What it catches, and what it leaves alone
Shepherd silences abuse, not civil disagreement.
Every comment, removed or kept, is logged with its reason. Five made-up comments, and what Shepherd does with each.
-
Removed Stage 2 · normalized
“g0 b4ck t0 y0ur 0wn c0untry, n0b0dy w4nts y0u h3re”
Reads as “go back to your own country, nobody wants you here”
-
Kept up Stage 3 · in context
“Honestly your weakest video in a year. The pacing drags and you never answer the question in your own title.”
-
Removed Stage 3 · in context
“Nobody would watch this if you weren't milking your ‘disability’ for views. Fake.”
-
Your review queue Stage 3 · in context
“lol imagine being this confident and this wrong. delete your channel”
-
Removed Stage 1 · your rules
“Loved this one, great work as always 😊”
From an account on your blocked list
-
0%
of comments like the first one are caught by blocked-word lists like YouTube's.
A keyword match cannot see through spacing, lookalike characters or number-for-letter swaps. Likewise, a spam filter will not block abuse that isn't also spam.
Shepherd's silencing of blocked users keeps your engagement, but stops the harassment.
Who it is for
Shepherd's first client, a channel of about 150,000 subscribers that was brigaded after it landed in right-wing media, is protected from the occasional comment and from the waves alike.
- Creators who reply less often because abuse has made it a chore.
- Creators their platform has abandoned, who want their audience talking again.
- Creative teams who have turned off comments, or been tempted to, because of harassment.
- Creators who have self-censored from abuse fears, and want to be able to speak freely again.
How it works
Three stages, and most comments never need the third.
Obvious abuse is gone the moment it arrives, accounts you trust go straight through, and only the genuinely hard ones get reviewed by a person. You control your editorial policy and all decisions are logged.
-
Instant
First, your rules
Words, patterns and accounts you have banned are matched before anything else looks at the comment. A starter list ships with it; you can edit it, or empty it entirely.
-
Instant
Second, the dressed-up repeats
The text is normalized before the second pass, so padded spacing and lookalike characters do not walk an obviously banned phrase straight past the first stage.
-
Read in context
Last, the hard ones
What survives is only what needs your judgment. The comment, its parent if any, and the post it sits under are analyzed for abuse. Anything still unclear goes to your review queue rather than being guessed at.
What Shepherd does not do
Built to protect your voice, not replace it.
Little Collie created Shepherd to help keep your comment section safe and healthy, not to replace your voice or judgment.
It’s 5am in the morning. Your latest video just got shared by a site known for trolls. Shepherd helps you avoid being gaslit.
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Transport Evolved, founding creator
- It never writes a word in your voice. Every reply from your account is written by you and sent by you or your moderators, one at a time. Shepherd composes nothing, and never tries to speak as you.
- It does not remove criticism. It acts on conduct and how intense it is, never on a viewpoint. Civil disagreement with you, however blunt, stays up, and there is no setting that changes that.
- It does not decide what counts as abuse on your channel. You configure the categories and the thresholds; the defaults are a starting point, but you determine policy.
- It does not remove anything automatically until you have told it to. Automated removal stays off until you approve a policy that turns it on.
- It does not make you, your content, or your audience into a product. Shepherd is a tool for you, not a service that monetizes your audience or your content.
- It does not read your private messages, your email, or anything outside the comment sections you connect.
- It does not claim to be right every time. That is why the ambiguous comments go to a person, and why every decision is logged with its reason for you to check.
- It does not replace humans. It is designed to assist moderators in their work, not to replace them. By removing harassment and abuse, Shepherd reduces burnout.
Frequently asked questions
Will Shepherd put an AI label on my replies?
No. Shepherd never writes or sends a reply, so nothing it does is a machine reply that disclosure rules are written for. Those rules are about tools that answer your audience for you. Every reply from your account is yours.
Does it work on my platform?
YouTube and WordPress today. Facebook and Instagram are coming soon.
Will it delete criticism of my work?
No. It acts on conduct, not opinion, and there is no setting that removes disagreement. The second example above is what that looks like.
More answers, on AI use, your rules, billing and your data, are on the Shepherd FAQ page.
What it costs
One flat price for each source you connect.
A YouTube channel of up to 200,000 subscribers is one source and a WordPress site is another, and each costs the same. Refer a creator who signs up and stays three months, and your next month is free.
The Founder's Beta ends soon. Sign up now to connect your sources at half price.
Founder's Beta · ending soon
Half price during the beta: $10 USD a month for each source you connect, instead of $20.
- Any source you connect during the beta stays at half price for as long as you keep it connected.
- If your price ever changes, we will tell you at least three months before it does.
- After the beta, new sources are $20 USD a month. Pay for a year and two months of it are free.
- Each price covers a YouTube channel of up to 200,000 subscribers. Running a bigger one? Write to [email protected] and we will work out a price with you.
- YouTube and WordPress today. Facebook and Instagram coming soon.
No password and no card to sign up. You subscribe when you connect your first source.
Targeted, but not yet monetized? Little Collie offers a small number of hardship spots. Write to [email protected] with your channel or site URL and a short description of your situation, and we will reply as spots open.