THE UNSUB BUG EXPERIMENT
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- Recently many TH-cam creators have been complaining about something that has become widely known as the TH-cam ''unsub bug''.
Basically what people are saying is that every time they upload a video to their TH-cam channel, they notice a substantial loss of subscribers.
Some people think that TH-cam is unsubscribing people from their channel intentionally, however TH-cam has denied this.
That has lead creators to believe that there is a bug in the TH-cam algorithm that is making them loose subscribers upon uploading a new video.
Even though this has become a burning topic only in the past few months, many TH-cam creators are confirming that this has been happening for at least a couple of years.
With all that in mind, I decided to do a small scale experiment with the purpose of provoking the ''unsub bug'', and recording it's effects in real time.
The experiment took place over the course of three days. I uploaded a series of test videos in order to see if I they would cause a drop in my channel subscriber count.
After three days of testing, and four test videos, I wasn't able to get the results I anticipated. With that said, this experiment didn't manage to prove with out a doubt that a TH-cam ''unsub bug'' truly exists, however, it also doesn't disprove anything.
Hopefully TH-cam will get to the bottom of this, and issue a fix and/or explanation for why so many creators have been drastically losing subscribers.
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► SUBSCRIBE: / channelhotmonkey
► FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: / hotmonkey000
► GOOGLE +: plus.google.co...
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Music: ''Moth'', ''Nevada City'', ''Righteous'', ''Cylinder Eight'' (TH-cam Audio Library)
It's not a bug. When you upload content, it appears in sub boxes. People realise they are still subscribed to a channel they don't watch anymore, and they unsub. I do this all the time.
Jeroen Bollen it happens to some people involuntary. Sometimes they like the channel but they were forced to unsubscribe
Jeroen Bollen I never unsubscribe from people, I just get unsubbed because I have subscribed to the max amount of channels and when I subscribe to a new one, an old subscription cancels.
JakeZz
Wait, there's a maximum number of subscriptions? I never knew that. I've seen people with like 1k+ subs before.
Jeroen Bollen - I was ones subscribed to over 100 Chanels.
One day, I chose to clean up my subscribtion box. After I was done, there where only about 15-20 left 😅
TheBoomguy64
I did a similar thing except that there were still like 30 channels left.
I have a theory regarding the unsubscribe bug, and it's not related directly to the creators.
Working with data in the past, namely databases, I think this could be the actual reason. What I mean is, if the data isn't being parsed correctly before specific attributes are loaded, then it might read the information at "NULL" or nonexistent.
To put it into a working model -
If you have a large subscriber base (like a lot of larger TH-camrs have), it puts a lot of strain on the servers when you upload/publish a video at an optimised time (prime time viewing). This might mean that data isn't coming through as quickly as it usually does.
Imagine you have a phone system in a call centre with 100 enabled lines. 100 people can contact you at the same time. As we've probably all experienced, we usually have to wait if we're not lucky enough to connect to someone. This is basically how a database works, but simplified. The first queries will be handled, and so on. So, the data's being handled, but it's not handled correctly.
It's just a theory, but I believe that this is why people are "subscribing" to a channel they're already subscribed to, and this is actually unsubscribing to them.
I had an experience with Larry Bundy JR, a TH-camr who has around 200,000+ subscribers. I knew I was subscribed to him as his video came up in my subscription box, but as it was a specific day around a specific time, traffic going to the video was high. The button said "Subscribe" when it really should have said "Subscribed"
If this is the case, then TH-cam is indeed a little bit broken.
I'm subbed to close to 1K channels. (I for some reason sub to everyone I watch at least 1 video from to give them a fair chance and in case I want to see a video from them in the future, so I don't forget them.)
Too much info
interesting! The video that game theorists posted today really made seance and sorta said that all the big youtubers dont know what there talking about and its actually not a bug, like your video is stating nice work
Big creators are known for creating fuss in order to keep their selves in the spotlight. I'm not really believing the whole story about how we're getting less views because TH-cam did something. Viewers just get board quickly, and creators need to know how to successfully reinvent themselves.
However, this ''unsub bug'' thing is a whole different story. People have been complaining about this for years, but it's just now that it's turning into a big story, because the big fish are complaining about it. I noticed some weird sub drops myself, but it's very hard to prove it was caused by a bug (as seen in this video), and that the real reason isn't something much less scandalous - like people realizing that they don't like my channel anymore :)
However, as a viewer, I've noticed that I have become automatically unsubbed to some TH-camrs.
CHM Tech I can definitely confirm for myself, at least, that the mysterious "subscribers unsubbing themselves unwillingly" is definitely a problem. I have found a hefty few channels I used to love watching regularly unsub me from them. Maybe that because I took a break from TH-cam for a while? Maybe TH-cam unsubs you purposely after a moment of brief inactivity? Believe me, I can be a pretty petty person. I'd know when I unsub from a channel. And the great number of them are too much to be a mere "slip of the mouse" too. There is some sort of problem with TH-cam's system. It's hard to pinpoint what or how exactly, but it's definitely evident.
Hayden Brock that may be true, but it doesn't explain how people have randomly been unsubbed from channels. I know I for unsubbed from urmaker's channel. I've had issues being unsubbed from Letsread, and Unit 522. Damn
Hayden Brock I
'This is a poll. Please vote' No poll there as of right now
+KIMoFy Sorry the poll will be up shortly. I'm currently on the road. Don't worry, someone else is driving :p
CHM Tech lol
How are you verified with that little subs?
KIMoFy HOW TF R U VERIFIED WITH HALF K SUB???
ferbus21 Magic! ;P
jk
i made a video about it
I didn't even got the Test videos in my sub. Box .. Wtf
I see them here for the first time - TH-cam helps me ignore them :D
Felix Maus same
bell icon
I think the reason this happens every time a TH-camr uploads a video and why you couldn't prove it with this experiment, is because when someone uploads a video, some people may look at that video and think "Why am I still subscribed?" and then they go and unsubscribe. Why I think you couldn't prove the "bug" (I'm not saying there may not be one) with this, is because you privated the videos, so it disappears from the sub boxes; then people don't see the video and they won't know that they are still subbed to this channel. This is just a theory because I actually do this a lot. I never really actively bother to unsub, so sometimes when I see a video from some channel I don't watch anymore, I unsub because I saw that I'm still subbed. So really just going from personal, everydaysubboxcheckingandbingewatching experiences
you did not loose subs because your videos are too good and you post quality content, due to which people just skipped unsubbing after seeing your test videos. good work keep it up. love from Serbia
HOLY SHIT
NOT FUCKING KIDDING I JUST CLICKED ON THIS VIDEO
AND NOW IM NOT SUBSCRIBED..
NOT EVEN KIDDING HERE I WAS LIKE 5 SECONDS AGO
Hyperdimension: Silica same! no joke, I was unsubbed the moment I clicked this video. this shit is scary
That's a bug, refresh the page or go to the account, don't click on subscribe because it'll un-subscribe you. You are subscribed, this is merely a visual glitch.
It can be a visual glitch, but not always. Just because something can be explained with one glitch doesn't mean the other doesn't exist.
You're brain dead.
First off, don't be a dickhat, Fyuse. Secondly, I'm not going to say that TH-cam was mass unsubscribing people from channels, but I have been unsubscribed from channels that I myself did not unsubscribe from. I'm not brain dead, I just noticed that people who normally upload at certain times stopped showing up on my subscriptions. Whatever was causing it doesn't seem to be a problem anymore.
Unsub is not a bug, it's a youtube feature that kick subs that don't watch your videos often, maybe just to kick fake subs that don't ever watch videos after subing.
Wow. Okay, the "unsub" bug is such a dorky way of complaining about the way people consume youtube videos.
Basically, at first, you find a creator you like, you subscribe, you follow their videos patiently and watch most of them as they upload them, then eventually you stop, as you find new creators you care more about. Next step is ignoring the videos for a while, until you kinda forget you're subbed to them and youtube hardly recommends you their videos. Then, the last step, a video pops up because it's relevant to your recent interests on youtube, and you realize you don't care about that creators work, so you unsubscibe. This is why it most commonly happens for channels that are at least a year old or has done a little shift in style
This is not fixed. It's much easier for a small channel to see. as I don't have a lot of SUB movement. After active community building I've seen my SUBS go up and within an hour they've disappeared. With no record in the Subscribers tab on the dashboard. ie. it indicates the last sub was from yesterday and nothing today.
FYI: No upload activity in this time either, it's just a plain and simple bug, and driving more channels to Facebook.
I have never been unsubbed from anybody...
Ether Disufiroa I have been from many different channels
Ether Disufiroa Have you ever subbed to anyone?
Same, I made this account '05. Really wish I selected that box that allowed 1 hour uploads back then. I had so many subscriptions which I cleaned recently. Lucky the bug didn't effect me. I was still subbed to onion boy from when I had a 2 day binge, this was back when he was funny and original and not seeking attention
@@Gunzee Was that before or after he tried to chain his girlfriend in the basement?
Has anyone considered that the unsub bug might be to do with the number of channels an account is subscribed to? I have way more than 99 channels I'm subbed to, in fact it's more like 400! and I get unsubbed from things randomly all the time!
Search up "What's with subscribers but everytime TH-cam lies a Robbie Rotten meme plays
I haven't watched you for a while, and I'm still subbed
Check it in Socialblade for realtime subscriber count, it's better and more realiable
Socialblade is more reliable for TH-cam than TH-cam itself?
Yep
***** it is. Both are reliable, obviously. I mean that TH-cam counts the subscribers with a bit of delay, while Socialblade supplies that missing function.
@@chmtech SocialBlade are from TH-cam Api v3
I’m actually amazed, since this hasn’t happened to me yet, I did encounter an unsubscription to me once, but that happened only me time and I realized it was just my classmate who got annoyed with the notifications going on all the time and decided to prank me with it
I think it might help if you only change one thing between each video rather than length, audio, and private or public status combined.
Unsubscribe bug is actually a thing cause I don't usually unsubscribe from channels, but sometimes I get unsure from channels that I watch every day. Another thing that bothers me is when you like a video and when you come back later it is not marked as liked.
Here's a theory on the potential "bug" and why you were unable to replicate:
Facts:
1. There are a lot of TH-cam users (for some definition of "a lot").
2. TH-cam uses notifications via web and mobile apps to inform users when a channel they have subscribed to posts new content.
3. It costs time and energy (and therefore money) to process data.
Conjecture:
4. The precise number of subscribers that a channel has is considered inconsequential and means less as the number grows. i.e. The difference between 10000 and 10001 is meaningless.
5. The data structures TH-cam uses to record when a user subscribes to a channel involve two separate "tables": one that is keyed to the user and one that is keyed to the channel.
Theoretical explanation:
(4) states that precision has little value and (3) states that reporting with precision has a cost. (1) says that the cost of precision is potentially large. In order to balance the cost of reporting precise subscriber counts against the relatively low value of generating that precision, the code behind TH-cam only does a precise count of a channel's subscribers while it is generating the notifications from (2). If a channel owner uploads several videos in relatively quick succession, the count will change very little because not many people have unsubscribed in the time between them. Longer periods accumulate more users who have unsubscribed and therefore will show larger changes.
The immediate counter to this is "Why don't counts ever go up?". The answer there involves (5). You could use data structures like this to keep computational complexity and costs low (3), at the cost of precision (4). When a user clicks "Subscribe", an entry is created in their table that says "User likes Channel" *and* an entry is created in the channel's table that says "Channel is liked by User". The subscriber count shown is based on the channel's table. When a user clicks "Unsubscribe", the entry in their table is deleted, but the entry in the channel's table is left in place. When a new video is uploaded, the process that drives (2) loops through the entries in the channel's table and checks to see if each user still has the entry in the user's table. If so, there is a notification; if not the entry is removed from the channel's table and the subscriber count is reduced.
Drilling down, the counter is "Why doesn't an unsubscribe trigger record deletion from the channel's table?". That's simply a question of volume. If a user subscribes and unsubscribes multiple times, then their own table is updated multiple times, and is always accurate; this is important so that they get all the notifications they wish to receive. If a user subscribes and unsubscribes multiple times, the channel's table is only updated once per upload reducing the number of actions and the cost (3).
Which is all to say: "It's not a bug, it's a feature [that saves Google money]"
So Google unsubscribes me from channels for the sake of *THEIR MONEY?!*
I watched Markiplier about every day, and all of a sudden I wasn't subscribed. This was with a handful of people I watched frequently, but none that I haven't watched in years. I do believe it exists.
You look very dreamy
THE LIKE BUG. IS IT REAL?
any change in subs after this vid?
thats a great version
The music sounds like you are dealing with the highest conspiracy theory ever
LOving your chanel so far, keep up the great work! Thanks for creating great content
he uploaded a video about him uploading a video... This guy is a Genius!
Aim: investigate the unsub bug
Hypothesis: there is no unsub bug as human factors can explain it such as attributing meaning to random phenomenon.
Method:
1. Make a channel
2. Make a set of accounts
3. Sub each account to said channel for the duration of the experiment
4. Upload a video and take results
5. Resub any unsubbed accounts
6. Repeat with a different type of video being uploaded on each iteration
Conclusion:
Since the accounts will never unsub as they are under your control, any accounts unsubbing must then be a bug. The experiment is susceptible to false negatives however as random people can sub during it. Not only that a large sample size of video types is required for a confirmed hypothesis
I was recently subbed to some shitty channel called "Makki News" but I swear I've never heard about it or subbed to it. I think TH-cam is forcing subscription now, even if you haven't even touched the channel yet.
Fat Autist you probably pressed it on accident or someone tricked you into subbing
Yeah, it has happened to me too. A few days ago TH-cam recommended a video, I clicked on the video just to watch it and automatically it subscribed me to the channel even though I didn't want to sub to it and I definitely did not sub to it on purpose. TH-cam also sometimes re-subs me back to old TH-cam channels that I unsubbed a long time ago.
Happy 200k subs!
Some people unsubscribe, because their life changes. Suddenly, the information or entertainment they looked for, they no longer need. If you want to be happy do not judge yourself by subscriber numbers
They were irritated by and unsubscribed because of a video that they were explicitly told to ignore? 🤨 Those were probably the people whose report-cards said "cannot follow simple instructions". ¬_¬
The reminded-they're-subbed theory's specious since it takes effort to unsub and people _do not_ do anything that requires effort.
I mean, the fact that so many users, NOT CONTENT CREATORS, users are saying that they're getting unsubbed is the reason everyone believes this glitch is real.
Ive only been subbed to a channel I didnt sub to.. Id say I did it by accident without realizing but it had 2 videos in less than 2 days... and 50k subs..
Same
The Sloth Princess What was its name?
> Not a bug.
> A publicity stunt by major content creators to get clicks on a controversial topic.
> Large amounts of unsubs are their fault, which is why TH-cam ignores their bitching.
once I was actually unsubscribed from a youtuber without unsubbing
2016
me:
yeeeeeeeeeees 65 subs
two minutes later
62 subs :'(
2017
59 subs...
the problem probably is that if someone uploads a video some people might see that they dont like the creators content and every time a video is uploaded they get reminded that they subscribed to them and then they unsub, nothing more an nothing less
Personally, I think that releasing a video helps those who are subscribed but don't want to be realize that they don't like the posters content, so they unsub when they see the video. I know I have done this on multiple occasions.
Are you Croatian? Becuase i can see in the botton right corner that you have the croatian (HRV) keyboard enabled.
BA? You have a really good accent for a guy from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I subscribed to 61 channel, and so far there's no unsub has ever happened
hey, lets spam these people's sub boxes and see if anyone unsubs! Great use of the scientific process, I see no flaws whatsoever
I've been unsubscribed from most of my favorite channels. I see it all the time
Don't know if this is related and it's late as well.
I've noticed i recently stopped seeing your content on my dashboard, so i searched chm tech and found that im unsubscribed.
Idk how that's happened tho.
Also, for every video , the subscribe button below the video doesn't say "subscribed" it's always "subscribe" in red.
idk if it's some sort of bug or something with TH-cam.
ctrl+r my man
+CHM Tech I was unsubbed to some people who upload rarely(once a month or so) but I still watch their videos, I definetly did not do that, it must be some kind of bug
people choosing the 2nd option (specific condition) dont exactly know any reason
Don't worry about i that much youtubers. Not all subscribers are active. If they are a fan, they will still watch you even not subscribed.
I was unsubbed at some point, since I was definitely subscribed before.
lol I think I subbed you a while back and found you again just now.
Very often TH-cam offers me to subscribe to channels that I'm already subscribed. It shows the red SUBSCRIBE button on the home page, but if I go to the actual channel page I see that I'm still subscribed. I'm subscribed to a lot of channels, btw.
I've typed the word subscribe to much...
You do know that the unsub bug had to do with when people click your subscribe button. So if no one, or only a few people are clicking the button then you wouldn't be losing subs.
Wait wait wait
I SAW HIS FACE FOR THE FIRST TIME
I didn't even get the test videos in my sub box
explains why i have to search and sub for channel(s) that i swore i had subbed eons ago
A youtuber had uploaded a video and it notified me and then when I was watching the video I wasn't subscribed
I still am seeing seeing some channels I know I never unsubed from. Also there are some channels that do not show up in my subscription feed.
The unsub bug once happened to my main account.
I uploaded a video, 55 subs at the time, when I checked my subs I has 49. Now I have 54. Cause yee
Wait r u from croatia? If yes cool me too and that our county has such a cool international channel😄
CHMinati confirmed
If this was true, webdriver torso would have 0 subscribers
Before I watched the video: I don't think the unsub bug is a thing I think people especially on mobile are accidentally pressing the sub box I have done it many times and have not noticed.
Bobthedj that's what I was thinking at first too, but I don't think that's necessarily the case here. I've had a shit ton of channels I loved watching regularly unsubbed from and the number is too great for it to be a slip of the hand.
When I sub to a new youtuber one of the old ones unsubbed by its self
NIce
Well, it got me subscribed, so reverse-unsub attack
date and time, you watermarked with youtube watermark
i was unsubbed from casey neistat, its real
who knows who else ive been unsubbed from 😥
Lol, it definitely exist. So many people im unsubbed from now that I watch ALL THE TIME
I think A
Look at that 1 view you always instantly get as soon as you upload a video, even though it is private. You should look into that.
that is actually a view from the person uploading it
These test files,
Can we see them?
why does this guy never blinks???
Jose Jimenez He's wide awake.
So if its private, then public, u keep ur subs?
People who unsub are mean, theres no reason to!
actually, there is. i've unsubbed to a lot of youtubers i subscribed to years ago because i kept getting notifications for videos that i don't want to watch.
he looks like his name is human no. 745786
Bigger people are getting unsubs becouse of clickbait (NOT EVERYONE)
4 years have past and only 216 comments what
Why the creepy music?
this is another test
+Ali Alrabeei (علي عبداللطيف الربيعي) No, this is why the tests were uploaded.
I don't remember subsribing to this channel
+Naturenerd1000 It was called Channel Hotmonkey before :)
:)
:O I remember when this happened
change the title to *how to destroy tseries 101*
Never happened to me
no i unsubscribed myself
i think i was the subscriber he gained :D
pozdrav iz Slovenije :D
i can see why you can think that it isnt a thing, but i have lost a few subs because of this :P
What is your real name mr.channelhotmonkey?
holy f- this video was uploaded on my birthday o-o December 11~
*THAT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!*
You only edit one var at a tim
i got the unsub bug!
where is the poll?
Vice L he said he's going to put it up soon
+Kyle Pauley It's there now :)
Wait a sec... Are you from Bosnia and Herzegovina?
yes he is
12:09 the w\view count didn't increase
There is no bug. It says that people who don't watch their videos are auto unsubbed
That's not true because if it was, I would only have 2 subscribers but I have 180+. Not to mention I never get automatically unsubbed from channels even if I don't watch them for weeks or even months.
no, i just recently had to clear out my subscriptions because i was subscribed to people i hadn't watched in years, since they were either turning into clickbaiters or they just didn't interest me anymore. they were still all there, though.
try to uploadd a vid public + monitorize it and add random tags and not youtube like you did
........
monitorizing is the problem i think
+Slayer666 \#/ CSGO Life One video was monetized ( I'm guessing that's what you mean by "monitorized"), and nothing happened. Another video had a transcript and a lot of tags that had nothing to do with youtube (it was a short reading about artificial intelligence) and nothing happened. You have all this in the video.
thats weard i have a small channel and when i uploaded a video
with monetizing my subs got down by 3 -4 subs instentely and
when its not monitized it didnt do anything .. maybe its fixed or i dont
know bc it hapend to me like 2 weaks ago
and sry fo buthering i didnt pay attention to monetizing when i watched the video :P
i lost 8 subs after streaming
oof
ja u opste nisam video te test videove >:( i ovo je prvi put da mi se to desilo