Words can hold a lot of power, but they can also lose that power very quickly. We don’t get that many hate comments on YouTube but they are usually the racist variety. We’ve seen it all, so when the only thing someone can say is a very old and stereotypical racist insult, it was hilarious to us. Hugh really burst out laughing like that because it’s so ridiculous: it’s not hurting him and instead just makes the commenter look stupid. (For those that don’t know, the word that was used is very racist and offensive but has been around for a long time). We get comments from neo nazis sometimes… that ‘c’ word seems almost quaint in comparison.

We’ve talked a lot with YouTubers about hate comments and everyone has come to the conclusion that hate comments are not usually a representation of you and what you do, but rather a reflection of that individual commenter. It shows more about them than it does about you. A lot of YouTubers just end up feeling bad for those people that leave a lot of hate comments or spend their energy actively hating them, because people that are happy in themselves don’t do that. It’s people who are miserable and troubled, or have some type of issue in their own life that are doing it.

Particularly nasty hate comments can be hurtful but they often end up as funny stories to tell to other YouTubers/bloggers. I’m also quick to copy and paste horrible comments to share with my friends so we can laugh at how ridiculous it is.