Sunday, 3 January 2010

On Contests & YouTube

After today, I will no longer be holding any contests on my YouTube channel. I will be having my usual sporadic give aways on my blog, but no longer on YouTube.

A few months ago I received some brush sets from Sigma to test, along with an extra set for if I wanted to hold a contest. I held onto it for a few months as there were a lot of contests going on. I then thought giving the set away would be a good way to start off 2010.

After my previous contest, I'd decided to implement an over 18 rule for my contests. There were several reasons behind this:

-I'd really rather not deal with any potential legal implications of minors entering a contest.
-Children had lied about their age. I had set an age of 13 previously, only for children around 10/11 to try and tell me they were old enough. And yes, I use the word children.
-I have no way of knowing they have parental permission.
-Parents have contacted me wanting to know who the hell I was and why I had their child's address.
-I was always uncomfortable at setting the contest entry age at 13, I felt it was quite frankly too young. I had wanted an over 18 entry age from the start but decided against it.
-One or two had set their channel age to 16/17 but looked only about 12 on the videos.

I uploaded the video, got the usual questions asking me what had been mentioned in the video and info box and left the contest to run.

I was, quite frankly, horrified at the amount of hate mail and abuse waiting for me the next time I checked my YouTube messages.

People, again children, were demanding to know why I was being so stupid. Wanting to know why I was such a bitch to them, that they were 15 and I had no right to tell them what to do, that someone should hack my channel to teach me a lesson, that I deserved to lose all my subscribers, that I should just fuck off of YouTube because I had no right to be there, that they were going to come to my house and steal the brushes, that they deserved the brushes so I had to let them enter.

The contest was supposed to be a bit of fun to start the year. While I wasn't paying for the brushes, I was paying for the postage to anywhere in the world, recording, editing and uploading the video took time. I didn't mind doing that, I was excited to see some videos and give away the brush set to someone who would enjoy it.

Normally I just ignore the hater comments. I might just get a few on a video which are easy enough to delete and block. This was an all-out assault. I simply will not tolerate it so I have removed the contest.

It's not even a few bad ones you can thank for ruining this, I had around 50 messages.

I simply refuse to put up with that kind of shit.
Posted by at 21:40
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26 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! I can totally agree with you removing the contest - you do not deserve that kind of crap!
    I can't believe people sent you messages about it! :( It's up to you what the rules of your contest are!!!!!

    Natalie xxxx
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  2. Good for you. Is there a way of reporting back to yt? As you said that is just plain abuse and not called for at all. Who gives them the right to tell YOU how to run YOUR Contest?!?! Its crazy. They have spoilt it for every1 involved. YT must be able to do something!!
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  3. Jeez, some pissy people out there...! I had no idea this kind of asshattery was going on. (I guess part of that is because I don't have a YouTube channel, so I'm not really part of that world.)

    People don't "deserve" anything from a contest - it's a contest, they may win or they may not win, if they don't like the conditions then they can go elsewhere. There are lots of contests on the web. People put the "over-18" thing for legal reasons, not to try and say that kids shouldn't be able to enter contests. WTF?!??

    Geez louise...
    ReplyDelete
  4. @BeauMakeUp - It just disappointed me really, I'd been looking forward to this contest.

    @JOAELLIS - lol, hardly. Their version of support for abuse is "take some time away from the internet and tell a grown up". People have been blocked, that's all I can do.
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  5. @LiAnn - I know it was going to be an unpopular descicion, but I wasn't expecting any of that. I'd seen a lot of other gurus using the over 18 rule so I thought it was fairly accepted.
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  6. Oh Okay lol To be honest in my opinion thier reaction shows me that u did the right thing in upping the age
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  7. That kind of backlash is ridiculous. You Tube breeds these kind of people so well!
    You were totally in the right and it's your choice anyway. I would have done the same if I were in your situation! Stuuuuupid!
    xx
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  8. Gosh some people can just be so selfish can't they! I don't understand why these nasty people think they have some sort of rights here. Your contest, your rules. I think you've done the right thing by taking it down. Just hope you don't get even more abuse for doing that. x
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  9. Jeez - 50 messages!? That's absolutely disgusting. Who the fuck are these brats to tell you what to do? And saying they're going to come to your house and steal the brushes - good god. Is there no way you could say you've been threatened or something? Obviously it's just bitter little idiots who are chatting shit, but it's still threatening behaviour.

    I despair, I really do.

    (Sorry for swearing!!)

    xo
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  10. That is disgraceful! You had every right to do what you did! Especially since you had parents contacting you. It's dangerous.

    Hope you have a wonderful new year :)
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  11. I'm so sorry you had to do that! It's not fair to you, and seriously, can people not just accept the rules? I saw the contest video and was a little sad that I couldn't enter, as I won't be 18 till May, but I didn't really think more of it.
    I feel so bad for you! It must be awful getting those kinds of messages. I think you did the right think though. :)

    xx
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  12. thanks for posting this coz i was actually preparing to enter the contest and i check everytime d video if theyre contestants already but all i can see were all hate comments and complains which u definitely dont deserve!!,,, totally u got a chaos there, then next thing i knew the vid was gone,, and im clueless wt happened.maybe the other subscribers too who wnt to join d contest ... but anywhoo thanks for this information and i guess its better this way to cancel ur contest so that immature people will not bother u w/ distractfull comments and msgs..
    u take care :) and always smile to chase those negative vibes away :)
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  13. whoa...i never knew basic 'good' rules can annoy people...weird..

    contests shud be fun, all these things make it ugly and not so fun...

    everybody's loss...:(
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  14. I never knew there are so many immature people (God forbid they are acting their age...) over youtube but you have every right to set that rule.
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  15. That is totally understandable!! At the end of the day it's your channel and if they can't except your reasons then they should just go someplace else... the fact that they were childish enough to send all this hate mail justifies keeping the age to 18+.

    I hope this doesn't hinder you in any way. I love that you're not affraid to voice your opinions and talk to people.... Good for you for not putting up with all this juvenile tantrums!
    ReplyDelete
  16. Good grief. Sounds like you made a good decision. Some people are just immature and hateful.

    A lot of contests are over 18, magazines, tv shows and youtube channels alike. It's like you said to do with legal issues, not because you were feeling mean.

    It's a shame that people feel the need to ruin happy, fun things.
    ReplyDelete
  17. geee.. the audacity of some people. Its your channel and your blog, you're the one that should decide these things. crazy and you're right for pulling the contest out.
    *hugs* and I hope you find something to do that will make you feel better.
    ReplyDelete
  18. I am sorry you got such abuse for being sensible! Good for you for standing up to them and making the right decision. Let's hope it teaches them a valuable lesson on how best to deal with tantrums. I think Sophie will be the most appropriate person to make use of the brushes!
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  19. For some reason Youtube tends to breed really bad hate. Much more so than here and believe me I've been harassed viciously. It's the reason why I prefer not to make public comments on YT.
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  20. How stupid some people can be!!! I totally agreed with you setting the age 18 rule. They should have accepted the rules for the contest and just went off in search of another contest for under 18. Thanks for your dedication Becky! You should ignore people who are jealous and full of hatred. There are others like us who love your videos and can forget life's problems when watching them.

    Love

    Maria
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  21. Geez, all that abuse over some make-up brushes? That's pretty pathetic on their part.

    Good call dropping the competitions, you don't deserve that sort of abuse so don't stand for it.
    ReplyDelete
  22. It's a shame someone always has to ruin it for the genuine, kind people. It happens all the time in life unfortunately.

    Some people can be so damn right rude, no matter their age they should know some kind of manners.

    But you said it yourself, they are children... and that's exactly how they are acting... be it VERY rude children!

    I'm sorry to hear you received such horrible messages, it must be horrid. I don't blame you for ending the contest either, you do not deserve to be talked to like that at all.

    Chrystal
    ReplyDelete
  23. oh my! im horrified! damn right you stopped the contest! they dont even deserve a chance, and at least people well see that because of these silly immature children alot of people have missed out, as much as people well be disappointed i am for one very glad you stood your ground!

    It was a kind gesture and obviously they didnt appreciate it enough!

    your a star and you shouldnt waste your efforts on people like that quite frankly, so what if you lose a silly bit of subs, who needed the stupid immature haters anyways right?

    as always, we fellow loyal subbies are here :)

    Innerbelle xxx
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  24. All I can say is WOW!!!! I can't even add anymore than what's already been said. You made the right decision, even though it ruins it for the rest of us, you can't allow "children" to brow beat you. So hey now they get nothing.

    Never posted before but I subscribe to your YT and here and enjoy your videos and blogs. I actually ended up buying some of the She Space samples you posted. Can't wait to get them. :O)
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  25. I sent you the link to my video via YT message.

    It's so stupid...10 year old children should NOT be allowed to use the internet for just that reason. It's like, WTF grow up!
    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh my god, i'm so sorry to hear this! Doing a giveaway of any sort is an act of kindness and it's terrible that people are being so awful to you just because of a completely sensible rule you've decided upon! I hope you're feeling better about it now, i'm sure for every horrible spoilt child watching your videos theres 10 nice sensible people. x
    ReplyDelete

Please let me know what you think of this entry! Questions, comments, suggestions? Comments purely promoting your blog giveaway will be deleted. I don't mind you adding a link to your blog at the bottom of your comment but try and at least have some response to my post :)

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