Early Release

Thanks so much Hayley 😀

Thanks so much All the Fish, I appreciate the feedback and the support.

Now I understand why people comment amazed that the picture on the thumbnail was real. So fake stuff makes it hard for genuine stuff to get clicks because no one knows if it is real or not.

Thanks Rebecca 😀

I'm having a chat with youtube tomorrow so we'll see if that gets anywhere. Not holding my breath.

Hi Angelina, Yes it is so frustrating. I have a phone meeting with my youtube rep tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what she says. I have emailed her about the issue but they don't usually reply about this sort of thing in writing - so they can't be directly quoted.

Hi Karen, I have clicked on those before too and agree they make you click through pages and then the thing you wanted to see isn't even there.

Thanks Diana, They would be funded by the ad dollars, they have huge views, low wages in Thailand and low cost of living for buildings and rent would mean they could afford that many staff.

I was brought here by Novympia's loving and affectionate parody video. I love those two and the fact they went to the effort of making the parody made me realise Anne was worth checking out. I love you Anne Reardon. Thank you. I can appreciate, after spending £987798 on ingredients to make two batches of cakes and a batch of biscuits, these videos must cost a fortune to make. Keep on keeping on! 😍😍😍😍😍😍

Hayley Drawmer

That video and the one from March made me join your Patreon. Just ... such high quality. Many YouTubers are debuking viral content these days but you dont just show it, you also ask WHY - and I think that's amazing. Why does the "life hack" not work? Why is the channel making such videos? Just overall great content. (Also your baking videos alone deserve patronage, so this was long overdue anyway)

All the fish

Now I finally understand why so many videos have thumbnails that have nothing to do with the content.

Thank you so much for the efforts you have put in to identifying these content farms. I am happy to support your work on that - as well as all the cool baking videos that are a much greater pleasure to watch.

slugbiker

So, so, SO good. Thank you for creating such quality, helpful content and asking the questions that need to be asked. I have been snookered by fake thumbnails too many times!

Wow that’s crazy. They went from diy crafts content farms. Then they became debunking content farms. To bow Cale making content farms. There needs to be regulation across the platform from how many times you can post the same video over and over and a different channel just to Be greedy and steal hard earned views from channels that have been there for us from the start. I don’t even give them the audacity of watching those videos

I've noticed quite a bit that a lot of the click bait stuff do not in fact use real thumbnails. I will fast forward a video to the part I want to see - what's in the thumbnail - and never see a lot of them. I've just plain stopped clicking on them entirely. Every time you do this type of video I share it all over my social media because I'm a baby Youtuber who would like not to have to fight with these farms that are getting awards for going against the only rules I've found myself. It infuriates me that Youtbue ignores the complaints to any of it and then to find out these farms are freaking getting awards for "playing by the rules" ? What is even the point! I also share your other videos, just so you know. <3

Angelina

Thank you, Ann! I'd noticed this not only with videos, but also with list articles (not YouTube, I know, but feeding views to websites). I hadn't been able to put my finger on why I was so annoyed, but the click-bait aspect of it really bothers me, too.

I really appreciate the time you must have invested to inform this video. I can’t begin to imagine how frustrating it must be when you are working hard to bring us imaginative and original material in an environment increasingly populated by content farms. It would be interesting to better understand how these companies are funded. While I do of course enjoy your recipes and practical guides I think it is important that the debunking videos are made and seen. Thank you very much for speaking out in an engaging and entertaining way.

DianaB

This content is why I'm a fan of yours. Thanks Ann!