diff --git a/blog/no-more-youtube-comments-2021-11-27.markdown b/blog/no-more-youtube-comments-2021-11-27.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..582e345 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/no-more-youtube-comments-2021-11-27.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +--- +title: YouTube Comments Discontinuation +author: Xe +date: 2021-11-27 +--- + +Hello, + +I have disabled the ability for people to comment on my YouTube videos directly +on YouTube and the rest of this will explain why. If you want to contact me, +please email me at me@christine.website or any of the other contact methods +listed at christine.website/contact. + +I use YouTube as a glorified file host for my videos. I use YouTube for this +because YouTube seems to have the longest staying power and seems to be stable +enough that I can rely on YouTube being the only copy of some of my older +videos. As such, I don't totally actively monitor YouTube beyond what I get +emails about. I'm thankful for the amount of support and for most of the +comments I get on YouTube, but there are also some other things that come up +that make me have to change my stance. + +Being a visibly transgender person on the internet is a chore. I've managed to +extract myself from online spaces with people that actively abuse me and I +adjust settings aggressively to prevent future harassment. My Twitter account +has an app attached to it that mutes everyone I don't follow in an effort to try +to curb the hate I get that way. I think my Twitter blocklist is almost at 2000 +entries now. + +I recently got a YouTube comment that I am going to quote in its entirety: + +> Nice video, you he she furry cunt. + +This is the kind of abuse that transgender people get on the internet, and I +really really don't want to be in a position where I have to moderate this. I +also don't want to have to have anyone I know moderate it. So my only real +option is to close the YouTube comments on my videos in an effort to stop +further hate. It is sad that I feel like I have no other option, I have gotten a +vast majority of positive, topical and otherwise insightful comments. However +YouTube comments are an environmental sacrifice zone. I do not want to propagate +hate in my inattention to what random people do to a social aspect of a filehost +that I just happen to use for videos. + +If you see something that I say in a video and want to comment on it, please +contact me through other means than YouTube comments. If I don't reply instantly +on Twitter, I'll reply once I do a regular review of my lockout folder in Block +Party. The more reliable way is going to be to email me though. + +Be well to eachother, and please do what you can to avoid letting hate propagate. + +I have one extra aside for the author of that comment I quoted: If the author of +that comment is watching this video or reading this article: making those +comments at the expense of other people is not funny. It is not edgy. It is not +cute, and it is not a good way to get yourself known and it is a fantastic way +to end up alone in life.