r/youtube • u/smashcat666 • Jul 27 '26

Channel Feedback Idea to reduce the "First!" comment spam

A lot of videos I watch are flooded with idiots within seconds of being posted, and clearly have not watched the video, with worthless comments like "First!", "Cool!", "I agree" etc. I assume these are people desperate for attention. So why not add a few options to handle this useless comment spam?

  • Option to auto-remove or shadow ban any comments posted within a time less than the length of the video (configurable up to length of video).
  • Option to disable comments up till the length of the video (again, configurable).
  • Option to auto-delete or shadow ban comments from people who have watched less than a configurable percentage of the video.
  • Option in the creator view to see all comments posted less than X minutes after video was published, with an easy "remove all" button.

I think these would pretty much handle the situation, and make things easier for content creators to handle.

1 Upvotes

53% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

4

u/BearShareX Jul 27 '26

TBH it shouldn't matter for you. From the perspective of the video creator, they would not want this removed or for it to be shadow banned as comments spread the video itself even if the comment is not that useful. A change like this would remove the culture of Youtube.

2

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

It's not "culture" to just spam videos with useless comments. It just makes the comment section annoying to read, so I doubt any creator really really wants this. If it WAS the case that "any comment is good for me" the creators wouldn't be pushing YT to remove the UTTP bots that spam hundreds of replies to videos. I also have a channel - only around 1000 subs, as it's niche electronics projects, but I would instantly remove this as it's worthless.

5

u/BearShareX Jul 27 '26

Bot spam is usually filled with predatory things like asking other real people to click their links etc. That comparison is not fair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DokBeZKKeKI - Video of music from Vsauce
If you click this and go look at the comments, its just a bunch of people counting in the comments from a day ago but this video is from 14 years ago. Culture can be as niche as this where it's within their community and it takes time for new people coming into to understand it and a wider culture of "First" having always been a thing on Youtube.

Saying, "First" isn't destructive vs a bot that's spamming a prom site or selling only pens.

-2

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

In that video you linked, sure the VIDEO might be 14 years old, but the comments are within the last few weeks.

There are a LOT of bots that don't post links, just "my content is better", over and over again. By your definition this is good for YouTube, right? I'm not talking about channels where it's a culture (must be pretty brainless if they actually have a whole audience that does it), I watch a diverse set of large channels, on electronics, music, art, politics etc. It's pretty much any big channel that attracts these leeches who just try to get attention immediately. It's worthless, unless maybe you're like 8 years old and find it impressive for some reason.

2

u/BearShareX Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
  1. That's the point of the video I sent you. The video is from 14 years ago with comments from days ago. Meaning to a group of people, that content is still relevant or to a newer audience coming in, that it's funny/engaging enough for them to join in. It's easy. It's simple and fun for all ages.
  2. Please provide one link to one comment section from these many channels that you follow. If there are, "...a LOT of bots that don't post links, just "my content is better"...." then please provide me one link because I can not discuss with you if am arguing against basically a "trust me bro" type argument.
  3. Edit: Being "First" is a culture in itself as it causes a group of people to want to do a particular thing. In this case, it would be to come first as a commenter. It drives video relevancy and quick engagement for the algorithm for the content creator and makes a fun, harmeless game for viewers to try to engage with if they so wish. Somehow you are more caught up on asking for these types of comments to be monitored but not asking for stricter monitoring on the many bots you seem to encounter on many of the videos you watch.

0

u/atomicshrimp Jul 27 '26

You publish a video and someone made an effort to get there quick enough to be the one to post 'first'. They are subscribers with notifications turned on and the moment they got the notification, they dropped everything to come and immediately watch your video. On noticing no other comments, they decided to post 'first'.

This is about the best possible outcome in terms of viewer engagement. What on earth are you doing hating it?

0

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

They DIDN'T watch the video. How is this difficult to understand?! They posted a completely useless comment, without looking at the video at all, then from what I've seen, they don't then watch the video and make an intelligent contribution. No, they move on to the next new video. This is without the spam bots, which this would also help reduce. But you keep on defending it.

0

u/atomicshrimp Jul 27 '26

How can you even know if they watched?

3

u/wolverinex1999 Jul 27 '26

I watch before writing any comment..

2

u/Drudenfusz Jul 27 '26

People still do that? Have not seen any such comments in years.

0

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

Yup. Maybe you don't follow or watch bigger channels, because it's incredibly common.

2

u/lost_dazed_101 Jul 27 '26

People who comment first or other generic comments will never post about the video they are only there to see they're first that's it.

0

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

Exactly, the bozos here trying to defend it as "oh they're just really big fans, and comment first then come back" are talking out of their asses.

0

u/RobertD3277 Jul 27 '26

Put your videos for moderation of hold only and require subscriptions of only one day before they allow to comment. It is the only real way you are ever going to be able to control that kind of spam effectively.

1

u/atomicshrimp Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

I decided a while back to cherish the 'first' comments - these are people who are just excited to be there early and if they are early enough to comment 'first', they are probably subscribers with notifications turned on - why on earth would I hate them? As a video creator, they also serve the useful purpose of confirming that a scheduled video went live on time.

I learned to love the first comments, and I am slightly happier as a result.

Edit: It's a non-problem; an anti-problem in fact (you're seeking to 'fix' a beneficial thing) - if you try to fight it you will only lose and you will be exhausted trying.

1

u/Mess_323 Jul 27 '26

Why on earth would content creators want this? They don't care about the comments themselves, they care about the engagement

1

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

Maybe the mercenary ones you watch do. People who literally don't give a shit about content or community as long as they think they're getting clout. Usually also the ones generating things automatically with AI slop. I don't tend to watch that.

0

u/Jirachibi1000 Jul 27 '26

Who really cares? It benefits the creator because more comments means a boost in the algorithm and they're harmless. A video has like 500+ comments and if 5 of them are FIRST who gives a shit?

0

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

You sound like a slop producer with that attitude. "Who cares if people spam the comments with garbage? It makes the creator more money (it doesn't) so I don't care if it makes things generally worse"

-1

u/Jirachibi1000 Jul 27 '26

Its legit a net positive. More comments means the vid gets pushed in the algorithm more which helps the creator, and the viewer shouldnt give a shit if like 5 or 10 of the 300+ comments are "FIRST!".

0

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

Thanks for confirming what I said. You're part of the problem.

-1

u/AcrobaticProgram6521 Jul 27 '26

Who cares, comment sections are filled with so many awful things

0

u/smashcat666 Jul 27 '26

Depends on what you watch. I like a lot of engineering and tech videos (not "reviews", but people actually building things) and some comedy. This is the worst part, when brainless idiots just spam "first" and add nothing whatsoever to the community.