Do you have an opinion on the whole Youtube/COPPA fiasco?

[mbd39 | 2,017]

6 minutes ago, Estil said:

As is the case in a lot of these kind of situations, the problem is what exactly constitutes content "aimed at kids" or "aimed at adults" or whatever and who determines which is which?

You'll have flawed computer algorithms and old, out of touch politicians deciding. They're in way over their heads.

 

 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

I'm honestly very concerned with how this will turn out, as most content that I actively, regularly watch on YouTube falls into the realm of what COPPA could cover (old video games, old toys, etc.).  Seeing as YouTube's settlement has passed the buck on to content creators, putting them in danger of getting fined $42K for every video that gets randomly deemed as targeting children (despite all the creators I subscribe to specifically making content for like-minded adults), I expect to see a lot less content, if not a collapse of some channels entirely.

[Psychobear85 | 141]

I’m getting a kick from these YouTube creators who are putting out videos on how their channel is gonna die come January 1. Hahaha

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

This is going to be a super unpopular opinion I think. 
 

I dont care. Being a “youtube creator” isnt a real job in my opinion. I know a lot of people were at the right place at the right time and rode the wave. Now the gravy train is over and people are bitching. When you latch onto a volatile industry, you have to roll with the punches.  It sucks some creeps ruined it for everyone, but hey thats how the cookie crumbles. 
 

ps. I know making quality content takes effort and skill, thats not the point. For every 1 quality producer, there are 1000 people trying to game algorithms and ad revenue to make a quick buck. Even worse are the people who are trying to manipulate children into watching creepy shit. 
 

I personally will never give the same amount of respect to an “influencer” or “creator” as a teacher who grades papers for 4 hours after teaching for 8 hours, or the concrete mason that wakes up at 4am to stack CMU bricks in 15 degree weather. 
 

I do respect the people that make videos understanding they arent going to make money, just to share their passion. Keep it up!

 

But again, my opinions is as worthless as everyone elses. 

[Psychobear85 | 141]

21 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

This is going to be a super unpopular opinion I think. 
 

I dont care. Being a “youtube creator” isnt a real job in my opinion. I know a lot of people were at the right place at the right time and rode the wave. Now the gravy train is over and people are bitching. When you latch onto a volatile industry, you have to roll with the punches.  It sucks some creeps ruined it for everyone, but hey thats how the cookie crumbles. 
 

ps. I know making quality content takes effort and skill, thats not the point. For every 1 quality producer, there are 1000 people trying to game algorithms and ad revenue to make a quick buck. Even worse are the people who are trying to manipulate children into watching creepy shit. 
 

I personally will never give the same amount of respect to an “influencer” or “creator” as a teacher who grades papers for 4 hours after teaching for 8 hours, or the concrete mason that wakes up at 4am to stack CMU bricks in 15 degree weather. 
 

I do respect the people that make videos understanding they arent going to make money, just to share their passion. Keep it up!

 

But again, my opinions is as worthless as everyone elses. 

Speaking for myself, you took the words out of my mouth, and I’m sure lots of others feel like this as well 

[Boosted52405 | 178]

19 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

This is going to be a super unpopular opinion I think. 
 

I dont care. Being a “youtube creator” isnt a real job in my opinion. I know a lot of people were at the right place at the right time and rode the wave. Now the gravy train is over and people are bitching. When you latch onto a volatile industry, you have to roll with the punches.  It sucks some creeps ruined it for everyone, but hey thats how the cookie crumbles. 
 

ps. I know making quality content takes effort and skill, thats not the point. For every 1 quality producer, there are 1000 people trying to game algorithms and ad revenue to make a quick buck. Even worse are the people who are trying to manipulate children into watching creepy shit. 
 

I personally will never give the same amount of respect to an “influencer” or “creator” as a teacher who grades papers for 4 hours after teaching for 8 hours, or the concrete mason that wakes up at 4am to stack CMU bricks in 15 degree weather. 
 

I do respect the people that make videos understanding they arent going to make money, just to share their passion. Keep it up!

 

But again, my opinions is as worthless as everyone elses. 

I don't know, I think that's a bit rough and unfair to be honest.  With that attitude, I hope you don't subscribe or enjoy Youtube much if at all.

The high-end youtube creators put out content daily and many work around the clock.  It takes a tremendous amount of time, not just skill and effort to put out quality and entertaining videos.

As for comparing them to teachers, that's funny because I've learned an insane amount watching Youtube videos.  Dare I say I've learned more on Youtube then I did in grade school?

If you're not going to respect Youtube creators in this light, what do you feel about professional athletes that "play sports for work"?  It's actually quite similar if you think about it (entertainment profession to make $$$).  What about professional gamers?  Professional wrestlers?

[guitarzombie | 924]

1 hour ago, MrWunderful said:

This is going to be a super unpopular opinion I think. 
 

I dont care. Being a “youtube creator” isnt a real job in my opinion. I know a lot of people were at the right place at the right time and rode the wave. Now the gravy train is over and people are bitching. When you latch onto a volatile industry, you have to roll with the punches.  It sucks some creeps ruined it for everyone, but hey thats how the cookie crumbles. 
 

ps. I know making quality content takes effort and skill, thats not the point. For every 1 quality producer, there are 1000 people trying to game algorithms and ad revenue to make a quick buck. Even worse are the people who are trying to manipulate children into watching creepy shit. 
 

I personally will never give the same amount of respect to an “influencer” or “creator” as a teacher who grades papers for 4 hours after teaching for 8 hours, or the concrete mason that wakes up at 4am to stack CMU bricks in 15 degree weather. 
 

I do respect the people that make videos understanding they arent going to make money, just to share their passion. Keep it up!

 

But again, my opinions is as worthless as everyone elses. 

I always felt these things are always ruined by people to try to find a way to be famous/make money with the least amount of work possible.  ASMR vids, unboxing vids (yeah I think this is stupid), reaction videos, etc.  I LOVE youtube for all the cool stuff you can learn and find content from people no matter how niche your tastes are.  I do these guitar lesson videos on a very niche guitar player and people have asked me to do a pateron and stuff and I say no.  Within that is the pressure to keep on providing videos no matter how lame because it'll get views and it becomes a whole mess.  I do it cuz I love it and I have a normal job that pays for it.  I would never give that up to spend my entire time trying to get people to watch my stuff and think of every possible clickbate/viewbate video I can think of.

Edited November 20, 2019 by guitarzombie

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

46 minutes ago, Boosted52405 said:

I don't know, I think that's a bit rough and unfair to be honest.  With that attitude, I hope you don't subscribe or enjoy Youtube much if at all.

The high-end youtube creators put out content daily and many work around the clock.  It takes a tremendous amount of time, not just skill and effort to put out quality and entertaining videos.

As for comparing them to teachers, that's funny because I've learned an insane amount watching Youtube videos.  Dare I say I've learned more on Youtube then I did in grade school?

If you're not going to respect Youtube creators in this light, what do you feel about professional athletes that "play sports for work"?  It's actually quite similar if you think about it (entertainment profession to make $$$).  What about professional gamers?  Professional wrestlers?

Professional athletes work their whole lives to become athletes. Their bodies end up paying for it for the rest of their lives.  Its not the same. 
 

Learning on youtube as an adult =\= being taught in Elementary school as a young child. 
 

As long as there is a preschooler making millions of dollars a year to play with toys, that isnt a real job. 
Im not going to hate on people for making all the money they can, but dont whine when the gravy train crashes. 
 

i watch YT from time to time but I can absolutely survive without it. As far as people showing youtube to young kids, I have my own personal feelings about that that will make me very unpopular with the “you dont have kids so you dont know” crowd. 

[Boosted52405 | 178]

33 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

Professional athletes work their whole lives to become athletes. Their bodies end up paying for it for the rest of their lives.  Its not the same. 
 

Learning on youtube as an adult =\= being taught in Elementary school as a young child. 
 

As long as there is a preschooler making millions of dollars a year to play with toys, that isnt a real job. 
Im not going to hate on people for making all the money they can, but dont whine when the gravy train crashes. 
 

i watch YT from time to time but I can absolutely survive without it. As far as people showing youtube to young kids, I have my own personal feelings about that that will make me very unpopular with the “you dont have kids so you dont know” crowd. 

Some really bold statements there lol, not all professional sports ruin bodies or require lifelong preparation, yet they commonly rack in millions doing something they genuinely enjoy doing.

Learning on Youtube can actually be very comparable to Elementary lessons for little kiddos...I am blown away at what my toddler enjoys on Youtube kids - it's highly educational and he eats it up.  As an adult, Youtube can give you street smart knowledge versus book smart knowledge - it could be debated what is more important.

I certainly don't agree with preschoolers making millions doing toy videos on youtube - but perhaps that is what you're stuck on with your "not a real job" perspective.  There are some youtube creators out there that go above and beyond and put out a quality product - they earn what they make in my opinion if they pull in the viewers/subscribers.

One particular Youtuber that I cannot recommend enough for DIY car peeps is "ChrisFix" - check out the quality of his work, I think he has over 5 million subscribers - just bonkers.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

43 minutes ago, Boosted52405 said:

Some really bold statements there lol, not all professional sports ruin bodies or require lifelong preparation, yet they commonly rack in millions doing something they genuinely enjoy doing.

Learning on Youtube can actually be very comparable to Elementary lessons for little kiddos...I am blown away at what my toddler enjoys on Youtube kids - it's highly educational and he eats it up.  As an adult, Youtube can give you street smart knowledge versus book smart knowledge - it could be debated what is more important.

I certainly don't agree with preschoolers making millions doing toy videos on youtube - but perhaps that is what you're stuck on with your "not a real job" perspective.  There are some youtube creators out there that go above and beyond and put out a quality product - they earn what they make in my opinion if they pull in the viewers/subscribers.

One particular Youtuber that I cannot recommend enough for DIY car peeps is "ChrisFix" - check out the quality of his work, I think he has over 5 million subscribers - just bonkers.

its just my opinion. I know a lot of people now a days see being a “youtuber” as a goal, which is insane to me. 
 

what athletes make millions of dollars a year with minimal training or physical toll? Im curious. 
 

As far as toddlers learning from youtube, it will never replace actual instruction from a teacher. Watching a video is not the same as developing social skills in a school setting. 
 

With people “earning” what they do, I don’t have a problem with that. Milk it for everything you can. I know it takes a lot of work. I also know a lot of youtubers have a full team working for them.  I just dont have any sympathy for them when an industry with almost ZERO regulation changes and people arent Able to make easy money anymore. Sorry. If the youtubers have a problem with Google determining what they can or cant show, then unionize. 
 

Until then, you will have to take what the overlords dole out.  
 

re: professional gamers. I dont think its a career either. I dont think being good at games is sustainable. I dont personally feel they are “athletes” either, but again its just my personal opinion. 
 

Should guys like ninja milk it? Absolutely. Make 50$ million a month playing fortnite or whatever. Just dont cry when it disappears overnite. Thats all Im saying. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

You're not wrong.  When you invest your entire future and livilehood into nebulous "employment" with a company that doesn't know you exist, never signed a contract with, have no manager with, get no benefits from, that's a decade behind other industries as far as government regulations go... Well, you knew the risks.

[Splain | 2,560]

I remember when making a YT channel and getting money was an actual thing people thought they could do. "I just need one viral video!"

[fox | 1,665]

8 hours ago, OptOut said:

Jim Sterling has an excellent, down-to-earth examination of the issue right here:

Long story short, it's mainly a YouTube internal fuck up, probably not gonna be much of a thing for anyone else.

Pretty clear explanation of the actual situation, and not just whining about youtubers or the guv'ament.  Thanks for posting.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

29 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

You're not wrong.  When you invest your entire future and livilehood into nebulous "employment" with a company that doesn't know you exist, never signed a contract with, have no manager with, get no benefits from, that's a decade behind other industries as far as government regulations go... Well, you knew the risks.

Agreed.
 

Its like with Uber and Lyft. I don’t know the rest of the country but around here it’s insane how many there are. All these drivers are like “we need more wages” and im like “then dont drive for them because its easier than working a 9-5” . If it works for you, then good. If not, they arent going to give you more money just because they are nice.

 Its a no training, no skill required job that can be performed independently with no over sight for 10 minutes or 10 hours a day. Of course people want to make a lot of money doing a job like that

 

All those drivers have is numbers. Of course uber is going to make millions off your backs with no regulation or benefits required lol thats how capitalism works.  Unless one can get every driver to not drive until their requests are met, the company is going to do the absolute minimum to keep people driving for them. 
 

Anyways, gig economy rant over, im sick of seeing shit about it. 
 

But you know Ill spend my hard earned money to get a private camry limo driver anytime I need it!

[barrels | 125]

1 minute ago, MrWunderful said:

Its like with Uber and Lyft. I don’t know the rest of the country but around here it’s insane how many there are.

I swear it's like 1 in 3 cars in the Bay Area have one or both stickers. At least they drive better than the actual cab drivers. Those guys just don't give a fuck.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

Maybe I should clarify I am more inclined to say “I dont care you cant make money on youtube anymore” to specific people who market to kids. 
re: the sterling video, it sound like most of the outrage is for not anyways. 
 

Just dont be surprised when youtube screws you over. 

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

11 minutes ago, barrels said:

I swear it's like 1 in 3 cars in the Bay Area have one or both stickers. At least they drive better than the actual cab drivers. Those guys just don't give a fuck.

I love how they will park in the middle of any road, anywhere to pick someone up. Like having to pick some one up means you dont have to follow traffic laws. 
 

Hazards on aint a free pass. Dropping off your grandma because you have to park around the block? Im with that. 
Trixxxie and her friends fucked up on white claws? No way. 

[guitarzombie | 924]

56 minutes ago, Splain said:

I remember when making a YT channel and getting money was an actual thing people thought they could do. "I just need one viral video!"

Its funny because my channel just got monetized last week and to me it doesn't mean 'oh i get to make money!' but validation that people are interested in what I have to say.

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

2 minutes ago, guitarzombie said:

Its funny because my channel just got monetized last week and to me it doesn't mean 'oh i get to make money!' but validation that people are interested in what I have to say.

Thats how it should be. Make a few bucks, the personal validation is worth it. 
 

Making a living off it? Make it count while you can because anything can happen when there is no employment guarantee.  

[guitarzombie | 924]

I agree!  But since they're lesson video for music, I doubt I can really make anything off of them.  Plus I think the ads would be annoying.  BUT its for my bandpage so we could do it for those but the disparity is huge haha.  I put a video a month ago that got almost 30k views while my band stuff has been up for like 8 months and has like 500 lol.  Still I agree with what you say.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

It's like a real life version of this.

[Boosted52405 | 178]

3 hours ago, MrWunderful said:

what athletes make millions of dollars a year with minimal training or physical toll? Im curious.

For clarity, I was referring to professional "sports" that do not ruin bodies or take lifelong training...such as:

Professional Gamers

Auto Racing

Cyclist

Golfers

Bowlers

Billiards

The top competitors of these pull in 7 digits plus a year.  There are probably quite a few others.  Yes some of these are physically taxing, but nothing that should provide life-long suffering post-competing (cycling perhaps?).  I'd like to think these are still "real jobs" :)

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

9 minutes ago, Boosted52405 said:

For clarity, I was referring to professional "sports" that do not ruin bodies or take lifelong training...such as:

Professional Gamers

Auto Racing

Cyclist

Golfers

Bowlers

Billiards

The top competitors of these pull in 7 digits plus a year.  There are probably quite a few others.  Yes some of these are physically taxing, but nothing that should provide life-long suffering post-competing (cycling perhaps?).  I'd like to think these are still "real jobs"

I would wager that most of the people doing all of those listed things at a high level have been training their whole lives, as well as extreme wear and tear on their bodies.  But If you dont believe that im ok with it.  I wasn't really looking to debate if those specific sports are "real jobs".  When I say "real job" in the context of youtubers, I really mean with an employment contract or something. Benefits. Anything.

[Boosted52405 | 178]

8 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

I would wager that most of the people doing all of those listed things at a high level have been training their whole lives, as well as extreme wear and tear on their bodies.  But If you dont believe that im ok with it.  I wasn't really looking to debate if those specific sports are "real jobs".  When I say "real job" in the context of youtubers, I really mean with an employment contract or something. Benefits. Anything.

I totally get the lack of job security, but good point I never really thought about them not having benefits (wonder if they rely on spouses or what).

Regardless I hope this all gets sorted out soon because there are some people out there busting their tail and entertaining masses - it would be terrible for this of all things to jack up their channels.

[Rooster | 124]

Being a youtuber is always going to be a risky career choice.  You could get hacked, get regulated by the government, get banned, or even accidentally say something controversial and lose your entire audience.  I don't see any reason why they should be immune from regulation, but whether anyone thinks youtube is a real job or not, I would argue that unless you are a member of a very strong union, nobody has true job security.  You could get downsized a year from retirement which is what happened to my dad, you could suffer an injury, company goes bankrupt, or you could even get outsourced or automated. 

 

More specifically in regards to these rules, I think it's kind of dumb that someone has to just decide what counts as content for children or not.  Is AVGN for children because he plays games?  With all the potential legal troubles, why would anyone ever make content aimed towards children?  Why not just indiscriminately mark your channel as for adults only, and drop some obligatory swear words?