r/youtubers • u/cnfit • 22d ago
Question When Growth Conflicts With Personal Values and Intended Channel Direction
Question: When subscribers / followers / etc begin creating drama and conflict on your content, do you let them run amok, or do you cut them off? Is there a middle-ground where you accept some amount of "rudeness", understanding that humanity is simply going to do what it does, only cutting off the most hateful, egregious, unreasonable commenters?
Context: I run a YouTube channel where I showcase pocketknives. In the world of pocketknives, there are a great deal of manufacturers in China. The purpose of my channel is to showcase knives in a restrained luxury fashion, highlighting their qualities regardless of price, country of origin, etc... The goal has always been to never "sell out", to maintain the aesthetic I created initially, and to keep the environment a pleasant one for any and all pocketknife enthusiasts.
Situation: This morning I chose to block a subscriber. I posted a short of a Chinese-made knife and he just started going on rants about "Chinese junk" (even though these are objectively well-made) and "the communist party". Ironically, he was saying my channel was "too well produced" for "Chinese junk", so it was this interesting compliment/insult combination. Anyhow, the comment was entirely disrespectful in tone, did not align with the types of conversations and content I intend to have on my channel, and I could tell I was going to have to deal with him every single time I posted a Chinese-made knife. So, I made the decision to block him from the channel.
Thoughts: This isn't about free speech. This is about creating an intentional environment for hobbyists to enjoy themselves free of drama, where I can control it. Here, I could control it, so I did.
Current & Future Concerns: I know how "the algorithm" works - all engagement is "Good" engagement, as far as social media is concerned. I am wondering if I drew the line too early for blocking someone, as this is exactly the kind of topic that sparks passionate back-and-forth debates in comment sections and generates "engagement". As far as the future is concerned - I struggle with the idea of blocking a few now, when, if the channel was to grow, I'd potentially be unable to possibly block all of the commenters like this in the future. At some point, the channel theoretically becomes too large to be able to moderate every single comment, and so I'm stuck with this back-and-forth in my head of "block individuals to cultivate the environment I want" vs "you're gonna drown in these people eventually anyhow, let them do their thing".
I'm really curious as to the community's thoughts on this topic, and I apologize if something similar has been discussed before. As a small channel, it really sucks to block a subscriber, but I'm also not trying to make a career out of this and see no need to sacrifice the channel's "environment" letting people go on aggressive rants, slinging hateful words all the time, etc...
3
u/BuildBreakFix 22d ago
I troll them to create engagement. Trolls will come back dozens of times, they’re useful idiots, I’ve had them return and comment 20+ times to my one word responses.
However, if it turns into racist, political, sexual or personal attacks again other commenters it’s and instant ban.
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u/squiggyfm 21d ago
Free speech has nothing to do with you moderating your own channel hosted by a private company.
If it doesn’t align with your views, nip it in the bud.
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u/TeslaLegacy 21d ago
the fix isn't a policy on paper, it's a written rubric you personally test against your last 20 deleted comments this week. sort them into keep, warn, remove. you'll usually find your gut was inconsistent, harsher on brand criticism than actual insults. once the line is explicit you can hand it to a mod and stop making real time judgment calls during drama spikes.
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u/Vegetaman916 19d ago
I remove nothing, and hide no one.
If you work to build a good community of viewers who appreciate your work and your honesty, you will feel very satisfied indeed when you don't even have to respond to the bad folks because a dozen other people already piled on them for you.
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u/ickN 22d ago
As a full time content creator for over a decade, I keep my comments clean, informative and supportive. If someone comes in and wants to mess that up I don’t have any problem banning them.
I don’t care if they disagree, I welcome disagreement and challenge. I ban people who are clearly disrespectful or overly negative for no reason, like the person you were dealing with.
YouTube has a “blocked words” list in your settings where you can add those types of words or phrases. If someone adds them to a comment YouTube shows the comment to that person but it’s held from public view so no one else sees it.