Self-promoting under multiple accounts...

Jordan Pike

Jordan Pike

YTtalk Mad
So recently I noticed a kid with a new vlogging channel that has been self-promoting in a lot of the top travel vlogging channels. He makes a comment thanking the YouTuber for the inspiration to start his own channel, and then he logs onto the same three accounts every day and gives his own comment thumbs up and comments such as, "I was going to say stop spamming, but your content is really great! Keep it up!" and "New subscriber here! Amazing videos man!" To be fair, this kid's content is actually pretty decent, but I found myself feeling quite offended by this behavior. He's amassed over 1k subs now in just a couple weeks, and I feel like this strategy is a huge part of the reason.

What do you guys think? Is this type of self-promotion ethical? Is it even allowed within YouTube's terms of service?

I feel like this is the wrong way to do it, but another part of me can't help feeling maybe there is a bit of genius to it... :unsure::(:mad:
 
Ultimately a business either succeeds or fails, and business generally place time as a breaking point. You have better survival rates if you are underhanded but you really have to ask yourself "Will I be able to deal with knowing I didn't do it earnestly?" This is your art, your expression to the world as well as it is your career if you deem it.

I love philosophy ^.< just because it's a matter of perspective. Would you sell your soul for fame or would you preserve it for art. There's no wrong answer only how you view it to be.
 
Agree with above comment, underhand tactics, undercutting others e.t.c is part of parcel of having a successful business and being street wise.

And you have to factor in that he is a kid, - who has NO responsibilities lol! hes probably got nothing better to do and puts all his energy into promoting and making videos - fair play to him.

Underhand tactics is a part of youtube, however you have to cater in the question "how much of his life is dedicated to his channel(s)? lol
 
It's not only unethical it's also prohibited by YouTube. If they find out they will terminate all involved channels. I see people whining about their removed bot channels in the help forums quite often.
 
Yeah, that's called sockpuppeting and it's prohibited by YouTube and just about any other type of site where you're not allowed to self-promote. It's an underhanded tactic that is almost always easy to spot and easy to stop. The person doing this will wind up getting more grief than help from this.
 
op maybe you should warn the guy.

I know he might be doing something a lot of us consider underhanded or wrong but maybe he ain't so bad. Just do it privately - that way there is no loss of face and he is less likely to be a jackass about it, also compliment his channel - also less fallout for you if he is a jackass.
 
Celsus said:
Ultimately a business either succeeds or fails, and business generally place time as a breaking point. You have better survival rates if you are underhanded but you really have to ask yourself "Will I be able to deal with knowing I didn't do it earnestly?" This is your art, your expression to the world as well as it is your career if you deem it.

I love philosophy ^.< just because it's a matter of perspective. Would you sell your soul for fame or would you preserve it for art. There's no wrong answer only how you view it to be.
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Great reply. It makes me wonder how many businesses out there only made it because of strategies like this. Maybe it's used more often than not and is almost more accepted as a 'everyone does it, but no one talks about it' type of thing. Clearly, everyone doesn't do it, but maybe it's not so uncommon. I don't think I'd personally be able to live with myself, unless I truly felt it was just a startup strategy to get a nice kickoff and there was no wrong in it. But I'm not sure I could convince myself of that.

XXLRay said:
It's not only unethical it's also prohibited by YouTube. If they find out they will terminate all involved channels. I see people whining about their removed bot channels in the help forums quite often.
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This is exactly what I was wondering about. It's honestly a tempting strategy. But I could never risk my YouTube channel's life on it. I've had this channel since I started using YouTube regularly back in 2007. That's a lot of years to gamble on.... I don't plan on reporting this kid to have his channels removed, but how would I go about that? Is it as simple as reporting the comments as spam?

xingcat said:
Yeah, that's called sockpuppeting and it's prohibited by YouTube and just about any other type of site where you're not allowed to self-promote. It's an underhanded tactic that is almost always easy to spot and easy to stop. The person doing this will wind up getting more grief than help from this.
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Sockpuppeting, eh? Thanks for the information! I feel you're right about this.

coliwob said:
op maybe you should warn the guy.

I know he might be doing something a lot of us consider underhanded or wrong but maybe he ain't so bad. Just do it privately - that way there is no loss of face and he is less likely to be a jackass about it, also compliment his channel - also less fallout for you if he is a jackass.
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I really like this advice. I think I'll send him a message if it continues, just letting him know I've noticed what he's doing for a while, and just warn him of the consequences. You're right, maybe he's totally oblivious to the fact that what he's doing is against YT rules. Thanks for the advice man!
 
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