YouTube launches setting to fight comment scams

Jan

Jan

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YouTube clamps down on comment spam and fake accounts

YouTube has added a new setting for creators to help them reduce the number of spammers and impersonators swindling their subscribers.

Major YouTube channels like MKBHD and Jacksepticeye have recently complained about how difficult they find dealing with the volume of fake accounts impersonating them in the comments under their videos.
 
RedViking

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CommonSense said:
Does anyone with a life still read any YouTube comments? Really?
I guess if you have self-harm tendencies then you would find it a "helpful" distraction.
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I comment on architectural and building videos and sometimes get a response from the architects, developers of videographer, also see some interesting response to other comments as well. Notice a lot of spam (which can be reported) but usually in another language or poor English which makes it easy to spot. Don't read comments on trendy videos or even watch much trendy videos which just state the obvious , such as MKBHD. I know a lot of people like his stuff, but became to trendy just for clicks and not really anything useful. His old stuff was better. It's just there for entertainment now and to get this clicks.
 
airborne

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CommonSense said:
Does anyone with a life still read any YouTube comments? Really?
I guess if you have self-harm tendencies then you would find it a "helpful" distraction.
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The comments are major part of why I prefer YouTube content over virtually all other streaming platforms. That and the content is legit, no broadcast constraints. It’s the purest peek into what’s truly happening all over the world, hobbies, work(fixing sht) and news. You can learn all kinds of interesting stuff in the comments, on some channels the comments are always good, they are part of why a channel will be so good.

I remember the first time I got Netflix it felt rather sterile being on a platform where no one could comment or share info, much less dynamic, a bit stale.
 
airborne

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The comment spam has been getting hectic, to the point where it’s annoying scrolling through the comment section on some videos.
Lots of deep dive bitcoin scams, the scam reveals itself as you read the nested comments..

But the volume has ramped up in recent months. I’ve been wondering about that because Gmails spam filters are near flawless, what gives with the YouTube team?
 
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Everyone hated the comment section, even the youtubers.

Then they figured out it's part of "the algorithm" and now every youtuber is obliged to say "I want to know what you think about this, comment below!"
 
PsyWulf

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Linus did a video on YTSpammerPurge tool used to mass scan-and-report Youtube spam. It's a bit fiddly to set up but helps to clean the channels up
 
gbyleveldt

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When you’re a small channel the comments section is great and I personally love interacting on it. Lots of great info and direct feedback on there. I can see the relevance of comments be less on larger channels because there’s just too much for one person to read through. Still, it gives a general idea of what people think. Then again, my vids are how-to type vids. I’d imagine the comments on the latest Depp vs Heard livestream would be toxic. It really depends what you watch.
 
airborne

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2021 said:
Everyone hated the comment section, even the youtubers.

Then they figured out it's part of "the algorithm" and now every youtuber is obliged to say "I want to know what you think about this, comment below!"
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I’ve never hated the comment section and neither have I got that vibe from any of the YouTubers whose channels I follow.

Naturally if it affects the algorithm everyone and their aunty is going hop on board the comment section but that’s a given with anything that YouTubers realise they can manipulate to make the algorithm push more viewers their way.
 
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airborne said:
I’ve never hated the comment section and neither have I got that vibe from any of the YouTubers whose channels I follow.

Naturally if it affects the algorithm everyone and their aunty is going hop on board the comment section but that’s a given with anything that YouTubers realise they can manipulate to make the algorithm push more viewers their way.
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Oh, it's been regarded as a rubbish for such a long time. Youtubers were starting to trend to just turning comments off because of dodge practices happening in the comments that would damage their image or just full of spam/toxic comments.

Remember Bob? It highlighted the problem with youtube comments pretty well.

Then overnight google added the comments engagement as something to influence exposure and then "I want to hear about your opinion" followed soon after.
 
airborne

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2021 said:
Oh, it's been regarded as a rubbish for such a long time. Youtubers were starting to trend to just turning comments off because of dodge practices happening in the comments that would damage their image or just full of spam/toxic comments.

Remember Bob? It highlighted the problem with youtube comments pretty well.

Then overnight google added the comments engagement as something to influence exposure and then "I want to hear about your opinion" followed soon after.
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Wtf, comments being rubbish or not is determined by the quality of the comments themselves, good videos normally attract interesting comments, there’s not much else to it. The only thing making comments rubbish these days is the level of spam.

I’m assuming you watch garbage and are suitably unimpressed with the garbage comments, watch less Jake Paul..
 
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airborne said:
Wtf, comments being rubbish or not is determined by the quality of the comments themselves, good videos normally attract interesting comments, there’s not much else to it. The only thing making comments rubbish these days is the level of spam.

I’m assuming you watch garbage and are suitably unimpressed with the garbage comments, watch less Jake Paul..
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Youtubers have been using 3rd party tools to try and filter out the spam and scams. Not sure why you associate scams this with Jake Paul, here have a look at Marques video on the issue and the issues he has with the comment section:

 
RedViking

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The spam on YouTube is getting worse and worse. I have noticed the same spam on most of the videos. How is possible for YouTube not to filter this out if it is the exact same spam message everywhere? They usually also post more than once, surely a message that is posted multiple times under the same video should be flagged as well?
So many bots also impersonating the YouTubers, but again, the message is very generic.
 
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