Monday Tip-Off: So, What Do You Actually Dislike?

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with my thoughts on a phenomenon that I’m sure bugs a lot of passionate content creators: a dislike on a carefully produced YouTube video.

One of the lessons that I’ve learned in the twenty years that I’ve been running the NLSC is that not everyone will like you, or the content that you produce. The reasons for this vary, and aren’t necessarily a reflection of your work. Maybe you had a heated discussion that resulted in perpetually simmering ill feelings. Perhaps an incident led to you blocking them or banning them from your platform, or they left, blocked, or unfollowed you in a huff. Alternatively, your style and presentation just isn’t for them, or they strongly disagree with your views and opinions.

It can be a tough pill to swallow. Unless it’s your intention to produce particularly provocative content that trolls or takes a contrarian stance for the sake of it, usually you hope that an audience will like your work and agree with you. This is especially true of opinion pieces, where it’s easy to assume that you’re not only speaking for yourself, but for many others who share your views and perhaps don’t have the words or platform to express them. It can be surprising to receive pushback in the form of a dislike or dissenting comment, even though it really shouldn’t be. What’s far more surprising – and frustrating – is when the content is not controversial, or poorly made.

Although it’s merely a guess on my part and I cannot back this up with any kind of research or statistics, I would suggest that most creators that produce carefully crafted videos and articles are – to some degree – perfectionists. The aim is to create content that you’re proud of and satisfied with, and ideally it will resonate with your audience. If it’s meant to be fun and entertaining, the hope is that they’ll enjoy it. If it’s meant to be informative, the hope is that it’ll be interesting, and tell people something new. If it’s meant to be critical or thought-provoking, the hope is that people will agree or at least respect your point of view, and that it will start an important conversation.

These are achievable goals, as long as you’re not expecting a one hundred percent success rate with every piece of content. Needless to say, it’s tougher to achieve if you’ve squandered goodwill and credibility with your audience, your presentation is poor, or you’ve simply not done a good job of expressing yourself on a particular issue. The frustrating part is that you can do a great job on all of those fronts, yet you’ll still receive a negative response. I’m mostly referring to YouTube videos here, but it can happen with articles. It’s far easier on YouTube though, where people can click a Dislike button without providing any further feedback, or a dissenting view.

Truth be told, it’s that lack of feedback that I find frustrating, and I’m sure that other content creators can relate. If someone leaves a comment on the video – even a rude or downright nasty one – it’s less ambiguous as to what they didn’t like. It’ll be clearer as to whether they dislike an opinion you expressed, the production values and quality of your video, or the featured topic. This is feedback that you can process. If there’s a criticism that can help you improve your content, you may take it on board. If it’s an angry dissident or troll, or someone who doesn’t like the topic or a game or company, then you didn’t do anything wrong. You simply didn’t cater to their specific tastes.

When you see a Dislike on a YouTube video without further comment, none of that is apparent. If it’s a highlight reel, do they not like the featured game, or did they dislike your editing and presentation? If it was a tutorial or tips video, was it incomplete and unhelpful? Do they not like your voice or vocal performance, if you narrated it? Or again, is it just an expression that they don’t like the game you’re covering? If you provided an opinion or commentary, did they disagree, and with what part? Are they fans of your content, but didn’t like that particular topic or concept, and would prefer something else? Is it just a troll out to “ratio” you, or trying to hurt your visibility?

That’s the problem with the Like/Dislike system. A Like isn’t detailed feedback either, but there’s less ambiguity when someone likes a video. They enjoyed its content, and if it expressed an opinion, they clearly agree with or at least respect it. When someone dislikes a video, it doesn’t answer any of the questions I posed above. Not only that, but to a perfectionist, that Likes to Dislikes ratio can feel like failure when it drops below one hundred percent in favour of the former. The instinct is to fix and improve, or better express your opinion. Unfortunately, you don’t know what to fix, or indeed if there’s anything to fix. No one needs to justify a thumbs down, as unhelpful as that is.

Of course, it could help to reflect on the reasons why you yourself will dislike a video, perhaps without further comment. YouTube comments being what they are, I would say it’s quite understandable if someone doesn’t want to engage in the discourse, but does want to quickly express dissatisfaction and disagreement with a video. I’ve done that, though I usually save a Dislike for videos that are poorly made, or opinions that are disingenuous, badly argued, or presented in a gratingly off-putting manner. I’ve also disliked videos that are clickbait, misleading, or uninformative; essentially spam and junk content. I’m usually more inclined to like a video, or to not react to it at all.

A quick glance at just about every video on YouTube would suggest that I’m not alone in providing no reaction at all, even when I enjoy what I see. The combined number of Likes, Dislikes, and comments is lower than the total number of views, meaning that most viewers don’t interact beyond watching. As such, if you go to the effort of liking or disliking a video, chances are it resonated strongly with you one way or the other. With that in mind, Dislikes do stand out, because they’re a stronger reaction than most people are moved to express. It’s sending a message that simply clicking away does not. It’s actively expressing distaste, and by extension, criticism.

I’m far from the first person to ponder why seemingly good content receives dislikes on YouTube. Seeing what others have to say on the matter, it seems we’ve all come to the same conclusions. Some people like to ruin a perfect score or hate on someone’s content. Opinions vary, and not everyone feels inclined to expand on a dissenting view beyond the shorthand of clicking Dislike. Sometimes, Dislike is clicked by mistake and never corrected. People who dislike the content creator will thumbs down videos out of principle, and with larger creators in particular, movements of “dislike mobs” can arise. And yes, sometimes the content itself is offensive or poor quality.

This is all important to keep in mind, as well as the fact that popular content creators who produce fantastic videos still receive a plethora of Dislikes. YouTube’s algorithm is always evolving, and sometimes any engagement is good. To that point, disliking a video may only harm a creator’s ego. It doesn’t hamper views or prevent videos from going viral; indeed, it sometimes helps! As I said though, to the perfectionist that always wants to produce quality content, improve where necessary, and aim for positive reactions, dislikes without elaboration are a bummer. There’s no fixing that score once the thumbs down is there, and there’s no feedback to take into account.

Browsing through the YouTube Studio for the NLSC’s channel, I’ll admit to being puzzled at some of the Dislikes on certain videos. Not all of them are surprising, of course. Some of my early forays into video creation were commendable and I enjoyed trying my hand at something new, but they’re not my best work. I’m not shocked that a fan hype video for the cancelled NBA Live 13 has ended up with a poor score, or that some of the re-uploaded trailers – which I’ll probably end up deleting so that we can monetise the channel again – have received thumbs down. I can also glean that some of the Dislikes are probably for the games being featured, rather than my work.

However, when I see a Dislike or two on the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, some of the other reels and mixes that Dee4Three has put together for the channel, or a few of my Wayback Wednesday retrospectives, I am surprised because we usually do get positive responses to our original video content. Once again, it leads me to wonder: what exactly did they dislike about it? I’ll freely admit that it’s a point of pride and ego, because seeing a one hundred percent liked score feels good. Also, when you’ve been pleased with how a video turned out, your ego grumpily questions how someone could’ve possibly disliked it, demanding an explanation that will never actually come.

Beyond that however, there is the desire to improve content and know where you went wrong, if indeed you erred somehow. It can also sting more when you’re a much smaller channel. We’ve been around for twenty five years and had our channel for over a decade, but video content hasn’t been our bread and butter. Large channels get many dislikes, but many more likes and views, too. Because we’re smaller and tend to get largely positive reactions, it makes the dislikes stand out. One or two dislikes can tank a video’s score much easier for us, and leave us to wonder where we went wrong; especially on videos that shouldn’t be controversial. It’s all too easy to focus on that.

Such is life when you’re a smaller, and arguably more niche creator. When you get thousands of views, scores of comments, and hundreds of likes, the number of dislikes needs to be much higher before it exceeds “drop in the bucket” status. When you’re branching out into video content and still trying to build that audience, it may only take a few dislikes to drop the ratio to 50-50, with no indication of what it is that people disliked. It’s hard to bring this up without sounding whiny and self-pitying, but as someone who does take pride in their content and always wants to improve, there’s much frustration in a system that invites negative responses without helpful feedback.

At the same time, I’ve been that person who has clicked thumbs down and decided to let my Dislike speak for itself. I’ve encountered talking heads and content creators that become very unpleasant when you engage with them, and I’ve also reflected on times when I’ve pushed back too hard against comments that I felt disagreed with me too harshly. I understand why people don’t interact. It’s unfortunate, because I believe that when we create content that expresses opinions, we should be starting discussions, not ending them. It’s difficult to achieve with the succinctness of a Dislike button, though. Even if you avoid controversy, your work may be disliked, and you won’t know why.

Naturally, if you do create more controversial, opinionated, and potentially divisive content, Dislikes likely aren’t a mystery. Indeed, to you they may be validation! It’s the negative responses to fun, creative, and informative content that leave us puzzled. The recent decision to hide Dislikes on YouTube videos removes the public “ratio”, which may well discourage trolling. Of course, they can still be seen in your YouTube studio, and ignoring Dislikes is easier said than done for perfectionists, or anyone who’s not trying to be controversial. It is what it is. Still, it’s a pertinent question. When you hit thumbs down on a video – any video – what do you actually dislike?