Got my first "dislike" on youtube!

Hi Doug, don't worry about dislikes. If you are having fun, and sharing the joy of the ukulele, then that's what matters.
Anyone who posts anything takes that chance, and good for you for taking chances. Do not that discourage you.

Keep making and posting your videos, as I think most of us in this community (IMHO) enjoy seeing others have fun and I always seem to learn something watching various videos.
After all, I learned to play uke from only watching videos, so without people like you posting them, I would probably not be a uke player because I hate learning from books ;-)

I agree with Ken's comments below and last time I played along with Ken in his class a few months back, he definitely had more than a few hairs on his head (maybe less than last year when I saw him) and definitely didn't look old enough to be my grandfather. He could pass for my great uncle though ;-)

Also you can turn off the option for likes and dislikes.
That way haters have to actually post their comment
and at least do so as some type of an identity. If they
have to actually step up then less of it happens. As it's
easier to post a dislike anonymously versus have to use
your youtube identity to leave a negative comment.

The dislikes and negative comments can be useful even if they aren't particularly constructive.

I got a negative comment on a Burns song that I had posted and, while the comment was not at all constructive and I think was more about disliking the song itself, it still made me take another look at the video and I decided that it was pretty crap and took it down. I haven't redone that particular song but I will sometime when I get round to it.

I should really take a look to see if I have any, not that it matters. I've found that as an artist (artist as in painting and drawing) one has to have a thick skin. Not everyone will appreciate what I do and that's fine. However, I always like to know why they don't like it. I think that our own worst enemy is our ego. So, when I open myself up for criticism, I put the ego in the closet and lock the door. One of these days I'm going to throw away the key. I'm getting real close!

This thread was just pointed out to me by fellow UU vanflynn...so glad that he did! Thank you so much, vanflynn! I started playing the ukulele a little over a year ago, and though I am a freelance writer, songwriting is new to me. After almost one year of posting my humble attempts at making uke videos, I rec'd my first "dislike" two days ago. Unfortunately, it was for a song that I had just written after losing my beloved dog, i.e., it was SUPER meaningful to me. I tried SO hard to make this tribute video song/pet memorial beautiful for my dog, and to express what I was feeling with her loss. It crushed me getting the negative "dislike" feedback (no comments).

I know that, of course, I am by NO means (nor will I ever be) a Natalie Merchant, Whitney Houston, etc. with my singing, nor am I any Jake Shimabukuro, etc. with my uke skills and playing...but, honestly, I am not trying to be. With this particular song, and in most cases with my songwriting and uke playing, I am trying to use music and writing to work through and process emotions...and sometimes really difficult ones at that. I admit I wear my heart on my sleeve...and I guess that's a thin line to walk upon. My own fault.

But, I agree, the anonymous "dislikers" are what bother me the most. I can appreciate constructive criticism...but just receiving a blanket '"dislike" is hard. I want to know why someone doesn't like it...well...on second thought, maybe I don't, after reading some of what the other posters to this thread have said. ;-)

Anyhow, I do feel so much better after reading the posts on this thread. So many thanks, again, to vanflynn for showing me this thread. Many of the comments made me chuckle and remember to stop taking myself so darn seriously...and, more importantly, to remember that I am really doing this for a positive reason...for my love of playing music, writing, and my love of the uke. Uke people are so awesome; I am SO glad that I found this community! Thank you!!!

Don't even sweat it. Haters are going to hate. Jake's Ukulele Weeps vid has 847 dislikes.

kirbo said:

Don't even sweat it. Haters are going to hate. Jake's Ukulele Weeps vid has 847 dislikes.

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Give me some credit dude, have you any idea how long it took to create that many Youtube accounts ?

Wat comes around goes around, include likes and dislikes....all it matters is the uke passion we have in us...rock on!:rock:

Interesting thing is to go on your channel and click the Analytics page, then choose Lifetime in date range. Then you'll have the number of view, and total likes and dislikes, then you can make a ratio...
For my uke channel, dislikers are 0.5% (more on the lute channel, where I scored 2.5% of dislikers, but lute people are very hard to their fellows lutenists...) but you can also see that just a few viewers clik the like/dislike buttons...
I had also some arguments with a lutenist once on the french lute mailing list, then I start to have dislikes on all my videos... (of course he never post himself on YT...)
So I don't really care about likes dislikes but I try to answer every comment, even just a thanks... It create a personal link to the poster of the comment and makes YT less virtual and more human.

Dislikes? Dont sweat them. Since the like and dislike button are so close together I think that a certain percentage of dislikes are accidental from people who really wanted to click "like".

What's the REAL test of your video popularity? The answer is Audience Retention. If your upset about a dislike or 2 DON'T look at your audience retention. Its sad.

Anthony

If you just got the odd dislike it's either down to viewers clicking the wrong icon, or trolls who have no idea what they're looking at.

Hochapeafarm said:

... I am trying to use music and writing to work through and process emotions...and sometimes really difficult ones at that.

... I am really doing this for a positive reason...for my love of playing music, writing, and my love of the uke.

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Well, you obviously have a ton of soul and that is so important in this world. Keep up the good work!

Pauli said:

Well, you obviously have a ton of soul and that is so important in this world. Keep up the good work!

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Hi Pauli, your comment totally made my day -- thank you so much for saying (writing!) that! ~ Chelle