YouTube Opinion Dislike abuse issue & a better banning/block feature.

[TrVlogs]

Ok, I posted this on another forum. I wanted to see everyone's thoughts on this.

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU COMMENT!

Now first off, I love what YouTube has done, but I feel at times YouTube doesn't care at all about some things. I do thank them for this platform. I have made many friends that I never thought I would have met before. I do thank them for that. However, as most of us, creators know people abuse the dislike button. Removing it doesnΓÇÖt solve the problem either. Most users don't use it for what it's really for in my experience which is for feedback. I have been having issues with the abuse of the dislike button regardless of them removing it. I have a couple of people who are literally subscribed to my channel just to dislike EVERY video I upload (going on for a few years now). ItΓÇÖs very annoying. I am not saying take the dislike feature away at all. Because it does come in handy when USED RIGHT! I am asking them to have it to where we can SEE who likes and dislikes our videos on YouTube. Not even sure why Youtube removed that option to see it. People use it in my experience & some of my creator friends to bully because they can. Because itΓÇÖs anonymous & we canΓÇÖt see it. Back when we could see who was liking & disliking comments & videos it wasnΓÇÖt done as much. Now that the accounts doing it canΓÇÖt be seen itΓÇÖs out of hand & isnΓÇÖt useful at all.

I have seen videos where the video isn't even live yet (for premieres) and already it has dislikes. I have seen videos where itΓÇÖs nothing but positivity and dislikes for no reason. I have talked to channels & dealt with it on my own where we have had people come to our channels from a whole other video. Just to dislike a bunch of our videos ONLY because of something we/they said on another channel that has nothing to do with ours, just because they didnΓÇÖt like a comment we made. Or just because they donΓÇÖt like them/us due to race or sexuality it's annoying. In addition, as I stated I have a few people subscribed to my channel just to dislike every upload I make.

As I said IΓÇÖm not saying take it away at all. I am saying let us see who is doing it. If they want to dislike a video, they HAVE TO comment if they disliked it & say why & let it show who disliked the video. Maybe in the Youtube studio section like how we can click on comments, let us click on the like & dislike section. It will show us the accounts. In addition, I had some racists who came to my channel over a comment on a video that had nothing to do with my channel. They did a mass dislike on my channel for nothing. Because I made a comment defending a black teen that was murdered in cold blood.

People use the feature for hate, or because they did not like a comment on a video that has nothing to do with yours. I contacted Youtube about this misuse. They kind of brushed it off here is one of the statements.

ΓÇ£Currently, the like and dislike buttons are easy way for your viewers to show if they are enjoying the content or not. The comment section is where people can have discussions about the video, and gain share their opinions.ΓÇ¥

That is absolutely not true, at all. If they seriously think that they need to wake up. To me this is just another form of bullying & harassment because it's anonymous.

Another issue feature. Making the block /ban feature better if we block a person from our channel they should not be able to see anything, at all or interact with our channel. In addition, their likes & dislike, and comments will be removed as well. Maybe a message saying this channel isn't available or some kind of error message. Just my thoughts.

 

[Damon]

Making the block /ban feature better if we block a person from our channel they should not be able to see anything, at all or interact with our channel.

I wouldn't mind that feature.

 

[MattCommand1]

I want to ask, about these Dislikes you are experiencing. Are you talking about 1 or 2 disagreeable individuals? Or are you referring to "mob dislikes" like 50-100 at a time? How many dislikes are you getting per video?

Also what is the nature of your videos? What are the topics that you are covering? They might provide insights as to what is going on.

 

[TrVlogs]

I want to ask, about these Dislikes you are experiencing. Are you talking about 1 or 2 disagreeable individuals? Or are you referring to "mob dislikes" like 50-100 at a time? How many dislikes are you getting per video?

Also what is the nature of your videos? What are the topics that you are covering? They might provide insights as to what is going on.

I don't have that many subs but it's it's over 10 a video. Sometimes they will do it a few mins after I upload or it seems to be whenever they have time to come to my channel. It's pretty much the same style of videos just different locations it's a vlog channel. It's a car enthusiast-based channel. That's really not the point though. The point is they are not using it for what it's really for they are abusing & misusing it. That's my issue with it.

 

[Jasmeen David]

Ok, I posted this on another forum. I wanted to see everyone's thoughts on this.

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU COMMENT!

Now first off, I love what YouTube has done, but I feel at times YouTube doesn't care at all about some things. I do thank them for this platform. I have made many friends that I never thought I would have met before. I do thank them for that. However, as most of us, creators know people abuse the dislike button. Removing it doesnΓÇÖt solve the problem either. Most users don't use it for what it's really for in my experience which is for feedback. I have been having issues with the abuse of the dislike button regardless of them removing it. I have a couple of people who are literally subscribed to my channel just to dislike EVERY video I upload (going on for a few years now). ItΓÇÖs very annoying. I am not saying take the dislike feature away at all. Because it does come in handy when USED RIGHT! I am asking them to have it to where we can SEE who likes and dislikes our videos on YouTube. Not even sure why Youtube removed that option to see it. People use it in my experience & some of my creator friends to bully because they can. Because itΓÇÖs anonymous & we canΓÇÖt see it. Back when we could see who was liking & disliking comments & videos it wasnΓÇÖt done as much. Now that the accounts doing it canΓÇÖt be seen itΓÇÖs out of hand & isnΓÇÖt useful at all.

I have seen videos where the video isn't even live yet (for premieres) and already it has dislikes. I have seen videos where itΓÇÖs nothing but positivity and dislikes for no reason. I have talked to channels & dealt with it on my own where we have had people come to our channels from a whole other video. Just to dislike a bunch of our videos ONLY because of something we/they said on another channel that has nothing to do with ours, just because they didnΓÇÖt like a comment we made. Or just because they donΓÇÖt like them/us due to race or sexuality it's annoying. In addition, as I stated I have a few people subscribed to my channel just to dislike every upload I make.

As I said IΓÇÖm not saying take it away at all. I am saying let us see who is doing it. If they want to dislike a video, they HAVE TO comment if they disliked it & say why & let it show who disliked the video. Maybe in the Youtube studio section like how we can click on comments, let us click on the like & dislike section. It will show us the accounts. In addition, I had some racists who came to my channel over a comment on a video that had nothing to do with my channel. They did a mass dislike on my channel for nothing. Because I made a comment defending a black teen that was murdered in cold blood.

People use the feature for hate, or because they did not like a comment on a video that has nothing to do with yours. I contacted Youtube about this misuse. They kind of brushed it off here is one of the statements.

ΓÇ£Currently, the like and dislike buttons are easy way for your viewers to show if they are enjoying the content or not. The comment section is where people can have discussions about the video, and gain share their opinions.ΓÇ¥

That is absolutely not true, at all. If they seriously think that they need to wake up. To me this is just another form of bullying & harassment because it's anonymous.

Another issue feature. Making the block /ban feature better if we block a person from our channel they should not be able to see anything, at all or interact with our channel. In addition, their likes & dislike, and comments will be removed as well. Maybe a message saying this channel isn't available or some kind of error message. Just my thoughts.

ones who hit dislike your every video don't be upset take that as opportunity to work with more dedication and compel them to like your content

 

[Damon]

Yeah, 10 dislikes on every video sounds like you are being targeted by a few low-life individuals. I would avoid looking at the like vs. dislikes portion of the analytics and concentrate on cranking out as much content as you can. Don't give the pricks the satisfaction.

 

[TrVlogs]

Yeah, 10 dislikes on every video sounds like you are being targeted by a few low-life individuals. I would avoid looking at the like vs. dislikes portion of the analytics and concentrate on cranking out as much content as you can. Don't give the pricks the satisfaction.

The issue is I want to do giveaways and I refuse to give something away to someone who dislikes me.

 

[Barkey]

I don't think it's a good idea to show users that like or dislike. Being on the receiving end, I can understand why you'd want that, but it wouldn't solve anything in the end. It'd just create more problems and lead to more toxicity. Imagine the drama that would cause! I can picture it now, and what if the roles were reversed? You might dislike one of their videos and since they could see your name or your channel, you'd get slapped back even harder. Some people would do that just out of spite for getting a dislike. YT can see it all on their end, so if you're being brigaded, best to report the issue to YT. They can tell if it's a campaign or not, and if it is, they can deal with it.

 

[MattCommand1]

The issue is I want to do giveaways and I refuse to give something away to someone who dislikes me.

It sounds like you want something like Facebook and can see the accounts that like a specific piece of content. FB has taken away the ability for anyone to dislike any content. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that YT emulate FB's example but the YT likes are anonymous.

I know there are YTuber's that do giveaways but they handle it very differently. I could be wrong but I generally think giveaways are a small niche and not sure how much YT cares about accommodating that.

 

[Nothin' But Gadgets]

I agree with you TRVlogs, that if a person dislikes something, they should be required to give a reason why. I think dislikes are more useful than likes, because it is through hearing what people do not like about our videos, that we can improve and get better. If people were required to give reason for their dislike, they would be less likely to abuse it. If they were spamming the dislike button and using a preformatted response, this would clearly demonstrate what they were doing and give the creator greater leverage to get these removed by YouTube.

One thing you have to understand is the people disliking your videos, does not hurt your ranking, it HELPS it. Like or Dislike, they are both activity, and YouTube loves activity, positive or negative. It's like the old saying,

"It does not matter if they are saying good things about you or bad things about you. If they are talking about you, they are TALKING about you!"

I have seen videos that have 80% dislikes that have millions of views. So, people that are spam disliking your videos are actually promoting your channel. There are channels that intentionally draw fire from people and do everything they can to start a flame war in the comments. These channels are very successful. You need to understand that YouTube makes money off of ads. They don't care what you are talking about, as long as they get you show you ads. A video that is getting a lot of likes, dislikes and comments is seen as a high traffic video and YouTube loves that.

So, as long as your video does not violate the ToS and is AD friendly, all activity is good activity. The more they try to hurt you, the more they help you.

 

[Tito Tim]

Knowing who likes/dislikes is reasonable. That could easily be added to the analytics page. But I think all social media accounts should be on a verified real name basis. That would remove much of the BS. Most trolls hide behind the anonymity.

 

[The Jungle Explorer]

I completely agree that all accounts should be verified on the backend. This is why I deleted my personal Facebook account years ago. I only use WhatApp for group communication and sharing because you can only get a WhatApp account if you have a real phone number. Yes, I know Fecesbook bought WhatApp , but i is still run the way it has always been run. There are ways around using your actual phone number, but I doubt there is a system out there that you could not find a way around if you worked at it hard enough. Like locks on a house with glass windows, to keep the large majority of people honest. It took me a while but I have gotten almost all of my family off of fecesbook, and into my WhatsApp group. They now love it. It is so much more personal and private. The only way anyone gets into my group is if they have a real phone connected to their WhatApp account and I have their real phone number in my address book, and I add them. It does not get more verified than that.

 

[TrVlogs]

I don't think it's a good idea to show users that like or dislike. Being on the receiving end, I can understand why you'd want that, but it wouldn't solve anything in the end. It'd just create more problems and lead to more toxicity. Imagine the drama that would cause! I can picture it now, and what if the roles were reversed? You might dislike one of their videos and since they could see your name or your channel, you'd get slapped back even harder. Some people would do that just out of spite for getting a dislike. YT can see it all on their end, so if you're being brigaded, best to report the issue to YT. They can tell if it's a campaign or not, and if it is, they can deal with it.

I'm not petty if I dislike something. I simply move on. I'm not that miserable. It's an X button for a reason.

 

[Barkey]

I'm not petty if I dislike something. I simply move on. I'm not that miserable. It's an X button for a reason.

YOU may not be that petty, but what about others who got access to that information? It would just lead to more problems across the whole platform. Some people just can't let a thing go, as you yourself are experiencing with these guys down-voting your content.

 

[MattCommand1]

YOU may not be that petty, but what about others who got access to that information? It would just lead to more problems across the whole platform. Some people just can't let a thing go, as you yourself are experiencing with these guys down-voting your content.

I have downvotes but nothing to the scale of this discussion. I am very curious as to why the animus is occurring? There has to be some reason and if that can be uncovered then perhaps something can be done, like sending an apology email if someone feels wronged. That is a human nature question, not a YT specific issue. It takes a lot of energy to keep the anger fires burning day after day to hammer on someone's channel, video after video. Something is going on that we are not aware of.

But to give benefit of the doubt to the victim, let's assume they are irrational hateful freaks that want to hammer you with dislikes and won't stop. Since YT has provided no mechanism to really combat this, the most practical suggestion is to just do your thing and make the best videos possible. I say Frak them but that only works with a certain segment of Ytubers of have that mental fortitude.

Someone earlier in the thread said "attention is attention". I've not come across (yet) any definitive source of if a "dislike" will actually harm your channel. YT is mindful of creators mindset which is why they decided to hide the numbers of dislikes. While it won't faze some of us to be dinged, there are others who are more vulnerable.

There are no easy answers here. If you are mentally or psychologically affected, I am not sure what the "correct" thing to say is. But I would say that if you put yourself out there and the more successful you are, the higher the likelihood you will be targeted by someone. It is the nature of the beast.

 

[TrVlogs]

It's like ya'll are trying to make excuses for them. The point I am trying to make they are using it as a form of bully not for what it's for. What does a comment I make on someone else channel have to do with my videos? What does my race, sex, or sexual orientation have to do with my videos? Nothing. They are simply doing it to hate. Not for what it's made for hiding the dislikes does nothing. You want to miss-use something your actions should be seen. Not hidden that will make them stop. Years ago before Youtube took the option away to see who is doing it it wasn't done as much. I talked to someone from Youtube & they told me the opposite yes dislike are activity but it's saying the video is bad & should not be watched/pushed. I can't remember what the exact words were but it was close to that. I think it's true as soon as it started happening my views when down a lot.

 

[Amanda Summers]

I have someone in my life that I suspected was giving me dislikes. They left my reality for a while and I got hardly any dislikes. Recently, I had communication with him and now I'm getting more dislikes. I even got a dislike on a peaceful drone video of rural Nepal and the Himalayas.
Someone who does SEO told me that when the likes vs. dislikes ratio is high the algorithm stops showing the video. As a consumer, a person might hit the dislike to show the algorithm that they don't want to see this type of content. But if it causes a problem for the creator it needs to be changed. How could they know they were actually harming that channel?
Here's an idea: What if they did a 1-5 button?
My question is, 'does it matter for the algorithm if the first 100 views get 7 likes and 4 dislikes?
What if they have 2 categories of likes/dislikes, subscribers and nonsubscribers?
This last video has 100% SEO according to TB Legend and it did really well in the first 24 hours, then literally nothing.
The theme of the video is about helping tourists get out of the airport faster and saving money on a taxi. It's quite helpful on a non-controversial topic.

 

[TrVlogs]

I have someone in my life that I suspected was giving me dislikes. They left my reality for a while and I got hardly any dislikes. Recently, I had communication with him and now I'm getting more dislikes. I even got a dislike on a peaceful drone video of rural Nepal and the Himalayas.
Someone who does SEO told me that when the likes vs. dislikes ratio is high the algorithm stops showing the video. As a consumer, a person might hit the dislike to show the algorithm that they don't want to see this type of content. But if it causes a problem for the creator it needs to be changed. How could they know they were actually harming that channel?
Here's an idea: What if they did a 1-5 button?
My question is, 'does it matter for the algorithm if the first 100 views get 7 likes and 4 dislikes?
What if they have 2 categories of likes/dislikes, subscribers and nonsubscribers?
This last video has 100% SEO according to TB Legend and it did really well in the first 24 hours, then literally nothing.
The theme of the video is about helping tourists get out of the airport faster and saving money on a taxi. It's quite helpful on a non-controversial topic.

I don't care if they dislike the video my issue is they are not giving feedback or using it for what it's REALLY for. People are still going to hate they are just gonna hit 1. I also asked I am now hearing different things from people on Youtube. Yes if affects your channel then I hear no it doesn't. I just want to see who is doing it. I think I know who is doing a mass dislike but I can't be sure.

 

[Tito Tim]

How could they know they were actually harming that channel?

Much of the dislike problem was organized dislike bombing of a channel - the people knew they were hurting the channel, that was their intention. I honestly do not see how making dislikes invisible to viewers is supposed to fix that...

A few random dislikes are probably not going to affect the video too much (I hope).

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Much of the dislike problem was organized dislike bombing of a channel - the people knew they were hurting the channel, that was their intention. I honestly do not see how making dislikes invisible to viewers is supposed to fix that...

A few random dislikes are probably not going to affect the video too much (I hope).

We are actually working on a fun little tool just for this issue... it's one I'm pretty excited about. Stay tuned!