YouTube Censorship?
 

For those who are familiar with YouTube....

Is the hiding of comments a new phenomenon? And is this something that's done by YouTube or by the Content Creator?

I do not recall seeing this happen in the past. My most recent encounter with this matter is a Sports Card Clubhouse video in which they attempt to cover the incident in which Dr. Beckett and another high-end collector (Patrick Ryan) admit to and condone shill bidding practices.

Here's a link to the video, of which 13 of the 16 comments were deleted at the time of this writing....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpSX4XO3awM

Eager to know the explanation.... thanks!

comments are controlled by the creators

Correct - comments can always be turned off.

Why would YouTube delete all of those comments when they have no vested interest in the matter? Thanks for bringing this up, says a lot.

You're welcome! I just checked the video again, and now 6 of the 29 comments made are actually visible. It's not unique to this video... just a heck of a lot more pronounced.

Edit: I had asked the same question of the YouTube Content Creator, and this was his response...

@SportsCardClubhouse
1 hour ago
This is a fantastic question. I think something is broken with YouTube because I’m seeing the same problem on my primary channel. We’re not able to see most of the comments.

So I think it might actually be something new that YouTube has enacted.

Unless I somehow missed it, the bigger question here is why is there not already a thread on this video's topic?

Ha! Great point. It's a major issue of discussion throughout the hobby. :eek:

No offence but that was painful to watch. I lasted 1 minute..

Yes, and it's a very disturbing topic. But aside from the video itself, the issue I am trying to get clarified is...

Who determines which comments get displayed for each video? Someone is picking and choosing what is visible to the public, and it's a bit perplexing and disturbing.

+1 I have thought about starting one a few times over the last few days. It’s been disheartening to say the least.

It may be a glitch with recent videos,
I was watching a Mr. Rogers versus Bob Ross video, It said 16 comments when I checked the comments there were only three

Maybe they're censoring Bob Ross! We all know controversial he is

The fact that no one on here has given their opinion on the subject screams louder than I ever could. Maybe hitting too close to home?

It neither shocks me or disappoints me that others bid on their own auction items or get others to do it for them as a favor. It also doesn't shock me the amount of legit high end auction houses/sellers over the years that have been outed for it.

Get money involved in things and it attracts people who are interested in things greater to them than pictures of baseball dudes on cardboard.

The best transactions seem to happen one on one without any kind of middle man. The more steps one puts between and buyer and seller the more sketchiness seems to arise.

I just accept it and roll on, just like the many in the past that have been busted or heavily implicated in this activity in the past who continue to have healthy businesses.

There are many in the hobby who believe the proper solution to this shill bidding issue right now is for the consignor/AH to simply put a reserve on the item. Well, when that is done, bidders recognize that the consignor/AH is eliminating their risk of a low sale and MANY recognize that they are being taken advantage of then and just refuse to bid on said item. Nobody wants to be knowingly taken advantage of, right or wrong?

But, if deceptive practices are used instead, far fewer bidders consider that the same thing could be happening but has been concealed, and many more bidders will participate in bidding on that item. That’s why the consignor/AH will never settle for going that route when there is a better money-making alternative available.

Why do you think AH’s, one by one, are updating their “terms and conditions” now? We all remember Mastro and Legendary, right? This isn’t a new phenomenon. The main difference is that there is so much money involved in the hobby today that I believe not just the AH that has a more controlling role in things has to protect themselves but consignors themselves may/will become a target for further scrutiny from whomever ends up taking on the role of regulating things as that certainly needs to be done. Who does this and how is it done will be the only solution to putting an end to this shill bidding nonsense that makes me sick to my stomach. Bidding on your items is never going to be okay, not offensive, defensive, nothing. Everyone should be entitled to winning an item at auction at the fairest possible price.

We’ll see how this all plays out. When push comes to shove, will the AH’s “terms and conditions” stand up to the law of the land, I believe that’s what it will all come down to.

Hi, thanks for watching. I have never censored or deleted comments. If I don’t like a comment, I leave it up and just ignore it.

There was an issue with YouTube comments Friday night that made most comments invisible, even to the creators. The comments finally started showing up to us around 9 or 10pm ET, when they were also visible to everyone else.

Mike:

Nice job having John on your show to discuss the shill bidding topic. Any updates from Dr. Beckett's side of things?

No, nothing

Nice video. Ugh on shill bidding. Reminds me of about 17 yrs ago all over again.
.

This is hilarious as caring about shill bidding is as silly as caring about altered cards in PSA slabs. It is a waste of time and energy as most sellers shill their cards and most cards in PSA slabs have had work done to them.

My favorite excuses are soaking is not altering and it isn't shill bidding as long as I pay the winning bid.:eek::D:D:D

Caring about PSA's inability/unwillingness to identify altered cards and caring about shill bidding are NOT silly. If you really don't care about those things, you should not be a collector.

Expecting something to actually be done to fix it could be deemed silly (only because there is no form of regulation in this broken hobby). Hopefully that will change, as more eyes are focused on this matter.

That said, Mastro and Allen DID do prison time, and PWCC (who engaged in both card alteration AND shill bidding) is now gone. So at least there's that.

Thank you Mike (Junk Wax Hero) for coming on to clarify. Glad to know it was just a weird glitch, and enjoy your channel. :)

If you actually intend for the board to discuss Offensive vs. Defensive Shill Bidding, you probably need to start a different thread with that title. As for me, I find them both "offensive" and in many jurisdictions, illegal.

However, I agree with the podcasters that bidding on a friend's item *that you would still bid on if it wasn't owned by your friend* is not shill bidding, because you intend to purchase it for your personal collection or to resell yourself. The intent does matter.

How about a lie detector test for intent? 😊

Two more points that I want to mention:

1. The perception that if I rarely bid on any AH items and/or rarely consign any items to an AH and/or rarely bid on any eBay auctions, then shill bidding really does not affect me. Absolutely incorrect, the market price manipulation caused by shill bidding affects everyone who buys and sells sports cards.

2. The perception that only the 5, 6 and 7 figure items would be involved in shill bidding is also incorrect. As stated in the AH terms and conditions, if the consignor of a $9K card wants to ensure that he doesn’t lose a good chunk of their investment, they can either ask the AH to bid on their item up to a certain amount or, if not agreeable to the AH, they can then bid themselves or have someone else bid on it. There is no cutoff at any monetary level in the AH terms and conditions so no reason that every AH consignor can’t have the same “privileges” as the most affluent consignors. The rules are no different for those with a lot of money and a lot of high end cards than they are for everyone else. We all have our own inner circle of friends that can look out for each other and protect our investment.

Your video this morning led me to this video:

https://youtu.be/9pqsbbfCDFo?si=glqyg457vGVnrdMg