Steemit, Youtube and shots fired

I don't normally write about current affairs topics nor do I care but the Youtube shooting a couple days ago has got me thinking. As some of you might know, I don't watch the news but I heard about this in a chat conversation so today I thought I would have a look at what is going on. The interesting thing was that it was only a few days earlier in chat when someone mentioned this exact kind of event.

This is piece is just to raise some conversation as it is something we are going to have to consider here in different ways also as when money is involved, people very quickly become irrational.

Again, I have close to zero trust when it comes to news reports, especially those that concern the largest companies in the world but I found some of the quotes I read interesting. The story I will reference is from one of those NewsCorp sites, (news.com.au) and you can find it here.

It seems that the shooter was upset at Youtube for demonetizing her account by changing algorithms that affected the eyes on her posts. Here are some of her supposed quotes and the way the news presented it.

SHOOTER’S YOUTUBE RANTS

The 39-year-old posted a video on YouTube in January 2017 where she said YouTube “discriminated and filtered” her content. She accused the company of being the culprit behind her channel getting less views, and in a fiery spray the following month, said there was “not equal growth opportunity on YouTube”

According to ABC7, she wrote on her website: “Be aware! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics!”

She then quoted Hitler: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it.”

The rest of her message was dominated by her scathing words for YouTube. “There is no free speech in the real world and you will be suppressed for telling the truth that is not supported by the system. Videos of targeted users are filtered and merely relegated so that people can hardly see their videos.”

I say supposed quotes as for this particular piece, I am not going to do the research to make sure she said these things. And, for the moment, let's take the shooting event out completely as despite the nature of it, it is noise in the system as it was the response, not the cause. The way people respond to situations is obviously far ranging but shouldn't take away from the causes of the behaviour. They are independent movements.

Okay, so, who disagrees with her quotes here?

Even the one from Hitler is hard to disagree with isn't it? Just because the words came out of one of the most pathological and sadistic mouths the world has ever known, doesn't make it any less valid. After all, he used that very technique to turn the course of the world on its societal axis.

We already know that Youtube has preferred content providers and know that their algorithms are discriminatory. We know that there is not equal growth opportunity and we know that they will censor and suppress content they deem inappropriate either through removal or bumping it into oblivion. It is part of their approach to maximise advertising revenue and a reason why something like @dtube will be attractive to alternative providers.

The games these centralized platforms are playing are rigged by design, it is their business model and the way they can curb what they see as negative behaviours. 'Stay within the guidelines or be demonetized'. By doing this they can give their advertisers some guarantees and also limit the amount of negative press surrounding the content they do allow. The entire platform is created to monetize exactly who they want. There is no large reward without being part of the system.

This is censorship 101. Reward some people heavily for acting the way you want the rest to act and in that way, the rest will likely follow the same path to 'success'. This is something that is largely missing here as the community behaviours that are wanted aren't supported financially yet, the selfish behaviours are heavily supported. The road to success is broadcast as 'be very selfish at the cost of the community'.

Now, back to the aftermath of her Rants, the shooting.

Once money is involved, people take it all very seriously indeed and that is of no exception here. It is because of the money involved that I myself want to see the demise of the bidbots as it could be used to create so much more value for so many more people than it currently is.

But, I have seen massive amounts of entitlement here over the last year and it is just growing day by day. I have seen public breakdowns from some of the most consistently highly rewarded content producers because someone gave them a relatively tiny flag on their already over inflated payout figure. I have seen the same people bully the tiniest minnows for giving them flags too because they can't handle criticism.

People ranting and raging, screaming and crying, "it is not fair!" No, it is not but when those words are coming from the highly rewarded, that is entitlement speaking, not reality.

Now, tell me something. How many posts have you read or seen on depression? How many have you read from potentially very unstable people? How many explosive rants have you witnessed on your time here? Who are they generally coming from?

From the zero earners they are complaining that they aren't earning, from the high-rise earners they are complaining that they aren't making enough or that their payouts are being reduced through flags or bidbots! Incredible isn't it? The highest earners complaining that their autovoters are no longer voting on them but are instead selling their votes to the highest bidder. This is Youtube.

How long until one of these mentally unstable, faceless crowd pick up a 9 mm because they aren't happy with how the system currently works or how it changes in a hardfork? It is only a statistical wait really.

Now, think about this.

Most people who sign up and even post on Youtube have no real intention of ever earning on the platform yet still stay within guidelines as they want to be able to share their content and engage with the audience. Those that don't play the Youtube game are censored out. What kinds of content do Youtube censor?

Sure there are the usual suspect political activists etc but, there are also the extreme thinkers and actors, the kinds you don't want to invite to dinner or leave alone with your family. The kinds that might just pick up that 9mm and go to Youtube headquarters and start shooting.

We welcome the Youtube rejects here though, we don't censor at all. Freedom of speech, freedom of action, right? The ones who willingly play the Youtube games are those who do think about their public appearance, how they interact and what they present. Some of those who don't, may just not care about how they look or perhaps, care about community at all. When people don't care about community, is there a higher chance of bad behaviour? Is there a higher chance of violent outbursts? I don't know.

But for the most part at Steemit, everyone is here in part to the financial rewards possible and carry hopes and expectations about those earnings. As they experience the same rigging that is on all the other platforms they feel it as they thought it was different here, they thought they could earn. Very, very few average users expect a return from Youtube. All do here.

Now, remember that for the most part, rewards and wallets are visible here. People can directly see the social algorithms at play, some of the high earning vote traders, the size of the accounts, the lack of effort it takes to get into trending and all the other issues.

How many might feel oppressed and get pushed a little too far for their fragile minds and snap? As Steemit grows, the chances increase.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]