My YouTube Channel Being Targeted... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 08:00:34 pm
content: Hi folks,I have an interesting thing happening on my YouTube channel and I can't seem to understand why, and what purpose it serves. In fact, it is happening ONLY to videos that have a certain word in their title. Usually I get a bunch of THUMBS DOWN and spammy foul language comments, so I have to then disable comments for the video.Perhaps someone here can enlighten me what is going on here, because it is very strange. I asked Google YouTube Forums and nobody can figure this out.BACKGROUND:My channel is very tame, nothing to ruffle any feathers really. I almost NEVER get any thumbs down, most of my videos are all THUMBS UP. For the past 3-4 years, posting dozens and dozens of videos, no issues. Usually, my videos get a few dozen views and grow very slowly (a few have been viral but not most).THE PROBLEM:In the last few months I started posting videos reviewing and test-footage from a recently purchased SJCAM SJ4000 (cheap GoPro)... Among other videos. So I have SJCAM videos mixed in with various other videos. Strangely enough, *ONLY* some of the SJCAM ones are being targeted.The first videos that I posted (about 1.5-2 months ago) which were being targeted:Real SJCAM 4000 (cheap GoPro) Unboxing (291 views, 3 thumbs up, 42 thumbs down)SJCAM 4000 Original Menu and Firmware Screens (434 views, 0 thumbs up, 12 thumbs down)...Then I posted at least a dozen more various videos showing footage of the SJCAM and also some teardowns and then my washing machine, and a repair video and review of a cheap DashCam, all of those got on average maybe 10-20 views over the last month and no thumbs up or thumbs down. That is what I normally expect....Then all of a sudden I post 2 videos in the past week and the same thing happens again:SJCAM SJ4000 (Cheap GoPro) Slow-Motion Test HD 1080p (155 views, 0 thumbs up, 6 thumbs down)SJCAM SJ4000 (GoPro) Extreme Day-Night Low Light Testing (237 views, 2 thumbs up, 10 thumbs down)How in the world did these videos get so many views in only a few days? And why so many thumbs down (when both of those videos show nothing exciting, I don't even speak on them, there is just a sound-track provided by YouTube ad-free music). And lots and lots of profane comments which I need to delete.QUESTIONS:Does anyone have any idea of what purpose this serves? All these videos are monetized. Whoever is doing this is driving up traffic and I presume Adsense revenue for me (not like I need it). I'm not sure what the thumbs down do to my overall channel, but I couldn't care less... it's a hobby. I don't like the profanity one-word comments that are just spam, so I needed to disable comments for some videos.Notice also the ones that get a spike in views in a short time (like a few days after I upload) that I never even announced or posted must be getting found and targeted... Because I never even told anyone about them, never posted it to any forum, never put it in a blog, never put it on Facebook, etc.So my guess is someone is spamming links of my video on really bad forums where really nasty people hang out. Or there is a robot army on the internet that wants to hate on SJCAM (or it is just a coincidence... because I have many other SJCAM test videos that were not targeted). On the other hand, *only* a subset of my SJCAM videos were targeted so far, not all of them.Very puzzled!

author: continuo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 08:27:25 pm
content: I have no experience with youtube, never uploaded a video there, but I guess it's more or less the same as in forums. You have always some "fanboys" who can't stand any negative word about their admired product, celebrity, car or anything else. You always get some nasty comments from them if you dare to write something else than glooming blessings about that particular thing. So my guess would be some of these fanboy people search for SJCAM vids, they stumble upon yours, watch them, don't like them and vote them down.

author: fivefish
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 08:37:58 pm
content: Wow... SJCam really that cheap in price?What model do you recommend?

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 09:14:42 pm
content: Yes, SJCAM SJ4000 (authentic "real" one) is about $60-70. You can get fakes of the fake for even less ($30-50). That is the problem buying online, you have to make sure the vendor isn't going to send you a fake.There is no question the quality of the SJ4000 is less than a GoPro, but you get what you pay for. At $60-70, people are willing to sacrifice some quality to save on the cost, as an equivalent GoPro (with removable case) can be upwards of $250 and more.EDIT:That is why I am posting the videos, to show the quality of this camera. I am not trying to sway anyone from buying a GoPro. Could it really be the GoPro fanboys trying to crap on these videos? I highly doubt it. I think it is just somebody who wants to screw around and spam random videos... But if they are increasing my views, and therefore my Adsense revenues, should I really complain? I just don't like the thumbs down and rude comments that I need to disable.Anyways, this still doesn't explain the crazy number of views for some of these 4 SJCAM videos and big number of thumbs down and spammy rude comments, when my other videos have barely any views (for the same time-frame) and have no thumbs down and no spammy comments. It is like a few of the links on my channel, all so far having to do with SJCAM (but not *all* of my SJCAM-related videos) were posted to a site that is frequently visited by people and they are clicking on the link, perhaps being misled as to what they are going to see.... OR the person spamming the forums with my video is an annoying troll and the forum users are taking revenge on the video, thinking it is their channel/video. Who knows.Still, I see no reason for it, I can just disable comments and still get views. No idea as to the purpose. I know Dave was targeted for the Batteriser videos. But at least he had a known reason and could follow the trail through Analytics. I am showing nothing unusual (like views from Thailand)... all are coming in from North America, or so it seems.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 10:20:09 pm
content: Is it possible that GoPro tries to badmouth competitors/copycats? I doubt that they actually would do this, but then again, I would not expect Siglent to target ebay listings.I would check other channels with videos that have SJCAM in the title just to see if there is a similar pattern.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 11:04:03 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on November 10, 2015, 10:20:09 pmI don't think it is anyone associated with GoPro. They would not bother with this tactic.For example, this is my latest test.... 12 hours (daylight, sunset, night) showing continuous time-lapse testing of a variety of lightning conditions from extremely bright, direct sun and then night. I posted this only a couple of days ago.... And didn't tell ANYONE about it. How did I get 241 views, 10 dislikes in that time period? And the one just before (slow-motion test) also over 150 views and 6 dislikes, and I never told anyone about the video.Then the dozen or so videos before that on my channel have barely any views and no ratings, no thumbs down and a few do show more SJCAM footage.... So it makes no sense.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 11:10:44 pm
content: What's the betting some random porn aggregator site has the tag 'SJCAM' and their search pulls in your videos?

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 11:44:35 pm
content: Or it could be "the other guy" with videos featuring similar titles from 8 months ago ...although his have dislikes as well

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2015, 11:58:30 pm
content: So I started looking more into theANALYTICSand trying to come up with a pattern.The video "SJCAM SJ4000 (Cheap GoPro) Slow-Motion Test HD 1080p" (posted Nov. 7, has 155 views, 0 thumbs up, 6 thumbs down) has the top geographies listed as:Netherlands (29%)United Kingdom (26%)Brazil (26%)Turkey (20%)This video says no external traffic sources. It says 55% YouTube search, 26% other Youtube features, and 20% Browse features.COMPARE THIS WITH...On the other hand, my older video "SJCAM 4000 Original Menu and Firmware Screens" (posted Oct. 2, 434 views, 0 thumbs up, 12 thumbs down):United States (42%)Canada (9.2%)United Kingdom (7.0%)Germany (4.7%)France (4.0%)Austria (3.9%)Traffic sources are:External (79%) <--- and there is a huge spike on Nov. 4thYouTube search (13%)Direct or unknown (7.2%)Suggested videos (0.3%)Browse features (0.1%)Very different views, very different demographics and traffic sources. What all my "spammed" videos have in common... They are related to SJCAM, but not all of the SJCAM videos are targeted. These 2 videos have very different analytics. I only see a spike in the older video from some external source (likely spammed link to a site). The first seems like views from YouTube yet they are coming from much different locations than usual.

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 12:11:55 am
content: I was thinking along the lines of being embedded in some scammy auction listing, but it might just be disgruntled fanboys...

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 12:14:49 am
content: Quote from: DimitriP on November 10, 2015, 11:44:35 pmI was hoping someone has an idea of whether these are "real" users being honest, or deliberate sabotage. Considering that the 2 most recent videos had a spike in views which resulted in mostly down-thumbs and spam comments (which I had to delete), I think it is being posted to a forum somewhere deliberately to upset the users.... but I can't find most of them as they are not showing up in search yet.So far I have found only ONE instance of this... Related to my first SJCAM video (with 42 down-thumbs), which was posted on one of the most vile forums I have ever had the displeasure to cast my eyes on:http://leekyforums.com/thread/4424837/miscellaneous/favourite-rapper.htmlSome user named "TreeEater" posted the following 1st reply:QuoteObviously this had the effect of upsetting whoever goes through those forums. I thought perhaps it was just a mistake and somebody posted the wrong URL, but then when it happened again... and then again to the other SJCAM videos I got suspicious.EDIT:And then I found this one just now searching for my 2nd SJCAM video which got 12 thumbs down and also a spike to 434 views, on this horribly rude forum:http://sheekyforums.com/thread/650148073/miscellaneous/sheeky-forums-advice.htmlUser Supergrass posted this in the thread:QuoteSo it is likely that someone is spamming sheekyforums and leakyforums (never heard of these sites) with links to some of these SJCAM videos. Could be a coincidence that they are SJCAM related, maybe not, maybe just because they happen to be new videos and haven't yet gained any traction so they can be more easily messed with by early ratings?EDIT 2:Looking deeper into "sheekyforums" and "leekyforums" reveals they are aggregator sites run by possibly bots to fill up their pages (not real). Have a look at this, which shows threads being lifted off other sites (and I've seen this on Reddit too, 4chan, and others) and being duplicated. Which means that the spam link to my SJCAM video may not even be originating on those sites, but others that aren't searchable. Strange. Here's the proof that sheekyforums and leekyforums are just mock forums duplicating threads from other sites:https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/51411089/This thread is really funny....http://leekyforums.com/thread/4179266/miscellaneous/someone-is-stealing-our-threads.htmlIt's actually a stolen post and thread (from another site, no doubt) talking about how leekyforums is stealing posts/threads, and hosted on leekyforums, complete with a report from various users who have had their names substituted but otherwise the thread is identical. How ironic!

author: 4U
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 12:49:21 am
content: QuoteYou are correct that sheeky/leeky forums are only mirroring posts from a different site, the site in question being 8ch.net. Links to your videos are spammed there, presumably after you upload them, with the intentions of irritating the community by posing as the uploader begging for views which leads to your videos being disliked.There's a post linking to this forum post of yours that is active (for a limited time) right now. That's how I got here. You can find it here:http://8ch.net/b/res/4703048.htmlCurrently someone is spamming it with off-topic pictures of Katy Perry in an attempt to stifle any discussion.My guess is that you managed to upset someone and you've earned the ire of their undying autism. Can you think of anyone in the last few months (or even years) that you've angered?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 12:52:25 am
content: Quote from: 4U on November 11, 2015, 12:49:21 amHe has YouTube channel, what do you think?I remember a long time ago people used to provide enemy's e-mail to all sorts of porn sites. They are happy to send you their stuff without any validation.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 02:18:42 am
content: OK, got it. Makes sense now. I won't waste any more time thinking about it. It is what it is. Moving on...

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 02:57:33 am
content: Quote from: edy on November 10, 2015, 08:00:34 pmYou're doing it wrong.Delete and Block is the only way to deal with this.Shutting down comments doesn't help you, it doesn't help anyone else, and only encourages the dicks to keep on doing it, everywhere.Delete and Block.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 03:22:59 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on November 11, 2015, 02:57:33 amGot it... Will do! Thanks!

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 05:15:36 am
content: Quote from: edy on November 11, 2015, 03:22:59 amAwesome, don't let the bastards win!Unfortunately vigilance on comments is the price you have to pay for having a Youtube channnel. Or building a successful one anyway.

author: Vgkid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 05:47:23 am
content: Before the other replies, I noticed that that forum links reminded me of 4/8 chan threads.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 06:15:59 am
content: This is pretty awesome. sheekyforums/leakyforums might look retarded and pointless, but then you read thishttp://www.pi-datametrics.com/fatal-flaw-googles-inability-recognise-stolen-content/and

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 06:29:21 am
content: If it are legit users could it be that they bought a fake one and were dissapointed with the quality?Is there any way you can warn people of this in your channel and even better show how to distinguish between the real and fake?

author: Augustus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 08:55:26 am
content: Are there any nasty consequences if YouTubers get to many downvotes on their vids, do they get banned or sent to the bottom of the search results or something?

author: 3roomlab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 09:16:31 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on November 11, 2015, 07:23:43 amthis is the experiment they did on facebook too to find/discover the click farm( i cant remember what they used but in a similar concept)while i think blocking can help, iirc, the click farmers numbers in thousands of clone accounts

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 09:52:41 am
content: Quote from: Augustus on November 11, 2015, 08:55:26 amNope, down votes are positive because they count toward your "engagement" score.

author: mswhin63
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 12:32:41 pm
content: True but usually from countries that pay really low wages. The stats one of the first few posts don't show this unless the country of origin has also be manipulated, maybe by proxy.GoPro may hore some people to provide a "dislike" to improve their product integrity.Quote from: 3roomlab on November 11, 2015, 06:43:19 am

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 04:51:27 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on November 11, 2015, 06:15:59 amHmm. GOOD article! That explains the presence of so many aggregator and component reseller sites that copy content from E-bay and other legitimate websites. I do a LOT of searching on the internet and those content theft sites almost always pop to the top of the lists of search results and there are THOUSANDS of them! I finally had to install GreaseMonkey and a script in order to block Google from showing them.

author: 3roomlab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 11, 2015, 08:10:09 pm
content: Quote from: mswhin63 on November 11, 2015, 12:32:41 pmthe small videocam market competition is intense. and gopro low light performance is not the best of the best.i always enjoy his video reviews -https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan/videosif he puts in HD test charts and resolution charts, it would even more amazing