So why do I have like/dislike turned off?

 Not that I think anyone wondered why, but I still felt like talking about it.

I like you, have watched videos (let's just use miniladds pitiful appology video as a example) where like to dislike is turned off and often the comments are turned off as well. and you just know that this person does not want to know, just how upset people are with them. or like miniladd can't deal with critisism. 

I get it! seriously.

but you see when people say or do controversial stuff in public (which youtube is)  you have to be ready for critisism. I am not alien to that, having run several larger fan communities and events, someone is always offended, or angry or wants special treatment and when you don't give it, they cuss you out. I don't mind, I don't socialise online anymore and couldn't care less if some discord mod tells the internet I am a bitch. knock yourself out.  I am both old in the ways of the internet, and also in actual years on earth - and I am dead sure I got harsher critisism in 3rd grade than what some moron with internet access can throw my way. 

but... 

i hate the like / dislike feature. I hate it cause you know the anchient 'greater internet fuckwad theory' 

and that is really the reason one should never take internet critisism too seriously. ask yourself if these people would ever say that to you, if you were standing infront of them - they wouldn't. 

with that said, I personally think it's a great tool for me to gauge when I am doing something right or wrong, so I am thankful for all interaction, even if you hate my shit. but I see no reason for it to be public, i see it as a creator tool first and foremost. 

and why did I turn it off? well i actually rarely do get dislikes, though it happens. and every time it makes me wonder. how come? I asked my kids (who are all adult'ish) what makes people dislike a damn playthrough video? I don't get it. and they all told me that it's probably because I don't speak, or have my face in there, and people expect something else besides a boring video that is just the game, they want engagement from the uploader. and they could be right. 

but you see, I don't make videos for someone to sit down and watch from one end to the other, this is why I either split the game up in small portions, and name the individual videos, or timestamp (or both) because I make videos for other gamers, I make walkthroughs, I make videos for when you are stuck, or if you just want to see what happens if you take a different route or choice. I have no expectations to anyone watching my entire video, and it works. I have somewhere between 10 to 2 minutes in average watch time per video, which is what I aim for. Making videos to help others, like others have helped me before. 

and that is why i removed it, cause who cares? besides me as a guideline for future uploads. what is there not to like? I mean come the fuck on! it's a game, you can play it this way or not - it's not like any of the games i uploaded within the last two years require a lot of skill, besides figuring stuff out, but it's not like a counter strike video where I have to be good at aiming and quick, better than someone else. so what is there to dislike? it bugged me forever cause every time I got a dislike I felt like I did something wrong, but since people just dislike and don't tell you what they hate about it, then I can't use it for anything besides the knowledge that someone didn't like this video for some reason. and it seems super random too. the likes are more consistent, and of course it makes me super happy. 

maybe it's just be being old, but if you don't like something, you can just click away - its not that complicated. unless you like my example earlier, want to show your dislike for a specific creator, or a oppinion within the video, dude! it's not like I don't dislike stuff, but I still feel like there should be a reason. and since I can't see the reason, the knowledge is useless to me as a creator. So I decided that it's not important to anyone but me. 

so by all means, like or dislike my shit - it's fine. I just wish you'd tell me why, with adult coherent words preferbly. because if I completely miss the mark on something, i'd like to know, that is how you grow and get better at stuff. and if I am doing something right, I'd like to know that too, both because it makes me happy, but also because we all need a little encouragement once in a while.

And I don't mind doing youtube in a void, I am not asking you to comment every time or something. of course I like comments, that is not just chain spam (which is honestly what I get the most). It is as I said before, when there are no expectations, you have nothing to live up to. I am so happy I don't have to keep a schedule, or have people waiting for uploads or whatever. even if I as I also said, do feel slightly responsible for having 50+ people subscribed and will try to do my best to at least be entertaining and consistent to some extend. I love the freedom to play what I feel like, be it 8 minute game jam games, or whatever.