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I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

kottke.org

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Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#131

Post by dan-robertson »

rockinghigh wrote: post #96
reggieband wrote: post #62

I watch a lot of YouTube and a fair amount of Twitch. Sooner or later every creator talks a bit about their anxiety working in that content creator grind. On Twitch, taking a day off may mean losing hundreds of subscribers. Streamers are cautious about taking bathroom breaks since they can lose thousands of viewers during a short break. YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a consistent schedule.…

> YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a consistent schedule. I imagine TikTok and Instagram are similar. Older videos are naturally downranked because users want fresh content. The age of a post is a strong predictor of user interaction. However, it doesn't mean Youtube actively punishes less frequent creators. YouTube actually promotes a lot of old content (>1 year old) compared to other platfo…

Isn’t an innovation[1] of TikTok that it happily recommends old content as well as using user feedback as a stronger signal?

[1] that is, something they do and make a success of rather than some totally original idea.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#132

Post by jacquesm »

haswell wrote: post #129
jacquesm wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make sure to really take your time, assuming you can afford it. It took me 3 years to get back on my feet after a major case of burn-out and I was done with the business world for a long time after that.

It's helpful to hear anecdotes like this. My minimum time will be 6 months, but I have entertained up to a year depending on how these 6 months go. Thankfully I've saved enough to cover even more time if I really need it. I hear you on the business burnout. That's the part I could see taking...a good while for myself.

Much strength, mail me if you feel like.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#133

Post by LigmaYC »

mkr-hn wrote: post #60
naikrovek wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I wish therapy were more accessible and better regulated. You shouldn't have to still be so upset about a normal early adopter experience 27 years later that you unload on strangers like this.

Therapy doesn't have a monopoly on being able to control your emotions.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#134

Post by LigmaYC »

mwidell wrote: post #76
reggieband wrote: post #62

I watch a lot of YouTube and a fair amount of Twitch. Sooner or later every creator talks a bit about their anxiety working in that content creator grind. On Twitch, taking a day off may mean losing hundreds of subscribers. Streamers are cautious about taking bathroom breaks since they can lose thousands of viewers during a short break. YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a consistent schedule.…

Youtube does not punish you if you are not consistent. That is simply a myth. There are plenty of very successful youtubers who only publish occasionally or irregularly.

Those successful youtubers grew their audience publishing regularly and then switched to publishing irregularly after.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#135

Post by wolverine876 »

mkr-hn wrote: post #123
wolverine876 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the problem with the comment? (Perhaps it was edited between our responses?)

Describing someone else's success as messed up while riding the line between venting and emotional dumping. Blogging was seen as a weird nerd thing until the 2000s and got the usual response. I doubt Jason Kottke was spared the same experience. I sure wasn't! But I went a healthier path and took the chain of failures and small wins as learning experiences that have served me well in the years since. Some people get b…

That comment is hardly in the top 33% of emotional outbursts I've seen on HN. Are people just defensive about their favorite blogger? That comment was nothing personal about Kottke unless you squint and read it literally.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#136

Post by naikrovek »

wolverine876 wrote: post #135
mkr-hn wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Describing someone else's success as messed up while riding the line between venting and emotional dumping. Blogging was seen as a weird nerd thing until the 2000s and got the usual response. I doubt Jason Kottke was spared the same experience. I sure wasn't! But I went a healthier path and took the chain of failures and small wins as learning experiences that have served me well in the years since. Some people get b…

That comment is hardly in the top 33% of emotional outbursts I've seen on HN. Are people just defensive about their favorite blogger? That comment was nothing personal about Kottke unless you squint and read it literally.

it isn't about kottke.

it's about people pressing their will on me simply because they didn't like what I was doing, with a vague follow-through that humanity is doomed because this is just how we are to each other.

it's how humans treat each other that I was saying is "messed up", because it is messed up. we are doomed.

the number of people that can follow the written word is astonishingly small, these days. I'm not a professional author, I don't have that skill, but I was not hiding my meaning in any way.

many readers just ascribe a personality to an author of a comment depending on their own mood at the time, then color their view of the entire passage as if that was the mood intended by the author, and they don't even realize they've done it.

these people vote, too.

doomed, I say.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#137

Post by [deleted] »

dhosek wrote: post #73
thecrumb wrote: post #43

Must be wonderful to actually have the luxury to step away... I'm living the American dream - to work a non-rewarding job for no other reason other than health insurance. How do people manage these sabbaticals? Are they just wealthy enough so they don't need income?

I take 1/6 of every paycheck¹ and put it in a CD ladder. This enables me (in theory) to take every seventh year off. I would be taking next year off except I ended up taking an unplanned 6-month break last year because of Covid, so I'm going to wait until 2025 for my next sabbatical. One key thing is to live a far below your means as possible. ⸻ 1. I also put half of any “extra” income that comes my way and if I slid…

[deleted]

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#138

Post by manquer »

echelon wrote: post #109
manquer wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same as between making tv series of 5-6 episodes or one of 24 episodes/season or a soap opera doing 200+ episodes a year. YT as a platform works for all kinds of producers , but as a content creator you are the in the space of high volume low quality content then yes publishing frequently is a must. However if you are high quality low volume creator who is almost guaranteed tens of million views you could…

It's almost as if YouTube can distinguish between the type and quality of content when choosing how to weight distribution. (I'm sure it does, and I'd like to know more about the algorithm.)

It would be nice to know academically, however am not so sure it would benefit us as users.

YT like Search is heavily targeted for SEO, having access to the algorithm will just make it easier for exploitation , we will get even more low quality low effort content in our feeds than now. More good creators will leave the platform.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#139

Post by [deleted] »

nightski wrote: post #81
mgkimsal wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may pay half, or most, or all, or none. OP didn't say explicitly? But... you may not be able to get your own with any tax benefits if your company offers something and you choose not to take it. That's my understanding anyway. And... health insurance is just totally hosed in the US, with regulations like that on the books. Take employers out of the equation. Let everyone buy their own, and/or, institute some bas…

For a family yes it gets crazy. But as a self employed mid-thirties person it wasn't too terrible. $300/mo, $1,500 deductible, etc.. Yes expensive, but doable for someone determined enough.

[deleted]

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#140

Post by MrDresden »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #119
MrDresden wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to quit 2 months ago due to burnout. My manager told me to rather go on extended sick leave, and contact him in 6 months if I felt like coming back.

Doesn't extended leave mean they don't pay you, they just won't fire you.

I'm in the nordics where unions are still strong, so I have the option of taking almost a full year off with full pay.
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