Why do people online act so entitled and snooty about everything?

[Lemon Zing]

I felt compelled to post this thread, as it's something I notice a lot online. But basically, I always notice YouTubers with a sizeable following are always trying to act like a big shot, and it's equal parts sad, equal parts embarrassing.

There's YouTubers who run channels, right, and they enjoy pretending that "everyone" knows who they are. Yet the funny thing is, they admit that they seldomly upload content any more, claiming they got discouraged because Google took away their monetization, they got shadow banned, or something. And they namedrop a bunch of people in videos, who must be their rivals, calling them e-beggers and frauds, and so on. Yet I cannot help but feel some of these people are angry or just hypocrites. Because I watch their stuff sometimes, and they say that if you don't like them, listen to their podcasts or support them, they more or less say you can get to stepping. So I mean, why call people insults, slag off their content, tell people they suck for supporting so-called e-beggers, and act like you're above them, when you're doing the precise thing you say they've been doing?

Like, I am not saying their actual commentary is wrong. They do seem able to back up some of what they're boasting about. But it's when they say stuff like, "I know this company watches my videos". And this is where I smell BS on that remark. Because you cannot go around saying that and then not prove it. If these big corporations are somehow supposed to be aware you exist and are already supposed to have been informed of your conspiracy theory ramblings on a random YouTube account, I want to, you know, see the receipts. Because guess what. Anybody can get on a computer and claim such and such knows them, but who cares? Either prove this to be a genuine fact, or hush up and stop saying these type of things for views.

Then there's these people who claim they got an 'exclusive scoop' with a celebrity, because they asked them about some stuff in a post or a DM, but they more than likely just went on their X and did what 99% of other users can do that aren't blocked or muted. Then it's the same thing again. They were acknowledged, probably out of politeness. Then what happens next? "Everybody" knows me. "That person" knows me. Whether their other statements regarding the subject in question are correct or not, it doesn't matter. You either prove this person knows you, or you don't bring it up.

Speaking of people not sticking to their guns...

I knew a guy on YouTube years ago, who had developed hatred towards Capcom, because he mentioned the names of key personnel who worked on the Resident Evil series, who supposedly got disrespected, or whatever it was he was talking about at the time. There was one particular video that was outlandish and hilarious, where he compared fanboys to baby seals and shouted like he was having a meltdown, and made seal-like noises. Then someone made a video with memes to poke fun at him.

He said over and over again that he wasn't going to buy the Resident Evil 2 remake, and seemed adamant that if you supported Capcom, you were selling out as a real fan. Again, these people are often verifiable hypocrites, because can you guess what this guy did? Once that first trailer finally dropped at E3 in the summer of 2019, all was forgiven. He and a bunch of guys who were mocking his prior rants were then mocking me, and they did this on behalf of someone else as well.

Years down the road, he then removed all of his rant videos and kept his fan fiction ones public. But then he started to get interviews with the voice actors and act more professional, saying he matured as a person. But I suspect he was really just doing it to feel important, because I once said nobody at Capcom knew who he was after he said Capcom knew of his videos. This actually only happened after the voice actress for Claire Redfield came across one of his videos and referenced him. Like it made him appear relevant or whatever. However, he ended up deleting his YouTube channel. I couldn't determine the reason for that, but I notice a lot of people moaning about it "going downhill" and whatnot.

I can bet a lot of these whiners are a complete nobody offline. So they come online being all tough. But it just comes across as hypocritical when they say things to seem like they're godly, and pretend to know better. But if you dig deep enough, they're really just the same as the people they're being critical of. They do the same mental gymnastics over and over again. But I mean, if you don't like 2K wrestling games or 2K either way, or whatever the topic is at the time, why devote all your energy into bashing their products? Instead of doing that, you could go play a different game or find a new franchise to follow. Look up recipes. Create a playlist on Spotify. There's a number of things one could devote their time to instead of promoting hate, which will likely affect both parties. Or how about just making a total of one video to vent, and leaving it at that? You're not exposing something by making countless videos spewing about the same kind of complaints. These companies more than likely won't even come across your stuff either way. And if you're awkward about it on X and drawing in negativity, that's why the block feature is there.

And I don't really make Resident Evil rant posts any longer, because in general, I personally told people the cold honest truth about Capcom and how they operate. And these idiots decided to be a manchild over it and act like I was just saying things to attack Capcom. But I said the games had things omitted (in the remakes) and that Capcom was stealing ideas from other games, and it's a shallow business practice to go ripping off things and be so unapologetic whilst doing so. There was even videos I posted to verify this as opposed to me simply saying it and showing zero evidence, because you can usually embed videos into a comment. So I was like, well, don't be a colossal dummy. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Just watch the darn videos I linked you to and compare it to what I just described, instead of being a muppet behind your screen. Then you'll see for yourself that my rant has merit. But they still tried to come across as a clever clogs. So I was like, screw this nonsense. I'm done with this insanity. You know?

To be honest, I also find people bashing others over their taste in music to be pointless as well. Like, okay. I do not like modern music. Most of it is just mundane in my eyes. But that's just me. I just say I don't like listening to it and leave it at that. The same with movies. I know why Hollywood always reboots popular movies. It's just common sense. They are money grabbers, recycling things for to make a quick buck. I don't need to write a novel explaining why they love milking stuff, because they just do.

The last thing I want to bring up is Wikipedia. You may see a page right, and feel like adding a bit of info. That seems innocent enough. But some biased moderator decides they'll revert you, to feel powerful. You can challenge that mod, but then that mod is likely gonna be a jerk. And this is why contributing on high profile Wikipedia articles is a waste of time. But anyway, that's my wee long rant about done. I'm sure others have been noticing this commotion too, and loathe it.

But yeah. Internet culture to me, is just downright stupid.

P.S. Typos are annoying.

 

[Lemon Zing]

And then you get people saying to you to get lost after years of supporting them, because they began to notice you maybe don't tune into all their latest streams. But maybe that's just because you're busy, perhaps you're simply unaware they even went live, or know nothing of what they're covering. So then if they happen to be talking about a topic you know nothing about, you can just be nice about it and say, "Hey, um, I will be able to comment more if you discuss a game or whatever, that I am clued up on. But I'm glad to see you". And that's not you being funny with the person. So if they still block you or call you names after you provided a decent response, then it's clear that knob isn't worth following. Because to me, that's just dog's abuse. Period.

As much as I take my time typing, my keys are still wonky.

 

[FilterFreq]

Content creation is kind of a narcissistic endeavor, kind of like acting or being a musician. If you expect anyone in fields like this to be even remotely sane or even-tempered, I can assure you that at least 90% of them are anything but that. Even the most well-meaning ones are really just competing in what they think is some kind of race to get the most views, most likes, fans, etc.

I also have a pretty decent youtube following and music fanbase myself, so it truly takes one to know one

 

[Lemon Zing]

Yeah. That's precisely my point. There's a lot of YouTubers that just want to be noticed so badly. Shine my shoes. You know?

Especially if you hear them using weasel expressions like, "I'm the king of content. I'm a living legend!"

Yo, son. What mystical content is this? Like, you barely even make new videos. And when you do post one, it's merely recycled commentary from older videos.



I once left a comment on a page joking about how some guy didn't pronounce Konami correctly. Then he called me a slurper, or was it a sluper? And he has an accent like a gangster, like he is from the Bronx. Uses the 'N' word to describe white people. And says people are meat pullers, or throat babies. What the heck is a throat baby anyway? Ha-ha.

Actually, I think I know. But I got to keep it PG, so I'm saying nothing.

But apparently, a "sluper" is a person who is drunk and acts silly, but is too drunk to know. But I don't drink alcohol, so that's a silly thing to say. And this guy tells you to come to his streams, then if you do turn up, he never even replies to his audience. He just rants. So having a chat feature is useless when they're ignoring you, so they can have you turn up, just to hear them regurgitating the same points.

Speaking of acting, I want to get back into that someday. But I won't be adding unbilled roles on IMDb again. The reason is, some sad fruitcake was following me about on forums, and making YouTube accounts with potato pictures. And if this guy is in his 30s, that's pretty lame. Although these people don't have a life, so you cannot expect anything less.

 

[FilterFreq]

I'm actually really lucky to have dodged most social media in my 20s, but I could see that kind of stuff hurting younger people who haven't been hit with some genuinely personal insults over their work or character. Not to undermine trolling either, because that's genuinely annoying as well, but a lot of people (especially people < 30, in my experience) like to hide behind a false sense of anonymity online, or just the fact that someone isn't going to threaten their physical form in the process like they did back in the stone age.

I think most people hit an age where they pick their battles better, regardless. Sometimes feeding the trolls by giving in to their manipulation is the worst thing you can do, too. They absolutely hate when you just don't give a heck about what they're trying to do, and it's kind of hilarious to see them fizzle out

 

[Lemon Zing]

You have to be careful with X and Facebook. Idiots like to sign up to pose as others, so you could be scammed, especially if that person is known to ask for verification payments. It happens to me a lot as 'thesaunderschild' if the user ID is not yet claimed, or if I had gotten a user name change, these stalker types like this one guy in particular I know, are able to register the previous handle, and pretend it's me. Some obsessed daft person I know just made a list of the replacement names anyway. So I have to tell the affected people that it ain't me visiting their channel.

But X is a load of rubbish now. The change from the name of Twitter to X has done nothing to boost Elon's site. You cannot even edit posts. But it's the same thing as the YouTubers, really. Only with a character limit to shorten their moaning.

I've been on forums since 2003, so not being able to edit a typo is just dumb. And I know you sometimes only get so long to edit a post before you cannot do it. But on X, you cannot edit at all. You cannot even DM anybody unless you pay for the blue tick. But it's usually because the user just doesn't like to receive them. Although I like to be discreet. I may want to say something in private, in which case the DM feature was normally handy. But I mean, intelligence seems to be just not a big deal online. Everybody lazily abbreviates everything they say.

 

[velociraptor]

I don't watch most Youtubers. Boring. I have things to do in my day.

 

[Magna]

I watched an interesting podcast on a topic related to this. The main topic was about A.I. and where humanity may be in five years, ten years, etc from A.I. A.I. is rather like a baby right now. It's learning entirely from content that to date has largely been created by humans. The tweets on X, Youtube comments, "keyboard warriors", internet communication in general. A.I. is also like a baby in the sense that it's going to form opinions on what kind of character humans are (but only based on what A.I. sees on the internet). Also, like a baby, A.I. will likely reflect back to humans the way it sees humans act toward each other.

Are people generally nice and positive toward each other on the internet? Or...are people generally mean and nasty toward each other on the internet?

Point being, even though the way people act toward each other on the internet isn't necessarily how people actually are in real life, A.I. will make presumptions that ALL people are in real life the way a representative number of them act toward each other on the internet.

We may then actually become our own worst enemy and our own undoing.

 

[Xinyta]

Narcissism, insecurity, and anonymity are a dangerous combo.

People do online, what they are too afraid to ACTUALLY do to someone's face offline. Which has turned nearly everything into a cesspool.

This is why I don't hardcore attach to myself of any fandom. Everyone is either a squeaker, troll, or a know it all. Then there is the dark underbelly of some fandoms. Things I'd rather not discuss.

 

[Aspychata]

l have seen too many YouTubers get carried away into a narcissistic wormhole only to go down.

 

[thejuice]

Its a shame what google have done to youtube really. Its full of drama, shouting and squealing.

 

[Misery]

They do the same mental gymnastics over and over again. But I mean, if you don't like 2K wrestling games or 2K either way, or whatever the topic is at the time, why devote all your energy into bashing their products?

To appease the algorithm, and get people to click.

There are a lot of cases where that blazing hate they show for something is either exaggerated, or entirely fake.

For some people, sure, it might just be because they're a jerk. This is the internet after all. But for others, it is because they either do it, or their channel (or whatever) falls off the radar. And if you're trying to make a living off of video/content creation, you fall in line, or else.

If you've ever seen previously calm and chill channels suddenly take a weird turn directly into drama, and the Youtuber behind them (who previously seemed friendly and nice) suddenly seems to be getting increasingly agitated during videos, that's often why it is. In plenty of cases, they dont like it any more than you do. But right now, that kind of nonsense is what people on Youtube are craving, so more and more channels have to fall in line. The moment people start tiring of drama stuff on there and seek something else, suddenly a lot of channels are likely to make another weird pivot.

If you watch things like gaming playthroughs and whatnot, this is also why a lot of players just freaking SCREAM loudly every time a little spooky thing moves in a horror game. And then the thumbnail for the video containing that will have a picture of the Youtuber's face in a "shocked" expression on the right or left of it. Often copy-pasted.

It's all a bunch of nonsense, but they either do it, or they fall.

It's also why you get people exaggerating the heck outta their own accomplishments or loudly saying how important they are, because again, that draws the attention they need. Dont get me wrong, I'm sure there are plenty who truly are exactly that self-centered, who believe their own drivel 100%. But just as many fake it because again, gotta do SOMETHING to get attention, so they dont get buried.


Here's the thing though: Youtubers (or whatever) giving in to these trends, refusing to try new things and avoid the negative things, it aint entirely their fault. This falls on the viewers too. I remember a video I watched from Matpat (from Game/Film Theory) where he was talking about all of this stuff, this trend towards negativity and anger on these platforms, and pointing out that content creators have a responsibility to try to avoid that stuff, and push in a better direction. But he followed this up by saying that viewers have the same responsibility. Anyone who is tired of this sort of thing, but clicks on it anyway? Just encouraging it. Just being part of the problem. While also just attracting more of it towards themselves. The algorithms that run these sites will only feed you things if they think you'll eat it.

So, as I've been telling people recently... dont freaking click on it. Just stop. Dont click it, dont watch it, dont even discuss it with others (as this can also feed it). Stop dead in your tracks, and turn the heck around. Not just that, but I'd also suggest pruning your subscriptions or people you're following. I actually went through and did this very recently... I was rather disturbed to discover just how many problematic/negative channels I was subscribed to (and also annoyed to see that some previously pleasant ones had shifted). Went through and unsubscribed from ALL of those. And I carefully curate whatever shows up on the home page (clicking "not interested" or "dont show stuff from this channel" on problem videos). It's either positive, or related to my hobbies (while still being positive, even in reviews for products), or it gets pruned. Simple as that.

After all, all this stuff cant agitate you, cant feed into or create any sort of addiction, if you arent giving it the attention it needs to do that.

But X is a load of rubbish now.

You say this as if it was ever anything else.

 

[Lemon Zing]

I left all the YouTubers I supported too, for the same reason you described. Now I don't even engage with anyone. I prefer to just watch their videos now. And I might be giving up forums soon, as there's an Australian guy who has been acting creepy for 7 years, and now he is making videos pretending I'm a sleuth called 'Potato Sherlock' walking about my city. While that may just seem childish, he seems to have gotten fixated on me, and posted some vile things on forums before.

There was a popular YouTuber I started donating to during the pandemic. He said I helped him to be able to get a studio for his laptop. Some 4 years later, he seems to have changed. Started acting like a jerk and referring to followers as being 'fake' for not being at every live stream, when all of them are virtually identical in tone anyway. Making out people didn't donate enough. And so on.

If I was donating through Super Chat, I was berated for not sticking to the topic, or if it was a low amount, he was going on about that being a waste of his time. I said I knew nothing about some of the games he was talking about, as I only really play survival horror ones. So I was just doing it to be nice. But after he timed me out, I just decided to cut my losses. He called me a loser as well. His friend noticed that because he was dissecting his channel one day, and seemed astonished that long term supporters from the heyday of his RE3 remake streams were being crapped on.

There was another guy I watched, who recently moved over to Kick. I did not donate to him, though. But he kept saying my posts were random. So it just ended up feeling pointless. I started to feel like I was being made fun of.

 

[Misery]

If I was donating through Super Chat

Is this a stream thing? I dont actually watch streams myself, like, ever... I havent the patience for it, and I typically dont want to interact anyway... so I dont really know anything about stream-related functions/features.

I'm not sure what Kick is either, I dont think I've ever heard of that.

 

[All-Rounder]

I've noticed random literal nobodies claim they are multiple people and downvote your content because it's not competitive enough in their views but they have no content. They spend a long time criticizing, and they have nothing else to do.

It's not about enjoying making content anymore, it's about how many views you can get. And they push that agenda on everyone and they are no-one.

 

[Lemon Zing]

Yes. Super Chat works where you donate say $20 with your debit card, and there is a character limit. The higher the amount, the longer your message can be. Then a robot reads it out.

Kick is a new streaming service, that I assume is like Streamlabs. It is so you can swear in your broadcasts and not get banned, since it's not YouTube. There is no regulation, which I find a bit on the sinister side too, to be honest.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I felt compelled to post this thread, as it's something I notice a lot online. But basically, I always notice YouTubers with a sizeable following are always trying to act like a big shot, and it's equal parts sad, equal parts embarrassing.

There's YouTubers who run channels, right, and they enjoy pretending that "everyone" knows who they are. Yet the funny thing is, they admit that they seldomly upload content any more, claiming they got discouraged because Google took away their monetization, they got shadow banned, or something. And they namedrop a bunch of people in videos, who must be their rivals, calling them e-beggers and frauds, and so on. Yet I cannot help but feel some of these people are angry or just hypocrites. Because I watch their stuff sometimes, and they say that if you don't like them, listen to their podcasts or support them, they more or less say you can get to stepping. So I mean, why call people insults, slag off their content, tell people they suck for supporting so-called e-beggers, and act like you're above them, when you're doing the precise thing you say they've been doing?

Like, I am not saying their actual commentary is wrong. They do seem able to back up some of what they're boasting about. But it's when they say stuff like, "I know this company watches my videos". And this is where I smell BS on that remark. Because you cannot go around saying that and then not prove it. If these big corporations are somehow supposed to be aware you exist and are already supposed to have been informed of your conspiracy theory ramblings on a random YouTube account, I want to, you know, see the receipts. Because guess what. Anybody can get on a computer and claim such and such knows them, but who cares? Either prove this to be a genuine fact, or hush up and stop saying these type of things for views.

Then there's these people who claim they got an 'exclusive scoop' with a celebrity, because they asked them about some stuff in a post or a DM, but they more than likely just went on their X and did what 99% of other users can do that aren't blocked or muted. Then it's the same thing again. They were acknowledged, probably out of politeness. Then what happens next? "Everybody" knows me. "That person" knows me. Whether their other statements regarding the subject in question are correct or not, it doesn't matter. You either prove this person knows you, or you don't bring it up.

Speaking of people not sticking to their guns...

I knew a guy on YouTube years ago, who had developed hatred towards Capcom, because he mentioned the names of key personnel who worked on the Resident Evil series, who supposedly got disrespected, or whatever it was he was talking about at the time. There was one particular video that was outlandish and hilarious, where he compared fanboys to baby seals and shouted like he was having a meltdown, and made seal-like noises. Then someone made a video with memes to poke fun at him.

He said over and over again that he wasn't going to buy the Resident Evil 2 remake, and seemed adamant that if you supported Capcom, you were selling out as a real fan. Again, these people are often verifiable hypocrites, because can you guess what this guy did? Once that first trailer finally dropped at E3 in the summer of 2019, all was forgiven. He and a bunch of guys who were mocking his prior rants were then mocking me, and they did this on behalf of someone else as well.

Years down the road, he then removed all of his rant videos and kept his fan fiction ones public. But then he started to get interviews with the voice actors and act more professional, saying he matured as a person. But I suspect he was really just doing it to feel important, because I once said nobody at Capcom knew who he was after he said Capcom knew of his videos. This actually only happened after the voice actress for Claire Redfield came across one of his videos and referenced him. Like it made him appear relevant or whatever. However, he ended up deleting his YouTube channel. I couldn't determine the reason for that, but I notice a lot of people moaning about it "going downhill" and whatnot.

I can bet a lot of these whiners are a complete nobody offline. So they come online being all tough. But it just comes across as hypocritical when they say things to seem like they're godly, and pretend to know better. But if you dig deep enough, they're really just the same as the people they're being critical of. They do the same mental gymnastics over and over again. But I mean, if you don't like 2K wrestling games or 2K either way, or whatever the topic is at the time, why devote all your energy into bashing their products? Instead of doing that, you could go play a different game or find a new franchise to follow. Look up recipes. Create a playlist on Spotify. There's a number of things one could devote their time to instead of promoting hate, which will likely affect both parties. Or how about just making a total of one video to vent, and leaving it at that? You're not exposing something by making countless videos spewing about the same kind of complaints. These companies more than likely won't even come across your stuff either way. And if you're awkward about it on X and drawing in negativity, that's why the block feature is there.

And I don't really make Resident Evil rant posts any longer, because in general, I personally told people the cold honest truth about Capcom and how they operate. And these idiots decided to be a manchild over it and act like I was just saying things to attack Capcom. But I said the games had things omitted (in the remakes) and that Capcom was stealing ideas from other games, and it's a shallow business practice to go ripping off things and be so unapologetic whilst doing so. There was even videos I posted to verify this as opposed to me simply saying it and showing zero evidence, because you can usually embed videos into a comment. So I was like, well, don't be a colossal dummy. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Just watch the darn videos I linked you to and compare it to what I just described, instead of being a muppet behind your screen. Then you'll see for yourself that my rant has merit. But they still tried to come across as a clever clogs. So I was like, screw this nonsense. I'm done with this insanity. You know?

To be honest, I also find people bashing others over their taste in music to be pointless as well. Like, okay. I do not like modern music. Most of it is just mundane in my eyes. But that's just me. I just say I don't like listening to it and leave it at that. The same with movies. I know why Hollywood always reboots popular movies. It's just common sense. They are money grabbers, recycling things for to make a quick buck. I don't need to write a novel explaining why they love milking stuff, because they just do.

The last thing I want to bring up is Wikipedia. You may see a page right, and feel like adding a bit of info. That seems innocent enough. But some biased moderator decides they'll revert you, to feel powerful. You can challenge that mod, but then that mod is likely gonna be a jerk. And this is why contributing on high profile Wikipedia articles is a waste of time. But anyway, that's my wee long rant about done. I'm sure others have been noticing this commotion too, and loathe it.

But yeah. Internet culture to me, is just downright stupid.

P.S. Typos are annoying.

1. People will be people. Within any given population, jealousy and envy are real. Narcissism is real, especially online. Bias is everywhere. People do not like being argued with. People do not like having their views questioned. Most people are not open-minded enough to accept that, sometimes, two polar opposite things can be true. Most people have a difficult time with understanding perspective and context, as they are more likely to relate to their own, and only their own.
2. Not everyone that has a YouTube channel acts the way you described above. Some do, some don't. Personally, I would never subscribe to anyone's channel if they behaved as you've described. I have a small handful of people I subscribe to, on a variety of topics, none of which behave in this manner.
3. Wikipedia or with any other reference source, there must be a person or group that is responsible for making sure that whatever information is there is as accurate as possible. They must filter out bias as best they can. In todays world it is extremely difficult to do, as it seems most information floated online has a significant amount of bias. It is easier working within the realm of scientific studies, as bias is heavily filtered before publication, but even then, the reader must be skilled at reading and interpreting studies. You just can't read the abstract and call it good, but rather dig into the methodology. It's less about what the results were, and more about how they came up with those results. So, back to your experience with Wikipedia, adding a bit of info should be under some scrutiny and filtered before final acceptance onto a particular page. Keep in mind, perspective, context, and bias are everywhere. What you perceive as an absolute fact and truth from your perspective may be an absolute falsehood from someone else's perspective. The sources you quote may not hold up to the standards of the reviewers. What you perceive as bias, may only be a mirror reflection of your own that you are not recognizing.

 

[thejuice]

To appease the algorithm, and get people to click.

There are a lot of cases where that blazing hate they show for something is either exaggerated, or entirely fake.

For some people, sure, it might just be because they're a jerk. This is the internet after all. But for others, it is because they either do it, or their channel (or whatever) falls off the radar. And if you're trying to make a living off of video/content creation, you fall in line, or else.

If you've ever seen previously calm and chill channels suddenly take a weird turn directly into drama, and the Youtuber behind them (who previously seemed friendly and nice) suddenly seems to be getting increasingly agitated during videos, that's often why it is. In plenty of cases, they dont like it any more than you do. But right now, that kind of nonsense is what people on Youtube are craving, so more and more channels have to fall in line. The moment people start tiring of drama stuff on there and seek something else, suddenly a lot of channels are likely to make another weird pivot.

If you watch things like gaming playthroughs and whatnot, this is also why a lot of players just freaking SCREAM loudly every time a little spooky thing moves in a horror game. And then the thumbnail for the video containing that will have a picture of the Youtuber's face in a "shocked" expression on the right or left of it. Often copy-pasted.

It's all a bunch of nonsense, but they either do it, or they fall.

It's also why you get people exaggerating the heck outta their own accomplishments or loudly saying how important they are, because again, that draws the attention they need. Dont get me wrong, I'm sure there are plenty who truly are exactly that self-centered, who believe their own drivel 100%. But just as many fake it because again, gotta do SOMETHING to get attention, so they dont get buried.


Here's the thing though: Youtubers (or whatever) giving in to these trends, refusing to try new things and avoid the negative things, it aint entirely their fault. This falls on the viewers too. I remember a video I watched from Matpat (from Game/Film Theory) where he was talking about all of this stuff, this trend towards negativity and anger on these platforms, and pointing out that content creators have a responsibility to try to avoid that stuff, and push in a better direction. But he followed this up by saying that viewers have the same responsibility. Anyone who is tired of this sort of thing, but clicks on it anyway? Just encouraging it. Just being part of the problem. While also just attracting more of it towards themselves. The algorithms that run these sites will only feed you things if they think you'll eat it.

So, as I've been telling people recently... dont freaking click on it. Just stop. Dont click it, dont watch it, dont even discuss it with others (as this can also feed it). Stop dead in your tracks, and turn the heck around. Not just that, but I'd also suggest pruning your subscriptions or people you're following. I actually went through and did this very recently... I was rather disturbed to discover just how many problematic/negative channels I was subscribed to (and also annoyed to see that some previously pleasant ones had shifted). Went through and unsubscribed from ALL of those. And I carefully curate whatever shows up on the home page (clicking "not interested" or "dont show stuff from this channel" on problem videos). It's either positive, or related to my hobbies (while still being positive, even in reviews for products), or it gets pruned. Simple as that.

After all, all this stuff cant agitate you, cant feed into or create any sort of addiction, if you arent giving it the attention it needs to do that.



You say this as if it was ever anything else.

Do you find that even when you do all that, some toxicity still finds it way through? You need the self discipline of a monk to not click on stuff. Ive pretty much cut my losses. Furthermore, misclick once and it's all over the front page, sidebar and the end of videos like a rash.

 

[thejuice]

Every thumbnail is trying to bait an emotional reaction out of you, with lurid and sensational headlines and pictures. It's very emotionally manipulative and coercive. It's fatiguing just scrolling through all the videos appealing to your primitive instincts. They want to get you into the emotionally charged state of reacting without thought, passively clicking what Google says you want and eroding your agency to the point where the algorithm controls you. You're irritable, burned out and you can't remember what purpose you originally logged on for.

 

[Misery]

Furthermore, misclick once and it's all over the front page, sidebar and the end of videos like a rash.

Nah, there's a way to undo this.

Go into your history (not browser history, I mean the history function on Youtube), find the offending thing you accidentally hit, and just hit the X by it. It removes all records of that specific video ever having been watched from your history list, so it wont count at all for future home feeds. The algorithm wont consider it.

Do you find that even when you do all that, some toxicity still finds it way through? You need the self discipline of a monk to not click on stuff.

Aha, but see, I've got a trick for you.

Look up a browser extension called Unhook. It can do lots of things. It can remove the sidebar, remove shorts, remove comments, it can even alter the thumbnails of every single video that ever appears on the page to you, by replacing the set thumbnail with just a random screenshot moment from the video. No more of the "OMG SHOCKED FACE" and such. It's hard to get clickbaited when the "bait" part has fallen off and rolled away.

It even changes the titles of the video to actually represent what's in them. A video title that might be like "HOLY PUDDING POPS WHAT DID WE FIND IN THIS HOUSE?" might turn into "We found bats in this house" if that's what happens in the video. Quite a time saver. If I recall correctly, this works similar to how SponsorBlock works, in that users who watch the videos as they come out will upload new titles to Unhook for those videos, which is what it grabs when it spots them.

Speaking of which, if you dont already have SponsorBlock, get that too.

I dont know how anyone uses this site without stuff like this. Note that all of the different features these have are optional and can be turned on and off as needed.