Need advice with a comment situation

G

GMX

Member
Hi all...I have a small youtube gaming channel. 99% of my videos get max of 20-30 views even after months. But a few weeks ago, I happened to post a video showing me using a silly gimmick in a competitive game, and it’s up to 75,000+ views. I’m grateful for its success but I really need some advice with the comments which have turned pretty toxic because people are obsessing over all the little mistakes I made (because I'm honestly not fantastic at the game).

Yes, I know, "welcome to Youtube." I don't need people telling me I'm awesome...I was just hoping for a higher percentage of actual discussion about the actual point of the video (i.e., the gimmick). That's mainly why I post videos, to interact with people about the games, in the comments. But nobody will talk about it. Instead, people are constantly telling me e.g. how I'm "f*cking terrible" or getting generally abusive to me or even other commenters. (Nevermind that the video was never supposed to be showing off skill in the first place.)

Should I just start removing the toxic/abusive comments? I feel like the current toxic comments encourage people to post more of them, and discourage positive or constructive commenters from posting. After a while I tried teasing a couple of them, but as I honestly expected that just makes them post more abuse.

Also, I have a question about moderation options. For comments, I can "remove," "report spam or abuse," or "hide user from channel." If I choose "remove," is there a message anywhere like "this comment was removed" or is it just gone? Also, does it remove the entire comment thread? For "hide user from channel," does it prevent everyone from seeing their comments on my videos, or just me? Thanks for your help.

EDIT: Also, is there a way to turn off comment notifications for just one particular video of mine? (i.e., the one described above...)
 
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I'd say to ignore those comments all together. I have a video named "Darude - Sandstorm comments needs to stop" or something like that. and it literally has over 2k comments either loving or bashing the idea of the video and in all honesty it is pretty funny for me, but I just tend to ignore it and keep it for the viewers to have their own crazy discussions. I focus only on the comments on my newest videos, where actual people of the community are commenting. I'd suggest leaving an annotation or a card to your newest video or to subscribe, and hope that throughout all the views you get there bound to be people interested to your newest videos, but as for comments - ignore it. (if you want!)
 
All depends on you. Any harsh insults going over the line you're not happy with, I'd say delete. Yes, they're just flat-out gone, and yes deleting a comment chain deletes all comments in that chain.

But it's all on you. Some people want attention in the comments good or bad because I guess it makes for a "lively" video or something? I dunno, I do not want that sort of thing at all, hell I don't even want the same type of comment (no matter what the comment is) appearing over and over.
But everyone is different.
 
@Funzo @Uncivilized Elk @WilliamRayWalters @LeGenDaryPuLse thanks for the replies.

The toxic comments I'm talking about are ones like "noob" "so many misplays" "bad player" "more like f*****g terrible" "holy s**t you suck at Hearthstone :/" etc. I don't care about being told I'm not good per se, it's just that so many comments solely consist of that. (Those examples are verbatim btw, and each is an entire comment.) Abusive are mainly the ones where someone posts something toxic, and someone else tries to call them out on it. One thread devolved into the people calling each other f***ots.

Obviously I can't control what people write. But I would be much happier if people were actually talking about the gimmick I was showing, even if they said it was lame. Instead it just seems like all these commenters care about is showing they're better than me and trying to make me feel bad. (Again, I know, "welcome to YouTube.") Well, I don't feel bad because people are calling me a bad player (I mean, I don't love it, lol), I feel bad because it makes my video's comment section really sh*tty. Even the people who aren't so obsessed with my mistakes spend their time commenting about how the other commenters care way too much.

Basically I was just hoping for some advice on how to manage the comments section to be more enjoyable, for me and people who actually want to talk rather than just talk sh*t.
 
If I understood correct the more comments you get that helps with the youtube algorothim to further get your video to rank higher, so think about it in a positive way. Concerning answering the comments I wouldn't bother some people are just out there to make ppl's lives miserable. If you get the same type of comments then maybe you can address once in the comments section and that;s it.

congrats on the major view though :)
 
GMX said:
The toxic comments I'm talking about are ones like "noob" "so many misplays" "bad player" "more like f*****g terrible" "holy s**t you suck at Hearthstone :/" etc.
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You have to have a thicker skin than that bro. This is the way you handle a comment like that. "you are f***ing terrible" - "Yeah, I know, I'm working on it though. Thanks for watching!". Or, you can go abrasive and win the love of your viewers with a classic yo mama comeback... "Well, I'd have more time to practice if I wasn't spending so much time with your mom. Thanks for watching!". LOL Damn. I gotta use that one. But seriously, I mostly handle things the first way I suggested. If you de-escalate the situation and throw a little self deprecation in (poking some fun at yourself), it'll make you more likable and then your viewers will police the situation themselves. What you say is abusive I call your channel policing itself. On this channel (WilliamRayWalters) I regularly get the nastiest comments. I usually come up with a witty comeback or just explain myself in a way that is too nice compared to the comment posted, and often times the community will step in and tear my haters a new a-hole.

Just don't lose your cool, whatever you do. Also, try as hard as you can to avoid deleting comments. The Youtube community generally doesn't like channel owners deleting comments as a way of handling a situation and it could backfire on you. Try to handle it other ways first.
 
You are f***ing your mind too much.
Stop caring about toxic people, take it with humour or ignore those comments (whatever suits you better) and work on getting better at heartstone ;)
And well, you got a 75k video which is pretty nice, isnt it?
 
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