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Had a chat with a neighbor about YouTube's shadowban thing
So my neighbor Bill who runs a small gardening channel told me he noticed his views dropped off a cliff after he posted a video criticizing a local city council decision. He said he didn't get any warning or strike, just sudden silence from the algorithm. It made me think about how platforms can quietly bury content without actually saying they're banning anything. Is that really free speech if nobody gets to see what you said? Bill showed me his analytics graph and it looked like a straight line down after that video went live. He's been uploading for 4 years and never saw a drop that sudden before. Has anyone else here dealt with that kind of quiet suppression where you don't even know if it's real or you're just paranoid?
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jakeb812mo ago
Totally agree man, it's REAL. I posted something about a local business that got flagged once and my engagement just DIED for like a week straight, then slowly came back. Felt like radio silence, super frustrating.
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gavin3652mo ago
Yeah the "radio silence" part is real. It's like the algorithm just decides you don't exist anymore for a while. Really makes you second guess everything you post after that happens. The weirdest thing is how it just creeps back up without any warning or explanation.
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emery2902mo ago
Radio silence" is exactly the right term for it. It's wild how platforms like YouTube can just flip a switch on your reach without telling you, feels like the digital version of being talked over in a group chat. Bill's graph dropping like that is textbook algorithm punishment for saying something they don't like, it's not paranoia when the numbers are that clear.
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taraross1mo ago
Bill's analytics chart sounds like my heart rate monitor when I see my credit card bill. The silence is so loud you could hear a pin drop, or in Bill's case, a metaphorical digital anvil falling on his subscriber count.
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