@vantablack when I want a really quick look at a specific process, or a quick rip through some esoteric Photoshop work, I don't want someone to sit there and be like 'Hey YouTubers it's me ya boy photoshoopdawoop31 and I'm here to talk to you about channels but first let me talk about what I've been up to, what layers are, where the like and subscribe buttons are, my shirt-"

@Sylvhem @Mainebot

'

@Mainebot my mom, on the other hand, loves those detailed tuts.

As for me, I prefer them silent, just showing me the steps as if I was right there with ya watching over your shoulder but skipping the parts I already know (so, a middle ground between what a blog and a long tut could do).

@Mycroft this is my life, every time I look for a fix to anything.

@freakazoid oh I'm in marketing, I get the WHY, I just don't like it.

@Mainebot I'm more interested in how to fix it. With lotteries at least you can teach people the math, assuming they aren't superstitious, but with YouTube and apps there are enough factors at work that it's nearly impossible to convince people that they're almost certainly wrong about their chances. But at the very least we could get the stats up. N YouTube creators making M moneys for an average of X moneys per creator. The thing YouTube doesn't want people to know. http://fortune.com/2018/02/27/youtube-success-poverty-wages/

@Mainebot Maybe we need to stop eating YouTube's propaganda and stop calling their servants "creators".

@Mainebot Of course, we also need to give people other ways to give people the same kind of feeling of making stuff and working for themselves, because as bad as YouTube is you're probably still better off using that than trying to make money via Patreon. For video the closest thing so far is probably LBRY but there's still too big a hurdle because converting to and from currencies people are likely to have is still too hard, plus it's a desktop app.

@freakazoid @Mainebot I fully agree. We need to find an effective way to get people online paid for their art and software, and while the silos aren't great in that regard they appear to be doing a better job than anything we've come up with so far.

@alcinnz @Mainebot Better at getting them paid but worse than if they didn't exist at all IMO both because they crowd out better solutions and because they influence the kind of stuff that gets made in a negative fashion.

@freakazoid @Mainebot Yeah, I've heard about the things YouTube's algorithms optimize for: a frequent schedule of new 15min videos, or something like that. It's reportedly exhausting several of their servents.

In contrast my example of Kirby Ferguson has explicitly stated that that's not what he wants to make. He wants to take the time to craft videos people treasure.

@alcinnz @Mainebot At the end of the day, with YouTube you're working for an algorithm, and that algorithm is being designed by people who have incentives that run counter to both the servants' and their viewers'.

@Mainebot @alcinnz And the irony of it all is, having actually worked alongside the SREs for YT's ad systems, I know for a fact that a lot of the "common knowledge" about how YT's algorithms work is complete bullshit. So people are running themselves ragged trying to optimize for stuff that isn't actually helping them, based on few anecdotes and assumptions by people presenting themselves as authorities but who have no clue whatsoever about how things work.

@freakazoid @Mainebot That said one of the best examples of someone doing well for themselves without resorting to DRM or advertising I can think of would be Kirby Ferguson.

He makes great documentary series he later likes to recut into decent lengthed films, Everything is a Remix & This is not a Conspiracy Theory, as well as contract work for activist groups. TinaCT is sold on a subscription basis which has been well worth the price for me.

(cont.)

@freakazoid @Mainebot I don't know the details of his finincial situation, but he's doing well enough that his wife could take over the business side of things full time whilst focuses on art.

And yes, he does use the Vimeo silo, but it appears like he uses that more as a SaaS than as a silo.

@freakazoid @Mainebot

There are two factors to consider.

One is the opportunity cost vs the plausible payoff. This is one reason for lotteries working; people will drop a small amount that they won't miss, in the hopes of a life-changing event. It actually makes economic sense, from that perspective.

Another perspective is pointing out that youtube wealth is analogous to being a superstar sportsman. Not many get to do that.

@freakazoid

To be fair though, they would have written some pretty shitty open source software. The late 90's were full of mpg123 frontends that needed php or a full MySQL installation in order to let me play a song with a mouse click.

Granted, that's still better than junk apps, but not a lot.

@Mainebot

@suetanvil @Mainebot I think that more users is better even if they're cranking out shitty apps, because the tools don't evolve in a vacuum. And it's hard enough to make a mobile app that they might end up doing better stuff than writing PHP frontends for mpg123. But as I keep saying, we need to make it easier to write better apps, and to be less elitist.