YouTube Is Destroying Its Creators
Added 2024-10-04 13:00:18 +0000 UTCYouTube is burning us up... and it's not sustainable for much longer.
This is a video that I really wish I didn't have to take time to make for numerous reasons. But it's one that I think needs to be made... And I just want to say thank you to all of you here on Patreon. Be on the lookout for my update video for October (it may be out already; I'm uploading this a few days early), where I'll talk about this more, but... I've had a few really positive projects come up, both for filmmaking and in other areas that I can't talk about yet, but it's super exciting! So between that and what this video talks about, as well as my desire to make some really cool videos, I'm going to be slowing down a hair to make sure I'm taking care of myself and my fiancee while also making sure I make this dream projects everything I want them to be. So, just a thank you to all of you for helping me do that. I promise you... there's some SUPER cool stuff on the way, like IDENTITEAZE, and you're making it possible <3 Adore you all!
Comments
I first came across you when I was trying to figure out if the criticism of Rowling was justified since I was just hearing about it on the periphery. This introduced me to wonderful people like Jammy Dodger, Council of Geeks, and you. You're my first Patreon support! And of course I love Star Trek. As an older cis-gay man who has seen a lot of changes, the world is a better place having your voice and creativity being heard. Lots of love from Canada.
Robbie
2024-10-13 13:27:03 +0000 UTCNew subscriber here. Just want to say my heart goes out to you. That was a rough watch, but mostly because it feels me with dread knowing what you're going through dealing with this nonsense. I know my subscription is a small token, but nevertheless, keep up the good work. I'd hate to see a sane voice of reason silenced by the system.
Scott Seligman
2024-10-12 22:34:09 +0000 UTCI don’t have any useful advice but I increased my monthly pledge ❤️ I’m a late-diagnosed AuDHD nonbinary femme in my grown ass 40s and your videos (both the nerdy and the poignant) have been a safe warm place I get to go to on both good and bad days. Thank you so much for everything you continue to do. You’re only human and you deserve so much more than this nonsense.
Jade Starke
2024-10-12 04:17:13 +0000 UTCHey Jessie! Still watching the video so sorry if this was answered: I know Stephanie Sterling has had limited success in dealing with similar issues, have you discussed this with them at all? I see a possible coalition with other creators rising from this problem
Rosie
2024-10-11 19:14:12 +0000 UTCI have the exact same shoulder pain that you've described. I've had it since i started university (which was 6 years ago) and it came from a place of undiagnosed, unknown autistic burnout and fear. I'm getting a bit better now, but i immediately recognised what you were describing. Please take care of yourself. I'm financially in a position to finally be able to contribute a little bit and it makes me feel like i'm able to make a bit of a difference in helping you, a creator i respect and care about, keep that same creative flame i feel burning in a way that won't hurt you. Thank you for sharing your delight in creation and joy in experiencing a world through a queer, neurodivergent lens and i hope you know how much we as your audience care about you.
Mishka Ekron
2024-10-11 16:10:49 +0000 UTCGoodness this absolutely breaks my heart Jessie. Remember, taking care of yourself is a form of resistance!
Adam Myers
2024-10-11 07:30:40 +0000 UTCI hope it can be found again but when LOTR was put on TNT's channel they purposely cut a promo that very strongly suggested a Frodo and Sam gay relationship with it's ending being Gandalf giving a silent peculiar look. all I know is that has to be nearly a decade old now. I can't wait to be able to dedicate more time outshining the chuds and their weirdo obsessions.
CraftyAndy
2024-10-11 03:26:56 +0000 UTCI totally get the desire to explain yourself. To not just accept the sheer *injustice* of it all, but yeah, I think you're right it's not good for you at all. These people toy with truth and justice, utterly uncaring (at best) of the damage they do. Your videos have meant a lot to me over the years and I'm glad you're taking care of yourself. I really hope it works financially too as I know all too well what worrying if you can keep your home long term is like. Your art matters. ♥️
Vala Selene
2024-10-10 17:02:03 +0000 UTCHear, hear!
Jay P Hailey
2024-10-10 13:22:12 +0000 UTCJessie! I feel like I let you down by not trying to be a counter valing voice to the assholes. I am always out here, listening to you and enjoying you and what you have to say. Even when you're explaining something horrible, you explain it very well. I feel smarter and like I am slightly better because of the stuff you say. If you have to step back, moderate, ration your exposure - Cultivate a small closed garden of not-assholes... please do what it take to take care of yourself.
Jay P Hailey
2024-10-10 13:21:41 +0000 UTCJust watched this on Nebula, and I noticed a nitpick you might want to put a note on for the bad faith commenters on YouTube: Tolkien was in World War One, not Two (1:05:30ish). An easy thing to misspeak, but knowing the jerks out there, I can see it clipped out and mocked.
Eric Mason
2024-10-09 18:59:38 +0000 UTCI want to follow up on my comment. I'm sharing this from having followed your work for years (at this point). I use familiar terminology of "friend" even though our conract is parasocial at best. But I mean this very earnestly and from a place of genuine caring for you. Jessie. I want to tell you that your art has grown beyond YouTube. Far, far beyond YouTube. It no longer supports the scope of your vision and the weight of your commentary. Identiteaze is a beautiful film and work of science fiction optimism. Your passion and joy **SHINE** in that film. Your energy is so much better served in places like Nebula. I don't know how your financial health works out with YouTube vs Nebula vs Patreon. But dear-heart, you've earned joy and the absolute bliss that I can see in you when you create the things you love and not fight against a corporate machine that won't care for the art you create. Frankly, YouTube doesn't deserve you. It's changed over the years and for the worst. Like Facebook and Twitter, it's grown decrepit in it's monopoly. It caters to capital and nothing else. I hope you don't see this as being too familiar or presumptive. I love you. I love your community. And what you've gifted me through your voice and your art and your honest sharing of yourself and your life, I can't ever repay. I don't care if I contribute my 30 bucks a month for the next hundred years, I'll still owe you more and more. Be well friend. Executive Producer, Captain SuperDezzy of the Federation Starship "Dawnthir" NCC 1969
SuperDezzy
2024-10-08 19:58:39 +0000 UTCHallo my friend. I want to say that *I AM SO PROUD* that my name is on screen when two women who are deeply in love and engaged to be married are displaying their joy and love for each other on a public forum. Erin + Jessie 4-Eva! (I hope she spells her name Erin. Since I have many close friends who spell that name at least three seperate ways.) I hope your love endures until the stars themselves flicker out. I love you both.
SuperDezzy
2024-10-08 18:25:11 +0000 UTCThis was so hard to watch - until Part 7. Your vulnerability about the effects of this experience were healing and affirming to me. I am so glad to hear that you are addressing your own well-being. Never apologize for that! I've heard other people say "I'm not saying this to elicit pity" when they are being vulnerable, and it always surprises me. It's the outrage merchants, jumping into the drama triangle as "victims," who sound like they want pity. True vulnerability inspires feelings of connection and admiration in me, not pity.
Captain Mikee
2024-10-06 20:46:44 +0000 UTCI'm happy you are getting legal counsel. That SUCKS but you deserve to win a fair use case. (FWIW that credits kiss scene was totally wholesome IMO and you can *feel* the love you both have. You're adorable together 😄)
Todd Vierling
2024-10-05 23:26:05 +0000 UTCFor what it is worth your videos have meant so much to me. You reignited my love for Star Trek, taught me so much about being an active participant when consuming media and busy being passive, opened my eyes to the need to seek intersections of disenfranchised people, and helped me find myself as a trans person just figuring themselves out. Thank you so much for putting yourself out there and sharing so much with so many people. Please know got make a difference. Prioritize your health, both mental and physical, create the content that you want to, and know you make the world a better place. I can't wait to see what you create next.
Matthew Sparks
2024-10-05 19:07:35 +0000 UTCLike other people have been posting, I've also been considering making video essays of my own. But I've been hesitant because I know as someone who will be talking about queerness and being queer I'll be at risk of all the things Jessie talked about here. And it's deeply frustrating to know that this whole process of being beaten down by the machine could begin with my very first video--regardless how hard I researched it, how much effort I put into filming it, or how much I end up censoring it--tanking my channel from the beginning. There's an impact to YouTube's blatant and unprofessional systemic discrimination and it will affect the future of the platform.
Nathaniel Bookout
2024-10-05 14:17:44 +0000 UTC<3
Sara Ezzat
2024-10-05 04:11:14 +0000 UTCneeding to explain myself to people who refused to understand me was also a place that I went to so hard that I also hurt myself. after a few years of therapy, i'm much more comfortable with myself and rarely think of what others think of me be well Jessie, take care of yourself as best you can
Wellington Marcus
2024-10-05 03:16:58 +0000 UTCYoutube has been lying since the day it ran its first funded creators back in 2007 (or so). It has never been about freedom, creation, or a means of financial independence. EVERY god tier “creator” in their initial program were already doing well financially and started basically on 3rd base. The Green’s even indirectly admit it. And all of them made money on merch and side projects. The video’s were just ads to sell their shit. Youtube twisted that into making people believe that providing content to a video hosting site was a workable means of real and stable income. They saw what ZeFrank did with HIS own money and HiS OWN hosting in 2004-2005 And ripped it off and sold it to everyone. It’s just door dash for video content. You take all the financial risk, make all the sacrifice, and even when you aren’t blocked by bullshit, they just consume you like any other corporate employer, with out even the courtesy of a shitty health plan or worthless 401k. Just because it allows long format video, Youtube is no different than Twitter, Tick Tok or Facebook. Creators are just a resource stream to harvest so Youtube can make money. Every 3-5 years this comes up. They don’t care about any content creators, or their content, just that it comes in.
Mike Zaite
2024-10-04 23:19:54 +0000 UTCThank you for sharing this - you are a consistent inspiration. Please take time to fix your health. I personally waited too long to step away and now suffer with a broken body. Many/most of us will be here for you. You owe us nothing.
Daniel Pirone
2024-10-04 21:09:47 +0000 UTCHeh, well, while it was an awkwardly-long makeout session, I guess, remember these people claim the mere mention of trans people is inherently somehow 'pornographic and unsuitable for minors. ' But somehow I doubt the people weaponizing Youtube systems even got that far in the vid. (And, I dunno, personally I tend to find kissing or other scenes awkward to watch whoever's involved, despite being sex-positive in general. I think it's cause I don't relate visually that way and I suppose I feel disconnected and like I shouldn't be there or something. :) Even actual visual porn just tends to look silly or something. :) Anyway, good chance a lot of these right-wingers get all revved-up at anything and hate that. ) What they hate more, clearly, is people they want to erase having voices. And of course fact-checking. THey lie for a living and facts are their 'natural enemy.' Never mind humanity.
OliveD
2024-10-04 20:42:37 +0000 UTCAs a small queer artist, I've been debating about getting into YouTube content, because my views elsewhere have been frankly non-existent lately. But I'm getting so tired of seeing all the hate and toxicity. I'm pretty sure I will, but I really need to just focus on the art, more than what the algorithm thinks of me. Anyway, love your art and your content and sending much love your way ❤️
Nyght
2024-10-04 20:39:08 +0000 UTChaven't seen the video yet but have a pretty good idea of what it's about. YouTube has a long history of being crappy to the very creators that have made the platform a success. Honestly makes me very hesitant to ever do this full-time. Before I became disabled, I would always say "I can go to my job and make more money for less effort and time" but now I dunno... I'm not saying this to start a pity party but to provide an example of the many small creators that get discouraged from taking this seriously as a career.
Miranda Ketita
2024-10-04 18:34:47 +0000 UTCTruly lost for words over this, Jess. I'm so sorry this is happening. This is so frustrating
Foreign Man in a Foreign Land
2024-10-04 18:27:09 +0000 UTCI mean yeah, YouTube's content policies are dictated by the (employees of the) ruling class. It's an important tool for disseminating media so they (the ruling class) take it (censoring us) seriously. It is not a platform where marginalized or radical people have fully free speech. So we have choices to either try to fly under the radar of their content moderation policies, or to openly protest them with collective organizing among creators. YouTube's not going to do the right thing if we ask nicely... but I bet you they would feel differently if creators were to collectively organize and threaten something like a strike. Our power lies in our numbers.
Come Together Counseling
2024-10-04 14:50:07 +0000 UTCYouTube needs to change. Because it’s not hurting creators but the industry as well. Imagine if I made a cartoon but someone said it’s too woke because they watch one of critical drinker videos and I need to change my autistic blue hero to an all white hero. That’s what happened with Velma. Of course Critical Drinker will be Koi and pretend he didn’t influence the show.
Jesse gartung
2024-10-04 13:10:43 +0000 UTC
