Question
Answer
Think about your personal Facebook page. If you uploaded a video of something you made, let’s say your baby, and people began leaving hateful comments on your video, what would you do? You’d block the person and some may even leave the platform if the comments were egregiously offensive.
I Am A Real Person
People tend to forget that the person who uploaded the content is a real person. Their video is their creation, and they’re under no obligation to allow comments from strangers on their videos.
Personally, (as of today) I have my channel set to require moderation on every comment that I receive. It weeds out the Atheists, Hebrew Israelites, Hindus (thanks Quora) and KJV-only hate comments that come my way.
The best part is cutting down on spam. There will be times I log in to view comments to approve them and I’ll have 50 comments from the same person who is spamming every video I have with links to their products.
Disagree? Start Your Own Channel!
If people don’t agree with my videos and want to respond by leaving a hateful or accusatory comment, I’m under no obligation to give them a platform to spread their message. They are free to create their own content to spread what they believe is “true.”
YouTube Algorithm
I never disable ratings because even if a video has more dislikes than likes, YouTube doesn’t care either way and just wants to see “activity” on a video. If you want to hurt a creator, not engaging with a video does the most damage, whereas dislikes may hurt someone’s feelings, but YouTube will still promote it because it’s getting high activity. This is why most channels don’t moderate – even garbage comments such as “First!!!” or “follow for follow” are counted as channel activity and go towards the algorithm promoting a video.
I’m not interested in profiting off of a flame war, I want to foster a legit community where people can ask questions and get them answered. Hateful statements aren’t questions, so I suggest moderation!
Exposing Faux Christians
(As of today) I have more dislikes on a video about a man who was arrested for sex crimes against children at his church. The church members spammed me with comments and dislikes to support him. I’ve left it up because it is a testament to the kind of people who go to that church:
Another video that gets tons of dislikes is by people who don’t even bother watching the video but respond to the thumbnail only. (Yes, YouTube shows me watch time.)
I keep the ratings up to use as an example of how stupid most people who claim to be Christian are – they downvote a video that shows the most popular Bible version that churches use today is a New Age paraphrase that denies the deity of Jesus and promotes weird ascended Master teachings.
Originally posted to Quora on July 15, 2018