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Geek Culture / Subscribing is considered doing someone a favour - what?

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Benjamin
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 13:28
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I know this isn't a particularly interesting topic but it's been bothering me for a while now. Every time someone subscribes to my channel I get an e-mail from YouTube along the following lines:

Quote: "<username> has subscribed to you on YouTube!

Want to return the favor and subscribe to <username>? Just visit <username>'s channel and click on the "Subscribe" button at the top."


Why is it considered doing me a favour just because they subscribed to my videos to make their life easier not having to manually check when I upload new videos? Surely I'm doing them a favour by uploading the videos in the first place? Or that I upload them to a place where they can use a handy 'subscribe' feature?

Also, why do people beg for you to subscribe to them? What's the whole deal with that? I always laugh a little when someone messages me asking me to subscribe to them. Why do that? I'm not interested in your crappy videos, I don't need to be notified of when new ones are uploaded since I won't watch them.



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bitJericho
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 13:31 Edited at: 25th Apr 2011 13:31
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I could care less if you subscribe to my videos. I subscribed to yours (quite some time ago), and I'm kind of offended to hear that youtube told you to subscribe to mine.

Jerico2day for President.
Running Mate: OBese87
- Fregetable? I don't even know her! -
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TheComet
17
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Location: I`m under ur bridge eating ur goatz.
Posted: 25th Apr 2011 13:47
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I thought subscribing also has an effect on how popular you are? The more subscribers you have, the more ads get stuffed before and into your videos, and you get a percentage of the money earned from those ads.

TheComet

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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 14:14
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Quote: "I could care less"

you mean you COULDN'T care less.

Anyway, there are several reasons you would want a lot of people to subscribe to you, my friend knows someone who got a job simply because he had a blog with a couple of hundred of followers. The company hired him because of the audience he'd bring with him and all the potential customers.

Also, they can use it to advertise something they're selling, or their website where they can make money from their adverts etc.

An integer walks into a bar, the barman says "Sorry, we don't serve your type here"
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Fallout
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 14:32 Edited at: 25th Apr 2011 14:53
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Quote: "you mean you COULDN'T care less."


Thank you so much. COULD seems to be an American botching of an expression into something that no longer makes sense. (Sorry my American brethren ).

Great video ... sorry to go off topic!



As for the subscribing thing, yeah, the whole "please check my vid, please sub me" thing does grate a little.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 14:50
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I knew the correct way to say it, just a lapse. I'm usually so good about minding my Ps and Arrows.

Jerico2day for President.
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Code eater
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 15:03
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i actually spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out whether or not you really meant "couldn't" or "could"... it would have made sense either way I think, just with a different meaning

If pots and pans were "if"s and "and"s there would be no work for programmer's hands...
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Slow Programmer
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Location: USA, Tennessee
Posted: 25th Apr 2011 20:57
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http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1230840#m_en_us1230840.019

"I could care less."

The Oxford English Dictionary has no issues with that usage and calls it, "informal."

There are two kinds of computer users. Those that use Macs and those that wish they did.
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Libervurto
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 20:59 Edited at: 25th Apr 2011 21:00
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Quote: ""I could care less."

The Oxford English Dictionary has no issues with that usage and calls it, "informal.""

Informal = wrong but common enough to get in the dictionary.


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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 22:38
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Yeah, LOL and OMG are in the dictionary too, that doesn't make them words or valid grammar in a real sentence.

"I could care less" implies that you still care, even if it's a low amount.

"I couldn't care less" implies that you do not care at all, you are at the minimum possible level of caring and COULD NOT care any less.

An integer walks into a bar, the barman says "Sorry, we don't serve your type here"
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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 22:51
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@Fallout

Ironically I was about to post about how much I hate "PLZ SUB MEH" YouTubers who obviously have a need for attention, or extreme want.

Then I subbed to David Mitchell, and felt like a hypocrite.

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puppyofkosh
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Posted: 25th Apr 2011 23:36 Edited at: 25th Apr 2011 23:37
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I remember once getting a subscription and then a few hours later being bombarded with several emails and comments from the guy who'd just subscribed "threatening" to withdraw his subscription if I didn't subscribe to him. As he put it, "SUB 4 A SUB!!!".
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KeithC
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Location: Michigan
Posted: 25th Apr 2011 23:51
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Quote: "Also, why do people beg for you to subscribe to them?"

I think it might have something to do with the phenomenon that plagues things like Facebook and the like, with "friends"; as in the number of "friends" you have, elevates your stature somehow.

@ Fallout: LOL!!! That is hilarious (and true).

-Keith

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Fallout
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Posted: 26th Apr 2011 00:50
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I have people sub me a lot and then I lose the same person a day later when I don't sub them back. Yeah, it seems to be common practice!

@ KeithC: Yeah I love David Mitchell. Well, not love him ... but you get me!

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DJ Almix
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Posted: 26th Apr 2011 02:54
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I'm not really a fan of fake subscribing, I do get these same messages in my YouTube.com inbox. It seems to be a status thing between serious channel users.

[center]
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Seppuku Arts
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Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 26th Apr 2011 03:08
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Ben add me to your Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel where I will make lots of videos telling my opinions on things like why people gonna hate players and write songs and sing them into my webcam. You'll love it! I'll even talk about my cats and make videos of them. Wouldn't that be great?

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xplosys
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Posted: 27th Apr 2011 04:36
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Quote: ""I could care less" implies that you still care, even if it's a low amount."


It might literally imply that, but it's meant to be sarcastic. Like, "Oh, you're breaking my heart!" when what you really meant was "Who gives a crap!"

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crispex
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Posted: 27th Apr 2011 05:03
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I don't know. Apparently people need to have 3000 subscribers to get a feeling of self-worthiness. I could care less if people subscribe to my videos. I put them there for my gaming clan, it's nothing more than that. I occasionally post tutorials on somethings.

YouTube has REALLY gone to crap over the last few years. Sadly, with everything big things get annoying once the 12 year olds show up, and once the advertisers do. This is exactly why MySpace failed. You get these people creating these accounts advertising crap, or posting stupid 2 second clips / reposting, it's just all garbage. YouTube used to be about originality.

I'm going to take this time to throw out a rant, partically because my ranting blog isn't done being coded yet (haven't had much free time and I refuse to use bloated WordPress).

[RANT]

I hate how everyone has to use 5000 video annotations. It's annoying when you're watching a video and you've got "lol..." and "subscribe plz."

I understand why people would sometimes *need* to use them, but I can never see why you'd need to have 40 timers just to try to explain something in the video. If you can't get a decent video editing software, you have no business uploading. I'd rather have someone use Windows Movie Maker than spam the crap out of the video annotations.

And why do people feel the need to use Notepad to type out tutorials? It's called editing. People are so lazy that they've gotten to the point where they don't want to do anything. I blame some of it on Google too. They appeal toward the more...lazy and stupid masses. I remember when you simply uploaded the video with a description, and that's it. No annotations, or any of that crap.

And the wonderful RIAA has ruined a lot of good things for people. Sometimes people in the U.K. can't even watch videos because the audio is removed. Copyrights and intellectual property rights have really made things a lot worse.
[/RANT]

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 27th Apr 2011 12:29
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I've only really used YouTube to put my game dev stuff up there and a video tutorial, which seems to have proven useful to people. I did try a video blog for my storytelling stuff just for a bit of PR, but it just felt...dirty - most of the videos I made I didn't upload, as I watched some of my videos thinking, "just no!" and quit pretty much as soon as I started. I tried think of ways to do them without hating myself, but I figure once I get a video of me performing in front of an audience, then it'll go to YouTube, but none of this 'in front of a webcam' crap.

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Quik
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Location: Equestria!
Posted: 28th Apr 2011 02:30
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Quote: "I did try a video blog for my storytelling stuff just for a bit of PR, but it just felt...dirty - most of the videos I made I didn't upload, as I watched some of my videos thinking, "just no!" and quit pretty much as soon as I started. I tried think of ways to do them without hating myself, but I figure once I get a video of me performing in front of an audience, then it'll go to YouTube, but none of this 'in front of a webcam' crap.
"


however video blogging can be kind of nice watching. Also, if you are video blogging for teaching then thats even better! x)

I personally dont follow many Vlogs, i just follow tobuscus and Ijustine, however rarely nowadays..


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
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Wolf
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Posted: 28th Apr 2011 02:44
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This is a result of teenagers and people with ego - issues using youtube.

The kind of fellas that care about being popular on youtube
The kind of people you don't need to care about



-Wolf

I make serious coffee - so strong it wakes up the neighbors.
http://serygalacaffeine.deviantart.com/
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crispex
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Posted: 28th Apr 2011 04:35
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The problem is everyone is so busy trying to be an internet celebrity that they loose sight of creativity. Basically they sacrifice quality for popularity.

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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Green Gandalf
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Playing: Malevolence:Sword of Ahkranox, Skyrim, Civ6.
Posted: 28th Apr 2011 12:55
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@Fallout

Great video. Had a good laugh at that. Thanks.

I guess "I could care less" is a shortened version of something like "I could care less but it would be difficult" which does make sense.

I'm not sure how many common phrases either side of the water stand up to close scrutiny though: "it's raining cats and dogs" is one that springs to mind.
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Quik
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Posted: 28th Apr 2011 16:31
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Ijustine, Tobuscus, Total Biscuit, these are all celebirties, however people bash them like they were flies in the face, with stupid comments like "omg youtube make their lifes go around, ahhh if all stopped viewing their videos theire lifes would go to the thrash".. isnt that rather obvious? and isnt that rather much <OKAY> since they do it <full time> its their jobs, and still people COMPLAIN about it?
whats up with that really? Am i being stupid not to see why that is?


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 28th Apr 2011 19:19
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@Green Gandalf
"Raining cats and dogs" is an idiom, it makes grammatical sense and clear portrays a point (usually based on a historical event or social acceptability), in this case it refers to a flood (in London I believe) due to heavy rain where there were many dead cats and dogs floating about, making it appear "as if it had been raining cats and dogs."

"I could care less" however, is not an idiom, and doesn't usually portray what the sayer is intending it to.

An integer walks into a bar, the barman says "Sorry, we don't serve your type here"
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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 28th Apr 2011 20:38 Edited at: 28th Apr 2011 20:40
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Quote: " Why is it considered doing me a favour just because they subscribed to my videos to make their life easier not having to manually check when I upload new videos? Surely I\'m doing them a favour by uploading the videos in the first place? Or that I upload them to a place where they can use a handy \'subscribe\' feature?
"



yeah... To me, subscriptions, likes and even linking to something, boils down to a vote of confidence the person (or bot ) has in the content. But it's all a bit of a toss really. Try twitter some time.


Hmm, I wonder what's coming in 2011?
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Libervurto
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Posted: 29th Apr 2011 00:39
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The worst Americanism I've heard is when Phil Jackson (I think that's his name, coach of the LA Lakers) was described as the "winning-est" coach in NBA history. I immediately shouted out "Oh good god no that's awful!"

Your memory has been erased by a mod - Your new name is Brian.
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