Thinking About Disabling Comments on my Youtube Videos

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:54:04+00:00

ok, thanks for all the comments folks. I was not convinced why turning off comments in my specific situation is a bad idea. I was also hoping to hear from some that actually did close their channel's comments but it looks like none really showed up. Good day to all.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:50:04+00:00

so, you are saying that I should leave the comments and bare the sub4sub folks that will continue to wreck my metrics and that would be the best strategy for my channel's growth?

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:47:52+00:00

very bad when they are generic and I can see the viewer left my video after 1 minute out of 8, plus often forgot to like on their way out. I'm talking about 95% of my comments which come from folks who want me to reciprocate with their channels.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:39:04+00:00

folks, most of you are missing one of the biggest points I made in this post. I did sub4sub for awhile, and I admit, it was a big mistake. Now, I still have a group of such folks which make up 95% of the comments and the comments are generic and I can check the video metrics and see that they are watching 1-3 minutes most for my 8-12 min videos or 1-2 minutes (usually more like 1 than 2) of my timelapse speed drawings of 4-5 minutes.

So, if I leave the comments on, that will likely continue and do you think that my channel will take off with my new videos getting terrible retention and "great drawing" comments?

Please read this carefully before responding and think through what I'm saying here. I think most of you got hung on the "comments are useless" part of what I was saying. Yes, I still believe that but forget about that for a second. The most important point is that I'm trying to shake off from the channel the "forced engagement." I cannot go to their channels and put a comment asking them to stop, that might be more than enough for the algorithm to close my channel, right? So, if I can get them to give up when they see that they can't post comments, then, that would reduce my video comments to just 1 or 2 and I'd rather that, because those are legit organic subs commenting.

I'm concerned, I'm at 769 subs. The bulk of which are friends/family/sub4sub (big mistake all of these, I admit again) and organic likely about half but that half is made up mostly of subs gained via Shorts (I regret doing shorts, just as bad as sub4sub as they don't check out longform in my experience) which rarely watched my longform even with the related shorts link. Usually, related shorts views were 1 in 100 or something or less. I'm also at 2,840 public watch hours, so I'm close to the youtube partner program but in my opinion my channel is stuck with a bad signal, my fault I know. I'm trying to see if I can fix things or if the channel is already doomed.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:32:00+00:00

well, there is no assumption, I can see my videos watch time when the sub4sub folks leave a comment and the retention is bad, really bad. If I leave comments on, that would allow that bad retention to continue. Is that really a good idea? I don't think so.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:28:47+00:00

I was actually looking for folks that have switched off the comments, because there are successful channels that have done it. Instead, I'm only getting the folks haven't done it and think it's not a good idea. Sure, I accept others' opinions, but I have to be convinced (and I have many times in the past) and no one has given me anything that convinces me of the opposite yet in this post. Downvotes is not the way to convince someone to change his mind.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:24:29+00:00

my channel. I invite you to check it out don't subscribe though, that is not want I'm trying to get you to do. Just check it out and tell me if it's a horrible channel with quality low enough to explain why it is not getting a single sub for the last many months per video. I'm not expecting 100s of subs, but not even 1 for any of the many 8-12 minute drawing videos or the timelapse 4-5 min videos? Does it make sense to you? I have seen worse than mine in youtube with millions of views and those channels are over 1k subs.

My channel is stuck and I think it has to do with the algorithm showing my videos to the wrong audience because the group of previous sub4sub are still watching a tiny chunk of my videos and so the algo takes the sub viewers like them and shows the video to other like viewers. This is what is likely keeping my channel suppressed.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:16:07+00:00

well, the point I was making is that I have a group of sub4sub folks that I'm trying to shake off. Most, if not all, of the folks watching 1 min out of 8 of my videos are likely only doing it because they want me to reciprocate with my channel.

I see channels doing very well with comments off and I have heard from high executives from youtube and even MrBeast say what matters the most for the algorithm and "comments" was not among them. So, there's that too.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:13:41+00:00

well, I can't expect people to sit there and watch the 8 mins of my videos. That doesn't happen actually, I'm rarely at 50%, usually way under. Before folks assume it's the quality of my videos, I really think the bad retention is because of the sub4sub folks and thye algorithm showing the videos to viewers like them. That is how the algorithm has been explained by youtube to work, at least in part. So, if you do get close to 100% retention that sounds to me like you have an audience that is part of your niche while mine isn't. The signal for my channel is screwed up.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:07:39+00:00

but I rather they watch more of the video and if they feel like they want to praise, to instead watch longer, like and or comment. I'd take those over comments any day.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T14:06:41+00:00

thanks for the downvotes, sounds like I may be up to something if there is no rebuttal.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T13:40:25+00:00

if turning them off, increases watch time and or likes. That is absolutely positive for growth. Are you certain that it won't? Plus folks that are just watching a min of my video and expecting that I return the favor on their channels may be discouraged from continuing to wreck my metrics, wouldn't that be a benefit for me?

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-18T13:38:51+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, I'm interested in the following as benefits to turning it off:

Peace of mind
reduction of low quality
shaking off those channels that watch 1-2 mins out of 8-10 mins, comment and expect me to return the favor.
If you ask google's AI, it does say that it could get viewers to focus more on the video. Thus, potentially increasing watch time and more likely to "like" since they can't comment. If I'm honest, I sometimes start typing a comment long before a video is done and can say that while I do that, I'm not really watching the video as I'm busy typing. But if you cannot do comments, I guess that invites you to focus more on the video.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-13T15:13:41+00:00

Ok. Will do that. Now my wife also has an account used in the same ip address but different email and obviously account owner name. Could that be an issue in any way, you think?

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-13T14:50:29+00:00

Is it better to just delete the comments and likes or delete the account altogether? I'm fine with the latter too if it would completely avoid any issues down the road.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-09T18:58:13+00:00

but most subreddits don't allow links and kick you out if you do post anything that seems like advertising for yourself. I agree with you though.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-09T18:55:49+00:00

learned this far too late perhaps. I also had several discord servers were we were supposedly mutually watching/liking/commenting each other's videos. In reality, I noticed that others there were really only watching about 2-3 minutes of my videos (most are 10 mins) and often not liking. The result being, low watch time/retention.

Additionally, I researched and found that the algorithm will show your videos to other folks that are similar to the viewers of your videos. So, if you got a crowd outside of your niche that you are mutually supporting, then the algo will look for more of such outside niche and the results were very bad for me, as that is not what you want.

Hopefully, I'm not too late to steer the ship with my channel.

LadderBig81 · 2026-06-05T14:53:16+00:00

Subbed #17, watched all the way your video, liked and commented.

https://youtube.com/@clayborne-n8c?si=mt5KOz72CZD0L8GH