The message boards at Google lit up this week with questions about an unannounced beta testing program for YouTube's emotional experiment, Moodwall.
It's a different way to organize and search for videos, categorized by "vibe". The broader vibe headings include funny, fast, cool, strange, creative, powerful, epic, deep, and of course, gross, as determined by YouTube.
News of the beta for Moodwall comes from James Dart of The Guardian who posted a screenshot of the new experience to his Twitter profile.
User jcarrz1 posted some purported footage of the Moodwall to Screenr, giving YouTubers a decent glimpse at how the full product might function. If the video is legit, then the primary search page for YouTube will feature several constantly updating frames of video choices (most of which are from 2011 at this point) which can be expanded for previews and tagged for favorites.
Not everyone in on the beta test, however, is entirely happy about it, or even aware that it was coming.
A foul mood
A number of threads popped up in the Google Product Forums yesterday lobbying complaints about the unexpected advent of the Moodwall beta.
For example, user lagarto220 signed onto YouTube on Friday to find that the browse page had been transformed to the new vibe-driven format, and immediately wanted the old page back.
Apparently, the way to "opt out" of the beta is to clear the history and, more importantly, the cache of your browser, which gets rid of whatever cookie or metadata Google has employed to activate Moodwall's testing.
Google has yet to respond to this bizarre beta rollout, or to speak to the inspiration behind the new experience.
The real takeaway from the Moodwall beta is that Pokemon is fun, Minecraft is epic, and huskies are still, indeed, adorable.
