worst part of YouTube. I could see them being pretty vocal about not liking the design that makes them more visible.
I have the feeling these comments went from overwhelmingly hateful tu overwhelmingly praiseful. I don't know how they managed that transition. Moderation or culture change? They are useless either way.
Youtube comments used to be the worst comments on the net, but for a while now youtube comments have been decent. And no better or worse than reddit comments yet people go to reddit just to read the comments. I find myself often reading comments alongside youtube videos.
I agree with this redesign since it turns the right side of the video into a general social space: chat when it's a live video, comments when it's a normal video.
Related videos, on the other hand, are static and can be easily moved beneath the video.
Truly. I have an extension that blocks them ("Hide YouTube Comments, Live Chat, & Related"). Every so often I will unblock them for a certain video, but life is not better with them for the most part.