Undefining Decency

https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2017/06/your-content-and-making-money-from.html

I find these sorts of thing fascinating, because it forces big business to define indecency. Granted, in this case, it is Youtube deciding what videos can make money from ads or not, but I feel it is not too far off from online booksellers defining what can be on the cover of a book, what can be said about it, and what can be inside the book itself.

With Youtube, it is a particularly tricky problem. Advertisers are putting 'their face' before potentially upsetting content. I am sure if online booksellers had sort of an 'ads in books' program we would be seeing the same sort of thing, there would be some books no advertiser would touch with a 10,000 word pole. Same with advertisers and videos, but from my experience video creators are getting hit very hard, and demonetization is cutting many down to 1/3rd of their past revenue.

Then again, this all feels like a 'until somebody complains' sort of rule that is nebulous enough to provide cover, like some booksellers' sort of 'what offends us is what you might expect' statement covering erotica.

But then again, this doesn't really prevent you from speaking - it just prevents you from making money from it. It is frustrating when producers of honestly edgy and truth-speaking content, such as game or movie reviews tossing an f-bomb in there to emphasize a point here and there. The video gets reported, the content gets demonetized, and all of a sudden all that hard work in providing something I enjoy (and advertisers I would support by watching the ad all the way through) goes poof.

There goes my chance to support someone I love.

There goes all that hard work in creating that video in the hopes of making a living from it.

And possibly, there goes another creator who can't afford to keep doing what I love for them to do.

It is the truth of ad-supported models, I suppose. Anything remotely controversial or upsetting (including most humor, I feel) will go away because it simply isn't advertiser-friendly enough. I feel the world is moving towards direct-support, like Patreon, and fan-supported content. I support several creators directly via these models, because this whole ad-supported mess almost guarantees the creators I love (for being edgy, brave, and sharp witted) will be punished for what they do.

And I find the money to do so by cutting the cord, dropping subscription services that punish indies, and cutting back my consumption of the same-old big-media sources. I have no use nor want to pay huge slices of my monthly cable bill to media conglomerates just so I can finance big-money sports, news, movie, or other enterprises that I never watch. I feel cable TV has become this reverse corporate welfare of never-ending price increases for more ads, less original content, and biased viewpoints being shoved down my throat.

And I pay money to these cable company people each month...because why?

I would feel guilty in cutting the cord?

I would rather this money go directly to the few people who enrich my life.

So I can make a difference in theirs.