Posting paused by YouTube - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: raptor1956
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 03:49:07 am
content: Last week I got a popup within YT that indicated my ability to post was being paused for 24 hours for some violation they never bothered to link to or identify -- I let that slide not knowing what it was I'd done to warrant the timeout. Then, today, I get another popup with the same statement about my ability to post comments being paused for 24 hours and the reason given was SPAM, but now I knew who and where this was coming from.I'd watched a video on the Electric Viking channel about the Tesla Cyber Truck and I noticed in the video, at the 2:08 mark, that to the right of Elon's head there appeared to be a huge gap in the trim which reminded me of all the complaints about fit-and-finish that Tesla has had over the years. Some time later someone replied to my post with the comment "Says who?" to which I replied with several links:https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/2023-model-y-unacceptable-build-quality-and-issues-feb-20223.294083/https://insideevs.com/features/500730/tesla-model-3-fit-finish/I checked back 20 minutes later and my second post with links to the sites detailing the quality issues and I found that my post wasn't there. So I thought I must have failed to hit "send" and I reentered the post with the links as above. A few minutes later I noticed my second post was missing again and a moment later a popup within YT indicated my posting privileges was being paused for 24 hours and the reason given was SPAN or disinformation.I fired off several posts to YT about this but I doubt I'll ever hear back from them as I presume this is an automated thing and no person was involved in my timeout. What's troubling is that I did not use profanity and didn't call anyone names, I merely pointed out that Tesla has had a history of poor quality and provided links to sites that detailed those issues when asked.In case anyone is interested, the first post I made is still up and the details for that are:Video URL:Username: @Raptorman0909And the point in the video where I noticed the trim issue was at 2:08.Brian

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 04:34:43 am
content: I said several times already that posting links in YT comments gets the comments removed automatically no matter what.And I guess that if you have posted such comments several times in a certain amount of time, then they take it as spamming.Yes it sucks as I had already mentioned, as you effectively can't use links to prove/source your points. But that seems to be a YT rule *for sure* now and has been for quite a while. I've never seen any explicit TOS on YT stating that one couldn't use links in comments, but that's their rule. I have zero doubt about it, it never fails.So if you're wondering, it's 99.9% likely just to be because you posted links. And it's 100% automatic, so the odds someone will care to reply are infinitesimal.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 04:53:35 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on October 22, 2023, 04:34:43 amSo why on earth does posting the text of a link on YouTube automatically become a link rather than remain plain old text? Why does this facility exist?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 04:56:21 am
content: Quote from: Circlotron on October 22, 2023, 04:53:35 amGood question. Only people from YT can answer that. And tell us *officially* that links in comments are forbidden. But my little finger is telling me that they won't.Happy to be proven wrong though if the OP gets an actual answer or if someone from YT comes here and tells us. One can always dream.Meanwhile, I encourage anyone here who hasn't run into this or is not convinced that it is true, to do the experiment themselves. Just post some comment on a YT video with a link. Anything. Use a link to some site as plain and non-controversial as possible to avoid having doubts that it may be because YT is filtering some web sites (but not a link to YT itself, that may be the only thing allowed, although I'm not even sure, so that's something you can test as well), rather than removing all comments with links without distinction.

author: raptor1956
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 07:08:37 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on October 22, 2023, 04:34:43 amI have posted links many times in the past, in numerous places, probably even here, but it was only recently I've had that come back to bite me. Mind you, the fact that I posted links was something I'd surmised was the issue but, again, I've posted links many times in the past without a problem.It then begs the question ... is it Google themselves that are doing this or does the page owner (Electric Viking) have any way to trigger this?To recap, I've been using YT for, well, pretty much since the start and although I've posted links in many YT comments I'd never experienced the account being paused until a week or so ago and now this is the second time. Seems to me that if this was something they've been doing for a while that I'd have fallen afoul of it before now. So, if this has been a thing for a while my guess is they've tweaked the system and it's now flagging all such content. IOW, they must have loosened the tolerance for detection and now everything is against the law.In a time when fake, unsourced news is a thing and a terrible thing you'd think they wouldn't make it harder to reinforce a comment with legit sources -- instead, they are making it easier for made up nonsense to go unchecked!Brian

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 08:12:38 am
content: Yeah, you can fake sh** videos about free energy, fake news, whatever, no problem because views give them money.Get a potato, insert some coins, make your electric oven work, it's ok. But commenting, ahh don't you dare.I think I've also been shadow-banned or something else, because lately I very rarely get responses or notifications.Not that I comment a lot, but it's weird. FU Google and your "Don't be evil" conduct you began with.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 09:56:43 am
content: Quote from: Circlotron on October 22, 2023, 04:53:35 amSelectively applying the rules is a perfect tool for shaping the narrative when so desired, that's why.

author: Sredni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 06:54:56 pm
content: It's even worse than that. Try posting a comment with a link to an external site and it will be automatically deleted. Then if you try to post a second comment where you only explain how to reach the information without giving any link (something like "go on Stackexchange and search for this sentence"), that comment too will be deleted. At least this has happened to me at least three times.YT usually allows linking within YT itself, but recently I have seen comments deleted even with yt links, and a description of what to search on YT.Gaslighting is strong on YT.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 07:52:57 pm
content: It may be selective, I don't know, since YT doesn't communicate about it. But as I said, please try for yourself and, anyone, let us know if you manage to post a comment on a YT video with ANY link of any kind without the comment being removed automatically after just a couple seconds.The trick is like with any other kind of automatic moderation - just trick it by not posting a full link. Either mention the source in full words, or modify the link as to make it not look like a clickable link to a machine, problem solved. There's definitely no human directly involved behind that moderation.

author: raptor1956
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 08:24:30 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on October 22, 2023, 09:56:43 amI don't know about shaping the narrative as this wasn't a political thread, but there are Musk fan boys that get their panties in a twist if you so much as question anything he or his companies have done so I guess it's possible that a Muskite got pissed. OTH, the system appears to have been fully automated and unless they coded the system to detect anything anti-Musk it's not likely political motives or fan boy mentality played a role. I suspect they've recently implemented new controls or perhaps changed the tolerance for detection so that what would have been acceptable before is no longer permitted.Thinking about it I can see how posting links might be sus -- I've seen numerous occasions where a troll (Astroturfer) pushing an agenda will include links to boilerplate bullsh1t that the agency he/she/it is trolling for has at the trolls disposal so that when they lie they have cooked data they can show to support their lie. So, if YT is attempting to limit this tactic that could be a good thing, but, like so much of the sewar that is social media these days, they are not very good at discerning legit posts versus fake posts.Often times when you come upon a poster that appears to be a troll and you click on their thumbnail and go to their homepage you find that the page is new, often months or even days old, and that they have no content -- how on Earth does Google et al not know that these new channels are often created by trolls who need to create a new channel because their older channel was deleted for trolling. How can they not know this?Brian

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 10:10:08 pm
content: Quote from: raptor1956 on October 22, 2023, 08:24:30 pmI did not intend it as in support of any particular political movement, but as a general observation, based on history.In other words, that regardless of whatever narrative the Youtube moderators or Youtube as a company wish to support while still claiming to have a neutral and fact-based attitude, selectively applying their own rules (and keeping the rules they do apply, vague) is the perfect tool.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 10:32:41 pm
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on October 22, 2023, 10:10:08 pmYep.Now again, as to this particular question of links in comments on YT, I don't think they are doing anything selective here - at least I have no evidence of that. From all my experiments and these of a few other people, any link at all seems moderated immediately.The fact that they allow posting links and showing them as clickable links in comments, while automatically removing comments with any, is not evidence that YT is doing anything selective.It's just evidence that they failed to modify the code that generates the comments (which could have indeed just either make links non-clickable, or replace them with a mention such as "link removed, not allowed, see section xxx of the TOS"), leaving moderation entirely to an upper level of code which just removes comments altogether if they contain anything detected as violating some TOS rather than moderate comments and display them with moderation mentions.The fact that they do not state this link-in-comments thing clearly anywhere (at least that I've read, if anyone finds that, please post) and lets people send comments with them while automatically removing the comment right afterwards may be, not particularly evidence that they are being selective, but possibly evidence that they do not want people to be aware of that restriction, so that they can gather thousands (possibly millions) of links posted by people all over the world and collecting that for various purposes.In other words, by letting people posting links but removing the posts afterwards, rather than preventing them right off the bat (which would be very easy, just detect links when a user posts a comment, which is trivial to do, and display a message that links are not allowed, period.)Finally and once again, if you still don't believe me about links, just try. Surely if they are indeed being selective rather than doing it for everyone, someone readind this is bound to manage to post links in a YT comment and have the comment stick for longer than a couple minutes.

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2023, 10:37:10 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on October 22, 2023, 10:32:41 pmI'm not sure YT removes them, but (maybe depending on creators setting) hide them after a manual review for the creatorI know I've posted comments with a link and gotten a response from the creator

author: raptor1956
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2023, 12:44:15 am
content: I don't think YT is doing anything nefarious here, rather they have a nail and the only tool they have is a sledge hammer.As to flagging all posts with links .., um no! Earlier on the same day (yesterday), in another video comment section, I posted a comment with supporting links that were not removed and as I said before, I've been including links for a long time.I'd also wondered if the page owner (Electric Viking) might be doing something or have a setting that triggers these actions but I'm unaware what settings he'd have used if they exist at all. When this first happened yesterday I was convinced that the Electric Viking didn't like my post and flagged it as SPAM as the options for a channel to identify posts are limited to only a few things like SPAM so that gets selected a lot because there isn't another option that is better. But, when I reposted 20 minutes or so later and discovered, almost immediately, that the post was gone and was quickly followed by the YT popup informing me of my timeout I realized it wasn't likely that the Electric Viking, or anyone working for him, would have so quickly done all that.Brian

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2023, 05:29:27 pm
content: Quote from: raptor1956 on October 23, 2023, 12:44:15 amThe content creator can control if posts with links are left alone, sent to be reviewed or deleted on spot. My channel sents them to be reviewed.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2023, 11:24:24 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on October 23, 2023, 05:29:27 pmWe're moving forward. So you're saying that the owner of the channel can control this. I've been pointing out this "links in comments = auto delete" thing for a good while and that's the first time someone says that. I don't have a YT channel so not something I would know otherwise. Thanks for this pointer.So, it would be only a per-channel setting and not YT-wide? (Note that YT could still be doing it upfront without the channel owner or the users being aware, so we still don't have evidence that YT doesn't do it, at least according to its own opaque criterions.)But if that's the only reason it happens, then we now have the reason. Interesting again that it's the first time I hear it.Since I have had pretty much ALL of the comments I posted in the last 1-2 years auto deleted when they contained links and in this period, I've very rarely (if ever, actually) seen a single link in any YT comment whatsoever, I had assumed it was just a general YT policy and I know quite a few people who assumed the same. But it's then just possible that a majority of channel owners choose the "delete on the spot" option, just to remove a significant part of the hassle that is moderating their comments.Whether it's just this per-channel option, or something more general, either way, it would be nice from YT to display the terms under each video so that users know what they can or cannot do (like post links) and so, avoid wasting their time and generating frustration. Like in the example of the OP.

author: Sredni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 12:16:30 am
content: Yt does do it. In addition, the channel owner has the ability to enable it on purpose.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 12:00:36 pm
content: Youtube deletes comments from known spammers (and perhaps something that goes against their political view, but I can't be sure), but the channel owner has the settings attached.

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 03:10:17 pm
content: Its time to leave Youtube!There are good alternatives out there.

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 03:16:58 pm
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on October 22, 2023, 08:12:38 amThis is something i observed too over a few platforms (not only video platforms). Either there are not many reactions, or those come only after a delay of days sometimes.I wonder why

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 08:37:09 pm
content: Quote from: eTobey on October 24, 2023, 03:10:17 pmWhich? Odysee's future is unknown apparently, what else?

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 08:57:44 pm
content: Yep, as others have said, posting links in comments will cause your comment to vanish within 10min 95% of the time.Even saying something like this will often trigger it"Check out the related video "<video title>" on youtube"Also, don't report videos for minor things, if you keep reporting videos and Youtube keeps disagreeing with your report your account be flagged as untrustworthy and more of your comments will be deleted.There's a youtube page where you can see everything you have reported and if youtube agreed (removed video) or not. But i cant recall the link. You get emailed it when youtube agrees with your report and removes the video.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 09:52:27 pm
content: Not only have I found that including links causes comments to vanish, but I also suspect there is a stealth deletion feature. I have posted comments that never get any reply or reaction, even though all the surrounding comments get lots of responses.

author: raptor1956
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 02:11:59 am
content: Quote from: Sredni on October 24, 2023, 12:16:30 amI've looked at my homepage as I've been a creator and did not find any settings that relate to comment deletion due to included links -- does anyone know where these controls are and how to access them?Brian

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 02:23:18 am
content: Quote from: IanB on October 24, 2023, 09:52:27 pmI have experienced comments on my channel that end up falling in the review pane with no apparent reason. Since YT does not notify the channel owner of this, sometimes the comment stays in this state for several months.I don't know if the original poster still sees their own comment but others don't.

author: eTobey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 05:12:54 am
content: Quote from: IanB on October 24, 2023, 09:52:27 pmThere definatley is! Sometimes you can see a "1 reply", but when you click it, there is none to see...Facebook does the same, but you can click on "show all comments".

author: Sredni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 10:38:41 pm
content: Quote from: raptor1956 on October 25, 2023, 02:11:59 amSee the post above by rjsouza. I havents tried it myself but a couple creators told me that my posts with link ended up in their spam folders, so I guess that is how you enable.Not sure if that will allow external links to be collected there, or if they get deleted directly by yt, leaving only yt links available for publication.Edit: the number of "s" in my posts are always correct. They are just scattered in random places.

author: The Soulman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 11:49:31 pm
content: Slightly off-topic but might as well ask here instead of opening up a new topic just for this.Does anybody know why the youtube comments don't show user names or "handles" anymore?Or is it just me?That combined with the rounded corners and the mini-player that can't be disabled anymore really kills a enjoyable user experience for me.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2023, 12:10:16 am
content: I suspect it is just you.

author: The Soulman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 26, 2023, 12:24:25 am
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on October 26, 2023, 12:10:16 amYep indeed, disabled the add blocker and the names now show again..Then re-enabled add blocker after 10 seconds.Still blame youtube for turning something enjoyable into the current mess.