I have joined up to this forum, under a different YouTube account. One IΓÇÖve never used. Just as I donΓÇÖt really want anyone to know which channel I am talking about. As I want to correct this in the right way.
If TubeBuddy bosses want me to tell them privately, the channel name, I am happy to do so.
I have worked very hard to produce videos/run my channel and am improving all the time.
But I am stuck. I donΓÇÖt know what to do. And I feel awful and upset. I feel like all that hard work is being taken away or tarnished.
I would love for some advice from anyone, but especially from people with some experience of how YouTube works. Which may be no one. Maybe no one can help me.
I will try to be brief but give you all the info you may need.
I have a small channel.
I paid a company to run an AdWords campaign. I know it doesnΓÇÖt help with view time, but the focus was on getting subscribers and growing the view time from other videos they may watch after seeing the one through the advert. It was not cheap.
What I write next will make it seem like the company who I am paying to run the AdWords campaign [if ad words is even the right term for the campaign?] sound dodgy. Now they say itΓÇÖs nothing to do with them, and I believe them, as they gain absolutely nothing from my getting loads of bot accounts. So, it makes no sense for it to have anything to do with them.
I think they are honest. I like them. They have been professional, and clear from the start that they donΓÇÖt do anything dodgy/that would affect the YT channel. They have replied to my emails and not run away. And crucially ΓÇô since I brought this up with them, it hasnΓÇÖt stopped. Which if it was them doing this, they would have done so. And I repeat I donΓÇÖt see what they gain by me getting spam subscribers?
The reason I say itΓÇÖs might seem dodgy. Before I had never had this issue. I had over 100 subscribers. I gained them slowly over the last year. And I only started to get bots accounts ΓÇô the day they started the AdWords campaign. Literally the day it started. Not when I paid, but when the ads started to be shown.
There is a chance a bad actor saw an AdWords advert and tried to ruin my channel by sending the bots?
There is a chance someone nothing to do with this, just happened to start this malicious campaign at the same time.
But I am running ahead a bit.
***
Here is why I think the YT Channels joining are bots.
First off, itΓÇÖs the videos they are joining from.
There are over 350 subscribers who have subscribed via four videos, over the last week. Those four videos in total have 20+ views.
350 subs from 20-ish views.
Also, the Channels either have no videos uploaded, or just one or two videos that are a few seconds long. Seems a bit of a coincidence. Ok, maybe they all just use YouTube to watch content? But then why do so many of them have a video or two that is a few seconds long?
Then when I look at the channels, these subscribers have subscribed to. And they are all subscribed to the same channels. I mean it every channel was subbed to my channel and almost all the same other channels.
Finally, they are only subbed to small channels. Normally there would be channels with millions or at least hundreds of thousands of subs. But all of the channels they sub to are on very low numbers or barely over 1k.
ONE:
This seems obvious, but these are bots/bad subscribers, arenΓÇÖt they?
TWO:
This looks terrible on me [the channel] ΓÇô what would you do?
ΓÇ£Nothing? You wouldnΓÇÖt be complaining for the free subs? YT wonΓÇÖt notice. It might mess up your channelΓÇÖs sub watching percent but stop worrying about losing the channel or now never getting monetisedΓÇ¥
ΓÇ£This will kill your chances of being monetised, you need to tell YouTube and let them deal with itΓÇ¥
ΓÇ£ItΓÇÖs bad. But you shouldnΓÇÖt tell YouTube, as they will still use it against you and put a flag on your account. Just hope for the bestΓÇ¥
Something else
THREE:
The bots are still joining. They wonΓÇÖt stop. I have obviously chatted to the company I bought ADW from. Like I said, it may look suspicious, but they have been great before, they have nothing to gain. I mean unless they are psychopaths? Or secretly hate my channel and want it to die?
How do I stop the bots from joining…?
FOUR:
Has this happened to anyone else?
Did they find out how it happened?
Did it happen to someone you knew, or have you heard about this happening to someone else?
What did they/you do ΓÇô and how did that work out for them?
I do appreciate any help or advice.
I am obviously anxious and feeling rather poop about all of this. It seems too easy for someone with access to bots to mess things up for any newer channel.
If TubeBuddy bosses want me to tell them privately, the channel name, I am happy to do so.
I have worked very hard to produce videos/run my channel and am improving all the time.
But I am stuck. I donΓÇÖt know what to do. And I feel awful and upset. I feel like all that hard work is being taken away or tarnished.
I would love for some advice from anyone, but especially from people with some experience of how YouTube works. Which may be no one. Maybe no one can help me.
I will try to be brief but give you all the info you may need.
I have a small channel.
I paid a company to run an AdWords campaign. I know it doesnΓÇÖt help with view time, but the focus was on getting subscribers and growing the view time from other videos they may watch after seeing the one through the advert. It was not cheap.
What I write next will make it seem like the company who I am paying to run the AdWords campaign [if ad words is even the right term for the campaign?] sound dodgy. Now they say itΓÇÖs nothing to do with them, and I believe them, as they gain absolutely nothing from my getting loads of bot accounts. So, it makes no sense for it to have anything to do with them.
I think they are honest. I like them. They have been professional, and clear from the start that they donΓÇÖt do anything dodgy/that would affect the YT channel. They have replied to my emails and not run away. And crucially ΓÇô since I brought this up with them, it hasnΓÇÖt stopped. Which if it was them doing this, they would have done so. And I repeat I donΓÇÖt see what they gain by me getting spam subscribers?
The reason I say itΓÇÖs might seem dodgy. Before I had never had this issue. I had over 100 subscribers. I gained them slowly over the last year. And I only started to get bots accounts ΓÇô the day they started the AdWords campaign. Literally the day it started. Not when I paid, but when the ads started to be shown.
There is a chance a bad actor saw an AdWords advert and tried to ruin my channel by sending the bots?
There is a chance someone nothing to do with this, just happened to start this malicious campaign at the same time.
But I am running ahead a bit.
***
Here is why I think the YT Channels joining are bots.
First off, itΓÇÖs the videos they are joining from.
There are over 350 subscribers who have subscribed via four videos, over the last week. Those four videos in total have 20+ views.
350 subs from 20-ish views.
Also, the Channels either have no videos uploaded, or just one or two videos that are a few seconds long. Seems a bit of a coincidence. Ok, maybe they all just use YouTube to watch content? But then why do so many of them have a video or two that is a few seconds long?
Then when I look at the channels, these subscribers have subscribed to. And they are all subscribed to the same channels. I mean it every channel was subbed to my channel and almost all the same other channels.
Finally, they are only subbed to small channels. Normally there would be channels with millions or at least hundreds of thousands of subs. But all of the channels they sub to are on very low numbers or barely over 1k.
ONE:
This seems obvious, but these are bots/bad subscribers, arenΓÇÖt they?
TWO:
This looks terrible on me [the channel] ΓÇô what would you do?
ΓÇ£Nothing? You wouldnΓÇÖt be complaining for the free subs? YT wonΓÇÖt notice. It might mess up your channelΓÇÖs sub watching percent but stop worrying about losing the channel or now never getting monetisedΓÇ¥
ΓÇ£This will kill your chances of being monetised, you need to tell YouTube and let them deal with itΓÇ¥
ΓÇ£ItΓÇÖs bad. But you shouldnΓÇÖt tell YouTube, as they will still use it against you and put a flag on your account. Just hope for the bestΓÇ¥
Something else
THREE:
The bots are still joining. They wonΓÇÖt stop. I have obviously chatted to the company I bought ADW from. Like I said, it may look suspicious, but they have been great before, they have nothing to gain. I mean unless they are psychopaths? Or secretly hate my channel and want it to die?
How do I stop the bots from joining…?
FOUR:
Has this happened to anyone else?
Did they find out how it happened?
Did it happen to someone you knew, or have you heard about this happening to someone else?
What did they/you do ΓÇô and how did that work out for them?
I do appreciate any help or advice.
I am obviously anxious and feeling rather poop about all of this. It seems too easy for someone with access to bots to mess things up for any newer channel.
