Answers to Your Reddit YouTube Questions
Some situations are too hard to Google. You need a person, not a bot, to resolve your issue and better explain the YouTube algorithm.
This article will cover YouTube deleting likes and comments, A-B testing, view discovery, and copyright.
To not waste anyone’s time, I will be giving general answers with a thorough explanation, so every small YouTuber can benefit from this YouTube Q&A.
I created this article (potential series?) because an abundance of small YouTubers was submitting questions to YouTube Reddit threads but only receiving responses from other small content creators, which can lead to more of a guessing game. I’ve been in the YouTube space 12+ years, worked for a mega YouTuber with 10M+ subscribers, and have a verified YouTuber as my mentor.
YouTube Reddit Thread: r/YouTube
Hey everyone, I have a gaming channel and it’s going very well. I also have a small community so I know that most of my viewers are genuine.
I noticed a coupld of days ago that a video of mine had 3 likes for a long time, then went to 12. And all of a sudden youtube removed 4 likes and set it to 8…
Ok fine, but today, I got a notification from a comment, but when I click on it, it’s gone, it’s not even in the spam filter or something. The comment was also from a normal account from someone that just watched my video and told me he liked it.
Why is youtube doing this? It seems a bit unfair imo.
Ah, the classic issue with the likes and dislikes feature. YouTube did release a support page addressing how they authenticate likes, which explains how their system goes back to check that all likes/dislikes were performed by a human rather than a bot.
It’s hard not to think that your channel has a glitch when you see this issue constantly. If you notice insane changes (by the hundreds), I would report this to YouTube. But a change in 4 likes assures me that the OP’s channel is operating normally.
Each viewer has the right to offer a video 1 like OR 1 dislike. If someone is continuously clicking the like button, the system may register numerous likes at first until the backup system kicks in to readjust the like count.
Another issue may be that the viewers (or the OP) are logging into multiple YouTube channels to like a video. The system may recognize that these channels are all connected to one email address or the same IP address or device. Again, 1 viewer gets 1 opportunity to like or dislike a video.
YouTube operates like Google: the algorithm is more advanced than you can ever imagine, and the general public will only know 10% of how it works.
Regarding the deleted comments… 1) the viewer most likely did delete said comment, even if it was by accident. 2) The viewer completely edited their comment to read something new. That would mean your email notification wouldn’t match the comment you see on YouTube. 3) If the OP accidentally tapped the “Hide User” button at some point, this viewer’s future comments will not show up in OP’s YouTube Studio ‘Comments’ tab. 4) There is a loading error with YouTube, so in 1–6 hours, you will most likely see the comment reappear.
There are a ton of reasons as to why you cannot find that comment, but YouTube is in no way personally attacking a small YouTuber’s channel unless they are significantly breaking community guidelines. In fact, YouTube does not want to delete your engagement because this data helps them sell ad space on your videos.
Can I upload the same video to my channel with a different title? I am trying to see if that helps in showing my video in relevant search results.
I understand the intent: This YouTuber wants to try A-B testing to figure out what the algorithm and viewers want. Sadly, YouTube is not about this.
Version #1 and Version #2 will be forced to compete with one another, resulting in BOTH of them getting de-ranked.
The system will recognize Version #2 as a double upload and automatically de-rank the seemingly plagiarized content. Some people reported that YouTube now recognizes a double upload immediately and won’t allow your video to finish processing.
Your subscribers will get annoyed and potentially unsubscribe to your channel. Nobody wants to get spammed or feel like a guinea pig.
If you wish to try A-B testing, you can do so by making ads with Google Adwords. You can actually create multiple ads that have different text and image(s) while linking them all with the same video URL. Do remember that posting an ad will cost you real money, but you input your campaign budget during the setup process to make sure you don’t overspend.
I know it’s a strange question but I want to know if there is a way to know if someone on his youtube channel has watched your youtube video. I have a yt channel where I do 50/60 views a video but I don’t know why I have this video with 800+ views. The hashtags are the same, the format is the same of all my others video but this one has 800+ views so I was thinking that someone has reviewed my video. What’s more in 2 days I’ve got 10 subscribers (from 24 to 34).
I’ve always wondered this as well: Which sorority sister of mine is a secret fan of my YouTube channel? Just kidding — I can just assume that all of them are obsessed with me.
There is no way to figure out WHO watched your video and HOW many times. This will never change due to user privacy. (This feature is probably for the best because what if you clicked on a naughty video and everyone knew you watched it?) However, you can see if a channel is subscribed to you, but only if that channel has its subscriptions set to ‘public.’
On a side note, you do not want any of your viewers watching your videos excessively or on loop because YouTube will assume that they are trying to boost your views without actively viewing your video. (Nobody can watch videos for 24 hours straight!) YouTube has settings in place to block inorganic views and engagement from skewing their data. So, tell your mom to stop clicking “replay” while she folds laundry because her views will stop counting altogether. If your channel is monetized, you won’t make money from these extra ad watches either.
So, why did OP see a sudden boost in views for one particular video? They hit the YouTube algorithm jackpot! Congrats! And to follow suit, they gained some subscribers.
If I were to make a video analyzing a movie or show — and were to use music from that movie or show’s host, would that fall under fair use? Or would I need to be reacting/commenting to the music specifically?
Depending on how you analyzed a movie or show, your video should be protected under fair use; however, YouTube has a history of siding with bigger production companies and not protecting its creators. If you don’t read up on fair use law and/or do not have a lawyer, you risk losing disputes, money, and rights.
Even if you review 1 movie, you may receive several copyright claims on visuals and music depending on how the movie negotiated rights during its production process. Sometimes the claim is on 2 seconds of your 13-minute video. That’s potentially a lot of hoops for you to jump through.
If you get a copyright claim on a small portion of your video, consider editing out that part using the Video Editor tool in YouTube Studio.
Should you choose to dispute, you run the risk of a community guideline strike (and an expensive legal suit if you wish to take it even further.) You may not want to put forth the money, time, and mental energy that it takes to go up against these gigantic media companies. The fear of losing your video and life savings doesn’t seem worth the battle.
Even worse, these media companies know that they can take advantage of the smaller YouTubers by purposely copyright claiming their fair use videos and scaring them into not filing disputes. From what I observed, if you do dispute using the proper law jargon, the media companies will let their claim expire.
Should you win a dispute or have the copyright claim expire, YouTube promises its creators that your video cannot get re-claimed for the same copyright. But, I directly know a YouTuber who has had his video re-claimed. This baffles me.
A copyright claim can happen automatically upon upload or be manually claimed months or years later. You never know. But just thinking about this exhausts me, so I would edit stealthily.
The biggest issue people face is copyright audio. I know catchy songs make great intros and outros, but this could drastically hurt you later should YouTube change their contract with that artist or producer. That could affect ALL of your videos. Nothing is safe! Please take the time to look into the free music catalog YouTube offers in YouTube Studio.
I’d love to turn this into a series, so please let me know if you want more. Feel free to write me your own YouTube question regarding the YouTube algorithm or posting strategy.
