YouTube, Thank Your Small Content Producers

Posted on July 1, 2010 by admin

YouTube has been slowly hurting their small content producers. In this writing, small content producers will count as anyone whom is not a partner or has less than 2,000 subscribers. There are several examples of this, some more obvious than others.

Ratings

YouTube’s rating system was recently changed from a classic star rating system to a “thumbs-up or thumbs-down,” system. It’s subtle. Take a look at the ratios:

The ratios for the above video are: 5,071 : 133,152 (dislikes to likes).

The ratios for the above video are: 0:6 (dislikes to likes)

YouTube is not representing the ratios; they are representing the volume, which is quite unfair to small content producers. Small content producers may have a high percentage of people that like their video, but this person had 100% of voters like his video, and the bar is not at its max. Whereas nigahiga has only about 76% of voters like his video, and the bar is to the max.

This is unfair, YouTube.

Ads

On YouTube’s browse page, the default tab is “Popular”. This matters because there is no judging what makes a video popular. Most of the tabs used to be “most viewed”, “most discussed”, and “top rated”, which all were very self-explanatory as how you could be on the list.

This “Popular,” tab is a problem. It’s problematic because filtering between corporate junk. I was browsing this section today, and I found that there were several Harry Potter videos on the front page. Basically every three videos was a Harry Potter video from a partner.

In order to be on the popular tab, you must be a partner. It’s not a coincidence; everyone on the popular tab is a partner, always. The people who get the most views are on the popular tab. They’re excluding standard accounts.

Impossible to be Seen

On YouTube it is almost impossible to be seen when one is just starting out their channel. A family member of mine cannot get past the 20 subscribers they have, and they are making quality videos.

Run a search on YouTube for “iPhone 4″, and it’ll become clear; the videos that are number one through ten are all in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views threshold.

This is an unfair comparison, some may say. Therefore, I will narrow the topic: I searched for iPhone 4 My Thoughts. The videos that appear in the top are still in the thousands of views threshold, while the videos below the fold are in the hundreds.

This is because of the YouTube search rankings. While YouTube has not released any official rankings in search, I have found that they tend to favor videos with at least 100,000 views. This means that it is very difficult to be noticed originally, but once you start being viewed, your growth is exponential.

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The Tyler Plack Rules of Facebook

Posted on June 27, 2010 by admin

I have a Facebook account, but I barely use it. People make fun of me for it, so the people that make fun of me suggest I do a blog post on the Tyler Plack Rules of Facebook. I write these rules not because I always follow them but because I am a character, and these are my general rules for Facebook.

Never Friend Anyone

On Facebook, I decided to never friend anyone. I will allow others to be my friend.

Never Use Facebook

I never take advantage of my Facebook account. If you’ve caught me online, I was probably just using Facebook as a promotional tool for my websites.

Accept All Friend Invites

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Twitter Law Enforcement

Posted on June 18, 2010 by admin

Backstory

I write, today, to inform you of events that happened to me. Apparently, on Twitter, I was giving out “False information”, which is a third degree misdemeanor. I was asked to remove a status update that was considered false information, and I refused to do so. Later on, I was given this email:

(bigger version opens into new window)

To protect those in the email, I have blurred the names. As to protect myself, I have removed the tweet.

Careful Looks

Whenever something “big” happens like this, I don’t take it lightly, and I always, always be sure to see that there are no big signs of foolishness or deceptiveness.

You may wonder why I highlighted the Twitter email address. I encourage you to look closely.

The email is misspelled; this may be a quirk with Twitter, but I highly doubt it. If this is a quirk with Twitter, I do have another section about that.

I also, thoroughly, had read the email. If you look at the body of the email from “Twitter Law Enforcement”, it says “…it is a 3rd degree mistermeaner”. Misdemeanor is misspelled. I cannot dream of a legal department that fails to spell misdemeanor.

Research

I did a lot of research on the laws of giving false information. Below is some of what I have found.

I did, however, find that broadcasting false information was illegal, but that is with the FCC. In order to file a complaint, you need to have the station call sign, radio station frequency, or the TV channel. Therefore, I was not broadcasting false information.

It is illegal to knowingly give false information to a police officer, but that is only in relation to a crime or persecution.

Weirdly, I couldn’t find a lot of information on giving false information, which is quite ironic. Most of the misinformation articles I could find were pertaining legal documents or things of the law.

Plan B

For my purposes in this section, I am going to say that this is simply a quirk. Let’s see exactly what I tweeted – “@williamdhumphreys Sorry to hear WillHosting is shutting down.” This is not false information. I said ‘sorry to hear…’, which denotes that I was not sure but was offering my condolences.

Protecting Myself

I’m not going to waste my time in court; therefore, I did the thing anyone with common sense would do: I removed the tweet. Though Twitter said they would contact me, they never did, but I’m happy that they didn’t.

I am going to keep tweeting crazy, false things and see just what happens. I’ve enjoyed writing about this.

WillHosting is a highly illegitimate company, and I do not recommend… this would be better suited for another blog post.

Posted in Case Study | 6 Comments

YavaHost

Posted on June 6, 2010 by admin

YavaHost is a web hosting company with focus on quality which I have started. I’ve found many web hosts to be simply using someone else’s server as a reseller, and I hate it. If you’re offering a web hosting service, you better have your own servers.

What makes a web host is the quality of web hosting and the quality of the support. Quite simply, quality makes a web host. That is why YavaHost was formed, to provide quality web hosting to the sites that need it. Our policy: no BS (bologna sandwiching, that is). We want you to see our servers; here’s a picture so you can believe us.

This is one of the servers in my room, as I install CentOS for cPanel. That is my gaming setup there, too.

We don’t oversell our services, and we make that as clear as possible. When you’re looking for a web host, check out YavaHost. Use coupon code tplack for 25% off the advanced plan. If you have any questions about ordering or moving your website, feel free to ask; after all, I did create YavaHost.

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I am Good.

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Tyler Plack

As a nerd I am, it has been found by Tyler Plack that he needs to live an interesting life and modify sentence structure to make little or no sense to most. Just read this dialogue:

“How are you?” asks person a.

“I’m good,” person b responds.

“How good are you?” person a sarcastically asks.

This really annoys me when someone tells me that I am wrong by saying “I am good”. It is correct to say “I am good,” because with this sentence there is an adjective for a subject complement (which is also a predicate adjective in this case). Next time someone asks you how you are, make sure to say that you’re good, and say it with confidence. If they tell you you’re wrong, explain to them how saying “I am good,” is a textbook example of a predicate adjective. According to Diana Hacker’s Rules for Writers: 6th Edition, “Use adjectives, not adverbs, as subject complements”. I feel that justifies my point.

I promise this is my last grammar-related post for a while.

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Giving Out Too Much Information & Net Neutrality

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Tyler Plack

*This is a post in response to Sean P. Anne’s “Are You Giving Out Too Much Information On Facebook?“. I feel differently about the matter, and I would like to share my thoughts.

Facebook is the world’s largest social network of 2010. The massive amount of information that Facebook has about people isn’t the staggering part of my argument; it’s how Facebook can use this amount of information that mainly concerns me. Facebook knows who your best friends are based on your interactions. Side note: I know I am treating Facebook like it is a person-when I say Facebook, I am referring to their employees.

Facebook could sell all of the information they have about anyone who has registered, and it wouldn’t matter to them, for they’ve profited at the bottom line. This is what makes me think might be giving Facebook too much information. We already have the incredibly huge Google. We don’t want so many moguls on the Internet, as this problem makes it harder for people to start on the Internet. I’m personally worried for the time when rebellion against a large company on the Internet is impossible because that company runs the Internet. I see this is like Net Neutrality.

I’d also like to update those who have been reading that there will be more videos and more blog posts not necessarily regarding design or technology coming soon. I plan to make this happen after the new theme I’ve been testing is completed. The goal of this new theme is to make tplack.com my center of the web. (I won’t get rid of the design articles, they’ll just be in their own section of the site)

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Portal for Mac & Steam Review

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Tyler Plack

Portal for Mac & Steam Review from Tyler Plack on Vimeo.

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5 Overused Phrases That Annoy Me

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Tyler Plack

I hate it when people say the following phrases. I will not be covering words like “like”. [Side note: I hate people who also don't understand that "like" has its place in the English as an adverb, conjunction, preposition, and an adjective like I  used it here and just before this sentence] They’re overused and have become meaningless. For those who uses these phrases a lot, it can be demeaning.

1. “Awkward Silence”

You really didn’t need to say anything at the silence; you’re just making it more awkward by making note (and making everyone aware) of the silence. Conversations have their time to begin and their time to end.

2. “Me and (Person X)…”

Firstly, this just kills me on my English nerd side. [Explanation: me is not a subject pronoun, and this sentence is using it as a subject pronoun-use I. Also, it is rude to put yourself first, though it would be correct to say I and Person X...] This kills me even more when everyone that I’m around doesn’t understand this simple rule.

3. “Just saying”

When someone says this to me, I feel like they don’t want to offend me but they want to tell me something that normally would offend me. I think people just need to know how to better approach the situation. Those who say “Just saying” should pull the person aside, talk quietly about what is on their mind, and do it in the most professional way possible.

4. “Nuff said”

This one is simple: If there was enough said, why did you need to say that?

5. “Just wondering”

If you’re asking a question, you’re clearly wondering. I don’t mind when it’s used when the question may be taken offensively, but it has become a common trend to end questions with this.

Other things that just anger me:

1. Asking a question involving direction and ending it with at.

2. Mispronouncing words like “ask” (“I assed you that question already”) or “idea” (“Great ideer”)

I think it’d be quite fun and interesting to look back at this post in ten years to see how our trends have changed. What do you hate? Leave it in a comment below.

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How to Succeed in Middle School

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Tyler Plack

I’m wrapping up my 7th grade year, and I am writing about what I’ve learned through my second year of middle school that may help others just entering the environment. I’d like to make this post again in another year (my last middle school year, 8th grade) and talk about other things I’ve learned.

1. Find an effective way to take notes.
I’ve found that bringing my MacBook to class. Taking notes on that machine works well for my friends and me because I print notes for them, and they print them for me.

2. Take advantage of the friendliness of teachers on the first few days of school
Go to class a bit late, enjoy your morning, as the teachers are going to be very understanding when you’re new to the school. Just don’t keep it up!

3. Get grade reports monthly
Teachers at my school generally give grade reports to students monthly (not report cards, but grade reports) for students to see their average and how they’re doing. This probably isn’t the case at other schools, but your teachers should always be approachable.

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Elements of User Interfaces Frequently Forgotten

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Tyler Plack

I frequently forget many of the “User Interface Rules”. Sidenote: In this article, I will be using UI in short for “User Interface.” User interfaces are what the product is to users. For a successful web app, a good UI is a key component. The web app I’ve been working on is Lafable. It’s far from perfect, but it works. Here are 3 elements of  UI design that are frequently forgotten.

3. Responsiveness

The application must respond to how the user uses it. The user needs to feel like they’re part of the application. It must allow for the users to make mistakes. The response time must be quick. The application needs to respond to how the user uses it-no matter how they use it, or what problem arises.

2. Learning Curve

The application must not have a steep learning curve. Users must be able to pick it up and understand it within seconds. The easy learning curve can happen by using icons that most users use on their operating system. I’m not saying to go out and steal Finder logos, but what I am saying to use the idea behind icons that are presented in the operating system. Example: Trash bin in Windows/OS X shows something being deleted. Use a trash bin to show deletion in your web app.

1. Consistency

This application must prove to be consistent throughout the way it is used. If a user learns what something does, it needs to have the same thing happen when the icon is used elsewhere in the application. This mainly applies while using icons to represent something in an application.

I hope this will help everyone in not having to use applications with crappy interfaces. What are your thoughts?

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