Hi Reddit, don't really do this sort of thing often but I need some truly unbiased advice.

I run a youtube channel, not the biggest one by any means but I have a decent sized following of about 6.5K subs (I am not linking it here for privacy reasons). I started a couple years back but around last July (2024) I took a break due to my career taking my more time and just needing a break. Around the time I started youtube I met someone (lets call them David) who was in a similar boat to me. We were small and became fast friends. I shouted him out on my channel since my philosophy with youtube is that a high tide raises all ships. It costs you nothing to be kind, or help anyone and I try to do that as much as I can as even as a hobby it can be weird to navigate. I even invited him to my wedding that's happening in 2026, that's how important he is to me.

But early on in retrospect, there were some weird things. He grew faster than I did, and I was over the moon for him. Not in a fake way but in a genuine "I am happy for you man" way. And for a while, things were fine. We hung out, talked shop, things were good. But then little things would come up. He would do a collaborative project with another person in our field, but then not do one with me because "we make different style of stuff" but then the collaborative project would be with someone much larger than both of us in terms of sub count, and make the same kind of videos I did. Talk about hanging out with people both of us looked up to, but when I asked to get introduced he would backpedal saying "well it is not my server [on discord], don't wanna cause a fuss" etc (by the way, I am in that same discord now, and getting people in is as easy as asking "yo this guy makes good stuff can I invite him" and I have done this at least 3 times with different people). And this was within a few months of us meeting. I did not think about this much at the time, but in retrospect that seems a bit odd. (To be clear, I am not the social climbing leech type. I like talking shop and learning new skills in a professional sense. I am not the fanboy type either, I just like getting to know people and talking to them.)

Fast forward about 6 months, I take some time off. And during this time off he makes a happy 1 year of my channel video. He had made a similar video for a subscriber milestone a few months prior, and in the "thanking special people" section (or whatever equivalent it is, you know the drill) he mentioned me and a few others. Which was nice. But in the aformentioned 1 year anniversary video, he mentions a bunch of other people that are all universally larger in sub count than he is, and mentions "other folks who have helped me" and my channel icon is small and in the corner. This was a jarring change to me, and it felt really odd, but I brushed it off because I did not want to make it a fuss.

But as time has gone on me and him have talked less and less. I tried to reach out, but I would get weeks without a response, unless it was for something he needed. He is exclusively hanging out with larger youtubers, and it feels like that I have been forgotten without a word being said. Nothing happened between us. I didn't start an arguement, or be rude, or anything. It just happened. And I see him posting videos with his new "friends" etc, and to be honest it makes my blood boil. I feel really hurt. To be clear, none of this is to do with his succcess on youtube. I am still very happy for him and want nothing but the best for him. But I feel like he forgot me as a friend, and there is nothing I can do about it. It doesn't even seem like he is even aware this is happening at all, and I don't feel like I can say anything without coming across as either desperate or paranoid.

Am I overreacting here? Am I weird to feel like this? Really would appreciate some words of wisdom.