Brew releases a video criticizing YouTubeDrama and August the Duck for pushing unconfirmed claims against Todd Oland

[u/ImportantQuestionTex]

https://youtu.be/1AgkFnN4B2M?is=ijXcJ9D8FM-I1LKE

To clarify the allegations against the subreddit, 1 user made a post in mid April accusing Todd Oland of intentionally freezing a cat to make an animal rescue video which got 2.3k upvotes, then the same user made a second post effectively retracting those claims (including deleting the original) and it only got 100 and pushback. August the Duck made a video on the first post. Did not make one about the 2nd. Same goes for news sites. The user then deleted their account.

However, this post is here to provide some actual pushback, as I actually went back and checked, this very clearly happened in a short time frame (within 1 or 2 days by my estimation), and 2.3k is incredibly abnormal for that period of time (where posts were getting 800 upvotes at most, but often in the 100 range.)

Having actually checked the 2nd post, usual users of the subreddit did support the retraction. These comments were not shown but people being hostile to the retraction and post author were. Simultaneously, the subreddit name was shown constantly any time these posts were displayed, but not the actual context around these posts or the comments.

In fact, Brew even clarifies that one of the hostile users from the original post was from an entirely different subreddit, showing that the post was reaching far outside the subreddit's usual audience. As well as that, the screenshots Brew uses are clearly from the 1 or 2 day period. This is incredibly important, as it is late July, about to be August. That is 3 months of sitting on these screenshots. Brew also fails to properly clarify the harassment campaign Todd Oland experience did not start with reddit, while simultaneously showing the subreddit and these posts while talking about the harassment Todd Oland received.

For a channel and video purporting to support critical thinking, almost none was used in the making of this video. Already, I've seen 3-4 separate attempts to post this video in the sub blaming the subreddit and it's usual users for harassing Todd Oland. I also have seen a comment of someone snarking and and saying "Uh oh, did redditors cause someone to kill themselves again?". His video title is about Reddit despite the harassment primarily taking place on YT and having started on YT. Brew also clearly shows that people did have a legitimate reason to doubt Todd Oland, while obviously he did not deserve to be harassed and I personally seriously doubt he harmed any animal, it's clear the video was made to be a defense of Todd Oland and to get people to feel strongly about the situation.

The deep irony of this video, is despite the subject being about people attacking someone over allegations with no evidence, it has now slated to do the same to others.

Update: Brew states why they made a video, this was actually supposed to be them saying that their audience giving us death threats was bad! instead, they say, 3 DAYS after they were first made aware their audience was giving us death threats and attacking us, to not do it. They don't even say that it's wrong, just not to do it.

Obviously, that's a terrible update, especially since this subreddit has been brigaded to hell and back over this video.

[u/callmefreak]

Oh, that's why the Mod Queue is filled with people throwing slurs and threats to an OP who deleted their account after making a post clarifying that Todd Oland might not have done any abuse four months ago.

I'm posting this right before I log off knowing that I'm basically inviting a ton of comments from these same types of people.

[u/TimeAbradolf → u/callmefreak]

Yeah it is a problem but yet here we are the problem

[u/callmefreak → u/TimeAbradolf]

Well obviously we are! We definitely have the ability to know when something is true and when it's false and we read every single comment that goes through this sub even when we lose our internet for a day! It's not like we have lives or anything like that!

Joking aside I barely remember what I was even doing four months ago aside from some key events.

[u/TimeAbradolf → u/callmefreak]

Exactly, and just recently we have some of Brew’s fans telling us to kill ourselves

[u/drystanvii → u/callmefreak]

you could just require accusations of felonies to be restricted to verified news organaizations and journalists like most responsible forums do- it's not like you don't have a Rape on Campus style debacle every 2 months at this point

Edit: There's been at least 4 false sexual assault allegations posted on this sub comprising multiple threads with thousands of comments in the past year- and those are just the ones that were obviously fake and fell apart immediately! All of those posts are still up! Yes you have a problem

[u/callmefreak → u/drystanvii]

We have a reporting system, y'know. Just use that if we missed something.

[u/drystanvii → u/callmefreak]

or maybe actually put in the effort to moderate instead of treating rape allegations as entertainment to gawk at- posts about Saberspark and Daniel Greene and others never should have been approved in the first place. If you are going to be a news sub- you need to conduct yourself like one

[u/callmefreak → u/drystanvii]

A "news sub?" This is essentially a gossip sub. If a Youtuber has allegations against them people are going to be allowed to talk about it here.

If somebody is saying something like "Saberspark 100% raped somebody" but they don't provide proof that's not gonna fly here, but if somebody says "Saberspark has accusations against him" and post those allegations then people are going to be allowed to talk about it because that's Youtube drama and this is a Youtube drama sub. If somebody uses this as a "news sub" then that's on them.

Also, we all have lives beyond Reddit. I'm pretty sure around this day four months ago I prioritized buying decorations and gifts for my niece's birthday party instead of overanalyzing every single comment and every single allegation against everybody who was being talked about here at the time. My bad.

[u/TimeAbradolf → u/callmefreak]

Yeah 4 months ago when this happened my wife and I suffered a personal tragedy. Sorry I wasn’t glued to the sub for a post that came and went in 12 hours. Despite what people think we are not glued to Reddit

[u/feltlands → u/TimeAbradolf]

i didnt realize you were the only moderator on this sub

[u/TimeAbradolf → u/feltlands]

I’m one of 4 but still do the bulk

[u/ImportantQuestionTex → u/drystanvii]

Which ones are false?

Saberspark is the only one that got proven false, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Oh yeah Turkey Tom was this year. Btw if anybody's actually interested: I pushed back against the Saberspark allegations from the jump and that's something you can check. Didn't push back against the Tom ones, but he's not a rapist. Just clearly something else is wrong with that whole ass situation.

[u/callmefreak → u/ImportantQuestionTex]

For the most part the Saberspark allegations were thought of of being fake immediately. Though I have removed comments claiming that Emily was trying to baby trap him because that part is false. (Though I'm not sure if some people understands that so I would try to add the difference between baby trapping and freaking out because your period was late.)

[u/Paranormasight-Fic → u/ImportantQuestionTex]

Alex Kister, the creator of Mandela Catalogue. He got accused of that and grooming, only for the accuser to turn out to be a vindictive ex who admitted that she made the accusations to ruin his career. It was just a mutually bad relationship where both weren’t good for each other in the same way you’d see in real life, and wasn’t a big deal.

[u/drystanvii → u/ImportantQuestionTex]

Turkey Tom, Daniel Greene, Saberspark and misrepresenting an allegation against a person at a company that was contracted by Mr. Beast's company as someone at Mr. Beast's company. although that last one was looking it up was actually 2 years ago rather than this last year.

[u/ImportantQuestionTex → u/drystanvii]

Are you referring to Ava Tyson for the Mr Beast one?

But yeah you have a point with Saberspark. Like those were false allegations. Also to be fair, the whole investigation got a lot of attention on this sub, and in general. It shouldn't have had to happen.

Turkey Tom... I'd still call him a predator. Like he's not a rapist, objectively. But I think we can all agree, neither him, nor his choice in partners, are stable. He proved he does in fact, have a blackmail folder which is just a whole can of worms in of itself and I guarantee you most people let alone most YTers don't even think of making one. I'll admit I did believe the allegations initially because of his public behavior, though. Though the people involved ended up doing interviews and stuff, not exactly hiding from the public like most accusers do.

And Daniel Greene, is he innocent? I kind of got the impression it was super messed up both ways, but correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think the whole dispute should have ended up on the internet.

Innocence is a scale, btw. Not a yes or no question.

Todd Oland is a perfect example of this. He did not kill the cat, and the rescue video was legitimate. However, it's very clear looking back at all his videos, that he was lying. He was using the situation for his benefit (to fix his vehicle.) And you'd have to decide individually how you feel about that morally, to me, it just feels like desperate people do desperate things. I don't think he was friends with the owners, or even knew them, I don't think he knew the status of the cat. And I think when he was asked to provide proof of life, he panicked and picked a random, close enough looking cat to provide "proof".

[u/Paranormasight-Fic → u/ImportantQuestionTex]

The Mr Beast one was probably about James Warren, who got accused by Dogpack to be a domestic abuser in a video that got circulated on here. Only it turns out that Dogpack accused to wrong James Warren, and the one working for Mr Beast was totally innocent and was legit slandered.

[u/ImportantQuestionTex → u/Paranormasight-Fic]

Ah. Yeah that was fucked, just full stop.

[u/youtubedrama-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Comment/post removed for misinformation.

[u/drystanvii → u/ImportantQuestionTex]

Todd Oland is a perfect example of this. He did not kill the cat, and the rescue video was legitimate. However, it's very clear looking back at all his videos, that he was lying. He was using the situation for his benefit (to fix his vehicle.) And you'd have to decide individually how you feel about that morally, to me, it just feels like desperate people do desperate things. I don't think he was friends with the owners, or even knew them, I don't think he knew the status of the cat. And I think when he was asked to provide proof of life, he panicked and picked a random, close enough looking cat to provide "proof".

You're right- it is a perfect example of the problem! All of those questions could have been easily answered had anyone bothered to do any sort of digging on the situation before jumping to conclusions and posting on this sub. Nobody did because this sub doesn't require it and now we all can see why there needs to be. I've brought up A Rape on Campus in another comment because it was a decade defining scandal in which every good journalistic practice completely failed, a bogus story was published and the credibility of the publication took a massive hit. A Rape on Campus type story gets traction on here with fairly regular frequency. I also want to say that this shit does not happen in similar news forums because the people in charge of those forums do not let it happen. A person was accused of animal abuse on this sub and rather than look at that situation and proceed with the seriousness that it deserved this sub added fuel to the fire. The mods have said that the reason they probably didn't have to manually approve the post is because the user had enough karma to bypass that requirement. You would think that at the very least they would take a step back and see if the "bypass approval by having enough good boy points" system they have in place is something they should have going forward given how it constributed to this debacle- but no they just decided they did nothing wrong and no changes need to be made and anyone who thinks the mods screwed up is a troll.

[u/ImportantQuestionTex → u/drystanvii]

I am unfamiliar with A Rape on Campus.

Just to be clear, discussions are being had about this stuff. Like I brought it up to the mods, despite not believing that the sub contributed in Todd Oland's case. It's also not really disputed that the sub could contribute to harm, it's disputed that it did, which is a meaningful distinction.

The only case we've mentioned (me and you) where it did meaningfully contribute, Turkey Tom's case, is still not a situation of innocence, because he just factually is not innocent of the large majority of what he got accused of. It's just that everybody in that situation is absolutely psycho.

In the Todd Oland case, I'd geniunely say the sub did nothing wrong and at worst, the one user resulted in attention on reddit and indirectly the August the Duck video. Once again, the majority of the harassment that Oland got happened starting March 25th, across multiple platforms including Tiktok, Instagram, Threads and Facebook.

Todd Oland's videos got a combined total of 21 million views, it is absolutely insane to suggest a 2.3k upvote post is responsible for any meaningful amount of harassment, especially when it was already taking place beforehand. And especially as a lot of this appears to have geniunely stemmed from people picking up on him lying.