Google is changing its comment sytem on YouTube to prevent unwanted spam by tying the posts to its Google+ social network.

The search engine has updated the system to better recognise ‘bad links’, impersonation attempts and ASCII art drawings.

Several users have demanded YouTube retain the original comments system, raging its co-founder Jawed Karim as well as about 216,000 signatures supporting the move.

YouTube admitted that there have been setbacks.

"While the new system dealt with many spam issues that had plagued YouTube comments in the past, it also introduced new opportunities for abuse and shortly after the launch, we saw some users taking advantage of them," YouTube said.

"We know the spam issues made it hard to use the new system at first, and we’re excited to see more of you getting involved as we’ve fixed issues.

"New features like threaded conversations and formatted comments are coming to life, thanks to you and your fans," claims the blog post,

New tools to assist channel owners bulk-moderate their comments will also be launched.