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Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

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Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#111

Post by blhack »

basisword wrote: post #59

Does anyone here spend much of their usual 'entertainment' time watching YouTube (specifically content creators not TED talks and such)? I started doing it recently just to see what all the fuss is about as it seems pretty common for younger people (and I'm 26 so it's not like I'm old but I didn't do it). After subscribing to a few channels I started watching stuff regularly. Basically if I want to kill 10 mins I'll…

It's all about what you subscribe to.

If you like building stuff, and industrial tools: https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil

If you want to learn about sailboat cruising: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantrautman

I have always been interested in ways to make videos better, so: https://www.youtube.com/user/caseyneistat

(He's also just an interesting, motivating person)

There are some other, really good channels about machining (precision metal working):

Oxtoolco, Keith Fenner's channel.

--

I think the thing about youtube that made it click for me was watching primarily content that is at least somewhat educational. I know a lot more about sailboat cruising because of watching delos than I did before, and as a guy living in landlocked Phoenix AZ, that is pretty cool :)

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#112

Post by nommm-nommm »

philangist wrote: post #102
evilDagmar wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The WSJ may have sensationalized things, but PewDiePie legitimately made those incredibly tacky statements and "jokes" all by himself. We don't need that type of tactless behavior in online gaming. What happens on 4chan should stay on 4chan.

Who are you to police what we do or don't need in online gaming? Why is your definition of tactless behavior more valid than mine? All of this just seems like recreational outrage from the outside looking in.

People are allowed to form an opinion on things. They are even allowed to publish that opinion online. That's not "policing."

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#113

Post by k-mcgrady »

jzymbaluk wrote: post #101
basisword wrote: post #59

Does anyone here spend much of their usual 'entertainment' time watching YouTube (specifically content creators not TED talks and such)? I started doing it recently just to see what all the fuss is about as it seems pretty common for younger people (and I'm 26 so it's not like I'm old but I didn't do it). After subscribing to a few channels I started watching stuff regularly. Basically if I want to kill 10 mins I'll…

I definitely spend a lot of my entertainment time watching youtube. I really agree what you're saying as far as big content creators not offering much substance to their videos, but it's wrong to think that the "big youtubers" are the only ones making things on Youtube. I have my subscriptions filled with some pretty amazing smaller youtubers who are making great, cerebral content all the time. I'm more interested in…

Definitely some interesting stuff there so thanks for sharing. I do agree there is interesting stuff to be found I just find it really hard to see why the popular content is popular (other than the personality cult I mentioned). And I'm usually someone who is perfectly happy enjoying mainstream/popular content (I'm not that discerning) so found it odd.

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#114

Post by geofft »

ekianjo wrote: post #84
raesene6 wrote: post #39

I've been watching Youtube vids for a long time (well relatively, like 10+ years) and it's one of my primary forms of entertainment. It has been very interesting to see youtubers come and go, a lot of them seem to burn out on the schedule of trying to produce content regularly, which I can understand, anyone who's edited videos would realise the time it can take to produce something of good quality. Pewdiepie is an i…

> All reminded me of the quote generally attribued to cardinal Richelieu. It's worse than that. Richelieu was talking about absolute power of the State. Now the online power is made up of hordes of folks whose only reason to exist is to make their views the predominant ones and silence anyone who's diverging from them, even if that person was simply joking. There's a surprising good share of folks who are anti-Freedo…

I think that the power of hordes of folks to try to make their views the predominant one is nothing other than a cynical phrasing of democracy, right? What is political freedom, if not the ability to work with like-minded others to advocate for or against a viewpoint? Should we censor people who wish to engage in this right?

And I am confused how anyone here was silenced. This person's views, and the views of everyone who objects, and the views of everyone who objects to the objection, are all public. The video is easily available. Discussion forums that have nothing to do with his usual material, like this one, are discussing it. There's rich public debate about what he said and why he said it, fueled by an independent press that is not constrained to write only what serves those in power (any sort of power), and fueled even more by social media.

This seems like the epitome of freedom of expression. If I saw someone say "Hitler was right" and nobody commented on it, I would wonder where freedom of expression went!

Remember that the position that Hitler was indeed right is not one that lacks for support. The third Google result for me for 'pewdiepie hitler' is from The Daily Stormer, an actual, non-joking Neo-Nazi website, and the comments are celebrating how PewDiePie's viewers are being "red pilled" into understanding that Hitler's position is defensible.

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#115

Post by blhack »

and0 wrote: post #29

Went into the article expecting it to be silly, but there were actually a ton of interesting insights, especially about how no one knows how to manage these celebrities. Also, slowbeef is being humble; he literally invented the LP and curated the scene forever ago. His Metal Gear 2 annotated playthrough (from the mid-00s at the latest, I'm remembering HTML tables) was absolutely hysterical (at least to my teenage sel…

To anyone who was initially confused here, "LP" means "Let's play" (watch somebody play videogames), not "Long Play" (record).

I didn't think I was that old...

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#116

Post by pdkl95 »

The internet has changed the nature of "fame". In the past, you needed to generally buy into fame. To be famous, you needed managers, publicists, etc. Media access was a limited resource that was handed out only to those that met approval.

This created in the audience certain expectations about what it means to be famous. Don't treat the audience wrong or do anything too far outside those expectations or face the audience's wrath.

The internet changed what it means to be "famous" because the internet is media access. Unfortunately, the sociology of the audience hasn't caught up and often still apply the old expectations.

In the past, it was possible to walk away from fame because it wasn't your normal life. Being famous was a job you could (usually) leave. However, a lot of people that have become famous through the internet cannot leave. It was their normal life that became famous. Tight coupling between fame and personal life causes or amplifies a lot of these problems.

For a much better explanation, I highly recommend watching Innuendo Studios' video essay "This is Phil Fish"[1]. In spite of the name, it isn't really about Phil Fish. It's about everybody who isn't Phil Fish and how they (miss-)handle internet celebrity.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-owa2w

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#117

Post by driverdan »

basisword wrote: post #59

Does anyone here spend much of their usual 'entertainment' time watching YouTube (specifically content creators not TED talks and such)? I started doing it recently just to see what all the fuss is about as it seems pretty common for younger people (and I'm 26 so it's not like I'm old but I didn't do it). After subscribing to a few channels I started watching stuff regularly. Basically if I want to kill 10 mins I'll…

I watch a lot of YT, usually 1-2h per day. It's often on in the background while I do something else.

I watch a lot of "let's play" and other game videos, mostly with well known YT personalities. Their format may be different than a "crappy 20min sitcom" but their value is the same, entertainment. You don't watch a sitcom for the story, you watch it to turn your brain off and laugh.

Just like a sitcom you get more out of YT videos if you've watched the whole series. There will be running jokes and references.

Keep in mind that a lot of top YT content is targeted at 12 year old boys. Unless you fit the demographic you're not going to enjoy it. Keep trying other channels. There are so many people on YT putting out quality content that it's nearly impossible to not find something you'll like.

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#118

Post by fragmede »

basisword wrote: post #59

Does anyone here spend much of their usual 'entertainment' time watching YouTube (specifically content creators not TED talks and such)? I started doing it recently just to see what all the fuss is about as it seems pretty common for younger people (and I'm 26 so it's not like I'm old but I didn't do it). After subscribing to a few channels I started watching stuff regularly. Basically if I want to kill 10 mins I'll…

That conversation was had back in 2006 when Google acquired YouTube for $1.6 billion. Some things have changed then. Smartphones are better; HBO's now available wholly online; Hulu's trying to compete with Netflix, but they're terrible at it so Netflix's going strong. Justin Beiber managed to cross-over to mainstream fame though got his start on YouTube. Youtube added advertising and then made a subscription service with a terribad name. Facebook bought Instagram, then IPO'd, so did SNAP. None of that really affects YouTube though.

There are alternatives; Snapchat stories, Vimeo, AWS has a video distribution system available without Amazon branding. YouTube is still the defacto standard for "me and my buddies made a video and want to put it online for the world to see."

The lesson I've learned is that branding is everything. The technical side of putting up a video on website is easier than ever these days, thanks to the march of technology, but Youtube lives on.

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#119

Post by k-mcgrady »

aembleton wrote: post #77
basisword wrote: post #59

Does anyone here spend much of their usual 'entertainment' time watching YouTube (specifically content creators not TED talks and such)? I started doing it recently just to see what all the fuss is about as it seems pretty common for younger people (and I'm 26 so it's not like I'm old but I didn't do it). After subscribing to a few channels I started watching stuff regularly. Basically if I want to kill 10 mins I'll…

I'm 34 and I probably spend at lest an hour each evening that I'm at home watching YouTube. I don't watch any fiction on YouTube except for Adrian Bliss [1] who mocked vloggers and actually has story arcs running through the videos. I subscribe to many channels but my favourites are Casey Neistat [2], mainly just from the production quality point of view. Tom Scott [3] because he just covers some very interesting top…

>> my favourites are Casey Neistat [2], mainly just from the production quality point of view

Cool, thanks for the reply. This is one of the channels I'm following. I have seen the occasional cool video (there was a motivational one a few weeks back I loved[0]) but largely it's just some dude running and not doing/saying very interesting things. You mention production quality which is interesting as one of the types of comment I see often on his and other videos is "awesome transition/angle/effect" (he even did a video last week where the premise was "here's a cool new transition I'm gonna use for the next 10 mins".

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7dSXcfVqE

Re: Reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber

#120

Post by soundwave106 »

ekianjo wrote: post #84
raesene6 wrote: post #39

I've been watching Youtube vids for a long time (well relatively, like 10+ years) and it's one of my primary forms of entertainment. It has been very interesting to see youtubers come and go, a lot of them seem to burn out on the schedule of trying to produce content regularly, which I can understand, anyone who's edited videos would realise the time it can take to produce something of good quality. Pewdiepie is an i…

> All reminded me of the quote generally attribued to cardinal Richelieu. It's worse than that. Richelieu was talking about absolute power of the State. Now the online power is made up of hordes of folks whose only reason to exist is to make their views the predominant ones and silence anyone who's diverging from them, even if that person was simply joking. There's a surprising good share of folks who are anti-Freedo…

No need to restrict this to generations; I think there always has been a core crowd out there who are outraged, shocked, offended, etc. for various reasons. Bartweiss's HN comment where he compared these type of Youtube hosts with morning radio shock jocks (which really had their peak in the 1980s and 1990s) rings true to me; there was plenty of controversy and public outrages etc. during those times when one of them "went too far".

(Besides, I think that the "outraged" crowd often shoots themselves in the foot. If the content is not terribly out of taste, then the controversial content often get an added allure that may make it more popular. This was even true in much older times, books that were "banned in Boston" in the early 20th century often became more popular as a result...)

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