YouTube sucks now...

[Lemon Zing]

Until about a year ago, you could broadcast to YouTube from your phone, so as long as you had verified your account with a mobile number, and waited a full day, which in itself was rather annoying if you wanted to stream outdoors straight off the bat after making a new profile. Now you cannot live stream at all unless you have reached 1000 subs, and I think 4000 hours of viewing stats as well. That's absolute BS if you're a total beginner and struggling as it is to gain any views. This doesn't apply to desktop streaming, and only mobile streaming.

I can see why a lot of people are frustrated with Google's updated rules. Another issue is that every video now has to be manually set up to be safe for kids, or not safe for kids, which is understandable, I guess, but relatively pointless since anybody can easily bypass this anyway. If you mark a video as being okay for kids, nobody can leave any comments. Uh!

Is there any software you can install that can stream from that 3rd party app to YouTube immediately? I heard Streamlabs can do it. I tried it and couldn't figure it out at all. Others are usually just trial version scams like most useful apps are. You have to give them your card details. You forget to unlist yourself, and boom. They bill your ass, and many other sites I tried had apps that seemed to be constantly freezing my phone.

Maybe this isn't a problem for some people that generally don't mind this sort of hassle, but I get trolls stalking me online. They subscribe to me and I cannot see their profiles, because they're marked as hidden. They do this so they get email notifications of when I upload a new video, then deliberately down vote them. I know you can turn off the likes and dislikes thingy, but that's a feature I'd rather keep.

 

[Misery]

Being totally honest here, if you are a beginner, streaming (or recording, or doing much of anything) with a phone of all things is the direct opposite of the way to get subscribers and attention in general. On Youtube or much of anywhere else. It's typically considered to be extremely cheap and amateurish (and for very good reason), and will almost always push people AWAY instead of attracting them. There's a reason why all of the big content makers (or even smaller ones, really) have very complicated setups going. As it is, dont assume that all of the dislikes come from trolls alone. The majority of people on Youtube will very much dislike a phone-based setup, period. That's not to say that there arent trolls, of course there are. Youtube is a scummy place, after all. But yeah, most average non-troll users really do hate that.

Other than that though, yes, Youtube has gotten steadily more irritating. My most loathed phrase right now is "advertiser friendly", which pretty much sums up the reason for ALOT of their decisions. Frankly I prefer "advertiser hostile", since ads are the last thing anyone actually wants, but that's just me. I sure am glad that Adblock is a thing. Youtube as a company DEFINITELY wants to be best buddies with those parasites. Though, that bit has little to do with the "safe for kids" bit. As I understand it, THAT part was them complying with some law in a way that involved the least effort possible (surprise). Thus why it's so flimsy and easily bypassed. But yeah, when it comes to 95% of the things Youtube does, you can bet that being "advertiser friendly" is part of the reason for it. Expect the site to continue to devolve as time goes on.

Also Youtube is buggier than a box of roaches. That doesnt help anyone at all.

I say all of this as someone who spends far too much time on that bloody site. It's not like there's much of anywhere else to go when it comes to watching stuff. Bah.

 

[Lemon Zing]

Yep.

I was watching a guy last night, who calls himself Michael Does Life. People say he's a troll, but he's just having fun poking fun at people who he thinks are shills. I was donating to him on Saturday night. Last night, I missed some of his latest stream, as A, I had my phone's volume turned down so I didn't get notified, and B, I wasn't expecting him to do another stream so soon. But anyway, the stream abruptly ended due to somebody flagging it as a "scam", yet all he was doing was holding a phone, talking outside about Resident Evil 3.

And yeah. I don't have any creative talent and I don't know how to edit videos, act witty, or anything of the sort. Everything would take skill in of itself. Nobody even cared about the amateur "horror films" I made with my mate, and some idiot is hanging around a wiki on Fandom, just because he trolls me. I've only been an extra in a few films of zero importance, but some spiteful people are going around preventing me from getting jobs. Someone called Nicolette McKeown does it a lot, to the point where I'm being blacklisted in Edinburgh. At the age of 34 though, I reckon I'd be better off not bothering anymore. Even professional actors cannot get any work.

 

[Misery]

Age honestly has little to do with it. Though, the difficulties you mention with things like proper films is exactly why so many these days have turned away from traditional TV and movies, and have turned to Youtube instead: Because creators on there can make whatever THEY want to.... they dont need approval from some sort of film overlords. Which is also one of the big appeals for viewers, because it's really the only place to go now for truly creative content. I can think of more than a few absolutely amazing things I've found on there, like Dont Hug Me I'm Scared, or Salad Fingers, that would *never* even be considered for traditional media. But on Youtube, anything goes. As much as the site itself is a giant pain in the butt, well... that's why people stick with it anyway.

But anyway, you dont need talent of the specific sort you're thinking of, in order to make something good on there. For instance, I watch alot of "let's play" videos. Many of them, they try to act oh-so-funny and crazy and loud. Not because they genuinely ARE, but because they feel the need to mimic the big guys that do it. But when done that way, it always comes across as fake instead of genuine, and they dont really go anywhere. But people that are not trying to be someone else... they can get somewhere. Some of the best people making that sort of content dont even bother trying to be witty or funny. You might get something like the occaisional dad joke from them, but mostly, they dont do that. They offer calm and interesting commentary about what is going on in the game they're playing, while doing neat things in said game, and that's it. That's all it takes. Heck, there's one guy I can think of who does this, but his entire "theme" for his channel is that it's a place for viewers to relax and unwind while watching that, so instead of "funny" he goes for "soothing". He does quite well there.

Same for non-gaming stuff. You seriously dont have to be this crazy, bouncy actor in order to create something amazing. Nor do you have to be a master of editing (and indeed, many arent). That's one of the interesting things about Youtube: Whereas Hollywood is all about spectacle and detail, Youtube.... doesnt care. I can think of some truly amazing things that are *very* low budget (provided they even have a budget) that are still just bloody incredible. My favorite example is Marble Hornets (one of the earliest things in the Slenderman mythos). If they even HAD a budget beyond building the "monster" (which, notably, never EVER actually moves) I'd be very surprised. Yet what they made kicked off the internet's obsession with the character. I've seen it about a million times now, still just as good as the first time.

Not to mention that if you want to get good at editing, there's about a bazillion resources out there to help you do that... you just gotta motivate yourself to do so.

In other words: Dont get into that mindset where you tell yourself that you CANT do it. As soon as you start doing that, you've already lost... take it from someone who learned the hard way. And keep in mind that you dont have to stick to one specific type of content. Even the best creators have things they are seriously not good at... so they get creative and come up with something else that they really can dig into. If I personally were to try to make something it would have to be horror, as that's the sort of thing I actually understand. Despite my interest in sci-fi, me trying to come up with a sci-fi story would be a disaster.

But yeah: dont give up. The only thing stopping you is, well, you. And to heck with trolls... ignore them, no matter what they do.

 

[Lemon Zing]

I had all these great ideas for the next part of my series, "The Dulvey Saga". Unfortunately, I can't get my mate to play ball, and COVID-19 is also causing issues with everybody being allowed to do things outdoors.

The idea was that our characters would become demon and monster hunters, and go to a nearby forest. Also, we would fight a butcher with a pig's head, and my girlfriend would appear.

Maybe one day.