So, I've just taken the pain to go through YouTube and unsubscribe from... how many channels? Fifty? A hundred? Damn, over a hundred!
And as I'm going one by one, unsubscribing from all these channels, I'm feeling pained. Not even for their content that I won't have easy access to anymore. Because the next step is to sign out of YouTube, and never use the evil signed-in again.
No, YouTube, I'm not done yet
I can't say I'm never using YouTube, period. Because there are all these independent creators with decent content on the platform. The platform enables them to produce and share that content. So I'll still need to see what they've got. I'll still need to be educated, enlightened, directed by what they share. Their very own value delivery.
I can't leave the platform. There's nowhere else to get their content but YouTube.
But because of YouTube's evils—which I'll get to—I have to unsubscribe from everything, everything! and sign out. Out, out…
Every time I use YouTube as of now, I'll manually clear my cache, come in fresh, and search for the specific channel I want to watch. Of course, in search results I'll see things I don't want that might catch my interest. If it's from channels with similar content, I'll just note it down somewhere. Take the pain.
When I come back to YouTube, I'll remember: oh, I need to look up something on CNN, or something by Don Lemon, or any of these channels I had subscribed to. But for now, it's enough to get rid of all subscriptions and come into YouTube like a total stranger every time. A total guest.
Because YouTube? Fuck you!
You've broken every promise
You suck, and you've broken every promise you (could have/or) made with both consumers and creators. And they should be the same thing—consumers and creators. If you're a consumer, you should be a creator. If you're a creator, you should be a consumer. You are, no? You are both!
It's the whole first principles worldview where everybody is equal, but each person has one exceptional thing the other doesn't (or may not or not yet, or doesn’t even matter because…). We complement each other, work together, and have a just, fair, sensible world. Not this top-down bullshit that YouTube plays in.
But let me get to the point.
The platform became the media
I won't mention the particular creator who triggered this—they're not the brain behind my decision to leave. But they're one of the reasons. Because of what YouTube does, which is total disrespect, a total fuck you to intelligent people like me who come to view content...
I get served videos by this creator that are complete drivel. Content that's just a waste of minutes.
It feels like they started an account and don't know why they're running it anymore. But YouTube... the message I sent to YouTube on LinkedIn was: Be the platform, not the media. Don't choose for me. Don't fucking choose for me.
Be the platform, not the media. Medium?
You have a YouTube channel, you're supposed to be something, and YouTube is the video platform that enables you to deliver whatever that is. Just like I'm writing now—Substack is a platform that makes it easier for me to write and share with subscribers, straight to their email (if they want). They can read in their inbox or on the web anytime, however they choose.
Substack isn't the medium. Substack is the platform. I have my message. I'm working on a global framework. I have a vision. I don't imagine I can change the world, or that I can get people to accept what I'm saying. A few will, perhaps. I don't imagine the whole world will. I don't care. I just have to do it anyway. As long as I breathe.
As long as I can.
Respect people's time
That's what I want to present. I'm not going to talk about the look of my kitchen or how I worship this god or whatever. If I talk about such things, they'll have a role. They'll contribute to the subject matter that viewers (readers) expect.
I respect their time. I won't vomit dribble just because I've got popularity and YouTube will pay me anyway.
The same way YouTube disrespects people and their time, that's how this particular creator—and many others—are disrespecting people's time by just vomiting stuff into their channels. No voice, all vomit!
And what does YouTube do? It makes all these assumptions about you. People talk about AI, AI, AI. Back then it was algorithm, algorithm, algorithm. Still is. The noise. What the fuck is algorithm? Somebody writes it, dammit! Somebody (always) has to write it—are we so stupid?
Ignorance by choosing must be stupidity, right?
Let's not give credit to AI.
ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.
Claude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
How stupid! So, these systems are individuals now? Huh? Gosh…
It's not ChatGPT. Not Claude. Damn! It's engineers. Designers. Thinkers. People! You! Us! No AI system makes independent decisions. What the fuck is wrong with us? O, us…
AI doesn't know what it's doing because it's not conscious. It can never. It can never be. Have we pretended ourselves into not knowing we’re pretending? O, the ignorance by choice thing, damn.
AI gives you back what it understands (as engineered) based on large language models (as trained on it). It's been fed a lot of crap and programmed to make sense of that crap based on more crap, and equally a load of sense. But…
I'm not an AI engineer, I can't speak intelligently enough how these systems are modeled. But I don't give credit to ChatGPT or Claude—I give credit to people working hard to build these systems. Again, for the value they deliver. But I digress…
The subscription betrayal
YouTube's algorithm is so messed up. Human beings, people writing this algorithm just to drag you into watching whatever shit they throw at you. You watch one thing, and suddenly everything recommended is related to that thing.
All these channels I subscribed to... I come to YouTube to subscribe to channels with some decent shit I care about. Respect my fucking time. I'm so bitter with YouTube. What the fuck is wrong with these guys? And that's Google, right?
Show me videos from my subscriptions first. If you're going to show me something else, ask me. Maybe there should be a tab "Recommendations" or "Discovery." Whatever. When I'm done with my timeline of latest videos from my subscriptions, I can visit that tab. If I wanted more I know where to go. There you can vomit out all your algorithm and recommend shit based on what you think I might like, if that’s your only shit (because for sure you can do better). I'll go through the pain of picking what I want, but it'll be on my schedule, on my time. Damn it, YouTube!
They're eavesdropping on everything
YouTube, I'm talking to you: respect my time.
If YouTube respects my time, creators will probably do same.
And creators—you're not a "YouTuber." Fuck you if you think you're a YouTuber. There's no such thing. YouTube gives you a platform to deliver value. Deliver that value and know that everything you produce should be in accordance with your subject matter. Stand for the value you deliver. Don't be a YouTuber, ValueAdder! Be a subject matter expert in whatever sphere you've chosen. Don't come there and feed me dribble because you're well-known.
I'm not coming back signed in, so you can do whatever you want now. Isn’t that the way of the world? I'll come in fresh each time, search what I want to watch, watch it, get out, clear my cache so next time you don't know me. O, o, I hope so…
I know the many ways you try to know me. To define me. To puppetize me into something out of the Matrix. You read my WhatsApp messages. I don't know what alliance Google has with Meta. Wait, I really don’t? What hasn’t money messed up? I chat with someone on WhatsApp, and next time on YouTube I see videos about what we talked about. Plus some.
Is it Android eavesdropping? The Android operating system eavesdropping on my private WhatsApp chats, recording and LLM'ing my fucking calls? Communicating back to Google for YouTube? Google would deny it. So how else can we explain it?
This really got me: I had a phone call. Talked about something I was considering. Next time on YouTube, I see videos relating to that exact thing. How? So Android eavesdrops on my phone conversations and communicates to Google, to YouTube?
Same reason I ditched Google Search near on 10 years to date!
So YouTube, fuck you
Respect my time. Fuck you. And fuck whatever you represent. Fuck you up to your motherfucking parent company, Google. Fuck you all.
It would be fine if you'd respect people's time and those using your platform to deliver value would also respect people's time. It's a pain that I've unsubscribed from all these channels. Some I may never see again because how do I remember them all? All the same, that’s how I forgot most of them because you wouldn’t surface their videos because you know so much, fuck you!
So for now, fuck you. I'm out. When I come to view anything, I come as a signed-out user. Go through the pain.
However else you're still going to fetch me out and eavesdrop on me... Good luck figuring out based on my browser, my location, my calls, you probably already bugged my bedroom or something… fuck you, go on, serve me crap. Fuck you.
Good luck. Congratulations, you win. But fuck you!