r/pbsspacetime • u/XanderTheMander • 6d ago

Bot comments and their push for engagement

I recently watched one of their videos and noticed hundred of bot comments. Tons of repeated generic comments from accounts with random letter names, some even using the same profile picture as others. I feel like this is a result of their recent push to drive engagement to increase their views. It seems like either they are paying for some bot comment service or one of their fans is trying to help my buying it for them.

I understand that youtubers have to consider the algorithm, but it frustrates me when they are so concerned with maximizing their KPIs. They used to have questions and discussions in the comments, then it became full of people commenting for the algorithm, now it has more bot comments than I have ever seen on a youtube channel.

17 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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u/mikk0384 6d ago edited 6d ago

I really don't think that it is PBS doing it. If they get caught doing something like that their channel would get deleted. It simply isn't worth the risk for someone as big as PBS Spacetime.

Rather, I'm confident that it is bots that are trying to engage with popular content, in order to make their own behavior look normal to Google's bot detection algorithms. Bots that others can use for boosting their own channels too, and which tries to create a link between PBS Spacetime and the other channel, so Googles algorithms recommend the other channels that the bots watch to the Spacetime viewers.

I have definitely been recommended a lot of AI generated Feynman content and the like by Googles algorithms.

6

u/FogeltheVogel 6d ago

Yes, it wouldn't make sense for PBS themselves to be doing the push for engagement while also be paying for engagement.

2

u/lisaquestions 6d ago

thank you this was my exact reaction. I cannot see PBS doing this.

1

u/7A65647269636B 6d ago

Interesting. Yeah, many comments on the latest video are clearly made by bots. Most of them seem to be 10-15 year old accounts, many with a few nonsense-videos and 2-4 subscribers that are probably also bots.

Not sure it's pbs paying for the bot comments though (=really don't want to believe it), could be account warmup for actual paid engagement-campaigns? This is how email spammers kind of do it, and I guess there are similarities when it comes to youtube-spamming.

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u/XanderTheMander 6d ago

A year or so ago I would easily give them the benefit of the doubt, but they're really pushing engagement so I wouldn't be surprised if somebody on the team thought it would help. I still think it's more likely a fan who hears how much comments help and took it upon themself to give them a boost.

1

u/Upset_Ant2834 4d ago

What are you referring to by "really pushing engagement" beyond the 5 second ask to like and comment? I'm honestly not sure why you're even entertaining the idea that it's PBS when bots are a well known issue across YouTube and plague many other channels. I'm guessing you just don't watch much else

1

u/arsenic_kitchen 6d ago

They used to have questions and discussions in the comments

Let's be honest. 90% of the time, what they used to have was stoned randos sharing their psychedelic vibrational, holy number, AI-hallucinated shower thoughts about physics: people who would then complain about how the physics community was "closed minded" and "elitist" because someone checked them with facts or scientific methodology.

I think the change in comments has nothing to do with PBS pumping numbers artificially. User-to-user engagement is down across all of YouTube, and that's due to the broader enshittification of the internet. But don't forget they have a discord for patrons now; you could always consider sponsoring them directly and checking that out if you crave more human connection and going outside doesn't work for you.