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Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

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Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#881

Post by gamblor956 »

Uzo0312 wrote: post #851
gamblor956 wrote: post #792

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just because I have more exposure to the Hollywood side of this than you do, but you're very dismissive of BET and your other Hollywood competitors in a way that suggests you didn't do your research and that you're thinking that your tech backgrounds will magically let you jump into this market without actually knowing how it works. BET can never be all the way in on serving the black audience, as Viacom w…

Obviously, you seem to think very highly of what you know, and very little of what I know. First and foremost, the idea that I just have a tech background is probably where you've really misread me. I'm a media person through and through who developed with the times and tech industry's takeover by technical developments. Second, I 100% understand how BET is owned. I don't think anyone on Wall St. cares when a public…

First, my apologies for being unnecessarily mean in my critiques of your startup. My abrasiveness filter is set for Hollywood standards, not SV standards, and come off as unnecessarily harsh outside to those not in the entertainment industry.

But I stand by the substance of my comments about your startup, and please be aware that a number of them are simply me echoing the sanitized versions of comments I got from my Black friends in Hollywood after I sent them a link to your website. There comments were significantly harsher than what I passed along.

If you would like to talk to one of my friends in the Black Hollywood community, I can try to connect you with them. But please be advised that they will hold nothing back.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#882

Post by gamblor956 »

dang wrote: post #875
gamblor956 wrote: post #792

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just because I have more exposure to the Hollywood side of this than you do, but you're very dismissive of BET and your other Hollywood competitors in a way that suggests you didn't do your research and that you're thinking that your tech backgrounds will magically let you jump into this market without actually knowing how it works. BET can never be all the way in on serving the black audience, as Viacom w…

I'm late to this, but could you please stop being an asshole on HN? Your comments in this thread have at best straddled the line, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28076349 crossed it completely, and unfortunately your comment history is often that of a jerk: your posts frequently contain something abrasive, even as you also make interesting points. Your interesting points are worth reading, but the meanness is de…

My apologies dang.

Within the LA startup and entertainment communities, we are less politic in our critiques; LA's funding system is quite different from SV's, and harsh truths are more valued here than polite nothings. A thick skin is required to survive in the film industry. (It is an aphorism here that a true friend is someone who will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.)

My intention was not to be mean but to be straightforward, but I currently work in-house in entertainment so my abrasiveness filter is much less refined than it used to be. The comments I made were the sanitized versions of the critiques from people in the Black film industry who were initially interested in possibly working with BlackOakTV.

Unfortunately, there are now concerns about the role of non-Black investors in what is ostensibly a Black platform. Due to the politicized nature of the ongoing discussion, I will not go into further details on HN as that is likely to trigger a flame war over non-technical issues.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#883

Post by dang »

gamblor956 wrote: post #882
dang wrote: post #875

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm late to this, but could you please stop being an asshole on HN? Your comments in this thread have at best straddled the line, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28076349 crossed it completely, and unfortunately your comment history is often that of a jerk: your posts frequently contain something abrasive, even as you also make interesting points. Your interesting points are worth reading, but the meanness is de…

My apologies dang. Within the LA startup and entertainment communities, we are less politic in our critiques; LA's funding system is quite different from SV's, and harsh truths are more valued here than polite nothings. A thick skin is required to survive in the film industry. (It is an aphorism here that a true friend is someone who will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.) My intention was no…

Thank you. I wasn't having any problem with the substance of your comments, just their abrasiveness. If you had posted your critique without that, it would have been great, and if you'd do that in the future, we'd greatly appreciate it.

From my perspective this isn't an LA or SV issue or anything to do with "funding systems", it's a (rather shallow) internet issue that has simply to do with the tendency of internet discussion to degenerate rapidly, which is what we're trying to avoid here. Comments that would make sense in a smaller, private context become completely different beasts on the public internet; the medium is the message, etc.

I appreciate that you meant to be helpful and there was interesting information in your comments, which I imagine everyone, including the founders, appreciated.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#885

Post by Gradient-Ascent »

runbathtime wrote: post #488

Question to the mods- Would it be okay to make a Netflix for white people company and post it to hacker news? Question for the founders- At least since Feb 2021, Amazon and Netflix have created and promoted black voices by creating a separate category. Is the problem you attempt to solve more visibility and is what Amazon doing insufficient?

Diversity means black people for Hollywood (gosh, there were so many differently tainted black people in "The Tomorrow War", but no Indian or Chinese). Black people are highly over represented in TV compared to the 13% of the population they are in the US. Black people have hit the jackpot when it comes to "diversity quotas", as opposed to Indian or Chinese.

The problem is, that as long as you do not live "in your country" you will always feel "off" when turning on the TV and watching any other culture you can't connect with, not matter the percentage.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#886

Post by Gradient-Ascent »

Diversity means black people for Hollywood (gosh, there were so many differently tainted black people in "The Tomorrow War", but no Indian or Chinese). Black people are highly over represented in TV compared to the 13% of the population they make up in the US, let's say "double": 26%. Black people have hit the jackpot when it comes to "diversity", as opposed to Indian, Chinese or others.

But all that does not matter: Nobody thinks "we are 13% of the population" so to see 26% representation in TV and movies is great.

No. Everyone is interested to 100% in what they are interested in (e.g. black cultural content TV-series, certain restaurants, certain fruits, certain meat and certain women), independent of the (bigger or smaller) share they have.

Being in the minority in a country really sucks. You are just kind of like the foreigner and other people run the place. Those people silently and to 100% safely conspire. The majority runs the place, they own the place. I was recently in Switzerland and "swiss-german" speaking people there will makes sure, that they stay in the majority and in control.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#887

Post by Gradient-Ascent »

mrits wrote: post #79

Netflix is already Netflix for black people.

I rented my apartment to a black couple on AirBnB for a month and it was a lot of "black content" suggested to me on YouTube after that. I think it is a problem of what "they" (Netflix, YouTube) suggest to you based on what they know about you. And I'd say they do this well. A problem big companies have and they have solved it. That makes it a double fail to target it "as a startup": Like working with no-sql outside of FAANG and 2. Trying to solve a solved problem.

But, hey, it is famous YC, so they might be successful anyway.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#888

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #750
risky_opinions wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm White. I'm not racist. I agree with your opinions of wanting more black stories. The fact so many people are capitalizing black and lower casing White is such a deliberate act of divisiveness. Stop doing this. You're turning moderate people into enemies. Everything is being turned into race and division to the point it's making my Asian partner and a lot of her friends in the Asian community mad at the black comm…

You capitalize "Black" for the same reason you capitalize "Spanish" or "Polish". It's a distinctive ethnicity and culture; it isn't simply a broad description of people sharing a skin color. You can read John McWhorter --- no friend to wokeism --- talking about how much better capital-B Black is as a description than any of the other weird terms we've come up with in the last 20 years. Nobody anywhere on this thread…

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#889

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #750
risky_opinions wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm White. I'm not racist. I agree with your opinions of wanting more black stories. The fact so many people are capitalizing black and lower casing White is such a deliberate act of divisiveness. Stop doing this. You're turning moderate people into enemies. Everything is being turned into race and division to the point it's making my Asian partner and a lot of her friends in the Asian community mad at the black comm…

You capitalize "Black" for the same reason you capitalize "Spanish" or "Polish". It's a distinctive ethnicity and culture; it isn't simply a broad description of people sharing a skin color. You can read John McWhorter --- no friend to wokeism --- talking about how much better capital-B Black is as a description than any of the other weird terms we've come up with in the last 20 years. Nobody anywhere on this thread…

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#890

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #750
risky_opinions wrote: post #668

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm White. I'm not racist. I agree with your opinions of wanting more black stories. The fact so many people are capitalizing black and lower casing White is such a deliberate act of divisiveness. Stop doing this. You're turning moderate people into enemies. Everything is being turned into race and division to the point it's making my Asian partner and a lot of her friends in the Asian community mad at the black comm…

You capitalize "Black" for the same reason you capitalize "Spanish" or "Polish". It's a distinctive ethnicity and culture; it isn't simply a broad description of people sharing a skin color. You can read John McWhorter --- no friend to wokeism --- talking about how much better capital-B Black is as a description than any of the other weird terms we've come up with in the last 20 years. Nobody anywhere on this thread…

[deleted]
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