Did "Becoming Brigham" Hire Bots to Artificially Boost its View Count?

[drumdude]

The most recent video has 12,000 odd views.

For standard organic content, typical like-to-view ratios range around 2% to 6% (or higher on loyal niche channels). On this specific video, there are ~12,700 views and 146 likes (~1.1% like ratio).

Because comments are disabled on every single Becoming Brigham video, one of the easiest bot indicators (generic, repeated, or completely absent user comments) cannot be evaluated directly. Disabling comments can sometimes be done intentionally to prevent spam/criticism, but it also removes a key organic feedback loop, making engagement ratios appear even thinner.

[Philo Sofee]

What is so utterly fascinating to me is that I have never... and I mean ever, never heard of ANYONE in our world joining the church because of Brigham Young. What is the comical morbid obsession with the man these days with apologists?! This could be a genuinely fascinating social research project for someone wanting to get a Ph.d in Brigham Young studies or something.....

[I Have Questions]

What is so utterly fascinating to me is that I have never... and I mean ever, never heard of ANYONE in our world joining the church because of Brigham Young. What is the comical morbid obsession with the man these days with apologists?! This could be a genuinely fascinating social research project for someone wanting to get a Ph.d in Brigham Young studies or something.....

It is worth remembering that Brigham Young as a subject was the idea of Red Brick Filmworks. They’d done the film about what Peterson thinks is “the best evidence for the Book of Mormon”, the witnesses, and Peterson was struggling to come up with something for a second film. He was desperate to make a second film, about anything. Eventually RBFW pitched the idea of a film about Brigham Young (they were desperate to keep the cash cow producing milk). Peterson admits he wasn’t particularly keen, but travel and fine dining doesn’t pay for itself and he needed an excuse for not serving a senior mission, so he went with it. And another made Six Days In August. It was an absolute disaster. But no matter it served the ultimate purpose. Because two films had bombed they couldn’t justify a third. So how to keep the gravy train rolling? Despite knowing nobody was interested in Brigham Young fan fiction, they decided an 18 month long YouTube series was the best vehicle for earning Red Brick their retirement funds, and got Peterson the much needed Hitchcock cosplay of producer and lead.

I’m intrigued as to what they will do to justify continued troughing of Interpreter donations once this latest nonsense runs its course.

[Marcus]

What is so utterly fascinating to me is that I have never... and I mean ever, never heard of ANYONE in our world joining the church because of Brigham Young. What is the comical morbid obsession with the man these days with apologists?! This could be a genuinely fascinating social research project for someone wanting to get a Ph.d in Brigham Young studies or something.....

It is worth remembering that Brigham Young as a subject was the idea of Red Brick Filmworks. They’d done the film about what Peterson thinks is “the best evidence for the Book of Mormon”, the witnesses, and Peterson was struggling to come up with something for a second film. He was desperate to make a second film, about anything. Eventually RBFW pitched the idea of a film about Brigham Young (they were desperate to keep the cash cow producing milk). Peterson admits he wasn’t particularly keen, but travel and fine dining doesn’t pay for itself and he needed an excuse for not serving a senior mission, so he went with it. And another made Six Days In August. It was an absolute disaster. But no matter it served the ultimate purpose. Because two films had bombed they couldn’t justify a third. So how to keep the gravy train rolling? Despite knowing nobody was interested in Brigham Young fan fiction, they decided an 18 month long YouTube series was the best vehicle for earning Red Brick their retirement funds, and got Peterson the much needed Hitchcock cosplay of producer and lead.

I’m intrigued as to what they will do to justify continued troughing of Interpreter donations once this latest nonsense runs its course.

If I recall correctly DCP wanted to do something on C
S Lewis but was persuaded not to.

[Marcus]

The series is being extended:

. .We’re now thinking, by the way, that we may eventually need to do about eighty or eighty-five of these in order to cover the material that we have and that we foresee gathering. We were initially planning for a run of roughly fifty-two installments. But we’ve been accumulating so much excellent content in our historical interviews that we’re both lengthening the individual episodes and planning to do more of them. It’s a bit of a problem — it represents more work and will demand raising more money (which mostly, alas, falls to me) — but it’s a good problem...

[I Have Questions]

It is worth remembering that Brigham Young as a subject was the idea of Red Brick Filmworks. They’d done the film about what Peterson thinks is “the best evidence for the Book of Mormon”, the witnesses, and Peterson was struggling to come up with something for a second film. He was desperate to make a second film, about anything. Eventually RBFW pitched the idea of a film about Brigham Young (they were desperate to keep the cash cow producing milk). Peterson admits he wasn’t particularly keen, but travel and fine dining doesn’t pay for itself and he needed an excuse for not serving a senior mission, so he went with it. And another made Six Days In August. It was an absolute disaster. But no matter it served the ultimate purpose. Because two films had bombed they couldn’t justify a third. So how to keep the gravy train rolling? Despite knowing nobody was interested in Brigham Young fan fiction, they decided an 18 month long YouTube series was the best vehicle for earning Red Brick their retirement funds, and got Peterson the much needed Hitchcock cosplay of producer and lead.

I’m intrigued as to what they will do to justify continued troughing of Interpreter donations once this latest nonsense runs its course.

If I recall correctly DCP wanted to do something on C
S Lewis but was persuaded not to.

Yes. I think he concluded for himself that it had already been done and that he couldn’t improve on it (which won “Understatement Of The Year” as I recall). Brigham Young was just the only topic available to him at that time which would justify rinsing the Interpreter coffers of millions of dollars to give to his friends so they’d play at film making with him.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

What is so utterly fascinating to me is that I have never... and I mean ever, never heard of ANYONE in our world joining the church because of Brigham Young. What is the comical morbid obsession with the man these days with apologists?! This could be a genuinely fascinating social research project for someone wanting to get a Ph.d in Brigham Young studies or something.....

It’s the Hamburgler’s attempt to rehabilitate BY’s image because the former was taking some massive L’s recently, crescendoing with 2025’s American Primeval. If you recall there was a movement to rename BYU. Utah edgelord fascists were agitating as DezNat while using BY as an ideological avatar. And of course, in no small way, academics at Cassius U have laid out irrefutable scholarship showing the world that BY was, in fact, a giant piece of crap. cough 57wives uncough

Because the Hamburgler is by nature a contrarian shyster, who still owes BYU two books by the way, he set about to do the impossible: make the raging narcissist psychopath Brigham Young seem relatable.

[I Have Questions]

The series is being extended:

. .We’re now thinking, by the way, that we may eventually need to do about eighty or eighty-five of these in order to cover the material that we have and that we foresee gathering. We were initially planning for a run of roughly fifty-two installments. But we’ve been accumulating so much excellent content in our historical interviews that we’re both lengthening the individual episodes and planning to do more of them. It’s a bit of a problem — it represents more work and will demand raising more money (which mostly, alas, falls to me) — but it’s a good problem...

More money required to keep it going. I think I can see now why they needed a quick boost to the viewing numbers. It’s unbelievable.