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Comment by no-like-no-sub | Hacker News Reader

>"Be sure to hit that like button and subscribe!"

When I hear this standard YouTuber meme, I always trip hard over the dislike button and never quite make it to subscribe. :^)

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They have to say it because otherwise people don't subscribe. I know some youtubers who never did it hut had to resort to saying it because their subscriber numbers where stagnating otherwise.

Then there are refreshing youtube channels like "Primitive Technology" where he never says a word and manages to end up with 9.5 million subscribers...

But you know... people CAN just be ok with their subscriber numbers stagnating a bit.

Whoring for likes/subscribes is desperate and it cheapens the hell out of your art. It may give you more likes/subscribes but there are other great things that come from artistic creation than the pitifully minimal effort required by the clicking of a button.

It isn't always about art though? If more subscribers equal more views over time which in turns equals more ad revenue, then I can't blame someone who's trying to make a living for doing something that might come across as cheap to some.

As I understand, it's not about the likes/subscribes, really, but that at subscriber count directly translated to more favorable monetization terms for the content creator. That is, they're basically internet buskers.

I need to experiment with this. I don't say that mantra and my channel is slowly growing (by about 100% a year and starting to do a hockey-stick curve, but starting from very little). I should take a minute at the end of a video (or even the beginning!) to make a case for supporting the actual channel, on the grounds of it'll help the message get out.

I can phrase it as 'like OR DISLIKE and subscribe and click the bell icon', and explain how the dislike button is the same thing (both go to 'engagement') plus a little feedback for me the creator. So you can help the channel AND try steering me away from more channel-whoring by disliking and subscribing. Hell, maybe it helps you more. Please dislike and subscribe :D

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