I just wanna say it again for the sake of clarity - it is VERY cringe to go and be toxic to people shown/referenced in this video unless they're like, Jaystation levels of douchebaggery. Do not do it!!! Yes, even the react TH-camrs! They have feelings, probably! Anyway if you're as fed up with capitalism as I am then rebel against the system by consuming the merchandise of your favourite content spewer here; store.patchwork.gg/ socks and mugs and shirts, oh my! There's no better Christmas present!! Hating capitalism doesn't mean I ain't gotta make money
React TH-camrs have pride rather than feelings For reference: that one time I Hate Everything agitated them with one of his videos Edit: On a side note tho, streamers are kinda their own thing. The appeal of streamers isn't just them existing, it's them basically doing comedy and also when they manage to make entertaining and unique (or at the very least, uncommon) moments when playing a game. Among Us was a game that facilitated that greatly. Valkyrae was notable for what is called the Babushka Incident where one thing lead to another until it all culminated in one of the most entertaining rounds of Among Us Tho yeah I guess "content creator" has been loosely used. Kinda like "role-playing games" 😂
As I was watching this video I honestly thought “yeah but I’m different from the average TH-cam consumer” but as the video went on, I realized I really wasn’t. Like yeah I don’t watch all the trending and super big channels and I try to curate TH-cam to my interests which led me to this channel, but at the end of the day I still find myself skipping over videos that doesn’t immediately catch my eye with either the thumbnail or title, and even then sometimes I find myself clicking on and off a video over and over because I get bored within 5 or 6 minutes. Sometimes I’ll even do it with 3 or more videos at once. This video made me reflect on my role as a consumer and viewer on the TH-cam platform and I thank you for that. So all in all, pretty good video 👍
Uhh, clearly you didn't watch the video chief, he clearly asked us not to thank him at the end. Thanks for fucking nothing Fudj Good video tho, our attention span truly is getting fucked by the internet
@@armorelarmadura7807 Don’t care if he said not to thank him, he helped me with self realization with this video and I will thank him regardless of his thoughts on the matter.
I think part of that is convincing yourself you are skipping over the trash content when you ignore it which, yeah you most likely still are if you are aware if what they tend to look like at a glance, but it does mean you've also likely ignored an actually creative video that either didn't play the game enough to get your attention or leaned too much into it for you to think it would be generic YT trash.
Yeah, the stuff I actually watch/listen to at length with pleasure takes long enough that my sub box has more popcorn vids than the stuff I actually come to TH-cam for
The sheer irony of me watching this video fade to black and getting a back to back crypto ad into a Raid ad will probably never be lost on me. But seriously, if this is any sort of goodbye to the Fudj channel as we know I gotta say I'm disheartened because you've acknowledged all of my greatest fears with making things. The fact that I have to cast aside my creativity in some eays for the sake of making content in a timely manner, grinding out and pandering to a low common demoninator if I want to get anywhere quickly, capitalism. I was always keeping a close eye on this channel because I thought it was a beacon of keeping your originality while still having an online presence and I want to do that. I'm hoping you find a way to keep yourself and keep making the things you want to make. Probably an overly sentimental comment for some other pink guy I don't know but hey, I really like this channel
Good Video! I agree with the general sentiment but I also think you have to play the game to some degree, even if you plan on keeping your creative integrity. You can consider it similar to a DJ who plays at weddings and nightclubs to pay the bills while making their own music in their own time. You can't expect your own stuff to take off immediately, and you gotta do similar things in your field to get experience, skills, contacts and an audience. You have to make appealing videos to the TH-cam audience occasionally to draw people in, and hope they stay around for the unique stuff you have to offer. I found your channel through your smash ultimate video, but stayed around for whatever you upload at this point. A lot of creators are 'playing the game' to try and build a baseline for their future in entertainment, so why wouldn't you do what is 'optimal' (thumbnail faces, arrows, interesting titles). Sometimes you gotta put the pride aside because there's no point making your magnum opus when you have no audience.
You're right and you make a very good point, unfortunately I'm far too prideful lol - every time I try and "play the game" as it were I can't help but hate it, but fwiw I think you're an example of someone who does a great job of treading that line and maintaining their integrity :)
I haven’t gotten notifications for this channel for 3 months, but the one time they finally send me a notification you uploaded, it’s about how TH-cam is extremely flawed. Ironic.
The bell never works. At this point I just join discord servers of youtubers I like because they normally send a notification for every time they upload. You pretty much have to go out of your way to make sure you don’t miss a video
Yeah youtube randomly unsubbed me. I only saw this video on my home page and I realized I missed the last 2 uploads. I think the subscribe button is just useless now
As someone with 43k subs who only had 50 subs a year ago, I have some thoughts about TH-cam content and the algorithm, and why I don’t think it’s impossible to grow doing something you love in the current year: (gonna be a long one so buckle up) While watch time and clickthrough-rate are very important for getting into the algorithm, there’s a third element that gets overlooked: your genre and competition within that genre. The algorithm suggests videos that you want to watch based on your interests, and it does a pretty good job at it. Your interests can range from very oversaturated genres (Fortnite gameplay, reactions, video game essays/reviews) to more niche topics. You have a hard time blowing up in a saturated genre unless you can get a higher CTR and average watch-time than the top dogs. A specific genre that is less saturated however, has great potential (provided the topics/format are interesting). I chose to make speedrunning video essays because I have absolutely adored speedruns since 2012, I am very knowledgeable about various runs and the history, I keep up with mew developments, and that it is a very popular genre on youtube now, although it is still undersaturated. I had many ideas that would make for great videos people would want to watch, but don’t exist yet, such as “The History of the BLJ”. As a result, I gained an audience doing what I love, I feel motivated to be more creative with my format, and I’m excited to make videos out of all my ideas! However, it is VERY important to make videos that both you and your audience want and expect, otherwise like Fudj said, you fall into a trap. I had my big flop with a Minecraft speedrun video in August, since there was nothing in the title or in the video that made people believe it had any value. Up until that point, I had only made speedrun videos on Mario games, and that scared me that I pidgeonholed myself into making only Mario speedrun videos. Despite this, I made a video on how speedrunners beat the timed Ocarina of Time demo in Smash Bros Brawl, and it is now my most viewed video. The point with this is that you can make videos on your greatest passions and still succeed on TH-cam in the present-day. If you can present your passions to an audience you know will be curious about a topic from the title/thumbnail alone, you can make them enjoy anything, especially if it’s something you clearly care about. But also know that if something flops, you may wanna think of a new format/ideas (even if you love it) and double down on something that works (as long as you love it). If you are a creative, you can experiment and find a format you really enjoy and find successful simultaneously. It’s still possible!
I just wanna appreciate you for a moment. Your videos have been a constant highlight over the years, The Deview/WWR definitely being your best work. Believe me you're allowed to toot your own horn, they're seriously that good. Guaranteed hearty laughs each upload. I remember years ago when people half-joked about 'why do videos I spend literal minutes making always blow up, while the bigger projects flop haha'. Yeah? It's still the case. People just don't have the time nor attention span to watch videos where they're not gratified within the first minute, not even that. Probably far below that. It's difficult, and not to mention discouraging for creators to even create. Why pour hours upon hours of passion and creativity into something if there's little to no payoff? And I don't necessarily mean money; most people won't even see your video to begin with. The worst bit about posting anything creative is receiving no attention, feedback or recognition for what you've done. Anyway uh, gloom and doom aside, you've really inspired me to do content I want to do, rather than content the algorithm would like. The bank account hates it, but my mental health and general happiness appreciates it
The Matpat interview with the head of youtube you briefly clipped is fascinating. For all the flak one may give him, that one video is, in my opinion, a must watch to understand how the platform truly works, and sadly is more relevant now than when his grievances were aired.
I recently installed a browser extension called 'unhook' that removes YT's video reccomendations and automatically dumps me on my subscriptions page rather than the home feed when I click on the youtube symbol in the top left, and my experience with youtube has been much better since then. Weirdly, I also think I've subscribed to more channels since then too. Despite never seeing any reccomended videos anymore, discoverability of new content hasn't gone down because I actually use the search bar a lot more often. I feel, somewhat, like I'm back in control of the content I want to watch, instead of letting dumb thumnails catch my eye or leaving auto-play turned on. I've also been rewatching older videos a lot more too. I do think I still have a screen addiction. But unhook has given me to tools to control that a lot better I think.
I literally never use the trending page. If a video I would like is trending, it's from someone I'm already subscribed to and they show up in my recommended tab anyway.
24:16 - 24:28 you have no idea how hard this hits home for me. I never want to forget that I want to make stuff because I myself enjoy it. I want to live a good life, but I also don't want to fall victim to a system that forces my hand.
10 days ago!!! Absolutely crying and screaming and pissing all over that I missed this upload. Commenting before I start watching to hopefully add to my engagement.
As a trans woman, I keep getting Transphobic videos being recommended to me. And all I wanna do is watch you, one topic and so much more friendly creators
Yeah, while TH-cam could probably try making better features to help creators take off (or even just, actually improve the site's functionality instead removing features), that would still amount to using a wad of gum to patch up this crater of a problem. Unless, TH-cam can pull out a very, very stretchy wad of gum ... Anyway, most of the life and creativity has definitely been sucked out of the platform, you make a good point that it was a triple effort on everyone's part. Nothing lasts forever though, so I hope TH-cam can either somehow fix itself, or others use it's history to pave the way for a better platform
You talked a bit about TH-camrs thanking viewers for watching and viewers thanking TH-camrs for making videos, and how that's nonsensical since nobody owes anybody anything. I get where you're coming from, but I kind of disagree with this sentiment. If there's something I enjoy -- or even better, something that really helped me -- I'm thankful toward anyone who made that possible, and I think it's fair to thank them for it. I've thanked friends who recommended me good series, and I've even thanked creators of shows that helped me deal with stuff. You could also say that people cheering at concerts is an expression of appreciation, and that's entirely natural as well. No audience owes an applause to the performer as it's just a business transaction at the core (performer gets money; audience gets entertainment), but it feels only right to show that appreciation for the performance Just the same, I'm thankful you're making videos and especially staying yourself in them. It's been a really nice journey, and I'm sad to hear it's likely going to end, and I wish you all the best, since you deserve it. Since I'm a bit in the mood to reminisce, my favorite video of yours is the one where you list the top 5 worst Mario Party boards to live on. The one that helped me the most is your video about autism. And yes, I thank you for these videos
The bad thing is also that when we subscribe we spend hours a month telling youtube OVER AND OVER we don't like a channel, a song and guess what? The "hits" keep on coming. Almost fraudulent except they never said they did NOT do this to us consumers. Stupidist AI we ever saw...lolz other wise, hey it plays mp3s without cops coming to our houses.
Here's the flaws wth solutions: ads. (Solution, use adblock or yt premium.) Community strike for no reason: (solution prey to yt you don't get one) dislike removal: (solution: get an extension that adds them back) demonitised? Make baby songs but not too baby.
This internet stranger believes you are making real things. This internet stranger also believes there's more in life than what the world offers. But that's its own story.
I'm a viewer who started on your Smash Ultimate critique and stayed through your De-views with a smile on my face. I agree with a lot of the points in your video, but there's something I think is worth considering about TH-cam and your relationship to it: TH-cam is the home of derivative content. The most popular content on this site is usually derived from something with larger cultural inertia. This is most nakedly obvious with reaction videos, a terrible genre that wouldn't pass the transformative clause of fair use if anyone brought them to court. However, even the stuff I really enjoy like video essays, retrospectives and the occasional wacky video game challenge are derivative of something else. Video essays discuss video games that you can play, music that you can listen to (or maybe even perform!), television you can watch, or books you can read. Most of these forms of high quality content are not directly derived from anything other than the creator's imaginations & creative skills, but they're often gated behind paid services. In old days you would even pay for access to them, like movie tickets or physical book copies. This paid access exists to help the creators (or their handlers) and often forms a barrier between the established and the non-established, which reinforces the capitalistic model that would grow to consume TH-cam. With market share for magazines and newspapers shrinking, and an easy entry barrier, it only makes sense that the discourse and review communities would land on TH-cam. You can be creative and make original content for this site, but it will forever be drowned out by the cultural commentary community. In addition, TH-cam doesn't treat high quality creatives well enough to keep them. Think about Adam Conover, the guy who wrote the brilliant "Adam Ruins Everything" sketches on TH-cam. They did exceptionally well, but TH-cam would not accommodate Adam's work enough to justify production costs, so he moved his pitch to Television. TH-cam's hostility will endlessly push the most talented and most relevant creatives out of its workspace. Even if you don't support large creative capital and want to focus on independent musicians, Bandcamp is a much better home for serious career musicians than TH-cam. Bands like Imperial Triumphant or Stabscotch make deep, moving and relevant work that TH-cam would never properly compensate them for. They would have to exist elsewhere to sustain themselves. I think if TH-cam wanted to allow independent creatives to run the site, it would need nothing short of an economic revolution to do so, which is where you and I agree. However, if capitalism was solved somehow, I still think TH-cam would be the home of analysts and wacky "content" creators above anything else.
...and then you get to the part of the video where you agree with me. God damn it why did I write a comment at the 25:00 minute mark when you'd agree with me by the 26:00 minute mark??
Click my picture to have- wait no, sorry. Ads took over the brain there for a sec. Anyway, amazing video. I can't add anything to this. You nailed THE problem with TH-cam, and by extension, the society that created it. Once you realize that market forces are dictating almost everything in modern life.. and you truly understand how sad that makes everything, you'll see it everywhere. Everyone needs a copyright, a spin, and angle... A... *Sigh* BRAND. Peoples actual real life personality is a brand now. Always was, in a way, but now we have to treat it as a brand or you get left behind. In life, socially, in your career, everything. It's just a matter of time before the capitalist mindset takes over your personality, at this point. Welcome to hell, at least you can go buy weed now without being arrested... I guess. Some sugar to make the reality go down.
I find it so ... I don't know how to feel about the fact that nowadays literally ANYBODY can take a camera, record themselves say something about something and put it out there. Because up until the age of the internet if you wanted to do that you had to be a rich European white dude (probably gay though), learn Latin and Ancient Greek, get acquainted with some kind of university and read everything anybody had ever written up to that point in order to earn the right to publish a book or a philosophical article. TH-cam today is a platform that does the same thing as scientific journals, the only difference being that there is virtually no entry hurdle. But the average video essay is probably not very different from the average journal article from a couple hundred years ago, because people weren't that much smarter back then. I'd like to believe that one day some smart kids will create something like a TH-cam university where you create video essays instead of writing essays, and there will be a system on how to properly cite other youtube videos, both in terms of video and audio, and in order to graduate you have to create a two hour contrapoints-style video and there will be channels that publish video essays and your only purpose as a scholar will be to get published by those channels so in the end it will be the very same thing as academia today, just on TH-cam. And on the way there we will be able to enjoy a short period where TH-cam will flourish because it will be regarded as a serious platform for smart people to publish interesting thoughts.
TH-cam's goal isn't to make the best platform they can, but the most profitable platform. As much as Billionaires want to tell you that these things lead to the same, they won't and it's obvious.
This video Just...scares me, i'm planning to come back on an old TH-cam Channel i made but i'm really scared It won't go anywhere with the things that are happening right now.
Just make videos that you would watch yourself and videos you know people would wanna watch! I went from 50 subs to over 10k in 2020! Just do it man. It’s not too late
As someone whose editing style is heavily influenced by their watch time being 95% TH-cam Poop, it's sad the 'social media economy' neglects raw creative effort. I might be a small fry with only triple-digit subs, but it's the same no matter where you go; I can shit out a dozen zero-effort (but nice as hell) Elite Smash Olimar clips (I swear Olimar is a cool character) with clickbaity lowercase titles, and reel in almost 2x viewers on average than I do a creative shitpost with effort that would at worst be classified as 'satisfactory' by a marking rubric. My fastest growing video is one minute and eighteen seconds of me downloading an NFT video series from a terminal just so I can entice viewers by calling it a World Record TAS speedrun done in zero right clicks. And the entire video is explained within the thumbnail and the title. Shit's soulless, man. Soulless - and pointless. And yet, the cycle of those who click, and those who are incentivised to create such content, give it a point.
For what it's worth, on TH-cam - I don't feel like I'm a human. The viewer gets the shaft too because they miss out on the best stuff that they Just Aren't Seeing. Otherwise? Maybe I get top comment. Maybe I get a like. Engagement as an end-user feels so empty and antisocial, and boils down to making The Funny Joke associated with a timestamp - "0: 00 pov you're something something and boss music starts playing" etc etc etc. It sucks. While TH-camrs play the algorithm, commenters are doing something similar, albeit less algorithmic. And while this is tangent is somewhat unrelated, even comments are starting to feel "less organic". Oh right on another completely unrelated note try going through your subscription list some time and unsubscribe from channels you absolutely do not watch. Another problem I find these days is viewers being subscribed to so many people that the channels that actually matter to them kinda fall by the wayside, and you're an Empty Subscriber to larger channels that probably aren't getting your watch time anyhow. I think we get into the habit of subscribing without even really thinking about "will this creator matter to me in a few weeks? does this creator's catalogue make me want to come back later?". I know for sure that once I fell behind on [Let's Player That I Liked 8 Years Ago] that I probably won't bother with their content now.
I think it's less on capitalism than you think it is. Because if it was about capitalism then the viewers is what TH-cam would try to focus on. TH-cam has been prioritizing investors more than its viewers. We see this with the removal of the dislike button, them banning certain creators, and its terrible copy strike system.
Not sure I follow - investors are capitalists, viewers are not. Investors are the ones who are interested in profit, they're the ones who don't care about what the videos are, all they care about is that the capital they put in turns into more capital in the future. If that isn't about capitalism, then what is?
Capitalism is selling a products, and the success of those products based on supply and demand. There was no demand by consumers to remove the dislike button. The removal comes from corporatism.
@@user-ju1gp8by8i Capitalism is when a society is structured around private ownership of capital/the means of production (i.e. land, tools, money, "intellectual property" etc.), and the entities with that ownership exploiting other people's labour in order to profit themselves. The creation and sale of products based on demand has existed long before the creation of capitalism.
Thanks for your time on this, Fudj. Do you like American cookies or British biscuits more? I never want to directly address the elephant in this video’s room in case it actually *prevents* a deserved and wanted stampede.
I found your argument generally quite agreeable except for its conclusion; on the whole I agree that Art is actually antithetical to the aims of capatlism but not just in the realm of TH-cam, in all ways through all history and all of life. The aims of the artist are to express themselves, in vulnerability, to collaborate with the audience in the act of performance or revaltion of a work, and to produce something of quality and meaning that lasts and transcends medium, time or place. Ok enough of sniffing the cork, what I am saying is that art has never had priority on this platform. Are you forgetting the early days of TH-cam? Smosh? William Ray Johnson? Fred? Popularity has always followed the same formula of easily digestible basic content. So pining for the early days or saying the platform has changed isn't super convincing. Even Bo Burnham was just saying TH-cam has become more corporate (not nessesarily less trashy) If we look at history often the most popular movies and songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s are often forgotten, they were transient trash tho some gems existed. And this is the rare exception, when something that truly has value and quality happens to intersect and connect with a mainstream audience while still maintaining its integrity, the first Alien film seems like an example.tho even that wasn't hyper succesful originally. Bo Burnhams career really is the exception and he is very lucky to have the reach he has while creating things of integrity and value. Capatalism stands to grind the whole world into a machine capable of create profit. A mountain becomes something to be mined and processed and made into metal. A forest becomes simply a fuel supply and material for building. It's true beauty and power is disrespected in both cases. So why is this any different with art? You're 100% right 'content' kills art. Always has been. And finally, as a word of encouragement art will always exist. People creating things of meaning and Integrity will always exist. You just have to look for it. I've found a lot on TH-cam even, as Bo Burnham suggested. God speed fudj.
It’s just supply and demand mate. If something that more people then you like then it’s obviously going to make more money don’t get salty if your niche thing doesn’t become radically popular. You can’t force people to like something more “artistic” because ultimately art is subjective. You can convince people to like a certain thing but you can’t just force a certain type of art.
@@aranbutcher4655 wrong actually. Most successfully mediums are not art as much as they are products to be sold and consumed. So in a capitalist system the monetary success of a work is all that is judged. I hate the idea that art is 100 % objective as if no one can succeed or fail at art. Art and its true expression will always be at odds with the aim of capitalism. Capitalism destroys art by asking art to become a product, ie 'popularity'
@@awogbob yes but guess what you can go off and make your own piece of art for a small niche crowd for free all you want but you aren’t entitled to any support if no one finds value in it. You have a lot more creative freedom in any capitalist country verses a communist one
@@awogbob you want to have your cake and eat it too. Art is a product that’s how artists get support unless you want the state to essentially steal from the public to find something the vast majority of them don’t like/wouldn’t be willing to pay for just because state bureaucrats consider it “good art”. Ultimately art thrives under capitalism due to longevity although there is a lot of crap (as is inevitable with creative energy) the truely valuable stuff lasts and is recognised decades after it is made like an investment no one will remember the latest popular tiktok but a fine short film or poem can define a generation.
Everything you said was right but there is one thing that is important. We shouldn't compare ourselves to people we don't like and enjoy etc. If you are good at something and passionate about, just do it. I like intelligent content and this content doesn't have to be popular, it is my hobby. TH-cam is just mass culture, we don't have to watch this. Everything you said was correct but I don't agree that TH-cam is not a place for a particular content because this content is not a part of mass culture, it is not true. Gaming used to be great when it was small, now it is casual trash but we still exist and there are still great games, we are just a minority and it is okay for me. I am sad because of the current state of gaming but I still have my brain to decide what to do.
Very good video, gave it a watch from start to end- you're 100% right with people being the problem and capitalism especially, with any media you can see the most clickbait things first because that's what we love to click on, whether it be criticisms, ragebait, etc. Media being so easily widely accessible along with the algorithm that panders to our horrific attention span, I'm sure that's the first and the biggest reason why algorithms end up churning garbage because most of us don't have the attention to get into the nitty gritty details of a situation they just want hot takes and go about their day- your point about youTube replacing TV resonated especially with me I'm very guilty of just leaving some nonsense on in the background just to get by sometimes even if I'm not actively listening, its just background noise
Well, I won't thank you for making your videos. But I will write this comment, and like this video, because your content(sorry, "stuff") has given me something to think about, and I think that's worth engaging with.
the speech at 10:27 is why I love TH-cam Peel back the layers and the look past the superficial stuff and you find just raw humanity. Dude, I love hearing you talk about your journey, you well and truly are a hero to me. Your stories are so relatable I moved into a room a few months back so I could downsize and focus on my passions. I sacrificed a lot to continue being a TH-camr. people in this building thought it was cool and that I was rich or something but I was like, nah mate, four years and it's been a huge loss. But I couldn't be happier. TH-cam has still changed my life. I only started my channel to entertain myself and my best friend but somehow 300+ people also like what I do, and that's been the biggest reward for me. Connecting to other normal people on common ground and getting the chance to talk to genuine, amazing, ordinary people I recommend your deviews and world's worst reviews to other autistic small youtubers looking for inspiration About "reactionary content", does this include live streaming video games? Fudj's ability to bring me to tears by the end is unparalleled
Loved the video, I like some of the points you bring up too. At its core, the issue is just in tandem with how society just is. Any site that tries to remedy it will eventually fall into the same bucket after a while. To me, video essays are some of my favorite types of content on this platform. I think they strike the PERFECT balance between playing the TH-cam game, while staying intriguing and having plenty of room for creativity. I think the fact that you have to put effort toward a catchy title and thumbnail is just fair. Not only is it how the game works, but it's also just realistic. Like you said, we only have so much time in our lives, it's a currency. No one has enough time to watch every video in their recommended in succession. We've gotta pick and choose, we've only got so much time in the day, and only so much free time. I think, with video essays, we get that very easy-to-digest eye-catcher, that "here's what you can generally expect from this video" that let's anyone know if they're interested or not. And after that, it can be in any format, with any style of humor, with anything they want in it (as long as it's generally about what was advertised. Or not! If it's some neat twist). Perhaps not the most "creative" compared to what things could be before, especially since creative series titles usually need to take a backseat to the more eye-catching types of titles, but I certainly know it takes up the bulk of my watch time on this site since I love hearing analyses, opinions, history, all of that, in whatever wrapping that creator wants But I also know that my feed is a highly "trained" system of recommendations based on my YEARS of viewing TH-cam and subscribing/liking very certain things. When I go to an alt account with basically no subscriptions, the basic feed and recommended videos are so... TV? Like, the same famous actors and shit that we've all seen everywhere else, and the same surface-level-appeal nonsense videos. And even outside of that, the feeling of so many channels I used to love heavily upgrading their quality to the point where it loses its homemade, down-to-earth feel is another thing that I've grown to really dislike. If I wanted to watch TV, I'd just... watch TV, y'know? It feels like I'm able to get loads of enjoyment out of this service due to how I've tailored my recommendeds and whatnot after YEARS of using this place. But at the top, and therefore the core of the service, it really is just very... bleh. I think some of the corners creators have to cut to get noticed are inevitable and fair, but others are just very sad.
Really good video. It’s unfortunate to hear your situation but I guess it really is the sad truth of TH-cam’s situation. I constantly contemplate making more video essays about stuff I’m passionate about but the fact that it simply won’t get recognized in the current TH-cam climate just dejects me. Really wonder if there will eventually come a point where this cycle breaks.
Wow, another fun, wacky, and zany video from Fudj, the creator of the best content for my ear holes. You, sir, are my favorite background noise! On the real though, you're one of the few I actually watch. So much of the content these days work as podcasts. I listen to many video essays as they don't use the medium to their advantage. There tend to be no visual gags and they say exactly what they mean over one or several clips of what they're talking about.
Love you man, but I've gotta say, I kinda found this video overly pessimistic. Is the most popular content on this site cheap, lowest-common-denominator trash? Sure. But not only would I argue that it always has, TH-cam is also absolutely massive. You can find videos on literally any topic. Learn how to code in any imaginable programming language? Watch a commentated playthrough of any video game on the planet? Movie reviews? Short skits? History documentaries? News? They've got it all. Obviously making it big is difficult (which it's always going to be when there is no barrier of entry), but I also can't help but wonder why it's so unacceptable these days to make videos just for fun and not feel like you're "entitled" to career. It feels like a very specific problem to TH-cam, and I'm going to have to assume that the reason why is because the monetisation always feels so in-reach; with other platforms, you need to jump through all sorts of hoops and usually get your audience to donate to your directly, yet here, it's one click if a button and you're instantly what feels like a salaried employee. That said, I do completely understand why you'd feel this way considering your position. It's more so the fact that people watching also seem to share the sentiment about the "evil algorithm" and how it's destroying us all, even though it realistically affects them very little outside of them occasionally receiving obnoxious recommendations (there's a very interesting discussion there to be had how internet-famous people have begun to shape the discourse at large around themselves, and why problems specific to them (like false dmca takedown notices for example) get perceived as these catastrophic issues over ones more relevant to most people, but I digress.) Keep it up my dude!
I disagree, but I respect your opinion TH-cam itself has control of what content can and cannot survive on this platform, even if the rules it implies are not complete clear to you or me. Still, I believe that whatever content people want to see is whatever the TH-cam algorithm rewards, as it’s the only pool of which they can derive. We didn’t kill TH-cam, our preferences are not skewed towards whatever content is most scene as of course what is scene is entire dependent on TH-cam showing it TO US. Look at the movie industry. Yes extremely cynical cash grabs do exist and I won’t try to deny that. But you also can’t deny that good films are coming out AND getting the recognition they deserve. You are the reason I disagree with your video, because content like this should get you more views and subs, but it doesn’t. Not because people don’t like it, but because TH-cam doesn’t. I prefer to take a morn optimistic view on things, so maybe I’m just high on farts, but I think a lot is gained if you look at your content more positively. The systems in place do reward certain types of content, and you might be better served “selling out” to make a profit. But dammit we watch you FOR YOU That’s why I think authenticity is still rewarded on TH-cam, it’s not like people are robots (although some maybe) and that to continue making what you make will be rewarded in the end by people who are interested in your artistic endeavors will pan out in the end But that’s just my take
I completely agree, I was with him until he pinned it on capitalism. People have the ability to make their own choices on what they watch, and TH-cam gives them more of it. Like you said we aren't robots, but people just watch what gives them the biggest dopamine rush. If anything this is more of a societal failing on self control and patience.
@@SaKiSaIs Tbf the TH-cam algorithm has inherently pushed certain types of videos onto people that have never even wanted nor ever have interacted with said videos.
@@SaKiSaIs So, in that sense, capitalism is to blame on that perspective but the emergence of such an algorithm is built upon shitty quick dopamine hit content made by people and watched by others as you said
Core audiences are the people you aren't really going to lose while you're active. I think the kinds of people you're describing aren't most people that see Fudj's content, but more core audiences. (Remember the figures TH-cam creators love to throw out about what fraction of viewers is subscribed.)
Great vid as always, my only critique is that you didn't mention how much worse all the problems you put forth are for poc and queer creators since that's also a massive fucking issue but yeah otherwise good shit
Damn this hit the nail on the head. I've been struggling lately because I spent 50+ hours making a video I was really proud of and that a lot of people enjoyed, only for it to flop because it doesn't exactly copy whatever trending bs there is right now. I'm slowly coming to the realisation that in order to make it, i'm going to have to give up my creativity at least along the way and just make rubbish videos that trend chase the latest nonsense so that the algorithm can actually recommend my content for once. I see so much terrible uninspired content go viral, juxtaposed with loads of amazing and well thought out videos expressing the full creativity of a given creator flop. Hell even creators like MrBeast and Dream had to trend chase some nonsense that they didn't care about in order to blow up so that they could eventually siphon their creativity into their content and enjoy what they do. Overall, TH-cam as a platform is starting to suck it's original heart and soul of what made it a platform for creators out, whilst replacing it with manufactured android content that has already been done 10 billion times over in order to keep the modern consumer on the platform for as long as possible, and it kinda sucks...
I really enjoyed this video and think you approach the wider issues of TH-cam with some good nuance in places. However, despite your comments in the introduction, there is a slightly distasteful undercurrent throughout the whole video which makes things come across as a bit of a self-pitying ego trip. Your channel is generally excellent, but you do start leaning very close in this video to a bit of a pompous, artistic superiority complex. There's always been a nice humorous subtext in your videos regarding your perception as an unrecognised artistic genius - but this video, whether you may admit this consciously or not, can't get around largely being a pretty naked resentment of your more successful peers. I remember once seeing someone give you feedback on a video previously, saying "Maybe you should be more concise in your introductions, as they're a bit too long?" and you responded with "I'm just rambly - that's just how my videos are!" And hey, maybe fair enough, but this feels indicative of an ongoing vibe of 'I'm not the problem, it's everyone else who is the problem!' I think you have a propensity to avoid constructive criticism in favour of doing things ‘your way’ and this may come from your own admittedly inflated ego. You clearly want to have your cake and eat it on TH-cam and seem quick to blame everything but yourself when things don't work out how you want. Fair enough in criticising the blatant cash grabs of reaction channels and other lazy spectacles that aim to take advantage of people's short attention spans, but some of the other things you take issue with in this video are... a bit odd. You get within touching distance of outright saying that your videos are creatively superior, artistically superior and less morally compromised to other gaming videos - even good faith analysis videos. You appoint yourself as the ‘good guy’ on TH-cam and everyone else by default as the bad guys. This might sound harsh, but I feel you're trying to hide behind your extreme pride and unflinching moral superiority as an excuse for why you haven't been more successful. Perhaps this is just more convenient than swallowing your pride, deflating your ego and trying to materially improve things. Life is absolutely not fair, but self-pity in the face of adversity is an ugly human emotion when combined with a self-righteous superiority complex. I'm afraid your brief analysis at 24:21 seems pretty much on the nose. Your analysis of ‘capitalism is the problem’ is somewhat valid but also pretty low-resolution. This topic is obviously a wider point of discussion, but again I think this leans into your temptation to boil things down to 'I'm not the problem, it's everyone else who is the problem!'. Briefly, I also think your nostalgia of the yesteryears of TH-cam is seen with rose-tinted glasses. People like Bo Burnham have always been the exception to the rule, and while granted it would be more difficult for him to have thrived today, we're still on a site where Fred was the first channel to hit 1m subs and Smosh were the first to hit 10m. I feel that, despite the *undeniable* issues with TH-cam, you need to develop more of a capacity to look inwards in dealing with your problems, even if the deck is stacked against you. Because what are the alternatives? Self-righteous wallowing, which achieves little. Your channel is something I sincerely adore, but you've said before that you should criticise the things you love the most. That is the reason for this comment.
The one thing that keeps me interested in Nebula is that footage to show what Nebula is always contains a documentary about Majuro, the capital city of the Marshall Islands which is a country I've researched into the ground for no good reason and the Nebula cameo in this video was no exception I'll certainly never give up on this old website, for every flash in the pan clickbait video you will occasionally find a marvellous gem like a Super Eyepatchwolf or a constant source of comfort like a Scott the Woz and I'm tolerant enough to ignore the BS to build my own experience... no doubt there's problems though of course. Still pleased that I myself could claw up to nearly 14k subs just by doing whatever I felt like and I know that I could never do that again from scratch without a college/uni lifestyle to afford enough free time to consistently upload out of pure passion, but y'know what, TH-cam really could be so much worse and the algorithm is honestly pretty determined to feed me bangers I wouldn't have found otherwise But what do I know, I watch blummin Coronation Street in 2021
15:41 I decided to fact-check this. One of the first articles I encountered is the BBC article “Busting the attention span myth” which states that actual scientists in the field “have no idea where the numbers come from” and that “there is no evidence human attentions spans are shrinking.”
Yeah I also saw that article when researching it, the BBC are not a remotely reliable source and there's tons of articles out there debunking *them* lol
I really like a lot of the points in this video, I think it does a great job of illustrating the fundimental problem with TH-cam and the way it operates. With it basically being less about the content and more about being a calculated dopamine machine. One thing I gotta say though is I find myself disagreeing with you on your own actual content and the idea of an idea not needing to be directly communicated. If I'm being honest, it feels like you're using this as a way to justify the de-view not doing as well as you'd hoped. I've always found thay the best writers are the ones who can communicate ideas clearly. The most basic rules of writing styles are "point proof explanation". And while there are some reviewers out there who really do just say "it bad, haha stupid" they're few and far between I'm not nessisarily looking to have an opinion fed to me so I can mindlessly form my own opinion. But instead looking to see other opinions so I can look at something I like or dislike in different angles, or perhaps even on occasion feel reinforced in my own opinion. It's not a negative thing to directly say if something is good or bad so long as you are able to communicate why or why not exactly. You talk about de-view, and about how its unique for not using this style, and requires people to listen. I want to say I am a fan of deview just not for the reasons you'd nessisarily hope. I'm a fan of it because I find you're very articulate, and I enjoy your style of story telling and speaking. I find your very personal way of approaching things to be refreshing in this day of extremely separated reviews and opinions, where most professional reviewers try to communicate on a common ground with the entire audience, your style of self awareness and differing in experiences is wonderful to listen to. However the de-view, at the end of the day, does Actually still say good or bad, just in a sentence rather than in a word. while that's for sure harder to do and takes more skill, it hardly adds anything to me as the viewer. Let alone in a way that justifies a title other than "review". The biggest example I can think of being new pokemon snap. Instead of saying "it's good" you say "pokemon snap cares about pokemon more than any other main line pokemon game". Your constant obsession with the algorithm and it doing what you want it to do because you've done all the things right on an arbitrary checklist, Has blinded you to the fact that maybe your content isn't as engaging for the viewer itself as you'd like it to be. The de-view while well written doesn't do much to set it apart from other reviews. Video game reviews and retrospectives on the internet is a very over saturated content type. The fact you've gotten 50,000 subs from that speaks to your quality. The way you are right now you could continue to have a nice small community form around your content and you can either be okay with that or change your content to reach a broader audience. Intially I didn't even click on this video, you blame the algorithm for suppressing it in your video where you say you're done with TH-cam. In reality it's probably a case of this video not being what your subscribers signed up for, and not engaging with it, in numerous videos you've complained about the algorithm, I expected this to be more of the same, and I know with me personally you talking about this subject is what causes me to click off your videos, espcially when you openly state that you don't even like the video you're making and are just doing it to please an algorithm. If you don't really care, why should I? You put in all this effort to appease a machine but then totally sabotage the human element with that one statement. TH-cam is a very complex thing and while numbers and algorithms and requirements do play a big part in how it operates. It's not a simple checklist. I hope everything I've written comes off as constructive and not hateful or rude in any way. I enjoy your content, and I think it's a shame if you're truly done with TH-cam, I hope if you ever try again something I've said can help you in some way. And I hope the length of this essay of a comment speaks to the amount of care I have for your content.
Commenting for the engagement! Fudj ur channel is goated and I love what you make. Ik i’m just one single fish in the ocean of this hell platform, but I am speaking up and voicing my lil fish heart when i say: thanks for not just making such good content, but also for being so transparent and real w/ your audience as you pursue ur creative career. fellow creatives are watching, and relating, and rooting for you and your work. i know that i, for one, definitely feel very very seen by ur journey as you document it here on this channel
honestly, i was thinking about this last night but this feels like the perfect video to say it on, which is that i genuinely can't comprehend you still being such a small creator. your content is unbelievably high quality, and your wit and humor is top tier. plus, you just have a nice voice to listen to. it's ridiculous
I really fuck with your stuff man. Been fucking with you for a long time at this point. I imagine it can get really frustrating if you have fewer views or subscribers than you want, but you videos are genuinely good and stand out from the crowd. Keep trucking and doing your thing man (at a healthy pace) and you can find the success you’re after ✌️
Hey, I know this relationship is parasocial, and the bond is unsubstantiated, and that I have no obligation to follow through on this well intentioned thought, But if you keep making whatever you want to make, and there's a way for me to support it, I want to do that. Tell me how to help you and I will. There's a spark or something that I see in your work that I want to see more of. The deview is a brilliant idea, and you're one of about three people I know who gave snakepass a second thought. I wanna be a part of your movement.
I saw the fake sponsored ad from a mile away, and yet still about 4 seconds into it I started questioning if it was actually real and I should skip a few seconds forward lol
Right as you were talking about those people who want people to make money, I got an ad for some book that sells you on the idea of selling you the idea :) I love it…
Oh fudj, I really love your channel. I'm so glad i discovered your stuff. I love listening about your life, experiences and opinions. As an autistic person myself I feel a sense of kinship too.
I agree on pretty much everything you diagnosed here. I think craving for profit regardless of the content produced is poisoning a lot of jobs in many fields. When creativity / innovation can't provide the required benefit, what's left is repetitive mediocrity and quantity over quality strategies. Its true on youtube, but also in hospitals, schools, industries... As you said, this is a systemic problem, and this system is the capitalism.
Technically you're discussing consumerism, not capitalism. When you say "TH-cam isn't the problem with TH-cam, you are the problem with TH-cam", you're essentially saying "capitalism isn't the problem, consumerism is". If you get to be pedantic, so do I 😛
"I grew up on the internet. not having a positive male role model in life will do that for ya" had to look at myself in the mirror for a good 10 minutes after that
I like all your videos. Sorry if you feel burned by this whole experience and I understand if you wanna quit. But either way, thank you for what youve made. It's made me happy. I hope you find success and happiness in your future.
hadent thought about it before, but I agree with the dude you referenced in the video. Calling them "the world's worst review" is extremely insesitive and rude to the person behind those rewievs. Shame on you!
For what it’s worth, your videos and talking points on Minecraft actually inspired me to check the “game” out and I’m having an insane amount of fun with it. While there are hundreds upon hundreds of Minecraft “content creators” that never made me bat an eye, your unique take and opinions on the “game” are what eventually pulled me into checking it out. My son and I are having a ton of fun with it. We built a small fort and he shrieked with glee when we tamed our first sheep. I feel the need to share this because it’s an aspect of a TH-camrs work that they don’t get to see or monetize from. While playing video games with my son isn’t the greatest impact you could have on someone’s life, it is a small influence on a total stranger that would not have happened in the before times of TH-cam. I dunno. Something to think about maybe? Also, I can’t find any iron god fucking damnit.
My opinion on captialism is that its rather unproductive to just say "captialism is the problem." because whats the alternative? Communism? Yeah that never works out. Capitalism at least has enough staying power to have what you could call a "late stage" so its clearly got merit. It just that certain cracks start to show over time. The way I see it is that its an economic system that isnt broken, just needs maintenance from time to time. Thing is we are really overdo for some of that maintenance. I dont know exactly how to fix it, but clearly the whole economic system as it is *used* to work better, so diagnosing the problem, and then solving it, rather than scraping everything and moving to something else, I would say is the best way to go forward.
There’s no inherent problem with the economic issue itself the issue is a cultural one and a circumstances one. For this video in particular the thing is TH-cam at the end of the day is supply and demand so if more “lazy” content is demanded it will be supplied so you’ll have to look into the more cultural issues that caused people to go from reading long novels to watching tiktok rather then complain about a very functioning economic system
I’m a sucker for video essays, but I will admit that most of them are pretty much the same tired rants we all hear dozens of times. The video essays I like are the informative ones that go into depth about movies, cartoons, historic moments, etc. Emplemon is a great example of that, he makes really good videos about just about anything.
I think it helps that Emp makes videos on topics you don’t really hear too many people talk about. Also his editing and visual gags put him way above your average video essay guy
I tried uploading (not on this account) for a few months. I made roblox live commentary with varying upload gaps, the most views I pulled within a week was about 50. I saw this and was buzzing, told my classmates at secondary school, and got laughed at. I can't really blame them. People are used to seeing these huge view counts and then they forget about the tiny numbers at the bottom. Even external perception is incredibly upsetting for me. It hurt having those people I trust look at me like a joke because I wasn't pulling thousands of views.
I just wanna say it again for the sake of clarity - it is VERY cringe to go and be toxic to people shown/referenced in this video unless they're like, Jaystation levels of douchebaggery. Do not do it!!! Yes, even the react TH-camrs! They have feelings, probably!
Anyway if you're as fed up with capitalism as I am then rebel against the system by consuming the merchandise of your favourite content spewer here; store.patchwork.gg/ socks and mugs and shirts, oh my! There's no better Christmas present!!
Hating capitalism doesn't mean I ain't gotta make money
React TH-camrs have pride rather than feelings
For reference: that one time I Hate Everything agitated them with one of his videos
Edit: On a side note tho, streamers are kinda their own thing. The appeal of streamers isn't just them existing, it's them basically doing comedy and also when they manage to make entertaining and unique (or at the very least, uncommon) moments when playing a game. Among Us was a game that facilitated that greatly. Valkyrae was notable for what is called the Babushka Incident where one thing lead to another until it all culminated in one of the most entertaining rounds of Among Us
Tho yeah I guess "content creator" has been loosely used. Kinda like "role-playing games" 😂
Secure that bag mate
Me when kaptism: 😳 *boom sound*
I mean you hate capitalism but you need to make money to pay the bills that's not hypocritical
mandatory algorithm comment
As I was watching this video I honestly thought “yeah but I’m different from the average TH-cam consumer” but as the video went on, I realized I really wasn’t. Like yeah I don’t watch all the trending and super big channels and I try to curate TH-cam to my interests which led me to this channel, but at the end of the day I still find myself skipping over videos that doesn’t immediately catch my eye with either the thumbnail or title, and even then sometimes I find myself clicking on and off a video over and over because I get bored within 5 or 6 minutes. Sometimes I’ll even do it with 3 or more videos at once. This video made me reflect on my role as a consumer and viewer on the TH-cam platform and I thank you for that. So all in all, pretty good video 👍
Uhh, clearly you didn't watch the video chief, he clearly asked us not to thank him at the end. Thanks for fucking nothing Fudj
Good video tho, our attention span truly is getting fucked by the internet
@@armorelarmadura7807 Don’t care if he said not to thank him, he helped me with self realization with this video and I will thank him regardless of his thoughts on the matter.
I think part of that is convincing yourself you are skipping over the trash content when you ignore it which, yeah you most likely still are if you are aware if what they tend to look like at a glance, but it does mean you've also likely ignored an actually creative video that either didn't play the game enough to get your attention or leaned too much into it for you to think it would be generic YT trash.
Yeah, the stuff I actually watch/listen to at length with pleasure takes long enough that my sub box has more popcorn vids than the stuff I actually come to TH-cam for
I felt exactly the same way and can relate.
The sheer irony of me watching this video fade to black and getting a back to back crypto ad into a Raid ad will probably never be lost on me.
But seriously, if this is any sort of goodbye to the Fudj channel as we know I gotta say I'm disheartened because you've acknowledged all of my greatest fears with making things. The fact that I have to cast aside my creativity in some eays for the sake of making content in a timely manner, grinding out and pandering to a low common demoninator if I want to get anywhere quickly, capitalism. I was always keeping a close eye on this channel because I thought it was a beacon of keeping your originality while still having an online presence and I want to do that. I'm hoping you find a way to keep yourself and keep making the things you want to make. Probably an overly sentimental comment for some other pink guy I don't know but hey, I really like this channel
Good Video! I agree with the general sentiment but I also think you have to play the game to some degree, even if you plan on keeping your creative integrity.
You can consider it similar to a DJ who plays at weddings and nightclubs to pay the bills while making their own music in their own time. You can't expect your own stuff to take off immediately, and you gotta do similar things in your field to get experience, skills, contacts and an audience.
You have to make appealing videos to the TH-cam audience occasionally to draw people in, and hope they stay around for the unique stuff you have to offer. I found your channel through your smash ultimate video, but stayed around for whatever you upload at this point.
A lot of creators are 'playing the game' to try and build a baseline for their future in entertainment, so why wouldn't you do what is 'optimal' (thumbnail faces, arrows, interesting titles).
Sometimes you gotta put the pride aside because there's no point making your magnum opus when you have no audience.
You're right and you make a very good point, unfortunately I'm far too prideful lol - every time I try and "play the game" as it were I can't help but hate it, but fwiw I think you're an example of someone who does a great job of treading that line and maintaining their integrity :)
Finally!! Pink animal thing is back.
Correct me if I’m wrong but pretty sure it’s a manatee
@@miner1226 Seal
@@reshi606 could be either tbh
With the lazy accent
With the lazy accent
I haven’t gotten notifications for this channel for 3 months, but the one time they finally send me a notification you uploaded, it’s about how TH-cam is extremely flawed. Ironic.
Same here. If that's not showing some of the bias YT algorithms loves, I dunno what is.
The bell never works. At this point I just join discord servers of youtubers I like because they normally send a notification for every time they upload. You pretty much have to go out of your way to make sure you don’t miss a video
Yeah youtube randomly unsubbed me. I only saw this video on my home page and I realized I missed the last 2 uploads. I think the subscribe button is just useless now
lol yeppers
As someone with 43k subs who only had 50 subs a year ago, I have some thoughts about TH-cam content and the algorithm, and why I don’t think it’s impossible to grow doing something you love in the current year: (gonna be a long one so buckle up)
While watch time and clickthrough-rate are very important for getting into the algorithm, there’s a third element that gets overlooked: your genre and competition within that genre.
The algorithm suggests videos that you want to watch based on your interests, and it does a pretty good job at it. Your interests can range from very oversaturated genres (Fortnite gameplay, reactions, video game essays/reviews) to more niche topics. You have a hard time blowing up in a saturated genre unless you can get a higher CTR and average watch-time than the top dogs. A specific genre that is less saturated however, has great potential (provided the topics/format are interesting).
I chose to make speedrunning video essays because I have absolutely adored speedruns since 2012, I am very knowledgeable about various runs and the history, I keep up with mew developments, and that it is a very popular genre on youtube now, although it is still undersaturated. I had many ideas that would make for great videos people would want to watch, but don’t exist yet, such as “The History of the BLJ”. As a result, I gained an audience doing what I love, I feel motivated to be more creative with my format, and I’m excited to make videos out of all my ideas!
However, it is VERY important to make videos that both you and your audience want and expect, otherwise like Fudj said, you fall into a trap. I had my big flop with a Minecraft speedrun video in August, since there was nothing in the title or in the video that made people believe it had any value. Up until that point, I had only made speedrun videos on Mario games, and that scared me that I pidgeonholed myself into making only Mario speedrun videos. Despite this, I made a video on how speedrunners beat the timed Ocarina of Time demo in Smash Bros Brawl, and it is now my most viewed video.
The point with this is that you can make videos on your greatest passions and still succeed on TH-cam in the present-day. If you can present your passions to an audience you know will be curious about a topic from the title/thumbnail alone, you can make them enjoy anything, especially if it’s something you clearly care about. But also know that if something flops, you may wanna think of a new format/ideas (even if you love it) and double down on something that works (as long as you love it). If you are a creative, you can experiment and find a format you really enjoy and find successful simultaneously. It’s still possible!
TH-cam went from "Broadcast Yourself" to "Broadcast Your Desperation for Money"
I just wanna appreciate you for a moment.
Your videos have been a constant highlight over the years, The Deview/WWR definitely being your best work. Believe me you're allowed to toot your own horn, they're seriously that good. Guaranteed hearty laughs each upload.
I remember years ago when people half-joked about 'why do videos I spend literal minutes making always blow up, while the bigger projects flop haha'. Yeah? It's still the case. People just don't have the time nor attention span to watch videos where they're not gratified within the first minute, not even that. Probably far below that.
It's difficult, and not to mention discouraging for creators to even create. Why pour hours upon hours of passion and creativity into something if there's little to no payoff? And I don't necessarily mean money; most people won't even see your video to begin with. The worst bit about posting anything creative is receiving no attention, feedback or recognition for what you've done.
Anyway uh, gloom and doom aside, you've really inspired me to do content I want to do, rather than content the algorithm would like. The bank account hates it, but my mental health and general happiness appreciates it
this vid got recommended to me but none of your other recent vids, guess youve proven your point
The Matpat interview with the head of youtube you briefly clipped is fascinating. For all the flak one may give him, that one video is, in my opinion, a must watch to understand how the platform truly works, and sadly is more relevant now than when his grievances were aired.
I'm pretty sure that's Bo Burnham, not MatPat, unless I completely missed a second interview in the video.
I recently installed a browser extension called 'unhook' that removes YT's video reccomendations and automatically dumps me on my subscriptions page rather than the home feed when I click on the youtube symbol in the top left, and my experience with youtube has been much better since then. Weirdly, I also think I've subscribed to more channels since then too. Despite never seeing any reccomended videos anymore, discoverability of new content hasn't gone down because I actually use the search bar a lot more often. I feel, somewhat, like I'm back in control of the content I want to watch, instead of letting dumb thumnails catch my eye or leaving auto-play turned on. I've also been rewatching older videos a lot more too. I do think I still have a screen addiction. But unhook has given me to tools to control that a lot better I think.
I literally never use the trending page. If a video I would like is trending, it's from someone I'm already subscribed to and they show up in my recommended tab anyway.
24:16 - 24:28 you have no idea how hard this hits home for me.
I never want to forget that I want to make stuff because I myself enjoy it. I want to live a good life, but I also don't want to fall victim to a system that forces my hand.
10 days ago!!! Absolutely crying and screaming and pissing all over that I missed this upload. Commenting before I start watching to hopefully add to my engagement.
As a trans woman, I keep getting Transphobic videos being recommended to me. And all I wanna do is watch you, one topic and so much more friendly creators
Thats cruel
Also, I love bo burnham so much. I really enjoyed Make Happy some years ago and I really love seeing him being mentioned when I'm not expecting
Yeah, while TH-cam could probably try making better features to help creators take off (or even just, actually improve the site's functionality instead removing features), that would still amount to using a wad of gum to patch up this crater of a problem. Unless, TH-cam can pull out a very, very stretchy wad of gum
... Anyway, most of the life and creativity has definitely been sucked out of the platform, you make a good point that it was a triple effort on everyone's part. Nothing lasts forever though, so I hope TH-cam can either somehow fix itself, or others use it's history to pave the way for a better platform
21:15 I hope the past tense here doesn’t mean they’re done, that’s my favorite content you make
Lets be honest we all knew a video like this was coming from fudj at some point
"this may be the last video for a while"? "see you later... kinda"? i need answers
You talked a bit about TH-camrs thanking viewers for watching and viewers thanking TH-camrs for making videos, and how that's nonsensical since nobody owes anybody anything. I get where you're coming from, but I kind of disagree with this sentiment. If there's something I enjoy -- or even better, something that really helped me -- I'm thankful toward anyone who made that possible, and I think it's fair to thank them for it. I've thanked friends who recommended me good series, and I've even thanked creators of shows that helped me deal with stuff. You could also say that people cheering at concerts is an expression of appreciation, and that's entirely natural as well. No audience owes an applause to the performer as it's just a business transaction at the core (performer gets money; audience gets entertainment), but it feels only right to show that appreciation for the performance
Just the same, I'm thankful you're making videos and especially staying yourself in them. It's been a really nice journey, and I'm sad to hear it's likely going to end, and I wish you all the best, since you deserve it. Since I'm a bit in the mood to reminisce, my favorite video of yours is the one where you list the top 5 worst Mario Party boards to live on. The one that helped me the most is your video about autism. And yes, I thank you for these videos
The bad thing is also that when we subscribe we spend hours a month telling youtube OVER AND OVER we don't like a channel, a song and guess what? The "hits" keep on coming. Almost fraudulent except they never said they did NOT do this to us consumers. Stupidist AI we ever saw...lolz other wise, hey it plays mp3s without cops coming to our houses.
Nice video Fudj! I couldn't agree more. I enjoyed your measured writing and delivery. Sadly, like pretty much everything: "The game is just the game."
I found most of the people I watch while going down rabbit holes on particular subject
Here's the flaws wth solutions: ads. (Solution, use adblock or yt premium.) Community strike for no reason: (solution prey to yt you don't get one) dislike removal: (solution: get an extension that adds them back) demonitised? Make baby songs but not too baby.
Loved the raid shadow legends gag
This internet stranger believes you are making real things.
This internet stranger also believes there's more in life than what the world offers. But that's its own story.
I'm a viewer who started on your Smash Ultimate critique and stayed through your De-views with a smile on my face. I agree with a lot of the points in your video, but there's something I think is worth considering about TH-cam and your relationship to it: TH-cam is the home of derivative content.
The most popular content on this site is usually derived from something with larger cultural inertia. This is most nakedly obvious with reaction videos, a terrible genre that wouldn't pass the transformative clause of fair use if anyone brought them to court. However, even the stuff I really enjoy like video essays, retrospectives and the occasional wacky video game challenge are derivative of something else. Video essays discuss video games that you can play, music that you can listen to (or maybe even perform!), television you can watch, or books you can read. Most of these forms of high quality content are not directly derived from anything other than the creator's imaginations & creative skills, but they're often gated behind paid services. In old days you would even pay for access to them, like movie tickets or physical book copies. This paid access exists to help the creators (or their handlers) and often forms a barrier between the established and the non-established, which reinforces the capitalistic model that would grow to consume TH-cam.
With market share for magazines and newspapers shrinking, and an easy entry barrier, it only makes sense that the discourse and review communities would land on TH-cam. You can be creative and make original content for this site, but it will forever be drowned out by the cultural commentary community. In addition, TH-cam doesn't treat high quality creatives well enough to keep them. Think about Adam Conover, the guy who wrote the brilliant "Adam Ruins Everything" sketches on TH-cam. They did exceptionally well, but TH-cam would not accommodate Adam's work enough to justify production costs, so he moved his pitch to Television. TH-cam's hostility will endlessly push the most talented and most relevant creatives out of its workspace. Even if you don't support large creative capital and want to focus on independent musicians, Bandcamp is a much better home for serious career musicians than TH-cam. Bands like Imperial Triumphant or Stabscotch make deep, moving and relevant work that TH-cam would never properly compensate them for. They would have to exist elsewhere to sustain themselves.
I think if TH-cam wanted to allow independent creatives to run the site, it would need nothing short of an economic revolution to do so, which is where you and I agree. However, if capitalism was solved somehow, I still think TH-cam would be the home of analysts and wacky "content" creators above anything else.
...and then you get to the part of the video where you agree with me.
God damn it why did I write a comment at the 25:00 minute mark when you'd agree with me by the 26:00 minute mark??
i hate this world we live in
Click my picture to have- wait no, sorry. Ads took over the brain there for a sec.
Anyway, amazing video. I can't add anything to this. You nailed THE problem with TH-cam, and by extension, the society that created it. Once you realize that market forces are dictating almost everything in modern life.. and you truly understand how sad that makes everything, you'll see it everywhere. Everyone needs a copyright, a spin, and angle... A... *Sigh* BRAND.
Peoples actual real life personality is a brand now. Always was, in a way, but now we have to treat it as a brand or you get left behind. In life, socially, in your career, everything. It's just a matter of time before the capitalist mindset takes over your personality, at this point.
Welcome to hell, at least you can go buy weed now without being arrested... I guess. Some sugar to make the reality go down.
I find it so ... I don't know how to feel about the fact that nowadays literally ANYBODY can take a camera, record themselves say something about something and put it out there.
Because up until the age of the internet if you wanted to do that you had to be a rich European white dude (probably gay though), learn Latin and Ancient Greek, get acquainted with some kind of university and read everything anybody had ever written up to that point in order to earn the right to publish a book or a philosophical article.
TH-cam today is a platform that does the same thing as scientific journals, the only difference being that there is virtually no entry hurdle. But the average video essay is probably not very different from the average journal article from a couple hundred years ago, because people weren't that much smarter back then.
I'd like to believe that one day some smart kids will create something like a TH-cam university where you create video essays instead of writing essays, and there will be a system on how to properly cite other youtube videos, both in terms of video and audio, and in order to graduate you have to create a two hour contrapoints-style video and there will be channels that publish video essays and your only purpose as a scholar will be to get published by those channels so in the end it will be the very same thing as academia today, just on TH-cam. And on the way there we will be able to enjoy a short period where TH-cam will flourish because it will be regarded as a serious platform for smart people to publish interesting thoughts.
TH-cam's goal isn't to make the best platform they can, but the most profitable platform.
As much as Billionaires want to tell you that these things lead to the same, they won't and it's obvious.
Can we talk about how bad reaction videos are?
Also great video love it
Starting the video, already know susan is in the video.
Commenting for engagement, not that it'll matter in the long run.
This video Just...scares me, i'm planning to come back on an old TH-cam Channel i made but i'm really scared It won't go anywhere with the things that are happening right now.
Damn that's a shame, who wouldn't like the randall he saves your life in melee
@@AlphaladZXA you are right, i gotta be more confidente with myself! Thanks Alpha
Just make videos that you would watch yourself and videos you know people would wanna watch! I went from 50 subs to over 10k in 2020! Just do it man. It’s not too late
@@LunaticJ thanks! dude i've watched your oot brawl demo speedrun video, that video was awesome!
@@yaboirandall7638 Thank you so much! That was the most fun I had making a video. Best of luck with whatever you decide to make!
As someone whose editing style is heavily influenced by their watch time being 95% TH-cam Poop, it's sad the 'social media economy' neglects raw creative effort. I might be a small fry with only triple-digit subs, but it's the same no matter where you go; I can shit out a dozen zero-effort (but nice as hell) Elite Smash Olimar clips (I swear Olimar is a cool character) with clickbaity lowercase titles, and reel in almost 2x viewers on average than I do a creative shitpost with effort that would at worst be classified as 'satisfactory' by a marking rubric. My fastest growing video is one minute and eighteen seconds of me downloading an NFT video series from a terminal just so I can entice viewers by calling it a World Record TAS speedrun done in zero right clicks. And the entire video is explained within the thumbnail and the title. Shit's soulless, man. Soulless - and pointless. And yet, the cycle of those who click, and those who are incentivised to create such content, give it a point.
I know you addressed it but nebula genuinely seems like it should be perfect for you
is the sponsorship real? I can't even tell if it's a bit or not lol
"and dislikes before the were removed"
For what it's worth, on TH-cam - I don't feel like I'm a human.
The viewer gets the shaft too because they miss out on the best stuff that they Just Aren't Seeing.
Otherwise? Maybe I get top comment. Maybe I get a like. Engagement as an end-user feels so empty and antisocial, and boils down to making The Funny Joke associated with a timestamp - "0: 00 pov you're something something and boss music starts playing" etc etc etc. It sucks. While TH-camrs play the algorithm, commenters are doing something similar, albeit less algorithmic.
And while this is tangent is somewhat unrelated, even comments are starting to feel "less organic".
Oh right on another completely unrelated note try going through your subscription list some time and unsubscribe from channels you absolutely do not watch. Another problem I find these days is viewers being subscribed to so many people that the channels that actually matter to them kinda fall by the wayside, and you're an Empty Subscriber to larger channels that probably aren't getting your watch time anyhow. I think we get into the habit of subscribing without even really thinking about "will this creator matter to me in a few weeks? does this creator's catalogue make me want to come back later?". I know for sure that once I fell behind on [Let's Player That I Liked 8 Years Ago] that I probably won't bother with their content now.
DOS2 music make brain go brrrr
Love u fudj
I think it's less on capitalism than you think it is. Because if it was about capitalism then the viewers is what TH-cam would try to focus on. TH-cam has been prioritizing investors more than its viewers. We see this with the removal of the dislike button, them banning certain creators, and its terrible copy strike system.
Not sure I follow - investors are capitalists, viewers are not. Investors are the ones who are interested in profit, they're the ones who don't care about what the videos are, all they care about is that the capital they put in turns into more capital in the future. If that isn't about capitalism, then what is?
Capitalism is selling a products, and the success of those products based on supply and demand. There was no demand by consumers to remove the dislike button.
The removal comes from corporatism.
@@user-ju1gp8by8i Capitalism is when a society is structured around private ownership of capital/the means of production (i.e. land, tools, money, "intellectual property" etc.), and the entities with that ownership exploiting other people's labour in order to profit themselves. The creation and sale of products based on demand has existed long before the creation of capitalism.
ok I agree but I'm just built different
Thanks for your time on this, Fudj.
Do you like American cookies or British biscuits more?
I never want to directly address the elephant in this video’s room in case it actually *prevents* a deserved and wanted stampede.
I found your argument generally quite agreeable except for its conclusion; on the whole I agree that Art is actually antithetical to the aims of capatlism but not just in the realm of TH-cam, in all ways through all history and all of life.
The aims of the artist are to express themselves, in vulnerability, to collaborate with the audience in the act of performance or revaltion of a work, and to produce something of quality and meaning that lasts and transcends medium, time or place.
Ok enough of sniffing the cork, what I am saying is that art has never had priority on this platform. Are you forgetting the early days of TH-cam? Smosh? William Ray Johnson? Fred? Popularity has always followed the same formula of easily digestible basic content. So pining for the early days or saying the platform has changed isn't super convincing. Even Bo Burnham was just saying TH-cam has become more corporate (not nessesarily less trashy)
If we look at history often the most popular movies and songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s are often forgotten, they were transient trash tho some gems existed.
And this is the rare exception, when something that truly has value and quality happens to intersect and connect with a mainstream audience while still maintaining its integrity, the first Alien film seems like an example.tho even that wasn't hyper succesful originally.
Bo Burnhams career really is the exception and he is very lucky to have the reach he has while creating things of integrity and value.
Capatalism stands to grind the whole world into a machine capable of create profit. A mountain becomes something to be mined and processed and made into metal. A forest becomes simply a fuel supply and material for building. It's true beauty and power is disrespected in both cases. So why is this any different with art? You're 100% right 'content' kills art. Always has been.
And finally, as a word of encouragement art will always exist. People creating things of meaning and Integrity will always exist. You just have to look for it. I've found a lot on TH-cam even, as Bo Burnham suggested. God speed fudj.
Phone glitched let me.edit this comment before reading it. Also would love to hear some discourse on this
It’s just supply and demand mate. If something that more people then you like then it’s obviously going to make more money don’t get salty if your niche thing doesn’t become radically popular. You can’t force people to like something more “artistic” because ultimately art is subjective. You can convince people to like a certain thing but you can’t just force a certain type of art.
@@aranbutcher4655 wrong actually. Most successfully mediums are not art as much as they are products to be sold and consumed. So in a capitalist system the monetary success of a work is all that is judged. I hate the idea that art is 100 % objective as if no one can succeed or fail at art. Art and its true expression will always be at odds with the aim of capitalism. Capitalism destroys art by asking art to become a product, ie 'popularity'
@@awogbob yes but guess what you can go off and make your own piece of art for a small niche crowd for free all you want but you aren’t entitled to any support if no one finds value in it. You have a lot more creative freedom in any capitalist country verses a communist one
@@awogbob you want to have your cake and eat it too. Art is a product that’s how artists get support unless you want the state to essentially steal from the public to find something the vast majority of them don’t like/wouldn’t be willing to pay for just because state bureaucrats consider it “good art”. Ultimately art thrives under capitalism due to longevity although there is a lot of crap (as is inevitable with creative energy) the truely valuable stuff lasts and is recognised decades after it is made like an investment no one will remember the latest popular tiktok but a fine short film or poem can define a generation.
Everything you said was right but there is one thing that is important. We shouldn't compare ourselves to people we don't like and enjoy etc. If you are good at something and passionate about, just do it. I like intelligent content and this content doesn't have to be popular, it is my hobby. TH-cam is just mass culture, we don't have to watch this. Everything you said was correct but I don't agree that TH-cam is not a place for a particular content because this content is not a part of mass culture, it is not true. Gaming used to be great when it was small, now it is casual trash but we still exist and there are still great games, we are just a minority and it is okay for me. I am sad because of the current state of gaming but I still have my brain to decide what to do.
yeah but mission impossible is like really good tho
Very good video, gave it a watch from start to end- you're 100% right with people being the problem and capitalism especially, with any media you can see the most clickbait things first because that's what we love to click on, whether it be criticisms, ragebait, etc. Media being so easily widely accessible along with the algorithm that panders to our horrific attention span, I'm sure that's the first and the biggest reason why algorithms end up churning garbage because most of us don't have the attention to get into the nitty gritty details of a situation they just want hot takes and go about their day- your point about youTube replacing TV resonated especially with me I'm very guilty of just leaving some nonsense on in the background just to get by sometimes even if I'm not actively listening, its just background noise
You saying Tim Rogers inspired you... just makes sense
I might not have or be alot of things, but I know that I'm at least not a fucking gold fish, unlike some ppl apparently.
Very insightful. I like this
I loved the world’s worst review series but it sucks they didn’t do well
Feeding the algorithm.
Well, I won't thank you for making your videos. But I will write this comment, and like this video, because your content(sorry, "stuff") has given me something to think about, and I think that's worth engaging with.
Great video
the speech at 10:27 is why I love TH-cam
Peel back the layers and the look past the superficial stuff and you find just raw humanity.
Dude, I love hearing you talk about your journey, you well and truly are a hero to me. Your stories are so relatable
I moved into a room a few months back so I could downsize and focus on my passions. I sacrificed a lot to continue being a TH-camr. people in this building thought it was cool and that I was rich or something but I was like, nah mate, four years and it's been a huge loss. But I couldn't be happier. TH-cam has still changed my life. I only started my channel to entertain myself and my best friend but somehow 300+ people also like what I do, and that's been the biggest reward for me. Connecting to other normal people on common ground and getting the chance to talk to genuine, amazing, ordinary people
I recommend your deviews and world's worst reviews to other autistic small youtubers looking for inspiration
About "reactionary content", does this include live streaming video games?
Fudj's ability to bring me to tears by the end is unparalleled
Loved the video, I like some of the points you bring up too. At its core, the issue is just in tandem with how society just is. Any site that tries to remedy it will eventually fall into the same bucket after a while.
To me, video essays are some of my favorite types of content on this platform. I think they strike the PERFECT balance between playing the TH-cam game, while staying intriguing and having plenty of room for creativity. I think the fact that you have to put effort toward a catchy title and thumbnail is just fair. Not only is it how the game works, but it's also just realistic. Like you said, we only have so much time in our lives, it's a currency. No one has enough time to watch every video in their recommended in succession. We've gotta pick and choose, we've only got so much time in the day, and only so much free time.
I think, with video essays, we get that very easy-to-digest eye-catcher, that "here's what you can generally expect from this video" that let's anyone know if they're interested or not. And after that, it can be in any format, with any style of humor, with anything they want in it (as long as it's generally about what was advertised. Or not! If it's some neat twist). Perhaps not the most "creative" compared to what things could be before, especially since creative series titles usually need to take a backseat to the more eye-catching types of titles, but I certainly know it takes up the bulk of my watch time on this site since I love hearing analyses, opinions, history, all of that, in whatever wrapping that creator wants
But I also know that my feed is a highly "trained" system of recommendations based on my YEARS of viewing TH-cam and subscribing/liking very certain things. When I go to an alt account with basically no subscriptions, the basic feed and recommended videos are so... TV? Like, the same famous actors and shit that we've all seen everywhere else, and the same surface-level-appeal nonsense videos. And even outside of that, the feeling of so many channels I used to love heavily upgrading their quality to the point where it loses its homemade, down-to-earth feel is another thing that I've grown to really dislike. If I wanted to watch TV, I'd just... watch TV, y'know?
It feels like I'm able to get loads of enjoyment out of this service due to how I've tailored my recommendeds and whatnot after YEARS of using this place. But at the top, and therefore the core of the service, it really is just very... bleh. I think some of the corners creators have to cut to get noticed are inevitable and fair, but others are just very sad.
Excellent Video!! I feel like you reached into my brain and put my exact thoughts on this platform into video form.
Really good video. It’s unfortunate to hear your situation but I guess it really is the sad truth of TH-cam’s situation. I constantly contemplate making more video essays about stuff I’m passionate about but the fact that it simply won’t get recognized in the current TH-cam climate just dejects me. Really wonder if there will eventually come a point where this cycle breaks.
Wow, another fun, wacky, and zany video from Fudj, the creator of the best content for my ear holes. You, sir, are my favorite background noise!
On the real though, you're one of the few I actually watch. So much of the content these days work as podcasts. I listen to many video essays as they don't use the medium to their advantage. There tend to be no visual gags and they say exactly what they mean over one or several clips of what they're talking about.
Yeah!!! Your videos are appearing on my home feed! Let's fucking go TH-cam, give this man what he deserves!!
Love you man, but I've gotta say, I kinda found this video overly pessimistic. Is the most popular content on this site cheap, lowest-common-denominator trash? Sure. But not only would I argue that it always has, TH-cam is also absolutely massive. You can find videos on literally any topic. Learn how to code in any imaginable programming language? Watch a commentated playthrough of any video game on the planet? Movie reviews? Short skits? History documentaries? News? They've got it all.
Obviously making it big is difficult (which it's always going to be when there is no barrier of entry), but I also can't help but wonder why it's so unacceptable these days to make videos just for fun and not feel like you're "entitled" to career. It feels like a very specific problem to TH-cam, and I'm going to have to assume that the reason why is because the monetisation always feels so in-reach; with other platforms, you need to jump through all sorts of hoops and usually get your audience to donate to your directly, yet here, it's one click if a button and you're instantly what feels like a salaried employee.
That said, I do completely understand why you'd feel this way considering your position. It's more so the fact that people watching also seem to share the sentiment about the "evil algorithm" and how it's destroying us all, even though it realistically affects them very little outside of them occasionally receiving obnoxious recommendations (there's a very interesting discussion there to be had how internet-famous people have begun to shape the discourse at large around themselves, and why problems specific to them (like false dmca takedown notices for example) get perceived as these catastrophic issues over ones more relevant to most people, but I digress.)
Keep it up my dude!
I disagree, but I respect your opinion
TH-cam itself has control of what content can and cannot survive on this platform, even if the rules it implies are not complete clear to you or me. Still, I believe that whatever content people want to see is whatever the TH-cam algorithm rewards, as it’s the only pool of which they can derive.
We didn’t kill TH-cam, our preferences are not skewed towards whatever content is most scene as of course what is scene is entire dependent on TH-cam showing it TO US.
Look at the movie industry. Yes extremely cynical cash grabs do exist and I won’t try to deny that. But you also can’t deny that good films are coming out AND getting the recognition they deserve.
You are the reason I disagree with your video, because content like this should get you more views and subs, but it doesn’t.
Not because people don’t like it, but because TH-cam doesn’t.
I prefer to take a morn optimistic view on things, so maybe I’m just high on farts, but I think a lot is gained if you look at your content more positively.
The systems in place do reward certain types of content, and you might be better served “selling out” to make a profit.
But dammit we watch you FOR YOU
That’s why I think authenticity is still rewarded on TH-cam, it’s not like people are robots (although some maybe) and that to continue making what you make will be rewarded in the end by people who are interested in your artistic endeavors will pan out in the end
But that’s just my take
I completely agree, I was with him until he pinned it on capitalism.
People have the ability to make their own choices on what they watch, and TH-cam gives them more of it. Like you said we aren't robots, but people just watch what gives them the biggest dopamine rush.
If anything this is more of a societal failing on self control and patience.
@@SaKiSaIs Tbf the TH-cam algorithm has inherently pushed certain types of videos onto people that have never even wanted nor ever have interacted with said videos.
@@SaKiSaIs So, in that sense, capitalism is to blame on that perspective but the emergence of such an algorithm is built upon shitty quick dopamine hit content made by people and watched by others as you said
Core audiences are the people you aren't really going to lose while you're active. I think the kinds of people you're describing aren't most people that see Fudj's content, but more core audiences. (Remember the figures TH-cam creators love to throw out about what fraction of viewers is subscribed.)
Great vid as always, my only critique is that you didn't mention how much worse all the problems you put forth are for poc and queer creators since that's also a massive fucking issue but yeah otherwise good shit
at least there's still good stuff, like this channel! i just wish people could find it easier.
Damn this hit the nail on the head. I've been struggling lately because I spent 50+ hours making a video I was really proud of and that a lot of people enjoyed, only for it to flop because it doesn't exactly copy whatever trending bs there is right now. I'm slowly coming to the realisation that in order to make it, i'm going to have to give up my creativity at least along the way and just make rubbish videos that trend chase the latest nonsense so that the algorithm can actually recommend my content for once. I see so much terrible uninspired content go viral, juxtaposed with loads of amazing and well thought out videos expressing the full creativity of a given creator flop.
Hell even creators like MrBeast and Dream had to trend chase some nonsense that they didn't care about in order to blow up so that they could eventually siphon their creativity into their content and enjoy what they do. Overall, TH-cam as a platform is starting to suck it's original heart and soul of what made it a platform for creators out, whilst replacing it with manufactured android content that has already been done 10 billion times over in order to keep the modern consumer on the platform for as long as possible, and it kinda sucks...
I really enjoyed this video and think you approach the wider issues of TH-cam with some good nuance in places. However, despite your comments in the introduction, there is a slightly distasteful undercurrent throughout the whole video which makes things come across as a bit of a self-pitying ego trip.
Your channel is generally excellent, but you do start leaning very close in this video to a bit of a pompous, artistic superiority complex. There's always been a nice humorous subtext in your videos regarding your perception as an unrecognised artistic genius - but this video, whether you may admit this consciously or not, can't get around largely being a pretty naked resentment of your more successful peers.
I remember once seeing someone give you feedback on a video previously, saying "Maybe you should be more concise in your introductions, as they're a bit too long?" and you responded with "I'm just rambly - that's just how my videos are!" And hey, maybe fair enough, but this feels indicative of an ongoing vibe of 'I'm not the problem, it's everyone else who is the problem!' I think you have a propensity to avoid constructive criticism in favour of doing things ‘your way’ and this may come from your own admittedly inflated ego. You clearly want to have your cake and eat it on TH-cam and seem quick to blame everything but yourself when things don't work out how you want.
Fair enough in criticising the blatant cash grabs of reaction channels and other lazy spectacles that aim to take advantage of people's short attention spans, but some of the other things you take issue with in this video are... a bit odd. You get within touching distance of outright saying that your videos are creatively superior, artistically superior and less morally compromised to other gaming videos - even good faith analysis videos. You appoint yourself as the ‘good guy’ on TH-cam and everyone else by default as the bad guys. This might sound harsh, but I feel you're trying to hide behind your extreme pride and unflinching moral superiority as an excuse for why you haven't been more successful. Perhaps this is just more convenient than swallowing your pride, deflating your ego and trying to materially improve things. Life is absolutely not fair, but self-pity in the face of adversity is an ugly human emotion when combined with a self-righteous superiority complex.
I'm afraid your brief analysis at 24:21 seems pretty much on the nose.
Your analysis of ‘capitalism is the problem’ is somewhat valid but also pretty low-resolution. This topic is obviously a wider point of discussion, but again I think this leans into your temptation to boil things down to 'I'm not the problem, it's everyone else who is the problem!'.
Briefly, I also think your nostalgia of the yesteryears of TH-cam is seen with rose-tinted glasses. People like Bo Burnham have always been the exception to the rule, and while granted it would be more difficult for him to have thrived today, we're still on a site where Fred was the first channel to hit 1m subs and Smosh were the first to hit 10m.
I feel that, despite the *undeniable* issues with TH-cam, you need to develop more of a capacity to look inwards in dealing with your problems, even if the deck is stacked against you. Because what are the alternatives? Self-righteous wallowing, which achieves little.
Your channel is something I sincerely adore, but you've said before that you should criticise the things you love the most. That is the reason for this comment.
2:02 I instinctively skipped forward when this showed up
Just shows how numb I’ve gotten to this
The one thing that keeps me interested in Nebula is that footage to show what Nebula is always contains a documentary about Majuro, the capital city of the Marshall Islands which is a country I've researched into the ground for no good reason and the Nebula cameo in this video was no exception
I'll certainly never give up on this old website, for every flash in the pan clickbait video you will occasionally find a marvellous gem like a Super Eyepatchwolf or a constant source of comfort like a Scott the Woz and I'm tolerant enough to ignore the BS to build my own experience... no doubt there's problems though of course. Still pleased that I myself could claw up to nearly 14k subs just by doing whatever I felt like and I know that I could never do that again from scratch without a college/uni lifestyle to afford enough free time to consistently upload out of pure passion, but y'know what, TH-cam really could be so much worse and the algorithm is honestly pretty determined to feed me bangers I wouldn't have found otherwise
But what do I know, I watch blummin Coronation Street in 2021
15:41 I decided to fact-check this. One of the first articles I encountered is the BBC article “Busting the attention span myth” which states that actual scientists in the field “have no idea where the numbers come from” and that “there is no evidence human attentions spans are shrinking.”
Yeah I also saw that article when researching it, the BBC are not a remotely reliable source and there's tons of articles out there debunking *them* lol
I really like a lot of the points in this video, I think it does a great job of illustrating the fundimental problem with TH-cam and the way it operates. With it basically being less about the content and more about being a calculated dopamine machine.
One thing I gotta say though is I find myself disagreeing with you on your own actual content and the idea of an idea not needing to be directly communicated. If I'm being honest, it feels like you're using this as a way to justify the de-view not doing as well as you'd hoped.
I've always found thay the best writers are the ones who can communicate ideas clearly. The most basic rules of writing styles are "point proof explanation". And while there are some reviewers out there who really do just say "it bad, haha stupid" they're few and far between
I'm not nessisarily looking to have an opinion fed to me so I can mindlessly form my own opinion. But instead looking to see other opinions so I can look at something I like or dislike in different angles, or perhaps even on occasion feel reinforced in my own opinion.
It's not a negative thing to directly say if something is good or bad so long as you are able to communicate why or why not exactly.
You talk about de-view, and about how its unique for not using this style, and requires people to listen. I want to say I am a fan of deview just not for the reasons you'd nessisarily hope. I'm a fan of it because I find you're very articulate, and I enjoy your style of story telling and speaking. I find your very personal way of approaching things to be refreshing in this day of extremely separated reviews and opinions, where most professional reviewers try to communicate on a common ground with the entire audience, your style of self awareness and differing in experiences is wonderful to listen to.
However the de-view, at the end of the day, does Actually still say good or bad, just in a sentence rather than in a word. while that's for sure harder to do and takes more skill, it hardly adds anything to me as the viewer. Let alone in a way that justifies a title other than "review". The biggest example I can think of being new pokemon snap. Instead of saying "it's good" you say "pokemon snap cares about pokemon more than any other main line pokemon game".
Your constant obsession with the algorithm and it doing what you want it to do because you've done all the things right on an arbitrary checklist, Has blinded you to the fact that maybe your content isn't as engaging for the viewer itself as you'd like it to be. The de-view while well written doesn't do much to set it apart from other reviews. Video game reviews and retrospectives on the internet is a very over saturated content type. The fact you've gotten 50,000 subs from that speaks to your quality. The way you are right now you could continue to have a nice small community form around your content and you can either be okay with that or change your content to reach a broader audience.
Intially I didn't even click on this video, you blame the algorithm for suppressing it in your video where you say you're done with TH-cam. In reality it's probably a case of this video not being what your subscribers signed up for, and not engaging with it, in numerous videos you've complained about the algorithm, I expected this to be more of the same, and I know with me personally you talking about this subject is what causes me to click off your videos, espcially when you openly state that you don't even like the video you're making and are just doing it to please an algorithm. If you don't really care, why should I? You put in all this effort to appease a machine but then totally sabotage the human element with that one statement.
TH-cam is a very complex thing and while numbers and algorithms and requirements do play a big part in how it operates. It's not a simple checklist.
I hope everything I've written comes off as constructive and not hateful or rude in any way. I enjoy your content, and I think it's a shame if you're truly done with TH-cam, I hope if you ever try again something I've said can help you in some way. And I hope the length of this essay of a comment speaks to the amount of care I have for your content.
Corporatism is the problem, free markets wouldn’t artificially buoy celebs
9:55 I don't think it's patetic, if I put so much love into making a video I would like it to be seen for a much people as possible.
Love to see another well made and actually researched video on the platform.
Commenting for the engagement! Fudj ur channel is goated and I love what you make. Ik i’m just one single fish in the ocean of this hell platform, but I am speaking up and voicing my lil fish heart when i say: thanks for not just making such good content, but also for being so transparent and real w/ your audience as you pursue ur creative career. fellow creatives are watching, and relating, and rooting for you and your work. i know that i, for one, definitely feel very very seen by ur journey as you document it here on this channel
honestly, i was thinking about this last night but this feels like the perfect video to say it on, which is that i genuinely can't comprehend you still being such a small creator. your content is unbelievably high quality, and your wit and humor is top tier. plus, you just have a nice voice to listen to. it's ridiculous
For your next April Fool's Day video you should actually make 'All Second Mario Levels Ranked from Most to Least Orange'.
Succinctly put; entertainment industry is an oxymoron.
I really fuck with your stuff man. Been fucking with you for a long time at this point. I imagine it can get really frustrating if you have fewer views or subscribers than you want, but you videos are genuinely good and stand out from the crowd. Keep trucking and doing your thing man (at a healthy pace) and you can find the success you’re after ✌️
Hey, I know this relationship is parasocial, and the bond is unsubstantiated, and that I have no obligation to follow through on this well intentioned thought,
But if you keep making whatever you want to make, and there's a way for me to support it, I want to do that. Tell me how to help you and I will. There's a spark or something that I see in your work that I want to see more of. The deview is a brilliant idea, and you're one of about three people I know who gave snakepass a second thought. I wanna be a part of your movement.
I saw the fake sponsored ad from a mile away, and yet still about 4 seconds into it I started questioning if it was actually real and I should skip a few seconds forward lol
Right as you were talking about those people who want people to make money, I got an ad for some book that sells you on the idea of selling you the idea :) I love it…
Oh fudj, I really love your channel. I'm so glad i discovered your stuff. I love listening about your life, experiences and opinions. As an autistic person myself I feel a sense of kinship too.
I will engage with this video because I like you.
comment to satisfy the Great One Algor.
I agree on pretty much everything you diagnosed here.
I think craving for profit regardless of the content produced is poisoning a lot of jobs in many fields.
When creativity / innovation can't provide the required benefit, what's left is repetitive mediocrity and quantity over quality strategies.
Its true on youtube, but also in hospitals, schools, industries...
As you said, this is a systemic problem, and this system is the capitalism.
It's finally here!
Technically you're discussing consumerism, not capitalism. When you say "TH-cam isn't the problem with TH-cam, you are the problem with TH-cam", you're essentially saying "capitalism isn't the problem, consumerism is". If you get to be pedantic, so do I 😛
"I grew up on the internet. not having a positive male role model in life will do that for ya"
had to look at myself in the mirror for a good 10 minutes after that
I like all your videos. Sorry if you feel burned by this whole experience and I understand if you wanna quit. But either way, thank you for what youve made. It's made me happy. I hope you find success and happiness in your future.
hadent thought about it before, but I agree with the dude you referenced in the video. Calling them "the world's worst review" is extremely insesitive and rude to the person behind those rewievs. Shame on you!
For what it’s worth, your videos and talking points on Minecraft actually inspired me to check the “game” out and I’m having an insane amount of fun with it. While there are hundreds upon hundreds of Minecraft “content creators” that never made me bat an eye, your unique take and opinions on the “game” are what eventually pulled me into checking it out. My son and I are having a ton of fun with it. We built a small fort and he shrieked with glee when we tamed our first sheep.
I feel the need to share this because it’s an aspect of a TH-camrs work that they don’t get to see or monetize from. While playing video games with my son isn’t the greatest impact you could have on someone’s life, it is a small influence on a total stranger that would not have happened in the before times of TH-cam.
I dunno. Something to think about maybe? Also, I can’t find any iron god fucking damnit.
My opinion on captialism is that its rather unproductive to just say "captialism is the problem." because whats the alternative? Communism? Yeah that never works out. Capitalism at least has enough staying power to have what you could call a "late stage" so its clearly got merit. It just that certain cracks start to show over time. The way I see it is that its an economic system that isnt broken, just needs maintenance from time to time. Thing is we are really overdo for some of that maintenance. I dont know exactly how to fix it, but clearly the whole economic system as it is *used* to work better, so diagnosing the problem, and then solving it, rather than scraping everything and moving to something else, I would say is the best way to go forward.
There’s no inherent problem with the economic issue itself the issue is a cultural one and a circumstances one. For this video in particular the thing is TH-cam at the end of the day is supply and demand so if more “lazy” content is demanded it will be supplied so you’ll have to look into the more cultural issues that caused people to go from reading long novels to watching tiktok rather then complain about a very functioning economic system
@@aranbutcher4655 Now that is a good explanation.
e n g a g e
I’m a sucker for video essays, but I will admit that most of them are pretty much the same tired rants we all hear dozens of times. The video essays I like are the informative ones that go into depth about movies, cartoons, historic moments, etc. Emplemon is a great example of that, he makes really good videos about just about anything.
I think it helps that Emp makes videos on topics you don’t really hear too many people talk about. Also his editing and visual gags put him way above your average video essay guy
@@LunaticJ Agreed
I tried uploading (not on this account) for a few months. I made roblox live commentary with varying upload gaps, the most views I pulled within a week was about 50. I saw this and was buzzing, told my classmates at secondary school, and got laughed at. I can't really blame them. People are used to seeing these huge view counts and then they forget about the tiny numbers at the bottom. Even external perception is incredibly upsetting for me. It hurt having those people I trust look at me like a joke because I wasn't pulling thousands of views.
Hooray for civil discourse!
Aw shit I haven't been getting notifications either o no