Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

Post by throwaway2048 » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC

asperous wrote: post #35

anon1m0us wrote: post #9

What they should do is collectively take their content somewhere else. As an aside, I'm seeing the same pattern at Amazon. People thought they were opening a business on amazon selling retail. Then amazon started selling the profitable products themselves, storing the products themselves, ... basically doing more and more of the work and taking more control and taking money from the people who helped them become powe…

> What they should do is collectively take their content somewhere else. The problem is the economics won't be any better anywhere else. Youtube is the way it is because of all the many stakeholders (viewers responding to clickbait, politicians, copyright holders, bad actors etc). Any other platform would eventually have the same problems and either cave into them, or be sued into oblivion. As for the ad-related issu…

Post by bovermyer » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC

anon1m0us wrote: post #39

mrec wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The internet has turned to garbage. The ad-supported internet has turned to garbage. The academic and hobbyist internet is fine, and not that much different from the old days. The governmental internet depends a lot on where you are, but .gov.uk is really rather good, and vastly better at what it does than snailmail and Post Offices were in the old days.

I went to a government website the other day. 5 pages of forms I filled out several times. Each time on the final page, "system error, cannot proceed." I called the agency, they said, "You should print out the PDF, fill that out and bring it to our office." Can you believe that?? There aren't enough programmers to make the .gov stuff work right because FAANG is buying them all. So, I'm not sure you are right on that.

Post by Kalium » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC

anon1m0us wrote: post #39

mrec wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The internet has turned to garbage. The ad-supported internet has turned to garbage. The academic and hobbyist internet is fine, and not that much different from the old days. The governmental internet depends a lot on where you are, but .gov.uk is really rather good, and vastly better at what it does than snailmail and Post Offices were in the old days.

I went to a government website the other day. 5 pages of forms I filled out several times. Each time on the final page, "system error, cannot proceed." I called the agency, they said, "You should print out the PDF, fill that out and bring it to our office." Can you believe that?? There aren't enough programmers to make the .gov stuff work right because FAANG is buying them all. So, I'm not sure you are right on that.

Post by frgtpsswrdlame » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #38

perfmode wrote: post #15

what is it about collective action that triggers contempt so quickly and automatically for those attempting to organize? many comments in this thread show contempt for the organizers in a way that is readily visible.

Old days people ascribe many businesses imploding because of union intransigence, some of which was true. These days those in the know of the fleecing of the taxpayer by government employee unions at state, county, and city, levels. The very same groups betting on a Federal Bailout to their bloated and grandiose pension plans. Using Illinois as an example [1] but understand that Chicago is in bad shape with the inabi…

Post by bluedino » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 5:58 PM UTC

ebiester wrote: post #45

notahacker wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure the reduced engagement would move the needle that much. I suspect many of the most loyal fans would reduce their (current and future) engagement with the striking YouTubers' channels rather than YouTube as a whole. Since the purpose of a strike is fundamentally to prove the employer needs its employees [nearly] as much as the employees need their salary, a strike which proves the opposite would be really…

However, viewers don't identify themselves with YouTube. If five channels I want to watch are off to another platform, I'll spend a half hour over there a week to watch them. It doesn't hurt me. Maybe I will still go to YouTube for other content. The brand loyalty isn't there. It isn't that YouTube has anything magic other than quantity.