YouTube Comment Controls Help Keep Things Positive

With such a large and engaged user base, YouTube can be an excellent platform for artists to market their material to fans in an interactive capacity. As even the most casual YouTube user may have noticed, however, the comments section on YouTube isn't often a paragon of civility.

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Guest post by Chris Lejuez, Video Services Account Coordinator of The Orchard's The Daily RindFor its over 1 billion monthly active users, YouTube is a fun and engaging place for entertainment, education, and forming communities of mutual interest. But there is a dark region of the popular website that veteran users know to avoid at all costs……the comments section.The comments section of YouTube can be an intimidating place to venture for content creators and is notorious for being a dumpster full of rude and disparaging conversation from hostile visitors and trolls. Fortunately, YouTube has taken users’ requests seriously and implemented tools to let partners dictate the terms of discussion within their channel space.A trip to the Community Tab in the YouTube Creator Studio will reveal a list of five sub-tabs. The comment moderation tools exist within the Community Settings sub-tab where you will find the following features:Moderators: Assign approved moderators with the ability to flag comments for your further review. These flagged comments can be found in the Held for Review section within the Comments sub-tab.Approved and Hidden Users: Designating Approved Users will allow selected users to contribute comments to your videos. Conversely, designated Hidden Users comments will be hidden from the channel comments and live chat. Blocked Words: YouTube allows you to enter a list of words that you would like flagged if entered into the comments section. Comments containing these words will be held for review.Blocked Links: Checking this option will prevent viewers from sharing URL links within the comment space.In addition to these features, YouTube also allows you to hold all comments for review or allow YouTube’s bots to hold potentially inappropriate comments for review (currently only available for English comments).These tools can help content creators foster the kind of community dialogue that they wish to facilitate on their channel; making for a more enjoyable and friendly experience for both creators and fans. Trolls begone.