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Creative Production 279source material, regardless of the merits of the editing. In the YouTubeworld, many participants are concerned about “haters,” or people wholeave mean-spirited, discriminatory, or hurtful comments containingimages of violence or death. While creators disliked these comments, theydid not necessarily think that they should be restricted or excluded fromthe site. A number of youth creators also mentioned that they deliberatelyrefuse to remove even hurtful comments posted on their pages as a wayof showing their support for free speech online (Lange 2007a).In contrast to these attitudes toward audience feedback, a comment froma respected fellow creator carries a great deal of weight. Darius, the twentyfour-year-oldAfrican-American mentioned earlier (Ito, Anime Fans),described some of the challenges he had in getting people to view andcomment on his videos, but he was deeply appreciative when one felloweditor did give him feedback on his work.And so somebody finally watched it at AWA, and was, like, oh, different concept,but it was a pretty cool video. Not necessarily award winning, but it was cool. I canwatch it. I was, like, oh, okay. Thank you. I finally got somebody to tell me that,that much. But, like, you know, sometimes trying to get feedback on some of thesethings is like pulling teeth.These moments, when young people get validation for their work from apeer, are important stepping-stones to developing an identity as a mediacreator. While some youth eschew the critiques as less useful because theyare telling them what they already know, others highly value finding recognitionand acceptance from peers for their work, even when they mustendure hurtful commentary or harsh criticism from others. As Frank, awhite fifteen-year-old male from Ohio on YouTube, stated, “But then evenwhen you get one good comment, that makes up for fifty mean comments,‘cause it’s just the fact of knowing that someone else out there liked yourvideos and stuff, and it doesn’t really matter about everyone else that’scriticized you” (Lange, YouTube and Video Bloggers). Edric, a rapper inDilan Mahendran’s study (Hip-Hop Music Production), is a nineteen-yearoldPuerto Rican male who was born and grew up in San Francisco. Hedescribed the moment when he first stepped into the recording booth andreceived some recognition from fellow artists.So I went into the booth. And I was nervous. It took me two times to finally getmy words right. And finally I got my words right and did this song. And everyonewas like, “Man, that was nice. I liked that.” And I was like, for real? I was like, I