Me too. My theory is that people are becoming increasingly unable to read and understand what they are reading, then they are resorting to videos.
I think you're onto something here.
It's certainly been a long time since I could read a single Slashdot discussion without witnessing the following behavior: 1) Read a post. 2) Note that it sounds vaguely like something you really find offensive, at least, if you twist most of the words around, put words in the poster's mouth, ignore context, and pay no attention to the actual point they were making. 3) Rail against that person, hellfire and brimstone, using various name-calling, ad-hominems, and other invectives while being careful not to actually refute anything they said.
Optional steps follow: 4) Continue bickering and splitting hairs long after they correct you and show you how easy it would have been to understand what they plainly said and plainly didn't say, being careful never to admit your mistake no matter how obvious to everyone it may be. 5) When you run out of excuses and methods of attempting to save face, just suddenly stop replying to the thread, employing the old "ignore it and hope it goes away" strategy.
The main reason I am starting to look at Soylentnews and other Slashdot alternatives is not the incompetent and bumbling "editors", not the choice of stories, not the Beta redesign, etc. It's because deliberately misunderstanding plain black-and-white text just to have something to moan and bitch about has become trendy on this site. I don't want to be the only sane person in a lunatic asylum, nor do I want to be the only adult in a roomful of screaming children. That's what Slashdot is becoming.