Lately, I've become sick and tired of YouTube. That's why I like to take a break from there from time to time. Why I am so tired of this "wonderful video-sharing website"? Let me vomit out my frustration, and then I'll feel better. Haha. Here they are, my collected frustrations regarding the YouTube! So solly (like Michiko-chan use to say), but I have to do this. ;)
My frustration started when the new layout came out about one year ago. Ah, how much I hate that new layout! It looks awful, ugly, and plain boring. Just gray and cold, very uncomfortable to use. The old layout was so much more easy, more clear, and more versatile. New style channels are not as beautiful nor practical. New design is a long step backward, just an innovation for innovation's sake. Actually, this new layout is the most horrible and anti-social layout I have ever seen in my life!
First they took our friends (there is no "friending" on YT anymore), and then they took our subscribers, I mean: we can't show them anymore. The number of characters is more limited, when you write comments or info on your own profile. Icons and avatars are so tiny that you need a microscope to see them! And so on, and so on...
All these changes makes me feel that we users have less and less space there. New layout is so clinical and primitive, not beautiful and personalized. Ah, such a boring gray boxes. Every channel looks like a tombstone!
I hate how YouTube treat us. They have no face. If you ask something, they never answer you. If you need help, they never help you. They treat us like a big dumb mass, and they don't care about our opinions at all. They are acting like an arrogant damn fascists! (Sorry, I'm mad as hell right now, and then I use the "F-word". Hehe.)
My frustration started when the new layout came out about one year ago. Ah, how much I hate that new layout! It looks awful, ugly, and plain boring. Just gray and cold, very uncomfortable to use. The old layout was so much more easy, more clear, and more versatile. New style channels are not as beautiful nor practical. New design is a long step backward, just an innovation for innovation's sake. Actually, this new layout is the most horrible and anti-social layout I have ever seen in my life!
First they took our friends (there is no "friending" on YT anymore), and then they took our subscribers, I mean: we can't show them anymore. The number of characters is more limited, when you write comments or info on your own profile. Icons and avatars are so tiny that you need a microscope to see them! And so on, and so on...
All these changes makes me feel that we users have less and less space there. New layout is so clinical and primitive, not beautiful and personalized. Ah, such a boring gray boxes. Every channel looks like a tombstone!
I hate how YouTube treat us. They have no face. If you ask something, they never answer you. If you need help, they never help you. They treat us like a big dumb mass, and they don't care about our opinions at all. They are acting like an arrogant damn fascists! (Sorry, I'm mad as hell right now, and then I use the "F-word". Hehe.)
I lost 70 % of my video views!
On 7th December 2012, I got a second copyright strike (warning) from YouTube. If you receive three copyright strikes, your account and all videos uploaded to that account will be removed! That's why I had to remove 27 "dangerous" music videos from my channel. It was a precaution. I removed my videos, before YT will suspend my account...
I was so sad to remove all those old videos, which have been there for many years. So many viewers and wonderful comments there, and I lost them all... :( Before this "mass removal", over the years, I had removed about 20 other videos from my channel. So overall, I have lost almost 50 videos. If every video takes two days to make, I have done 100 days work in vain! Now isn't this frustrating?? Oh yes, it is!!!
The number of viewers on my channel is getting lesser and lesser. On 7th December 2012, my channel had 1.001.851 video views (see the screenshot above). After I have removed those old videos, I have lost more than 700.000 video views. Number of views is now only 369.381. So I have lost about 70 % of my video views!!!
View counts are going backwards… I just wonder how long it will take to get zero viewers??? "Lost views" is not only my problem. Nowadays, many people lose viewers all the time on this new brave YouTube. Just check out the channel called YouTubeHelp, and see all the angry messages there. So I am not sure if this phenomenon is just because I had removed some videos.
Why I'm still on YouTube?
After I have created my new channel, I have had troubles with promoting it. Regardless of my diligent promotion campaign, I got only 66 subscribers. I am very disappointed that even some of my old YouTube "friends" haven't subscribed my new channel. So, are they friends in that case? Anyway, I think this process (to start everything from the beginning) has shown to me, who are the real friends, and the more I am grateful to them.
YouTube has become more and more strict with copyright issues. You dare not load there almost nothing anymore. And when you load, your videos can be blocked somewhere. For example, all my Teresa Teng videos are blocked in Germany, and my latest upload (Johnny Cash's song) is blocked in Germany, Canada, and the United States.
Besides this all, there are all the time bugs and problems on this NewTube. For example, some private messages never get through. Yep, you can not trust YT email at all! And those YouTube "monkeys" change the rules and settings every week. So it feels like nothing works on YT anymore. They try to save the monster they have created, but it is becoming increasingly worse!
Why I'm still on YouTube, regardless of all these frustrating things? First of all, through YouTube I have found some really great friends worldwide. Secondly, there are so many wonderful videos and interesting stuff in that bloody place. So I can not stay away too long... Hahaha. Love and peace to everyone. (￣ー￣)
"What the heck they have done to this place?!" asks the
Angry Samurai when he sees the new YouTube layout.
Angry Samurai when he sees the new YouTube layout.
Hi Teisuka,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing what you think about YouTube nowadays. I feel the same way as you do. But it seems that there is not much we can do about it. :(
You must have felt very frustrated that you lost 70% of your views. It really feels like all your efforts were wasted. But you don't have to think that way. So many people have enjoyed your great videos and they liked it, so you should feel a sense of achievement. Also, I think the main reason for the loss of views is that you deleted a lot of your videos. If a video is gone, so is the views of it. So just cheer up, as you re-load these videos on your new channel, your views will surely increase. Of course, it's much more difficult to get views today than several years or even one year ago, as there are hundreds of thousands more videos than before, so people have more choices, and it's harder for them to find your video. Just take it easy, as long as there are people who still enjoy your videos and appreciate your efforts, you should feel fulfilled.
And finally, I fully understand how you feel about the number of subscribers. 66 may not sound a lot, but they are the people who really like your videos and appreciate your hard work and friendship. To me, that's enough. Some people may have thousands of subscribers, but most of those people may never look at the videos that he or she uploaded. And I suppose many of my subscribers also seldom check out my videos. So numbers do not mean everything. As long as we enjoy what we do on YouTube and we know that there are at least a small number of people out there who truly enjoy our videos, then we should be happy. -:)
And the other thing I'd like to mention here is that the music videos that we make are kind of "highbrow" according to the standards today, so we should not expect lots of people to view our videos. Ha ha...and a Chinese saying goes like this: "melodies of superior taste find few to join in chorus." So let's forget about the number of views and enjoy what we've been doing all along. -:)
I'm kind of in a rush to write this message, so a lot of what I'm saying here may not come out right. But I'd just like to let you know that you have quite a few friends who will always support you, including me.-:)
Have a nice weekend!
Bao
Hi Bao,
DeleteThank you very much for your great message. I really appreciate it. Indeed, you are one of the best and one of the few real friends and supporters of mine on YouTube. :)
You are right, the number of views doesn't matter. It is not really so important thing in this life. Haha. :D Seriously, it could be nice to keep a bit smaller place. It is more "intimate". I don't even want thousands subscribers. "Quality over quantity", like the saying goes. And little by little, I'm going to re-load most of my removed videos on my new channel. The birthday of Teresa Teng is coming (January 29), so I thought to celebrate it by loading two of her videos on these days.
Have a nice weekend to you, my dear friend. :)
Teisuka
Hi again, Teisuka,
DeleteAs you mentioned in your blog, there are a lot of problems with YouTube nowadays. You are right, they always change your settings, and sometimes it's hard for you to change them back. One of my friends has encountered this problem recently. He seldom uploads videos, but he created some interesting playlists, which earned him some subscribers. (BTW, he was one of my first subscribers, but he rarely watched my videos, and I guess we just have different tastes...Haha, and I never truly enjoyed his collection of videos either, so we're even. LOL) So it's important for him to let people know when he adds new videos to his playlists. But YouTube changed his settings, and such activities could no longer be visible to his subscribers. He tried many times to change back to his original settings, but it didn't work. So right now his channel looks dead, with no activities. And he even lost a number of subscribers. That made him really upset. Such things also happened to me sometimes, but fortunately I could always change back to my original settings. So, these YouTube "monkeys" really should do a better job and need to be better trained. "sigh"
Thanks again for your post and blessings to you!
Bao
P.S. I just uploaded a new TT video. This time I got rid of the black bars thanks to Michiko-san's kind instructions. :-)
Hello again, Bao.
DeleteThank you for coming back to share my frustration. Haha. :D Yes, those YouTube "monkeys" really seems to do everything to ruin YT as a social media. [Sigh] I think I know what is the problem of your friend. Let me tell you...
Some time ago I accidentally noticed a new weird thing on YouTube. Every time when you change your profile settings (for example your background picture), a checkmark will disappear from your setting "Add video to public playlist". Then, after changing your profile settings, you need to go to your "Settings" every time and choose that option again, if you want people to see what videos you add to your public playlists! Please tell this thing to your friend. I believe that he can fix his sharing settings.
It seems those YT "monkeys" are playing with the settings all the time. It's like: "What will happen, if I press this button... Oops... Oh, shit!" Hahaha. ;)
Now, let me check out your new Teresa Teng music video. I'm very interested to see that.
Blessings.
Teisuka
Hi Teisuka,
ReplyDeleteIt seems you are back from vacation. Welcome back!
Are you really back? *~*
G2kdlj
Hello "G2kdlj",
DeleteThank you very much. Am I really back? Well, I'm not sure for that. Haha. :D But as I said in my article, I can not stay away too long time. Because there are really few great friends on YouTube, and I want to support them. That keeps me on YouTube.
But I am not so motivated to make new videos anymore. Just sometimes. Fortunately, I have still 17 old videos left, which I'm going to re-load on my new channel little by little. ^^
Blessings.
Teisuka