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avrona's avatar

Something I hate is how YouTube gurus take advantage of ambitious creators and sell them on stuff that makes little to no difference. For the longest time, I wanted to do something about it, start offering advice on YouTube, something I've been studying and mastering for 10 years now, that escapes away from the survivor bias many other forms of advice come down to. Here's some notes about the art of finding help as a creator:

While some may not want to hear this, however, finding practical support that actually applies to your situation is surprisingly very difficult, even if the reason seems obvious. While there are many willing people out there who wish to be helpful, the issue is no one knows the exact situation your channel is in, apart from you. No one else knows what you tried so far, what you haven’t tried, what worked, what hasn’t.

To give an example of the power these individuals have, during my visit to LTX in Canada, I asked some of my fellow creators at the event about their experiences with these growth experts. One, went into great detail about the predatory tactics they invoke, such as organising conferences focused solely on promoting their services under the guise of being an all-encompassing event to help fellows in the industry grow, where all assistants at the event at any time could whip out a POS terminal and sell you a service worth thousands of dollars! If you don’t want to pay up, however, they immediately switch over into trying to instil in you a fear of missing out. That is on top of all the other tricks I have already mentioned that were also in full-swing. However, when I asked if this tech influencer wanted to say a few words for a video I was working on at the time about these scams, he simply replied with: “Everything said at this table will stay at this table”. This should show you the mafia-like influence such individuals possess now, where creators are even scared of speaking out and exposing their ways, for fear of being targeted themselves.

When looking for specifical advice or general help about what to do, where to improve, or what your next steps should be, finding out how to online might be difficult. As previously mentioned, discussing your questions or woes with complete strangers online who may not grasp the full picture of your situation and resources can be rather futile.

I believe this is best summed up by this comment, left by a user under a video made about me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else explain the phenomenon so well:

“The thing is, usually you ask people for advice when you've exhausted your options. When you do ask for advice, there is a high chance that you'll get advice you've already tried. if the person giving advice fails to find a solution to the problem, they get frustrated. When that happens, they either disengage and avoid you or attack your character. The more often that happens to you with different people, the less patience you have for insults or attacks.”

I've spent years now studying how these guys do their business and prey on creators, and I'm constantly looking for new ways to prevent that, however unrealistic it might be.

If you do want to ask for help online, make sure to do it in the right hours to maximise the likelihood of getting something good, most likely early evening hours in the US. Ensure you keep on pushing for more detail or explanation to anything people say back as a response. In general, you don't want them to just focus on small details that are easy to fix, when you can gain something a lot more important from them. When going in, make sure there's nothing obviously wrong in your most recent content they can latch onto, instead of giving more fruitful advice. When they ask you if you done something, answer yes as often as possible, so they're more keen to move and provide something more useful. And finally also make your channel an interesting case for them to study. Make the challenge of finding that missing link rewarding for them as well, or give a very specific puzzle to crack that will help your channel grow.

FirestormGamingTeam's avatar

This was a hard one, I didn't know whether I wanted to actually go into my past to explain this but then I thought, it is what it is.

So the thing most close to my heart, is collectables, being able to collect anything from pop figures to actual figurines, being able to buy books. This is a special thing for me. Whilst it may seem mundane to most, there is a story behind it.

From the age of 2, I was placed in the care system, I have moved around constantly until I was 13, when I was adopted, the entire time, I was in the care system being moved from a temporary foster home to the next and then dumped in children's homes whilst they looked for new foster parents, my entire belongings was a black bag of clothes and 4 toy cars. It's all I had, buying foster children toys was never high on the list for these people.

When I was adopted, I finally had a set of parents who actually wanted me to have things, I remember my mum when she met me and then I moved in, carrying my one bag of clothing and my cars clutched tightly in my hand, burst into tears at what little I had. She essentially then went on to get me as many toys as she could, my first ever PC and games, my first ever stereo and so on, she also brought me the first Harry Potter book to see if she could get me into reading (which she did, I devoured that book, slowly, and was hooked).

Since then, even at the age of 38, I think there is probably a psychological reason for it, but I can't stop buying collectables, books, whatever I can get my hands on, key chains, and when I got to conventions I grab everything I can to collect. So yeah, that is something that is super special to me because I would say the bottom line is, what I didn't have, I am I suppose making up for.

Sorry if this is too real, but, I feel I can be myself here, anyway, images below of some of the stuff I have now (at my old house setup)

FirestormGamingTeam's avatar

Sorry if this was too real, but apart from my kids and my wife, there isn't much that is "close" to my heart, I just kinda get on with stuff and this kind of thing is. But JA makes me comfortable enough to share stuff etc.

Alex Sinclair's avatar

No apologies required - my thanks were genuine! I love that the community is a safe place to share and talk about deep and meaningful things.

Makster's avatar

Do you find your collecting problematic in terms of finances or space?

FirestormGamingTeam's avatar

no for me I tend to collect small things mostly. Little cool things.

Sturmer's avatar

My parents told me that from the earliest days of my life, I was always disassembling something, and my favorite toy was a screwdriver. But it's not just a love for DIY projects; it's actually much broader.

I have always had a fascination with understanding how things work. Most of my hobbies or jobs are related to system building or design - be it custom PC building, game design, creating a gamer social platform, web3 services, or 3D printing. My life is an endless process of learning and understanding how things work, which often includes a teardown stage, hehe. After disassembling, I rebuild something new with the ultimate goal of achieving new emergent properties. This process of deconstruction and reconstruction fuels my creativity and satisfies my curiosity, constantly pushing me to explore and innovate in various fields. It's a journey of perpetual discovery and creation, and it's what keeps me passionate and engaged every day.

While most of my interests are related to IT, there are some hobbies where I find solace in working with my hands. One of these is bike mechanics. It started quite simply: as a bicycle enthusiast, I needed to perform regular maintenance. Professional servicing can be quite expensive, especially when you have three bikes of your own plus family members' bikes to maintain. I began learning from my bike mechanic, watching videos, and soon started servicing my bikes on my own.

As my skills grew, I joined a local bike club and began purchasing separate parts to upgrade my bikes. The next step was building completely new custom bikes, starting from a bare frame and assembling a ready-to-ride product. My servicing skills advanced significantly, and my workshop grew, filled with niche tools for forks, shocks, bearings, and more. Over the past ten years, I have built about 23 custom bikes from scratch for myself and friends.

Now, I can fix, tune, assemble, or service any part of a bicycle, including complex full-suspension bikes. Despite my advanced skills, I still consider bike mechanics a hobby rather than a full-time job, mainly because it consumes more resources than it brings in. However, I am confident that if I ever get tired of IT, I could open a bike workshop and earn a living doing something I love. This hands-on hobby provides a balance to my tech-focused life and offers a rewarding sense of accomplishment that comes from building and fixing things with my hands.

Lanah Tyra's avatar

The long forgotten cross-class system of Final Fantasy XIV

Did you think you will escape my Final Fantasy lecture? :D

There are so many things I could tell you about in this game, took me a while to decide which topic to go for, but I think this one might be helpful for those, who are new to the game and are wondering why for certain jobs there is a base class as well, while others don't have this?

You will start the game as one of the base classes:

  • Tanks: Marauder, Gladiator

  • Melee dps: Lancer, Rouge, Pugilist

  • Physical ranged dps: Archer

  • Caster dps: Arcanist, Thaumaturge

  • Healer: Conjurer

These were already present in A Realm Reborn (ARR), and once you get to lvl30, you will get a quest to change into a job, which builds on these base classes and brings in new story and new skills for them. Now if you are not familiar with how the game looked like 10 years ago, you will rightfully ask but why can't you start as Reaper which is one of the newest jobs? Or why does Sage, the newest healer on the block not have a base class, but if you want to be a White Mage, you will have to start as Conjurer and work your way up?

This is because the game 10 years ago was very, very different. Every job which was present in the game at the time had a starting class, and on lvl30 you didn't just get to switch to a job. For example in order to become Black Mage from Thaumaturge, you had to level up Archer to lvl30, do a quest, and then you could become Black Mage. Arcanist to this day is a very special class, the only one which can select from two jobs on lvl30, and if you level one, you will level the other as well. Back in the days as an Arcanist if you took up Thaumaturge you could become a Summoner (caster), and if you took up Conjurer, you could become a Scholar (healer).

Now don't even get me started on the complexity of Arcanist back then, because we would be sitting here for days.

Getting these other classes level up was not purely for getting that job quest done. You could also take skills from these other classes. Some of these skills don't exist anymore as they don't fit into the current game structure, the remnants of them you will find under 'Role Actions'. So tanks, look at all those defensive skills you have there! They used to be unique to the different tank jobs, and in order to get them all, you had to level up the other tanks as well. The skill which recharges mana for the casters and healers? Only White Mage had it. Same for Resurrection. If you were a Paladin (tank), and you levelled up White Mage, you could use Resurrection as a cross-class skill. Yes, you heard me right, tank which could raise a KOd party member.

As a Scholar you could get powerful damage-over-time (DoT) skills from Summoner, Black Mage and White Mage, making you into a true green-dps (a healer who focuses on dealing damage instead of healing)

These were really fun times, and of course there were some very strong builds and skills you had to get if you wanted to engage in high-end content and be useful, they also gave an option for a very unique gameplay as two characters on the same job didn't necessarily had the same skillset.

When the next expansion, Heavensward (HW) came out, there were two new jobs introduced, Dark Knight (tank) and Astrologian (healer). The max level in the game during ARR was lvl50 and in HW it got increased to lvl60. The new jobs started on lvl30 which would be the level in ARR you used to get your quest to change from your base class to a job, so these would have fit in with this system very well.... but I don't quite know why, they didn't get a base class assigned to them. I think it would have fit in well to add these to an existing base class and make all base classes lead into multiple jobs, the same way as Arcanist is. Probably this is a question I would ask the developers if I had a chance, because I believe this was a huge missed opportunity.

And this pretty much meant the slow decline and eventual death of the cross-class system. Skills which you could learn from other jobs slowly got removed or converted into the Role Actions, making everything more streamlined which is probably good for a modern game, but it took away a lot of uniqueness we once had. Now basically every tank has the same type of core skills, just they are called differently and have different effects. While they have some difference between them, in reality if you can play one tank, you can play all.

In the later expansions when they added new jobs they started 20 lvls below the new maximum level and now we are so far from the base classes that they feel useless and out of ordinary, not really having a purpose anymore. Probably they are only keeping them for the class quest stories and don't really know about a good way to get rid of them, but I imagine for new players their existence is very confusing.

So if you hear veteran players complaining that the game is easy or boring, while you might not agree with them, I hope this little history lesson will help you understand why they think so. I do love the current game, I think it changed in a good direction and kept up with demands of current games very well, but I do miss the old times too. One of the reasons why I love the lvl70 and lvl80 edgame content areas where you get to use some extra abilities alongside your own skills, is because some of them are straight from the old ARR era, and bring back good memories of the game from when I started to play. I hope we will get another area like these in Dawntrail so us "boomers" will have our playground with some old-time favourite abilities. (I can't possibly tell you how frustrating it is when I see a boss cast a spell which I used to have on my Summoner, but not anymore.... XD)

Well I hope you have enjoyed today's Final Fantasy history lesson, and let me know if you want to hear more!

Makster's avatar

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C64FzQJspqJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

僕は日本語を勉強するが大好きです。わかりませんか?大丈夫だ!教えています。ビデオを見てお願いします。 (I love studying Japanese. Do you not understand? That's OK! I'll teach you. Please watch the video)

Sturmer's avatar

ii o-tenki desu ne? =) The Japanese language is on my list of languages I'm trying to learn. It will be my fifth language if I succeed.

Makster's avatar

日本語が上手ですよ!(and this isn't in the way it is used as a sick burn, IYKYK).

That's seriously impressive if you've already have 4 languages under your belt. Japanese will be easy esp if you've already learnt an Asian language

Lanah Tyra's avatar

I studied Japanese at uni but had to quit as it was impossible beside a full-time job. Still have my old textbooks though and really should put time aside and get back to it.

Horror and Cats's avatar

I have a bit of an interesting hobby and expanded my repertoire within it relatively recently.

I’ve been throwing cutting tools since I was a pre-teen, starting with butter knives in the lawn and eventually moving up to folding knives, combat knives, axes, hatchets, machetes, literally anything with an edge or point.

When I first got my SOG tomahawk, I tried throwing it a few times, but I wasn’t very good and stopped. Then Prey with Amber Midthunder came out in 2022 and I was reinvigorated to give it another try. Here’s what I learned.

When throwing anything that rotates in the air, the first thing I want to do is figure out how far I need to be from the target in order to get a single rotation while holding whatever I’m throwing as low on the handle as possible.

The lower you hold a throwing implement, the faster it spins in the air because there is less of your fingers or palm to slide past.

Once I’ve got the right distance for the least choked-up grip, I take a single step back, basically replacing my back foot with my front foot, and hold the weapon ever so slightly further up the grip.

Typically, that works and, once I’ve got that dialed in, I step further back and choke up further until I can’t make it to the target in only a single rotation.

The further back I step, the more cognizant I have to be about my aim. From six feet away, it’s not too tough to trust instinct, but the more steps I take back, the more I have to make sure my shoulders stay equidistant. Keeping my shoulders together ensures my throwing arm doesn’t swing too far across my body and keeps the trajectory straight.

Tomahawks are a slightly different beast and there is only so far I can choke up on the handle before it goes a little wobbly leaving my hand. Since it can’t just sink into a wooden target without IMMENSE force when fighting against the grain, wobbly won’t work. Also, the balance point on them is very close to the top, so they spin a lot faster than an axe or a hatchet.

It took me a while to figure out that holding it in a “thumbs up” position was the best way to get a slower rotation without choking up any further. The handle slides down the thumb, slowing the rotation and giving me maximum distance from target.

After I’ve got all my distances figured out for a single rotation, the real fun begins. Stepping back a little further, holding as low as I can once again, and trying to measure out a double rotation.

Naru is easily throwing her tomahawk 20 to 25 feet in Prey, so that was my goal.

The thing about tomahawks is they are heavier than the other single-handed throwing tools I’ve used, so it isn’t as simple as just doubling the distance. There is an arc to the throw, so I incrementally have to account for a bit of distance potential for every rotation I try to fit in. Ultimately, I got that dialed in as well, making about every 3 out of 4 throws.

After about a week of idle-minded practice, I’d say I got pretty good and it's something I do all the time on the various stumps on my property to keep the skill up.

Konquest's avatar

Wow! I found this really interesting and it’s got me wanting to try it myself 😄 never really thought of how it works. This really got me thinking.

Horror and Cats's avatar

It’s fun! I’m working on a video about it since Prey is a horror movie. I’ll post it whenever I get around to finishing it haha.

M

Hi im Malice and the thing that is close to my heart is kitten nursing...for the last 10 years i have helped the babies of a local cat colony...my mother in law feeds the colony and i help any babies that are abandoned or are sick and dying....this job includes feeding every 2 hours throughout the night depending on the age of the kittens and preparing for the next lot of bottles after feeding.....another is helping them eliminate as the younger babies cant go on their own...you have to do this everytime they have food...you have to bath them as just like human babies they have accidents...but the main part of my job was helping the babies that had something wrong with them or were slowly passing away....i would be their last love and comfort in a lot of cases.On a happier note ,i have a cat called Till who was one of my bottle babies and he is now 7 years old and is doing amazing ...thats Till in the picture when he was a baby .....Sometimes my job includes finding families for the lucky babies that make it to the right age to be rehomed.....its a great but heartbreaking day when a baby goes to its new home...i love all of my babies and i love that i can provide the best care possible for them when they are in my care.

Horror and Cats's avatar

The world needs more people like you. Do you do any TNR (Trap, Neuter/Spay, Release) with the adult cats to limit population?

M

Aww thank you and i do yes .....my mother in law,husband and myself help with TNR ....we work with a local rescue to try and get the population down and we have done big things the last 2 years so its going well

Horror and Cats's avatar

I love to hear it. Keep fighting the good fight for those kitties!

JB

I work in healthcare and the particular area I work in, Pancreatic cancer, is underfunded and unfortunately carries a poor prognosis for the majority or people who are diagnosed with it.

It typically presents very late, making it a difficult cancer to treat and the signs and symptoms can be very vague and non-specific, meaning getting a diagnosis isn't always as straight forward as some other cancers.

I'd just like to thmake this opportunity to teach anyone who may read this to help monitor for symptoms and to help others raise awareness to family and friends, co workers and the like.

Pancreatic cancer carries a 1 year survival rate of just 25% and only 5% of people diagnosed will live to 5 years following diagnosis.

It is often seen as a silent killer due to the late presentation of symptoms, but there are certain things to watch out for and not delay raising these issues with a health professional. It's not a common cancer, and the symptoms are often nothing to worry about, but being aware could really help.

Some of the main symptoms to watch for are weight loss, abdominal and back pain/discomfort, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes) and a change to bowel habits. This may include loose bowel motions, a pale colour to your motions and floating poo/a difficulty in flushing poo away.

I would recommend anyone who wishes to visits the Pancreatic Cancer UK website for more information. They are a UK registered cancer charity with useful information and support for anyone who may need it.

https://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/information/worried-about-pancreatic-cancer/

https://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/

L

Anyone can learn a musical instrument!

I taught guitar for 11 years and if i had a £10 note for every time someone said i couldnt do it or i have no rhythm or i don't have the time or some other excuse then i would have definitely over £100

Over the 11 years i have taught children, adults, the elderly, people with severe learning difficulties, attention disorders etc. And although the learning styles vary, all were able to achieve the same results.

By the end of one lesson they had all learnt to play Spanish romance on guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_8rF_Wyh5Q

the same was true for when i moved into drums. By the end of a lesson each person in some way or another could play a 4/4 beat.

One of nicest things to see one would assume is seeing children or those with learning difficulties accomplish learning an instrument, which is true, but what was my favourite to see was often someone retired who came in, who thought they had no hope in learning the guitar or drums. And everytime they were suprised at what they could do. the often came in becuase of their love of music and the spare time they had with very low expectations. But they ALWAYS did really well.

we often limit ourselves or diminish what we can accomplish. and it is difficult because i often don't follow my own advice. I spent years not practicing and relying on past knowledge

but if you have that desire to do it. DO IT

mar1gold 's avatar

Bristol's links to slavery

A bit of a heavy subject I know, but as a Bristol resident I think this is a really important topic! My main area of expertise is the Merchant Venturers' society:

Here is an article I wrote in my spare time about the subject...

The Merchant Venturers’ Society, first emerging as early as the 13th century and officially founded in 1552, is interwoven into the history of Bristol as a city. Still an active group today, they support schools, erect care homes for the elderly and pride themselves as a charitable organisation. The group has undoubtedly done a significant amount of good for Bristol and its people. However, the society also has a marred history with its ties to and heavy involvement in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

In fact, the scale of Bristol’s involvement in the slave trade was facilitated by the tireless 40-year lobbying project of the Society of Merchant Venturers. After years of persistent petitions and letters to parliament, this group of upper-class merchants were granted their request; the 1698 Africa Trade act. This act dissolved the monopoly powers of the Royal African Company in London and allowed Bristol to profit more widely from the trade in enslaved African peoples. After the society’s lobbying efforts, one in six slaves transported by British companies from 1698 to 1807 were Bristolian voyages. By the 18th century, the number of African people being forcibly transported by Bristolian slave traders peaked at 11,000. This mass displacement, psychological damage and, in many cases, death, of enslaved people was lobbied for by the Society of Merchant Venturers, in order for their group of unelected, wealthy businessmen to profit from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Moreover, key Bristolian slave traders were actually members of this society, with a quarter of the membership from the 17th to the 19th century being directly involved with the trade. Edward Colston, whose statue was torn down by protesters during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, became a member of the society in 1682. He had members of the society become his trustees, endeavouring to protect the memory of his legacy. The documentation evidencing Colston’s involvement in the trade of enslaved peoples is vast. Colston was a member of the Royal African Company, which displaced 84,500 men, women and children on voyages across the Atlantic. Bristol slave trader, James LaRoche, was not only a member but a master of the society from 1782-83, and remains a notable name in the slave trade.

While it is apparent that the society and its members were heavily involved in the slave trade, how did these profits make their way into Bristol’s schools, charity endeavours and the very fabric of the city? More than 4,700 students across 9 schools receive funding from the society, like the Merchants’ Academy and Montpelier High School (previously Colston’s Girls’ School) for example. The society also manages the St Monica Trust, which is currently worth more than 300 million pounds according to the Merchant Venturers’ website, and works to provide elderly people adequate care in communal retirement and care homes. These are just two examples of the plethora of endeavours and charitable investments the society makes. These funds are available, in part, due to the historic wealth and notoriety the society has achieved through its success from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The society and its beneficiaries have recently been making steps towards taking responsibility for their past. The society website includes sections explaining their links to the slave trade, reviewed by University of Bristol academics, and apologise for their involvement. In 2021, Colston’s Girls’ School finally renamed themselves to Montpelier High School after years of promising to do so. However, it is important to remember that the society was hesitant to make such apologies as late as 2006, coming under fire from the Bristol Radical History Group as a result.

The fact of the matter remains evident yet difficult to face for many;  the people of Bristol continue to benefit today from the plight of enslaved African peoples. Bristolians need to hold these groups accountable through learning the true histories of the organisations we benefit from and the enslaved people affected by its members. The rewriting of the society’s history as a benevolent group of gentlemen who were simply a product of their time can continue no longer. Instead, a comprehensive understanding of the conscious efforts of the society to pursue voyages that were fatal and forever damaging for so many African people, all for financial gain, must be realised.

Lanah Tyra's avatar

Did you say Final Fantasy? 👀

Fras_Shoyo's avatar

Let me share something that’s close to my metaphorical heart.

The phrase “close to your heart” is an English idiom that describes something or someone dearly loved. It signifies a deep emotional connection, often cultivated over time. The origin of this expression lies in the belief that the heart is the source of all love and affection. When something resides close to the heart, it receives the warmth of those feelings.

People use this phrase to convey their passion for various subjects. It can refer to both living beings and inanimate objects. For instance, consider someone who tirelessly raises funds for cancer research. We might say, “Fighting cancer is something that is very close to their heart.” Here, the cause has become beloved and significant to that person.

Similarly, relationships can be close to our hearts. When we say, “Chad is close to your heart,” we imply that Chad holds a special place in our affections. Whether it’s a cherished memory, a beloved hobby, or a cause we champion, anything close to our hearts becomes a part of our emotional landscape.

TheGreatestBanana12's avatar

Two of my things that have always been close to my heart are gaming and helping people. Gaming has always been a huge part of my life ever since I was young and it has made a huge difference to me and I have always had the belief of even the smallest gesture can make a huge difference to someone and that you should take every opportunity to make that positive difference for someone as you never know when they could need it , This is why I donate every month to the Special Effect Gamers charity, it is charity that helps hundreds of people every year who are physically disabled who are not able to use conventional gaming equipment and make specially adapted equipment for each individuals needs and provide it freely to allow them to be able to have the joy that is gaming and have experiences that will have a positive impact on them and make them feel included.

https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/

TheGreatestBanana12's avatar

Yeah they are, it was great to see them at WASD.

Rich's avatar

Hey TheGreatestBanana12, thanks a lot for entering! We really liked this submission but the quality was very high on this bounty, and we didn't have enough prizes to go around. We'll likely run this again in the future and strongly encourage you to re-enter with a bit more detail on Special Effect's work and what it means to you.

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