What’s the appeal of youtubers? [split topic]

[touchingcloth]

Which algorithm?

[Twed]

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=youtube%20"the%20algorithm"

It's not accurate terminology but if you don't understand what they mean when they talk about this then you haven't scratched the surface.

[sponk]

The Al Gore rhythm

[touchingcloth]

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=youtube%20"the%20algorithm"

It's not accurate terminology but if you don't understand what they mean when they talk about this then you haven't scratched the surface.

Your link got fucked, but googling for "the algorithm YouTube" I got a result with this heading:

How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work? A Guide to Getting More Views

These people think YouTube has the one algorithm? Grave for all of them.

[Twed]

Better than people who use Amazon calling their suggestions "my algorithm".

[touchingcloth]

Better than people who use Amazon calling their suggestions "my algorithm".

No, that's accurate. Amazon write one algorithm per buyer, YouTube have three or four.

[mothman]

I was born in the mid 90s (dunno which generation I belong to: millenials? gen z?) but I can't really understand the appeal, apart for Francis Higgins (but I'm not sure he be considered as a youtuber). I find their videos incredibly boring, they can take bloody hours to make an incredibly simplistic point.
I do listen to a lot of (comedy) podcasts though, but I mostly care for the funniness, not the illusion that these people are my friends.

btw really sorry to hear about your difficulties with all this mothman

Thanks. Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread. And yes, I think mid-90s makes you a millenial - it's probably a teensy bit too early to designate you as a Generation Z.

[Urinal Cake]

As said before a friend substitute but like a rich, popular and charming etc friend.
But YouTube, Instagram etc because of advertisers are fucking off influencers since effectively they are middle men.

[touchingcloth]

"Influencer" is a dogshit term.

[Cerys]

Our twelve-year-old insists on telling me about the youtubers she watches, at excruciating length.  She recently discovered Escape the Night, talked about that at excruciating length, and insisted that I watch it with her.  And to be fair, it isn't too bad.  It's populated by some truly terrible youtubers - but I get to see them killed in a variety of gory and entertainingly graphic ways.  Happy times.

[Ferris]

One of my few memories of being 14 or 15 was torrenting The Song Remains The Same off of LimeWire. I'm exactly the sort of nerd that would have fallen for all of this.

[gib]

Do we know of any children who have been damaged by watching youtube? I told our kids that if they fiddled around too much they'd find a video of someone killing a dog that looked just like our dog and let them watch whatever, it's anybody's guess how you parent let's be honest.

[touchingcloth]

Our twelve-year-old insists on telling me about the youtubers she watches, at excruciating length.  She recently discovered Escape the Night, talked about that at excruciating length, and insisted that I watch it with her.  And to be fair, it isn't too bad.  It's populated by some truly terrible youtubers - but I get to see them killed in a variety of gory and entertainingly graphic ways.  Happy times.

You have a YouTube premium account? Are you the only person who does?

[Twed]

Do we know of any children who have been damaged by watching youtube? I told our kids that if they fiddled around too much they'd find a video of someone killing a dog that looked just like our dog and let them watch whatever, it's anybody's guess how you parent let's be honest.

My mum told me cancer was caused by children misbehaving. Try that.

[Cerys]

You have a YouTube premium account?

No - the first three seasons were on vanilla YouTube as advertising in the run-up to the fourth season.  She's asked if we can get Premium.  We said 'no'.  She was unimpressed.  Hah.  Tough.

[pigamus]

"Influencer" is a dogshit term.

It is, but they actually do. I mean James Charles brought Birmingham to a standstill a while back and I still don't know who he even is.

[touchingcloth]

It is, but they actually do. I mean James Charles brought Birmingham to a standstill a while back and I still don't know who he even is.

Cuntuencer.

[backdrifter]

Mothman: I'd recommend putting some effort into finding a private Minecraft server with "nice" people and some degree of moderation. Maybe one specifically for on spectrum kids. They must exist.

[touchingcloth]

TechMoan, EEVBlog, LGR, Technology Connections, bigclivedotcom, Souped Up Recipes, Ziang's Oriental Food Workshop, Chris Fleming, Kim Justice, Fran Blanche to name a few. The ones in bold are some of the few things that exist that make me feel lucky to be alive in 2019.

For the avoidance of doubt since my post got split topicked, I wasn't ranting about anyone with a presence on YouTube, but about anyone whose primary purpose in life is "a YouTuber".

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

There are lots of good ones (i.e. ones I like) who seem to make their living from it, but I did assume you meant the vapid, talentless ones.

I think one of the most offensive episodes South Park managed in recent years was the one where they ended up praising Pewdiepie, even having him pop up on the show.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

They all do the same face on the video thumbnail. You know the one, the ""WTF? AAAAAAAARGH!" face.

[madhair60]

Here's what you need loaded into the chamber mate

1) Get that shit off now

2) Sweetheart, shut the fuck up

That's how you deal with kids

[José]

nipping out for a pack of tabs and fucking off to switzerland works too.

[steveh]

My friend's daughter in her early twenties is a (moderate) star on one of the East Asian music / chat livestreaming services, so I've seen the side viewers don't. She makes I think about £8K a year off it, which has paid for university.

Personally, the somewhat exploitative nature of these services rather worries me. Hosts have to do a minimum number of hours each month, with bonuses if they broadcast a certain number every single day. There are regular competitions for best music performer which unlock additional prizes. There are also arbitrary fines for content quality - one month most of what she earned was withheld for not interacting enough with viewers. You can see this causing her stress, not helped by the service's talent managers calling up and giving hosts pressure when they see their revenue numbers declining. The combination of gamification and social pressure for hosts is particularly insidious.

Although her audience is about a third female and there are some viewers her age, most of those who send non-trivial 'gifts' are men who are rather older, so those are the ones that hosts are encouraged to spend their time on. Occasionally this causes problems with guys who think because they've been spending lots of money on someone that they are then owed something. The nature of the service perhaps encourages the view amongst both hosts and viewers that relationships are a purely transactional thing.

The demand for any content that will attract viewers to their channel encourages hosts to take risks. So from the earlier concept of a service akin to busking for tips it's moved to hosts taking it into every part of their life and outside the home too. For someone in the same city to work out where she lives or where she's currently broadcasting from would be pretty easy. If we go out to eat in a restaurant she's streaming eating her meal, or if we're on an ordinary day out then instead of being involved in what's happening her focus is often on her viewers.

Because the camera is always on, conversations that shouldn't be shared end up doing so because you forget and it encourages the view that you're just sharing with friends. I find this particularly worrying when younger members of her extended family join in on camera as they don't have the ability to distinguish between what is private and what is not, or that there are people watching who might not have their best interests at heart. Some regular hosts are still in school as there's no age limit on the services.

It's such a relief when she hits her hours and can relax and be a normal person again. To be honest, I'd rather she was doing a part-time job in a shop and going out and spending time with people her age but times move on I guess.

[touchingcloth]

Our twelve-year-old insists on telling me about the youtubers she watches, at excruciating length.  She recently discovered Escape the Night, talked about that at excruciating length, and insisted that I watch it with her.  And to be fair, it isn't too bad.  It's populated by some truly terrible youtubers - but I get to see them killed in a variety of gory and entertainingly graphic ways.  Happy times.

Why do kids delight in this? My nephews do it with what happened in Minecraft and Fortnight in a level of detail which is as tedious as it is forensic. It's the way it's always just a big list of "this happened and then that happened and then the other also happened" with no sense of "the other" being a consequence of the "this" which really makes me want to shove them right back into my sister in law.

[mothman]

Mothman: I'd recommend putting some effort into finding a private Minecraft server with "nice" people and some degree of moderation. Maybe one specifically for on spectrum kids. They must exist.

Thanks for the advice. That's probably a good idea. But we're not that technically-minded - I guess we are, but in this instance I wouldn't even know where to start with something like that.

[kalowski]

https://youtu.be/HB-AFU0uP0A

[backdrifter]

Thanks for the advice. That's probably a good idea. But we're not that technically-minded - I guess we are, but in this instance I wouldn't even know where to start with something like that.

This seems to be the main one: https://www.autcraft.com/ The creator quit his job to make and maintain a safe and friendly space for autistic kids to play. It's free but accepts donations. Hopefully she plays the PC version (rather than Xbox or mobile) coz it's the only one they support.

You need to sign up for an account on the site then send a "Whitelist Application" to get your daughter's minecraft account allowed on the server. The site probably has all the info you need but PM me if you get stuck and I may be able to help.

[José]

could you not just send your kid to work down an actual coalmine? if they get uppity about it strangle their kestrel and toss it in the bin.

[earl_sleek]

I was at Defcon this year! I gave a talk! It was a fucking disaster.

Awesome! Surely you couldn't have been worse than the dudebros who think they're funny? What was the talk about?