Other Channels Box

A few months ago, YouTube gave everyone the previously partners-only feature of the "Other Channels" Box. I really liked this feature as a way to shout out some of one's favorite youtubers, and we were all really excited and implemented this feature right away.

It seems that this new feature was not entirely a boon, however. When you click the subscribe button on someone's channel who has this feature implemented, a secondary screen with usernames, check boxes, and an additional subscribe button pops up. I know some people who are new to YouTube and don't care to read everything may get flustered and click that second button, accidentally subscribing to some people they didn't intend to.

Accidentally subscribing to a couple extra channels probably won't be a big deal, it might result in some unsubscribing, but it may result in someone getting a chance to actually check out some youtubers he or she may really enjoy. Accidentally subscribing to 12 or more extra channels will probably result in some sort of anger, frustration, or maybe just someone who doesn't watch the videos in their subscription box.

Going on this, there are whole categories of people who don't watch the videos of the people they subscribe to. Some of these are "sub4sub"bers, and I discuss them a bit in my video Small Is Beautiful (YouTube has blocked the use of sub4sub in the comments and a few people PMed me comments for this video, I need to post them here, I'll get on that soon). These people usually remove themselves if you don't choose to subscribe back (and sometimes they don't even make videos, so really....what's the point?). The group that bothers me more is the iSubbers. These are people who subscribe to everyone in the hopes that some of these people will check out their channel and subscribe back. This has actually been a successful plan for some people. I could probably name you some YouTubers in the 6 digit range who did this.

Don't get me wrong here, this isn't a good plan. It's only good if you're spineless and have no integrity.

Oh, my point. So these iSubbers used to just go through and subscribe to everyone, I'm not quite sure how. Comments? Subscribers of other YouTubers with their subscribers shown? Some alphabetical list somewhere?

But now we've made subscribing to the masses really easy for them. It takes far less clicking, and now a far greater number of YouTubers with subscribers in the three digit range have an actual audience far smaller than their subscriber count. What's the point of subscribing if you don't ever want to watch?

I like when people have a smaller amount of people in their box, because, besides all of the negatives that I've mentioned thus far, I think it places more emphasis on the people named. I'm going to be decreasing the amount of people in my box, probably by the time you see this. Honestly, if I included all the guys on youtube that I love, it'd be at least 4 people longer. I mean, I didn't even include my YouTube crush(es) !:) (or did I? Ha. Whatever)

Also, there seems to be some drama inherent in the whole box thing, as ckXcore refers to it, MySpace Top-8-esque. If I'm NOT including some people that I love the most, I feel that no one can get upset. Right?

So, I'm not saying that however you do whatever you do is wrong, I'm just saying that I'm making some changes and I probably won't mention it in a video because I tend not to talk about my channel on my channel. It's how I do, not right or wrong, it is what it is.

Some people might stay in for longer, and there is reason for that.

You want a screen cap of my box before I changed it? Here ya go.

OMG! The sub knows who sxephil is!!!

In which Emily (who is 24) shares about students' misperceptions about her, how Philip DeFranco got brought into this, and probably says "PUH lease!" one too many times.

The bit at the end I almost made into a second video, but it didn't quite seem worth it.

They are always surprised when I've seen some viral video. Seriously guys?

If only they knew how much time I spend on YouTube.

Speaking, a recently received a friend request on Facebook from my favorite student...who is in 9th grade in one of the districts I subbed in. Immediately, I called my mom. "Is there any reason I shouldn't accept him?"

"I don't think so. You don't do anything inappropriate on Facebook."

Then he left me a comment about my video You Spell Your Name Wrong, saying that he knows every single kid I mentioned (which is probably a hyperbole...there were names from several different school districts).

This is probably going to cost me my job.


UPDATE: Even if I had more than 100 subscribers, I'd still be allowed to fangirl about this.

You Spell Your Name Wrong

In which Emily shares about how the interesting things parents do when selecting names for their children make her job that much harder.

Thank you to Jer at http://www.nyquil.org for making a widescreen version of the TV test pattern.
You were right. It was useful to someone.

Apologies to:
Charlie McDonnell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVo-S9...
Natalie Tran
http://www.youtube.com/CommunityChannel
Craig Benzine:
http://www.youtube.com/WheezyWaiter

I try to be open minded about most things, I've heard all about registers of speech and communication styles, that different dialects are not "wrong" or "right"....but I wish there was a little more agreement with certain things that affect my life.

The idea with registers of speech is that you have different styles of speech (registers) that you use with people you are more intimate with (usually involving more slang, coloquialisms and the like) as opposed to people you are business like with (usually employing jargon, proper grammar, and and five-dollar words you are comfortable using), with a whole range of in-betweens. The hope is that though you may have your more intimate speech, you are able to use the business-like register when the situation calls for it.

I want to enforce something like this on names. If your name is from a different language, then it should follow the rules of that tongue. If you want to force a pronunciation of a group of letters that breaks away from the rules of your name's language, you can really only do that to those who you're intimate with.

Maybe I'm being snobbish here.

I've also heard many a teacher complain that it is becoming increasingly difficult to teach phonics when students names are phonetical disasters. If you are basing a name on American English, please base the spelling on the same.

But, do what you want. It's a free country, and you're gonna anyhow.