This kind of comments spam exists for a long time in the world of blogging and podcasting, but usually the blog or podcast owner take care to remove the offending comments, something that very few uploaders do with their YouTube videos. By the way, aspiring video podcasters should be aware that this can become a major chore. On my main podcast I had to turn on comment moderation to avoid a flood of comments about cheap "wow gold".
Comments should not be turned off completely on your videos however as they are sometimes a good source of feedback. Anonymous users on YouTube are more likely to tell you that you video stinks that a regular on your podcast's blog. Although this kind of feedback is not always pleasant it is sometimes justified and can give you a wake up call on what you are good at and what you still need to improve.
A second reason why comments on your YouTube videos are useful is that they help you create a community feeling. When your audience can interact with you it is more likely to stay with you long term. It also allows you to get ideas from your fans: ideas for future shows, maybe a secondary character in your web sitcom is getting popular and should get the spotlight in future episodes etc...
An example of a successful show that runs mostly on viewer feedback is Tekzilla from revision3. Viewers email their tech questions to be answered on the show. In this case the comments arrive by email but the principle is exactly the same. Now do you think that someone who had his or her question answered on the shows is likely to stop watching? No! That's a long term viewer gained for Tekzilla.
Feel free to leave me a comment...
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