Hey, fam. New essay up, in which I respond to concerns of some viewers and try to explain why I don't think we can avoid the Culture War, as unsavory as it may be at times.
What's up, fam? Sorry for the long hiatus. Life stuff, y'know. All (or mostly) good things, but man does it add up to there just being fewer hours in the day.
For a long time now, I've been debating whether or not I should shut this channel down. A couple of years ago, the Barking Years had a massive growth spurt when a video on the film Falling Down went kind of viral. I went from a little over 1k subs to around ten times that in a very short span of time. Even today, I think that probably 60% of my subscriber base came from two vids: Falling Down and Green Knight.
At first I was ecstatic, thought I was on my way to something truly life-changing, but I quickly realized that views on new videos were not keeping up with the changes in subs. In fact, it seemed like the correlation was actually kind of the other way around. I had another pretty substantial success talking about the Green Knight, but again, other videos seemed to experience downward pressure from the increased sub count.
After doing some research and listening to other creators, I've had my suspicions confirmed. Having a larger but disengaged subscriber base is an albatross around your neck if you're making content on YT.
I'm not blaming people. They watched a video, liked what they heard and subbed. Nothing wrong with that. But I'm not here following some formula. I'm not trying to occupy some niche, even if I understand how much easier that might be. These videos have been, in the most part, simply me exploring things that matter to me. Which means that just because the take I give you today may resonate, you may not care at all about the next thing I want to talk about.
Sometimes, the stuff that I'm interested in is highly legible to people scrolling around on Youtube, as with a discussion of masculinity (Green Knight) or a (somewhat) fresh take on a well-trodden culture classic (Falling Down).
But other times, they aren't.
The guys who want to hear about how heroic masculinity is awesome (and it is awesome) mostly DON'T want to hear a darker examination of the ways in which it can be taken advantage of (as with my Dark Knight vid which totally flopped), but those are the things that I'm drawn to. And there's only so many time you can watch videos you put your heart and soul into die on rocks of an algorithm primed to sell slop.
"Fucking hell, why are YouTubers ALWAYS COMPLAINING?"
Yeah, yeah. I get it, but I don’t really consider myself a Youtuber, and until you've done this shit yourself and had to look long and hard at the choice of expressing your passion or selling to the algo, then you DON'T get it.
Some of you guys have been ride-or-die this whole time and it would be corny for me to say something like "I love you guys" but the feeling is pretty much there. Still, I can't help the impression that the juice very often isn't worth the squeeze, and there's only so many times you can watch one of your low-effort shitposts stomp the fuck out of a passion vid before you start to wonder if you're just being a fucking idiot for trying to make the medium do something that it doesn't want to do.
Look, I love making videos. I'm gonna keep doing it, whether it's here or whether I decide to nuke this thing and start over. But in the meantime, I'm going to be changing how I do things around here. If I'm going to keep this thing, I'm going to run it in a way that makes it feel worth the effort. I'm still going to have my more thoughtful stuff, but I'm not going to shy away from being more aggro when I'm feeling it, and kind of maximizing the amount of fun I’m having. If I’m not enjoying this thing, then why am I doing it?
If you don't feel like that's what you're interested in—hey bro, absolutely no hard feelings for unsubscribing. You're doing me a favor. Like, seriously, I'm not being smug about that. I wish you well. For those of you who stick around, I’m going to try to be more consistent about putting stuff out, but the content may vary even more than it has in the past. Right now, I’m most active on Substack because despite having about a platform about 1/1000th of the size of this one, the growth feels more organic and more responsive to my effort. If there’s only one platform where you want to follow me, I think I’d recommend that one.
Well guys, that’s about it. If you read to the end of this thing, you're a hoss and I appreciate you. I don’t know if I’ll be able to smash it out in a WEEK but the next video is in the pipe. Take care of yourselves out there.
Heya, folks. New essay up on Substack, check it out if you're interested. This one's a little more personal; some contemplations on the act of driving a car and what's going to be lost when we all stop doing it. link: thebarkingyears.substack.com/p/a-premature-eulogy-…
Hiya, folks. New video out on 28 Years Later and Bone Temple analyzing the underlying themes that stood out to me. Seems like the algo is intent on killing this one in the cradle again, so if you lot have the time and inclination, give it a look and even a like/comment if you're feeling it. I often feel like my stuff just isn't very "legible" to the algorithm but we have to press on now don't we? Anyways, thanks for the support and hopefully I'll be coming back with something new for you soon.
Finally got around to writing the essay that I originally wanted to write about 28 Years Later last year. I'm glad that I waited though, since Bone Temple gives copious supporting evidence for everything that I wanted to say about the first film. Check it out if you like, though I think this one will end up being a video if you feel like waiting around for it. thebarkingyears.substack.com/p/28-years-later-the-…
The Barking Years
New essay talking about the latest Evil Dead film and the fact that every other horror movie is about why men are the worst.
thebarkingyears.substack.com/p/evil-dead-burn-and-…
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 29
View 8 replies
The Barking Years
Hey, fam. New essay up, in which I respond to concerns of some viewers and try to explain why I don't think we can avoid the Culture War, as unsavory as it may be at times.
thebarkingyears.substack.com/p/why-the-culture-war…
3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 19
View 2 replies
The Barking Years
Future of the Channel / Effort Post Incoming:
What's up, fam? Sorry for the long hiatus. Life stuff, y'know. All (or mostly) good things, but man does it add up to there just being fewer hours in the day.
For a long time now, I've been debating whether or not I should shut this channel down. A couple of years ago, the Barking Years had a massive growth spurt when a video on the film Falling Down went kind of viral. I went from a little over 1k subs to around ten times that in a very short span of time. Even today, I think that probably 60% of my subscriber base came from two vids: Falling Down and Green Knight.
At first I was ecstatic, thought I was on my way to something truly life-changing, but I quickly realized that views on new videos were not keeping up with the changes in subs. In fact, it seemed like the correlation was actually kind of the other way around. I had another pretty substantial success talking about the Green Knight, but again, other videos seemed to experience downward pressure from the increased sub count.
After doing some research and listening to other creators, I've had my suspicions confirmed. Having a larger but disengaged subscriber base is an albatross around your neck if you're making content on YT.
I'm not blaming people. They watched a video, liked what they heard and subbed. Nothing wrong with that. But I'm not here following some formula. I'm not trying to occupy some niche, even if I understand how much easier that might be. These videos have been, in the most part, simply me exploring things that matter to me. Which means that just because the take I give you today may resonate, you may not care at all about the next thing I want to talk about.
Sometimes, the stuff that I'm interested in is highly legible to people scrolling around on Youtube, as with a discussion of masculinity (Green Knight) or a (somewhat) fresh take on a well-trodden culture classic (Falling Down).
But other times, they aren't.
The guys who want to hear about how heroic masculinity is awesome (and it is awesome) mostly DON'T want to hear a darker examination of the ways in which it can be taken advantage of (as with my Dark Knight vid which totally flopped), but those are the things that I'm drawn to. And there's only so many time you can watch videos you put your heart and soul into die on rocks of an algorithm primed to sell slop.
"Fucking hell, why are YouTubers ALWAYS COMPLAINING?"
Yeah, yeah. I get it, but I don’t really consider myself a Youtuber, and until you've done this shit yourself and had to look long and hard at the choice of expressing your passion or selling to the algo, then you DON'T get it.
Some of you guys have been ride-or-die this whole time and it would be corny for me to say something like "I love you guys" but the feeling is pretty much there. Still, I can't help the impression that the juice very often isn't worth the squeeze, and there's only so many times you can watch one of your low-effort shitposts stomp the fuck out of a passion vid before you start to wonder if you're just being a fucking idiot for trying to make the medium do something that it doesn't want to do.
Look, I love making videos. I'm gonna keep doing it, whether it's here or whether I decide to nuke this thing and start over. But in the meantime, I'm going to be changing how I do things around here. If I'm going to keep this thing, I'm going to run it in a way that makes it feel worth the effort. I'm still going to have my more thoughtful stuff, but I'm not going to shy away from being more aggro when I'm feeling it, and kind of maximizing the amount of fun I’m having. If I’m not enjoying this thing, then why am I doing it?
If you don't feel like that's what you're interested in—hey bro, absolutely no hard feelings for unsubscribing. You're doing me a favor. Like, seriously, I'm not being smug about that. I wish you well. For those of you who stick around, I’m going to try to be more consistent about putting stuff out, but the content may vary even more than it has in the past. Right now, I’m most active on Substack because despite having about a platform about 1/1000th of the size of this one, the growth feels more organic and more responsive to my effort. If there’s only one platform where you want to follow me, I think I’d recommend that one.
Well guys, that’s about it. If you read to the end of this thing, you're a hoss and I appreciate you. I don’t know if I’ll be able to smash it out in a WEEK but the next video is in the pipe. Take care of yourselves out there.
4 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 32
View 21 replies
The Barking Years
Wut? Another video in UNDER A WEEK? Is the man insane? Is he human? Can he even be stopped? Maybe, but not today.
In this one, I take a dive into the discourse surrounding some of the hot new(ish) horror flick from Curry Barker. Enjoy!
1 month ago | [YT] | 8
View 0 replies
The Barking Years
What's that? The channel isn't dead? There's a new video up? You're going to check it out? Well get on with it then!
1 month ago | [YT] | 3
View 0 replies
The Barking Years
What's up, boyos? I was just thinking about making a video. Remember when I used to do those?
1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 8
View 6 replies
The Barking Years
Heya, folks. New essay up on Substack, check it out if you're interested. This one's a little more personal; some contemplations on the act of driving a car and what's going to be lost when we all stop doing it.
link: thebarkingyears.substack.com/p/a-premature-eulogy-…
5 months ago | [YT] | 15
View 2 replies
The Barking Years
Hiya, folks. New video out on 28 Years Later and Bone Temple analyzing the underlying themes that stood out to me. Seems like the algo is intent on killing this one in the cradle again, so if you lot have the time and inclination, give it a look and even a like/comment if you're feeling it. I often feel like my stuff just isn't very "legible" to the algorithm but we have to press on now don't we? Anyways, thanks for the support and hopefully I'll be coming back with something new for you soon.
5 months ago | [YT] | 11
View 0 replies
The Barking Years
Finally got around to writing the essay that I originally wanted to write about 28 Years Later last year. I'm glad that I waited though, since Bone Temple gives copious supporting evidence for everything that I wanted to say about the first film. Check it out if you like, though I think this one will end up being a video if you feel like waiting around for it.
thebarkingyears.substack.com/p/28-years-later-the-…
6 months ago | [YT] | 17
View 1 reply
The Barking Years
Heyo, guys. New article out! This one is basically my "here's the last thing I ever want to have to say on this subject" essay.
open.substack.com/pub/thebarkingyears/p/bullsht-an…
Next one is going to be an analysis of the 28 Years Later saga up to this point--that one may become a video.
6 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 10
View 3 replies
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