Tutorial
Review your first held comment
The proposal that asks first, the decision that goes on the record, and the one-way door that puts a comment back.
The pictures are illustrations of the product's screens. The step diagrams below show the surrounding flow.
Needs review
Needs reviewLitterTray HeldYouTube Studio: HeldLiveArchive
Bench & Board · Two Ways To Cut A Tenon
Hold on YouTube
Comment
In contextAssessmentTeach this assessmentModerate this commentThe record
Would hold this comment. Contempt aimed at the creator rather than the work.
personal contemptaimed at you
We first saw it · The tray assessed it · We suggested a moderation action
Put it back on YouTube
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Step one
A proposal, not a hold
A new tray runs its AI rules in Shadow Mode: when a rule believes a comment should be held, it writes a proposal and waits. The comment itself is still public on YouTube while it waits; nothing reaches YouTube unapproved. Proposals queue on the Needs review tab, under a heading that says exactly what they are: waiting for your decision.
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Step two
Read the card
One card carries what the decision needs: the comment, who wrote it and where they stand with you, the rule that matched, the categories it saw, how sure it was, and a one-line reason. If the comment has replies, the card warns you before you decide, because YouTube hides the whole thread when a parent is held, and those repliers did nothing.
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Step three
Hold it, or keep it on YouTube
Choose Hold on YouTube to approve the proposal. The tray then requests the hold and shows whether YouTube confirmed it. Choose Keep on YouTube to dismiss a live comment’s hold proposal without requesting a hold. Your decision is recorded as a labelled example and helps you judge whether a category is ready for Automatic. It does not retrain the AI or decide whether you are allowed to enable Automatic.
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Step four
Where the hold lands
A confirmed hold sits on the LitterTray Held tab: the tool's own holds only, kept apart from YouTube's own queue, which has a tab of its own. Each held card says whether the hold was automatic or placed by hand, and lists any replies hidden with it, each one a link, so you can read what that person actually said.
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Step five
Seen, and kept held
Most holds need nothing more than your eyes. Mark as seen and keep held takes the comment off the attention list; it stays held on YouTube and stays on the record. The tab counts attention owed, not history.
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Step six
Put it back on YouTube
The other door is the one-way one, and it belongs to the owner alone. Put it back on YouTube leads to a confirmation page rather than straight to the write: it shows the comment and names the consequence. Putting it back publishes the comment for everyone again and is permanent; a put-back comment can never be held again, not by you and not by automation. Hidden replies come back with it. The restore is recorded as your decision to allow that comment. While the write is on its way, the card says so instead of offering the button twice.