I don't normally write about current affairs topics nor do I care but the Youtube shooting a couple days ago has got me thinking. As some of you might know, I don't watch the news but I heard about this in a chat conversation so today I thought I would have a look at what is going on. The interesting thing was that it was only a few days earlier in chat when someone mentioned this exact kind of event.
This is piece is just to raise some conversation as it is something we are going to have to consider here in different ways also as when money is involved, people very quickly become irrational.
Again, I have close to zero trust when it comes to news reports, especially those that concern the largest companies in the world but I found some of the quotes I read interesting. The story I will reference is from one of those NewsCorp sites, (news.com.au) and you can find it here.
It seems that the shooter was upset at Youtube for demonetizing her account by changing algorithms that affected the eyes on her posts. Here are some of her supposed quotes and the way the news presented it.
SHOOTER’S YOUTUBE RANTS
The 39-year-old posted a video on YouTube in January 2017 where she said YouTube “discriminated and filtered” her content. She accused the company of being the culprit behind her channel getting less views, and in a fiery spray the following month, said there was “not equal growth opportunity on YouTube”
According to ABC7, she wrote on her website: “Be aware! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics!”
She then quoted Hitler: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it.”
The rest of her message was dominated by her scathing words for YouTube. “There is no free speech in the real world and you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system. Videos of targeted users are filtered and merely relegated so that people can hardly see their videos.”
I say supposed quotes as for this particular piece, I am not going to do the research to make sure she said these things. And, for the moment, let's take the shooting event out completely as despite the nature of it, it is noise in the system as it was the response, not the cause. The way people respond to situations is obviously far ranging but shouldn't take away from the causes of the behaviour. They are independent movements.
Okay, so, who disagrees with her quotes here?
Even the one from Hitler is hard to disagree with isn't it? Just because the words came out of one of the most pathological and sadistic mouths the world has ever known, doesn't make it any less valid. After all, he used that very technique to turn the course of the world on its societal axis.
We already know that Youtube has preferred content providers and know that their algorithms are discriminatory. We know that there is not equal growth opportunity and we know that they will censor and suppress content they deem inappropriate either through removal or bumping it into oblivion. It is part of their approach to maximise advertising revenue and a reason why something like @dtube will be attractive to alternative providers.
The games these centralized platforms are playing are rigged by design, it is their business model and the way they can curb what they see as negative behaviours. 'Stay within the guidelines or be demonetized'. By doing this they can give their advertisers some guarantees and also limit the amount of negative press surrounding the content they do allow. The entire platform is created to monetize exactly who they want. There is no large reward without being part of the system.
This is censorship 101. Reward some people heavily for acting the way you want the rest to act and in that way, the rest will likely follow the same path to 'success'. This is something that is largely missing here as the community behaviours that are wanted aren't supported financially yet, the selfish behaviours are heavily supported. The road to success is broadcast as 'be very selfish at the cost of the community'.
Now, back to the aftermath of her Rants, the shooting.
Once money is involved, people take it all very seriously indeed and that is of no exception here. It is because of the money involved that I myself want to see the demise of the bidbots as it could be used to create so much more value for so many more people than it currently is.
But, I have seen massive amounts of entitlement here over the last year and it is just growing day by day. I have seen public breakdowns from some of the most consistently highly rewarded content producers because someone gave them a relatively tiny flag on their already over inflated payout figure. I have seen the same people bully the tiniest minnows for giving them flags too because they can't handle criticism.
People ranting and raging, screaming and crying, "it is not fair!" No, it is not but when those words are coming from the highly rewarded, that is entitlement speaking, not reality.
Now, tell me something. How many posts have you read or seen on depression? How many have you read from potentially very unstable people? How many explosive rants have you witnessed on your time here? Who are they generally coming from?
From the zero earners they are complaining that they aren't earning, from the high-rise earners they are complaining that they aren't making enough or that their payouts are being reduced through flags or bidbots! Incredible isn't it? The highest earners complaining that their autovoters are no longer voting on them but are instead selling their votes to the highest bidder. This is Youtube.
How long until one of these mentally unstable, faceless crowd pick up a 9 mm because they aren't happy with how the system currently works or how it changes in a hardfork? It is only a statistical wait really.
Now, think about this.
Most people who sign up and even post on Youtube have no real intention of ever earning on the platform yet still stay within guidelines as they want to be able to share their content and engage with the audience. Those that don't play the Youtube game are censored out. What kinds of content do Youtube censor?
Sure there are the usual suspect political activists etc but, there are also the extreme thinkers and actors, the kinds you don't want to invite to dinner or leave alone with your family. The kinds that might just pick up that 9mm and go to Youtube headquarters and start shooting.
We welcome the Youtube rejects here though, we don't censor at all. Freedom of speech, freedom of action, right? The ones who willingly play the Youtube games are those who do think about their public appearance, how they interact and what they present. Some of those who don't, may just not care about how they look or perhaps, care about community at all. When people don't care about community, is there a higher chance of bad behaviour? Is there a higher chance of violent outbursts? I don't know.
But for the most part at Steemit, everyone is here in part to the financial rewards possible and carry hopes and expectations about those earnings. As they experience the same rigging that is on all the other platforms they feel it as they thought it was different here, they thought they could earn. Very, very few average users expect a return from Youtube. All do here.
Now, remember that for the most part, rewards and wallets are visible here. People can directly see the social algorithms at play, some of the high earning vote traders, the size of the accounts, the lack of effort it takes to get into trending and all the other issues.
How many might feel oppressed and get pushed a little too far for their fragile minds and snap? As Steemit grows, the chances increase.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
It is true that money does strange things with people. And it is the same here and the same on youtube. People do come here with the idea to make a quick buck, but, besides exceptions, this is not the case. It is hard to get noticed and this decreases the faith in the Steem.
We should see the money part as a nice side effect and focus on interaction. Interaction is the only key to success on Steem. But it is a hard and long road. And yes buying some votes sometimes help!
But while we don't have the same power on the steem blockchain, we do have all the same possibilities and opportunities. Normally I don't refer to one of my own posts in a reply, but I did devote a post to interaction today! Feel free to take a look at it!
It is indeed. Imagine what it takes on Instagram or Youtube for some of them.
i will come by later :)
Like you wrote it is strange how people react on Facebook compared with Steemit.
The biggest difference there is that on Steemit you are mostly connected with people you don't know, while on facebook you most of your friends in real life, which makes it harder to neglect or ignore a post!
No requirement to drop by, it is just a post which maybe interests you. I don't do follow-you-follow-me. I do follow you cause most of your post make me think, which I do appreciate!
pretty sad what happened and details are still emerging. sounds like people are frustrated with youtube these days because of recent changes in payments to partners (I am one of them). Still it's not reason enough to shoot people or violence in general.
THere are very, very few reasons for violence and that is almost exclusively to defend against violence.
I couldn't agree more with you on that.
You can always find someone to blame, if YouTube changed the policy and the algorithm you can always move to a different platform. This is true for everything in life, once we start the blame game we cannot really change anything.
Money. She was mad she wasn't making more. And that is what happens when money becomes apart of this.
yeah, but it doesn't happen to all. People are just generally weaker now mentally yet their emotional reactions are much stronger.
Yeah need an armed society that's hard as a rock again... If ever the weakest as a nation... Yep. It would be now
if only people were mentally equipped.
When there wasn't OSHA... Yeah more people had to be aware. Hey don't put your hand in the machine... But now? Whiney and crazy sheltered people making changes that are backwards.
Let's ban spoons... They make people fat. And a war on heart attack patients. They are the reason surgery rooms are plugged up! Let's jail them!
Oh well gonna go gym today!
well, I am guessing you are American. In the rest of the world we know that plastic bags are not toys and bleach isn't a drink ;) The introduction of the labels have become a global standard now though. Playgrounds are rubberised, everyone gets a prize.
And as the chances increase that something like that could happen to Steemit users, so increases the need for wallets to become private. Maybe still have it visible behind the scenes, but to have it in the open isn't responsible... unless Steemit is claiming to be responsible for any consequences.
I am unsure how it would work. It might take away 'some' of the jealousy issues but it is all visible through a thousand different apps anyway.
Editorial Response: The YouTube shooting only happened yesterday.
As always, your conversation is on point. Entitlement is everywhere, even on Steemit. It's not a surprise though. The internet is just an extension of the real world. If something exists in the real world, it will exist on the internet (often times in a more extreme manner).
We can cry out as much as we'd like about getting rid of the bidbots, but unless people stop using them and supporting them, they won't be going away. Just as much as the creators of the bidbots are at fault, the users are at fault as well. There would be no bidbots if they were never used...
yes. it is the disconnection from the real world that drives the extremeness I think. Lack of 'realness' to actions.
It is the same with everything in society. People complain about it but at the end of the day, it is our actions which created it.
The good news is we are a distributed community.
yes, it does offer some protection but also a certain amount of social isolation.
The rewards are very uneven at the moment and indeed it is very hard as a minnow to make any ground on here - ive been on here nearly 2 months and its been a hard slog! Fun, but hard! I do agree about the entitlement. I think I write good articles and some of them dont get much rewards but im ok with the im slowly building a following and slowly but surely my rewards are becoming more consistent and rising.
Look at it as a business investment if you are interested in the longterm value. The foundation work is hard and very poorly rewarded but it is that which builds the tower. I have ben on 14 months now and still work hard each day. The foundation is still not solid though. But, if this does all survive, think 2 years down the road.
😊 yeah thats how im thinking - building a solid foundation now for the future. I have the time to put in now so not much to lose and everything to gain
This is something pretty crazy to think about, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing. It's obvious to anyone that has been paying attention that narratives get skewed as to serve an agenda more efficiently, but as you have pointed out we must not ignore the possibility of us going down a similar spiral.
If she is the first and last time this happen, then we might be able to chug this one as an outlier and safely ignore it. Now, this is also to say that at least from where I stand we seem to have some sort of cognitive decline in our populations.
I'm not try to be unsympathetic but the idea that I'm owed because I create therefore I will kill my oppressors who have chosen not to pay my youtube creations is quite distorted.
We might be dealing with extreme cases of entitlement, not that I know the solution to such a social problem.
I hope more information gets dug on this whole thing, this does not make me too hopeful for our species I have to say. Sadly, I would prefer for it to be revealed she was having an affair with someone or something more stupidly common.
This is apparent in so many aspects of society from hobbies to voting patterns and belief or lack thereof in science. As well as of course, the inability to discuss without losing emotional control.
It is likely going to be this way. Do you think Youtube wants to hold their actions in anyway accountable? Don't get me wrong, the event are a mess but with billions of users and demonetizing randoms, it was bound o happen.
It is kind of like the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. Poke a hornet's nest, eventually hornets will come out. They had been playing a dangerous game and making money off it under the assumption they were somewhat protected. Violence is never the answer but when you are poking a stick into the ribs of psychopaths, a response will eventually come.
The world is a mess. People are to blame.
In a manner of speaking, this is the polar opposite of your post yesterday "Pain or gain, demonetize or monetize?" but it raises the same questions about just what this place is.
It seems currently the only way to get noticed on steemit and in the real world is to play the social game or to buy your way there, a self fulfilling plutocratic prophecy.
From what I've seen the world likes to ignore the problems and then say "Oh how horrible" when something that was bound to happen finally does, just like the shooting at youtube HQ.
The sad reality, at least whilst people are accepting of it, seems to be that no matter how many tiny lives are ruined, it's fine as long as the
whaleswheels keep turning. 😉After all, it's just another trending headline for a day, then it's old news.
Many of my posts try to tackle various issues from different perspectives.
This I think is compounded by the media also. they push until things break and then they have 'real' news to report.
Maybe this is why Steem is decentralised. No headquarters needed! ;)
just hunt down users... one.by.one. ;)
Eek! Now I'm glad I'm not a whale!
I feel that some of the biggest noise made about censorship are those who have been guided by the subtle hand of social compliance. From figures of authority who share lols about lefties wanting rights for flowers, they are drawn into a world where they start willingly running with whatever they are being told, as long as it comes from those that they are compliant to. Eventually, they are shouting about how their very valid different opinion on why the holocaust was overstated is being censored, why can't they say their view, it is the corporations, deep state and Soros pushing these views down.
Personally, I got fed up of the endless circles that you have to dance around with the bad faith actors on Twitter, so I binned it off. For gaming, a past time that is plagued with a shitty audience, one of the best communities I have been part of is heavily moderated. Some would say that this is censorship, I just found that it was conductive to creating a positive community.
Eventually you have to draw the line in front of some things. There are massively obvious instances of content you have to control. A blanket statement of "allow everything" or "disallow everything" really isn't going to cut it. It's a really hard line to draw, though, and it is far from cut and paste.
They often are as a space can be created to facilitate purpose and action. Universities used to be places with open discussion, now they are places where anything that might offend anyone is closed for discussion. "How's the weather?"
Now I can't comment on what is going on at universities. Over here, I've generally picked up on dissent towards "trigger warnings", which have been translated as "we cannot talk about" where they really are "here is a thing that we are going to talk about" - i.e. a useful thing for PTSD experiencing individuals.
But, for the gaming community, the closely adhered to moderation cut out the toxicity and replaced it with actual proper discourse. Naturally, one size doesn't fit all. You can't slap down a rule for all, and that makes things hard work.
I can see the possibility of what you are saying. The scenario here is a little more skewed than the YouTube one imo. I, and many like myself found out about Steemit by watching Youtube videos made by large stakeholders of Steem. They blatantly lie in the videos, making it seem as though money will rain down on you if you can create quality posts.
I only invested a little in the platform, as I subscribe to the never invest more than you can lose idea. I am sure there are some that have watched these same lying videos from large stakeholders (some of them witnesses) and they invested a lot of money, only to see that they were lied to and it would take them months to get their money back out of the platform once they realized how badly they were lied to. A dangerous game the ones making these videos play, as sometimes there are ramifications to being a con man.
There is one witness in particular that is well known for shilling an unrealistic view of the platform and also runs a bidbot. No surprises there. Sell the dream, give people a way to pay for the illusion they are achieving it.
At the moment because crypto is so unregulated, there are little legal consequences but perhaps, some might take the con personally.
Powerful post . Obviously no one will agree with this woman's heinous actions but I have been reading all over the place how people are becoming increasingly frustrated with youtube and their "oppressive" treatment of its users.
The actions are abhorrent of course and under no circumstances are such actions warranted.
If the bot's go (hopefully) the only ones who will snap are the high earners and the ones who own the bots. You are proof that you can write something interesting and decent and not use a bot. I haven't looked at your payouts but this one is already at $45.53 and is only an hour old with 75 votes. If i didn't know better I would say you are using a bot lol.
about 40 of it comes from one couple who support me occasionally. I see these kinds of accounts as Patrons of the arts or sciences like in the old days. I wish it would happen more for people where quality is supported (even blindly) so it can continue to be produced. I am not saying I myself am quality but I have also seen what else is out there.
Because pretty much all of the large votes on my post are manual, I see that they must drop by and read from time to time at least. My goal is to produce content that even with a skim, people will consider voting on it and keep it consistent enough from a quality perspective that even if blind voted, it would pass inspection.
That way, i can keep producing content that I think is valuable even if the audience who benefits from the information is narrow. I push for hard work, integrity and responsibility of action. It will never be mainstream but, those who are interested, influenced, take part will hopefully be the leaders of the mainstream.
I know you will keep on producing quality content as you do now. That is why, I think, you have a lot of followers, followers who actually read your content and vote for it. What is also important is that you always answer the people who write a substantive comment. And not simply something like 'thank you', but a real answer. So people take you seriously, but you take the people who write a comment also seriously. That creates a bond and creates trust.
I see it as a development of any relationship of value, any friendship. It starts somewhere but a 'thank you' alone is impersonal and meaningless until there is a history of a relationship behind it. It is over used, much like 'sorry' or 'love' and 'hate'. Their meaning is degraded when used for trivial things.
And that is the right attitude to have. You are quality to what is out there. Also I think you can put pen to paper on what you are thinking. To write as many decent posts a day as you do you have a talent.
I don't intend to snap, as I have more important things to think about, but when it comes to centralisation, Steemit roughly does the same by different means; the "issues" you refer to. Strictly speaking, there is no censorship here, but the kingdoms that have been built don't look very decentralised or benign to me.
No one intends it.
Yep. there are still rules of the game even if not expressly written into the code. 'Code is law' gets invoked as a protection of other social norms that benefit a few.
I like to think it is something I am in control of 8-).
we all do... until it happens :P
I don't see myself ever really snapping fully though but I do think that the tendency these days is much higher as for the most part, I believe we have a lot less self-control and reflection than in earlier days. Combine that with entitlement and instant gratification values and it becomes a fireworks factory waiting for a match to be struck.
I hope that the transparent nature here helps mitigate some of the anxiety you describe, but to be honest, with my very small understanding of bots, it's almost as opaque as anything. I'll keep sharpening my vision.
It is worth working out how some of it operates at even a basic level. It is all very interesting I think.
Since it is such an area of strong feeling for me, I have to be careful of 'thinking with my heart'.
Your posts are helping. :)
I think in that case, definitely look into it deeper. There are good sides and bad sides to bots. The bidbots however have very little positive for the community as I can see.
DTube is controlled by voting power and as such the Steem elites. It’s good to have an alternative to YouTube.
It was an unstable person who had their income taken away.
Love this! Thank you for your time.