The Litter Tray

Feature

Test or Auto

Ask first for holds, or automate only the actions you choose.

Test means the tray asks you before it holds a comment. Auto means a built-in category you switched to Auto holds without asking. Rules you write can be Off, Notify me or Test, never Auto. Probation holds a viewer's new comments without asking. Removing a comment always needs your confirmation. You can switch any category back to Test at any time.

An illustration of the Rules screen. Each rule card states its current behaviour.

Outcomes

What you can do with it

Ask first

On Test, a hold the tray wants waits for your answer.

Automate narrowly

Switch to Auto only the categories you trust to hold without asking.

Change your mind any time

Switch a category back to Test whenever you like.

The path

How it works

Watch it work. Then answer every question. Then let it run.

  1. Start on Test

    The tray shows the hold it wants and waits. Nothing changes on YouTube without your answer.

  2. Answer yes or no

    Your answers become the record.

  3. Consider the offer

    After you have said yes to 9 of its last 10 questions, the tray offers to switch its categories to Auto.

  4. Switch only what you trust

    Switch back to Test at any time. The advice is not a lock.

Mike, the founder, in his own uncropped photo

Built by a creator, for his own channel first

I built the moderator my own channel needed.

Hey friends, I'm Mike. My channel grew to 50,000 subscribers, and the comments grew well past 50,000 with it. No one creator can read every comment at that size. I valued the community that built up around my channel, but the volume and intensity of the comments were overwhelming.

When trolls started taking the time I wanted to spend with that community, I dusted off the toolkit and built The Litter Tray around the rules and restraint I wanted for my own audience. I want other creators to get set up in minutes, set the rules that matter to them, and make persistent trolls much harder to miss, so they can get back to making videos.

Mike