Michael
I Love YTtalk
Good point. I don't get that many contact request but that could be because of my niche, I get a couple of random ones now and again and a few cooks here or there. However I think it is getting to the point that if we say "hi" to anyone someone is hollering spam. I think maybe we all are getting a little too jaded. I believe I use it how YouTube intended. However, I completely understand where everyone is coming from. I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you all on this one.
I hate the whole hello and its considered spam but sadly I think its due to the spammers doing it deliberately to gain attention, I would love for the day people on there could say hey what is up without someone being accused of spamming
Unless its obvious people should assume it isnt spam but its hard not to with the contact requests, I get the contact requests on a channel I only ever use for commenting on other peoples videos with too In your case it probably is genuine people reaching out to others in their niche.