Is Youtube creating a dangerous log handling and milling environment??

[jasonb]

As pointed out by Yellowhammer.

That is not a fish.

[Percy]

My channel is basically just to post video clips to the forum, and most clips get a couple of hundred views.  :D

But for no adequately explained reason, one short unedited clip of a fish in my back garden has had 312,000 views    I think I posted it to a couple of fish keeping forums at the time, and it seemed to go viral from there. We think nothing of having 4 ft long fish in the shallow creek down the back, but apparently it's unusual.  ???

Feeding an Eel - YouTube

Thats a pretty cool video.

Again, its hard to  understand why some vids go nutz. I post alot of vids for friends or perhaps me singing and playing guitar badly or some sawmill vid. Never more than a couple hundred views except one. I made it for a buddy who was sure that my mill would take atleast a half hour to cut a 17 inch diameter, 16 foot long Cottonwood log into 9 pieces of 4x4. I recorded myself cutting sai log to prove him wrong. In the last 10 years, there has been over 600,000 views.  Never made a nickle off it. But I did prove my buddy wrong. Wood-mizer LT70 - YouTube

[OlJarhead]

One of the challenges with YT is that you need both the 1k subs and 4000 watch hours for full monetization.

And then all videos that were not changed to being monetized are still not...so, 8.5% get to 1k subs..about 50% of them (one figure I saw tossed out) actually monetize.

Then the fun begins:  if you don't put out content on a regular schedule you don't get impressions.  No impressions = No views.  For the most part.

A lot of sawmill videos got crazy views during the big crunch.  I had one that was so bad I was embarrassed by it and took it down! (it's still sorta available for posterity sake) after it hit 49k views.  Why anyone watched more than 10 seconds I have no idea -- boredom maybe? lol

So, perhaps this is the key:  no impressions....no views...make video doing dumb stuff and get more views...be dangerous and get more views.

One challenge with YT is generally subs join for a reason, make a video that strays far from that reason and they don't watch.  I can put out a video that will get 1000 views in 24 hours...and do 3 a week, for weeks...all will then grow from there...put out one that is off topic and I'm lucky to see 300 views in 24hrs.

Nature of the beast.  If someone watches to see me run my sawmill (and thanks OG) even if I do make mistakes (which I do admit) and then I put out a video going to ghost towns it's unlikely they will watch it (I've done the math).

Then if people who did watch the Ghost town vid but see I am a sawmill channel after subbing, well, they leave (done that math too)....

So I think the dangerous stuff might be in part, people attempting to stay active and relevant.  After all, get 100k subs and make $5k a month is a real thing...heck, done right someone can make that with not much more than 10k subs if in fact they watch the long form (many of mine are short form subs which doesn't pay as well)...according to StarStat a channel with 180,000 subscribers that I know makes over $8000 a month.  That's $96,000 a year in YT revenue and does NOT include affiliate links and sponsorships.

That's the allure.  Pump out video, get subs and views, make money -- for a lot of people.

In my case I started like others here:  first for the grandsons who liked to see Grandpa run his tractor and sawmill and see the cabin.  Then for you all to help me figure out how to run my bigger sawmill, then for customers so they could understand better what I do and finally, thanks to the Grandsons, to make a few bucks doing what I love since doing it for others has become challenging.  I can run my mill, make videos which I hope are informative and entertaining and help pay for my bad habbit at the same time.

But I will NOT intentionally do stupid stuff.  I'm too old and broken for that ;)

Oh and I also like to try and thank YOU all who have helped me so much.  Sure, MM get's the bulk of that I suppose but honestly, he really set me on my path in so many ways.  However, I often mention FF for a reason:  without it, I wouldn't know 1/10th of what I do now

I don't know it all, I make my mistakes (and own them) and I continue to try to learn and share what I learn with others all while trying to entertain folks at the same time :D

No dumb stuff though.  Sorry!  and NO YOGA pants!

[Percy]

   Sorry!  and NO YOGA pants!

Now that would be a sight :D :D :D

[Ianab]

How often, or is it always the same ones you see (like a pet), or do different ones just routinely swim up your creeks? 

About all I know about eels is what I leaned from the show where Jerry Wade kept getting bit by them!

The eels come and go. Some stick around and you recognise their size and colouring, but they are free to move up and down the stream as they want. And yes it's the same type of eel that was on River Monsters. They have no natural predators  once the get to that size, hence they aren't afraid to show themselves. There is probably lots of smaller ones too, but they can be caught by birds (or even adult eels), so they tend to be mostly nocturnal.  The adults migrate to the sea to breed (somewhere near Tahiti?) and the baby eels find their way back up the rivers. 

[OlJarhead]

OMG You think YT is bad!  Sheesh, I recently joined a few groups on FB and wow!  The advice I see given is astounding!

I mean just insane and the questions are often just as bad...I get that people don't know what to ask sometimes but they ask questions that really can't be asked without more information (solar power groups might be the worst -- like how come my batteries are dying every night?  But no information on the batteries, the voltage, the usage etc etc etc)....anyway, just wow!

[SawyerTed]

It takes all kinds and sometimes it's people who troll by posting the most inane questions on purpose!  It's done for no other reason than their own entertainment.  They just want to get a rise out of people.  

Sometimes they are just that ignorant of how to ask their question and or the necessary details to get useful feedback.  

[OlJarhead]

I agree with that assessment.

Yes sometimes they just don't know but what gets me more is the nonsense answers they get!  Sheesh.

I'm in some solar, offgrid,homesteading type groups and man oh man....crazy stuff 

[SawyerTed]

That's why I don't often respond to stuff on Facebook groups .  There are some whacked out responses.   They are entertaining though.

Recently there was a question regarding blades for a sawmill on a FB group.  The answers were sadly hilarious.  Don't EVEN mention having trouble with a Wood-mizer!  Every other response will be about what junk they are! 

[123maxbars]

Thought I would chime in here since I have a little experience with this subject.  I have been making videos on Youtube,Facebook, Instagram etc since the fall of 2015. Been a ton of work and a lot of struggling. Never got into to be noticed or famous as somewhere pointed out. I have though been able to grow my channel into a full time business.  Didn't happen overnight and changes sometimes daily on what is working. Subscriber counts use to be something you chased but now it means nothing with the addition of short content on platforms. For example on YouTube there might be a channel showing 400k followers but only get 100 views on a long form video but their short videos might get 50k views. On one hand they are able to approach brands and show their high follower/subscriber count but at the end of the day they are not making any real money. Short form videos don't pay much at all. Long form videos are still king when it comes to CPM rates etc. CPM is the cost per thousand views advertisers pay for their product to be shown on ads in a video. 

Did I mention it's a lot of work? Sometimes I just get one log sawed and that is all I get done for the day then it's time to edit the footage. I run about 5 cameras on my sawmill from different positions in addition to showing all the support equipment. Each video then takes me about 4 hours to edit and finalize before publishing. In order to make a good video that someone will watch you have to tell a story or have a theme for the video. Get the viewer thinking, wondering what will happen next. Like writing a short story but with a few cameras. Things have gotten harder though over the years. The chances for viral videos are rare now days. I had about 4 last year with the most successful one being the video I did with @customsawyer at the project last year. 

And you can't forget about the keyboard warriors in the comment section. They love to tell you what you could/should be doing and what you need to do it better. I skim the comment section but don't reply much unless it's someone I recognize that always is being critical. It's just a video, people get worked up over it.  They will see you use a tool and just in the comment section to say you should be using something else, or "I can't believe you don't have a _____" When in fact I do have what they are referring to but I am showing what people want to see. Would a viewer rather see an excavator pull up a fence post or a hand tool? Pretty simple what they would want to see.  

Well I am off to edit more videos and have deep thoughts about when this occupation becomes Blockbuster video. Only a matter of time. 

[OlJarhead]

Amen Nathan!  Work it is!  Sometimes the mill doesn't want to do what you thought you would do ;)

I find those who make silly comments don't after I use the 'hide from channel' feature ;) 

[Jeff]

No spandex, but pure clickbait.  Taking administrative privlidge and forcing you to watch my forestry forum sever upgrade and overhaul respite video. (Yea, right)

[Old Greenhorn]

Thanks, I enjoyed your respite almost as much as you did! How did the walleye fishing go?

[Jeff]

Figuring the bullheads ate em.

[thecfarm]

Now what would your Mother say about no mittens.