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I Forge Iron

Advice for creators of YouTube videos


Charcold

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On 4/19/2018 at 4:37 PM, rockstar.esq said:

Charcold,

I appreciate where you're coming from but I disagree with respect to the youtube monitization thing. Youtube is acting as a gatekeeper and they're doing bupkiss for quality control beyond the typical politically-correct pablum.  There are a lot of high quality educational videos that are blocked, de-monitized, or otherwise censored without explanation.  The power they wield over content creators is absolute.  As soon as a new "digital kingdom" is tall enough to cast a shadow, the same old protectionist racket falls into place.  Naturally, workarounds to youtube are underway.

I agree with all of this so I'm not sure what we disagree on. :lol:  I did leave out the bit about how even if you make a perfectly instructional channel you still may not be able to monetize, i think my wish for people to have better videos is "for the good of the craft" rather than meaning "this is how you make money". Admittedly confusing reading back over it as i weave a bit inbetween thoughts at times. 

 

I think after reading all of the replies over this thread my position comes down to this.

If you are determined to be a content creator, and you have a subject in mind for a video. It will be advantageous to you as a creator, and to those you're instructing, to post something of a summary here with simple bullet points about the information you want to include on that subject (something good creators usually do anyways for their reference). This is a way to close the gap between knowledgeable master smiths who aren't interested in making videos and younger smiths who have videos in mind. This brings up a bit of a moral question about citing your sources in the eventual video, although I'm sure most member would be tickled pink just to hear "thanks to the curmudgeons over at IFI". When I made this post it was in the specific context of how a user who has since been banned from the site (who had a very limited knowledge base about blacksmithing) could draw on knowledge in a very easy way to improve the content of his channel (since he seemed very determined to make a youtube channel).  I think that's a very effective way to address what seems to be a reality in the internet these day, those most willing to make videos are often not experienced enough to instruct. 

 

Since then we've got on to a few tangents, which is fine, i think it was a good thread. But i think that paragraph above captures what I was saying pretty well with some things added based on the conversation. 

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Well, where to start....        LOL..  Sadly I don't do a story board or a reference of any sort..... I just pick something that I think is lacking or fills in the gaps and then just start forging..   

Many years ago, I started to put together instructional videos with story boards, excerpts and even on camera narration, I lost interest pretty quickly...  I've come to understand myself over the last 49years just a little and have found the best thing is to just pick out something from the old memory banks  or look at what is out there now..   Evaluate where people are having a hard time  and then make a video showing how to do something or learn the skill set to end up with a product that otherwise would never have happened as no one shows it done that way..  (the whole non welded series with this, as was the tong making series)

Again,  for me it becomes where is there a Lack...    Everybody and their Grand mothers are making videos now.. 1, 3, 5 months, 2 years, 5 years and they are all experts..  Again, Some of the channels give definitive opinions on subjects or topics that they shouldn't...  Yet they do... 

How do you stop this from happening in an Environment that at this point in time is the "Wild West".. (not the great tv show)..   There is nothing that can be done, if the people watching want entertainment vs factual information and then to have information offered by some as factual who really shouldn't offer the opinions on it..  

So,   Do we ask for content here and then get feed back to what people want to see???   Or do we create a basic stewardship like ABANA did with their curriculum of skill sets? 

I love Mark Aspery's videos..  They are just about the only ones I will watch as I just can't handle the misinformation that is being passed along on a lot of other channels..   I sometimes will peak on to someone elses channel when it looks interesting, but then I just get disappointed with the content so stop watching.. Then have to go delete history on the channel as I don't want others to think I support other channels unless they are up to the task..  

Don't get me wrong, there are some people out there making a video and while filming are Looking for information during the video on making something... In other words they haven't done the skill set before but are showing it as the first time and learning as they go along..   I'm happy for the person.. But not usually for the content.. 

People like underdogs..  and people who struggle and are victorious..   There are a lot of gifted smiths out there now.. It's great to see.. The finished products are nice..  The techniques used, well not so nice..  
 
Anyhow, I think with all the blacksmithing stuff there are ideals..    In the video world, there are ideals,,   In the teaching world there are ideals..    I personally don't know the winning combination and while i think if someone is looking to make Youtube a full time job, like the youngster from UK than you have to find a combination of all the above that keeps a consistent enough watching..   

I don't think it's possible to get this unless you have a  "Buy in"  to begin with.      (there is a sales jargon I'm missing, Cold contact sales is the hardest,  A person has to be interested either in the title, the thumbnail or from previous views ) to continue with that channel..   

This also leads to producing a video 1 to 2 times a week with the same formula that one is succeeding with...  It's finding what works for you..  

 

So, is it time to start a thread titled... 

What do you want to see made?    What skill sets do you want to see in video form? 

Most people I don't think would even have a "Question" or and "Answer"  As they don't know until they know unless it's a question about " That magical forge welding".  or  "Upsetting steel effectively"..   etc, etc..  

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Charcold, 

Earlier I understood you to be saying that the revisions to monitization rules were a quality control effort on youtubes part.  Sorry if i got that wrong.

Based on their past behavior, I wouldn't trust youtube  or any other form of social media with my content.  Building a registry of youtube video reviews seems like a good idea until I think of how difficult it would be to actually find one specific item in all that information.  

I also think that a lot of people allow perfection to be the enemy of the good.  I regularly encounter videos that don't get to the point before I lose patience with them.  One that comes to mind started as a sort of handyman channel that dabbled in blacksmithing.  It's grown in popularity and production value to where the first third of every new video is self-promotional chatter.  I've gotten to the point where self-aggrandizing vocal ticks are difficult to overlook.  Phrases like; "Real quick",  "Just a few house-cleaning issues" and "Before we jump in..." rarely precede interesting commentary yet they're common among channels that become popular.

I would 100% rather watch a silent film of someone demonstrating their craft than to listen to five minutes of pedantic snarking at a straw-man.  I've never heard an expert picking on the ill formed notions of neophytes and came away thinking better of that expert.  As Winston Churchill once said "You'll never get to your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks".

While I can understand those who are concerned about misinformation, I think the truth is that little can be done about it.  However it's worth pointing out that nearly all of us have encountered bad information as we learned about blacksmithing.  We had the personal motivation and wherewithal to questions what we've learned, test as needed, and pass on what's proven to be true.   Smart people that ignore these lessons will end up following our path. 

 

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Ahhh not a problem that makes total sense. If i said that i meant it that it's youtube's goal, or even just their PR spin. I don't think the changes they made have improved quality of content overall, and especially not much in blacksmithing. 

When they first started it was an attempt to cut down on click-bait DIY videos. that was a legitimate income maker for 3-4 years. All of a sudden people didn't have to search "how to change a tire", then watch it, and apply it to their car. You could just search "how to change a tire 2005 Pontiac Grand am". As an example. Most of the videos were basic, there were many duplicates of each subject, and that was just the DIY aspect. It became a problem with more click-baity subjects like "how to make 500$ a week with passive income" where you're just saying "have a massive youtube channel and get paid to endorse products" or some other pile of worthless info. but the title gets u 100k views and it pays out. In todays algorithm that would get a massive like/dislike ratio in the first day and get buried in the search query more consistently. 

but theyve made it harder to make money for people that make good content in combatting bad content. 

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It has nothing to do with the content, never has. 

It's about selling ads. You get more people glued to the screen for longer, they sell higher priced ad space and share a tiny piece of their profits. 

Doesn't matter what you're producing. 

Occasionally certain 'content' gets removed because their ad partners don't like it, or it's a delicate topic in the news, so they don't want to risk the negative press and loss of major advertising firms. 

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