Rant: The "deleted" YouTube comment that actually saved my bacon

Back in March, I was fixing a 2004 Ford Focus and hit a dead end on the starter relay. Some random video had a comment thread about the exact clicking noise mine made, but the top reply was already deleted. I figured it was some troll, but I clicked the collapsed thread anyway and a user named GearHeadGary had posted a link to a forum screenshot showing the wiring diagram. That one deleted comment, the one everyone else skipped, pointed me to a 10-minute fix I'd been wrestling for two evenings. So I keep saying, don't ignore the removed stuff, sometimes the best info gets scrubbed because it embarrassed a brand or a know-it-all. Has anyone else found a hidden gem by digging into the deleted replies on a tutorial video?

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grantt391mo ago

Had this happen on a lawn mower carb rebuild video last summer. The reply with the actually useful tip, which was to skip the aftermarket kit and reuse the old needle valve, was buried under a "show more" and had like 40 downvotes for some reason, probably because the uploader didn't want to hear it. Deleted and downvoted stuff is usually either junk or someone telling the truth that the creator hated. I always expand those now, and half the time the best fix is sitting right there behind the gray text.

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