The Rise Of The Haters
Hello Everyone
I had some bad news today. I have been getting some hate on one of my YouTube videos. I have received some positive comments but also some very nasty ones.
Here is the story
The Beginning
In mid 2022 when I first started my new online business Byteable Tech I was looking for advice on how to grow my following on social media. I found a make money online YouTube channel that I thought was legit but I found out the hard way that he was not legit. It is run by a person who I think is a scammer or at least very misleading.
The person I'm talking about is Alen Sehovic. His YouTube channel is called Smart Money Tactics. He makes videos about affiliate marketing and making money online. He is an Australian has been around on social media and YouTube for a few years and has a large following of over 300,000 subscribers.
I think he is a scammer because of the claims he makes like make $1000 per day in 10 minutes or make $6000 with AI this week. He also teaches things like downloading other people's Tik Tok videos, making slight edits to them and reuploading them to YouTube as your own.
He claims you can make $20,000 per month with this but I know it's against YouTube's terms so I have never tried that one.
I also temporarily lost my Pinterest account in mid 2022 not long after I started my online business because of a strategy of his that I saw on his YouTube channel where he was saying to shorten affiliate links with Bitly, design attractive pins and post them on Pinterest and you will start making hundreds of dollars per day.
Frequent use of link shorteners is actually against pinterest's terms but I did not know that at the time and I lost my Pinterest account after 2 weeks or so of doing this. I managed to get it back after I explained to Pinterest support what happened and it was at this point I realized Alen Sehovic was not legit.
I never trusted him again after this. He is now talking a lot about ChatGPT and how you can get rich with it and I know his claims are fake. Alen also now has a course he is selling for $500 and I'm worried it may be a scam or misleading and resulting in people wasting a lot of money.
How The Hate Started
I made a video a couple of months ago calling him out and explaining how he is misleading and a scammer. I have got some hate on the video and also some positive comments from people who experienced similar things to me. A lot of people won't believe me and some have accused me of being the real scammer which is not true.
A lot of the hate is coming from his viewers. I got a comment from someone not long after I uploaded the videos say he knows I am the real scammer without even watching my video. Alen from Smart Money Tactics even saw my video and commented but I don't believe his claims.
After a couple of weeks things went quiet and I only got an occasional comment on the video and it stayed this way for a few weeks until the last week or so when things started heating up again and then reached quite a bad point 2 or 3 days ago. The haters want me to take the video down but I don't want to because that would be letting the haters win.
The last 2 or 3 days I have had someone in my comments being very nasty saying things like I am a nobody, I haven't seen a comb in years and I'm mental and need medication. Another person said to me today that I look over 40 and need to stop crying but I was not crying in the video at all.
I also don't know how a person can think I look over 40 when I'm actually 24. The purpose of my video was not to hate on the scam channel. It was to inform people, share my experience and save people from wasting time and experience the same things I did. A few people appreciated my video especially the ones that also lost social media accounts from strategies from the scam channel like I did.
But as I said a lot of people are leaving negative comments and some are hating on me and bullying me. It's getting worse and my replies have always been respectful no matter what anyone has said. I know replying is probably making it worse but I'm not the type of person to sit back and let people bully me or hate on me without saying anything. I feel I have the right to defend myself.
How I'm Feeling Today
Today I got another reply from the hater that I mentioned who is leaving the very nasty comments. They are saying I will be reported and I said back go ahead I have done nothing wrong. It has been quiet since then. The reason I keep checking my comments and YouTube notifications is because I upload weekly Tech videos which is what most of my subscribers are subscribed for and watch.
I often get comments from people on those videos asking questions or giving their thoughts about my video. This hate situation is starting to take it's toll on me mentally and I want this to stop. The purpose of this blog post is to share my story and experience. I also wanted a place to share it with where I know I will be safe and won't get bullied any further.
Here is the link to my video if you want to check it out and see for yourself what's going on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4aFG_EDDf4&ab_channel=TimothyBalla
Conclusion
As I conclude this blog post I would like to ask for your advice. What do you think I should do? Has something like this ever happened to anyone here and what did you do about it? I'm also wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to block someone from your YouTube channel?
I want to block the very nasty person I mentioned above who keeps saying I need mental help and the other very nasty things I mentioned they are saying. Finally I know this is not my usual type of blog post here on WA but I wanted and needed to get my frustrations out and I thought it was necessary to let people know what's going on.
I would like to thank everyone for reading and thank you to anyone who comments on this blog post. I looking forward to talking to you and hearing your thoughts in the comments.
Recent Comments
56
Good morning Timothy,
Thank you for your blog post, it's appreciated.
I think anyone who has a YouTube channel will get criticised from time to time. However, I think we have to be careful when we call someone out, as it can lead to trouble. I understand that we don't want people to fall into scams, but we do have to be careful.
I have come across lots of people who I don't believe are genuine on YouTube, I just move on from their channel. I believe you can delete unpleasant comments, I ought to know, as I have three YouTube channels. But so far, I haven't needed to delete a comment.
You can block a subscriber, I just put the question into Google!
Just to conclude, I would be very careful about making comments about other people's videos, even if you are right. I would focus on the positive part of your channel and ignore the unpleasant comments.
Wishing you all the best.
Roy
Thank you so much Roy. That makes a lot of sense and I will be very careful future. I will be using this as a learning experience. I'm feeling much better today and I'm going to move on and focus on business. Thank you so much again Roy. All the best to your success as well.
It's a pleasure, Timothy!
When we see someone not being untruthful online, it's kind of a natural thing to want to expose them. However, often when we write comments, people can get the total wrong end of the stick and things get taken out of perspective! And then we know what happens!
Negative comments can also make us focus on the wrong things rather than moving our business forward. It may be worth putting this question into YouTube, how to deal with negative comments? I believe you have some positive answers that will help.
Wishing you all the best.
Roy
Thank you so much Roy. I totally agree with you and everything makes sense. Yes you're right many people do get the wrong end of the stick and sometimes you can't help some people no matter how hard you try.
Things seem to be getting better today. I have no more negative or hateful comments for the last 24 hours. I have moved on from it now and it looks like putting it behind me is working out for the best.
I watched a video about staying safe on YouTube which was very helpful. I will also look on YouTube about how to deal with negative comments. Thank you so much again Roy. All the best to your success as well.
It's a pleasure to try and help, Timothy! I'm really pleased that things are moving forward.
The great thing is with the Internet is that when we have a problem, we can normally find an answer to it. And, of course, we have the great Wealthy Affiliate platform to share our thoughts and ask questions and more etc.!
Wishing you all the best.
Roy
It's great to hear from you Roy and have you in my corner. I agree you can find the answer to anything on the internet and Wealthy Affiliate is amazing.
I wish you all the best to. All the best to your success.
Thank you for your comment, Timothy, it's great to chat and connect with you via Wealthy Affiliate.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Roy
You're welcome Roy. It's great to connect with you and to you to via WA. Have a wonderful weekend to Roy. All the best to your success.
Hi there TimothyBalla, Sadly, this very thing has been going to for as long as I can remember on the internet as well as off of the internet.
I'll try to take a peek at your video
It could be several things.
Self reflect just to be sure you're not crossing **legal lines - screw what the haters say.
You are watching out for other people and their interests; that's noble.
However, I've had to learn for myself the hard way that business in itself is at times a nasty and phycological warfare.
In my own background I've learned that there are also people who test creators to see how they handle situations and possible go in with that type of taunting just to see who can keep going in hard situations. Not sure how this company does it, but it wouldn't personally surprise me.
You may never know and that's okay.
Think business.
Here are some things you could do.
* Put that video on private - also understand that some controversy is good -
* Set up an email list so anyone that wants 'Scam' information can get on your list.
* Add your video to one of your written website pages - allow comments
Give yourself a pat on the back - you're trying to help people - that's never easy.
RitaAnn~
Thank you so much Rita. Those are great ideas you gave me and I will definitely make note them and implement them when needed. I especially like your idea about the email list. I'm feeling much better today and I want to focus on business.
Thank you so much for understanding. I wish those haters would see things the way you and a lot of other members here do. Thank you so much again Rita. All the best to your success.
I hate letting bad people get away with anything that could hurt someone else. Report the hater everywhere you can. Have your friends and family do the same. Enough negative reports on the person will get them banned on YouTube and any other social media platforms (report them there as well).
You took the first step in shining a light on that darkness. Now find the fortitude to see it through. Remember, the haters are morons who are just trying to make your life difficult. Ignore what they say and turn the tables on them. You can do this!
Thank you so much Jeannine I will do that. Thank you so much for understanding. What you describe is exactly what I was trying to do but not everyone sees it that way. Thank you so much again Jeannine. All the best to your success.
I know it is hard, to not react to the plethora of crap online.
My advice, is to step outside of that negative vortex, and create your own reality of positive upward and onward, prosperity.
Plant your seeds of positivity in a fertile garden, and harvest your fruit. ☮️💕😊
Thank you so much Brad. That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to focus on that and keep creating my usual positive content that I do each week. Thank you so much again Brad. All the best to your success.
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Yikes. I just checked and you have a few scam videos on folks with large followings. I can't comment on the validity of the folks you are calling out, but I notice in the link you share here the person went to your video and commented on it.
Folks with the large following they have will have a segment of them that are cult like in their zeal if his methods have helped them. You see that in most every successful program, where the few it fits nicely for will crawl across nails to defend and advocate for the system.
I think it was to be expected that at some point of you making these forms of videos there would eventually be a pushback.
I appreciate Diane's advice and your response. I would also consider pulling all of your scammer videos (as suggested by Mel) so you can hopefully close the door on what could get to be a real ugly situation.
Best of luck moving forward,
Jason
Thank you so much Jason. That makes a lot of sense. I want to focus on business. I will be putting all of this behind me and moving on. Thank you so much again Jason. All the best to your success.