Setarko

Hey there, just a quick update. My latest Iceberg video has been removed due violating Youtube's "self-harm policy". Which is fine I guess, it is an important policy to have. I have just one question. How did it happen that one week ago my video passed the initial checks, which said that there were no violations in it? Then over the weekend it passed another manual check (which I did not request, meaning that YouTube decided to conduct it on its own)...and both checks showed that the video could not only be released on YouTube, but also with full monetization! And then, two days after its release, I suddenly receive a letter saying that the video contains such serious violations that it should not just have its monetization removed, an 18+ label or a warning before viewing added, but deleted immediately?
Anyway, I will try to appeal so maybe they will reconsider. If that doesn't work, I'll have to re-upload the video with all the “controversial” parts removed. So if you suddenly receive a notification about the release of a “new” old video in the coming days, please don’t start swearing at me! Instead, please help me out with your likes and comments. Thank you!

upd: it is back up but with a 18+ content rating. So let's use this post as another reminder that I actually have an Iceberg series and you should definitely watch it from start to finish :>

4 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 176

Setarko

Hey there! Long time no see. I really should use this page more often. And today I come to you with some bad news. No, don't worry, it's not ‘bad’ bad. Just that there will be no video this week. Why? Because I am a lazy bum. Or, you know what? I have another explanation. You see, my next video is going to be about summers in Russia. Or, more specifically, about how Russians usually spend their summers. And I can't just make a video like this without an in-depth study of the subject, can I? So, let's think of it as a kind of practice. First, I'll spend a week doing everything Russians do in the summer. Then, I'll tell you all about it. Sounds good? Yeah, this version is definitely better.

2 months ago | [YT] | 278

Setarko

Hello there! Few people know that today is this channel's birthday. It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating one year since the channel was created, and now it's already having a mini anniversary—five years. Personally, the day I turned five, I finally learned to pronounce the letter R. So this channel is also a big boy now.


What would be considered a success after five years of doing the same thing? The first million dollars earned? The first million followers on social media? The first TV interview? I’ve achieved none of that. Am I happy with the way my channel has turned out? Absolutely. After the first year, I only had 200 subscribers, and I was still pretty happy because I liked editing videos and was passionate about my topics. It’s been four years since then, and to my deepest relief, I’m still passionate.

A lot of people know that I have a full-time job that doesn’t involve video-making. Overall, my career has always suited me. I’m a researcher—I get paid to do whatever my imagination tells me to. How awesome is that? But in all the 10+ years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had the feeling of: “Wow, I get up at 8 a.m., go to my favorite job, and do my favorite thing. How cool is that?”. I’ve liked my job just enough to tolerate it. I’ve always known it’s not the worst one. A lot of people work harder than I do, a lot of people get paid less, and a lot of people have less interesting tasks than I do. But I’ve never felt like I loved spending time at work or truly enjoyed what I was doing. I just went to work and spent time there because I had to. And I was absolutely sure that everyone in the world felt like this. I didn’t believe there could be such a thing as working for hours on end and actually enjoying it. But that was before I started making videos. I estimate that I spend about 40-50 hours on each of my videos, which is 20-25 hours a week. And yes, I can sit for hours working on a script or editing, simply because I enjoy it. Not all the time, of course. Sometimes I do things because I have to, just like in my real job. Sometimes I get frustrated with the results or the process. But more often than not, I make videos because I genuinely enjoy making them.

So yeah, why did I even write all this out in the first place? Because with a post like this, you usually need a birthday wish for yourself. What do I wish for five years from now? A million subscribers? Turning YouTube into a full-time job? Fame and popularity? That’s all cool, but I have another wish: I hope that, five years from now, I’ll still be making my videos with the same gusto.

9 months ago | [YT] | 435

Setarko

Hey there! I've recently decided to visit my "Audience" section to see who actually watches my channel and got some interesting results. Well, I expected some HOI4 guys or video essayists, but I was curious about the fact that my audience mostly watches some aviation guy. Imagine my surprise when I actually visited his channel. No, his aviation videos are quite interesting but when I saw his latest one and especially the one on his second channel...Well, let's just say I hope you do not take everything for granted on YouTube because I rarely see such blatant propaganda. No, I get it, a Ukrainian guy has every reason to hate Russia and send that message to everyone who is willing to listen. Apparently, a lot of people are willing to. But making a video on the entirety of "Russian History" and citing "Mark Solonin" as his main source...okaaaay. Weird flex to cite a known conspiracy theorist but you do you. It's like making a video on smallpox vaccine and citing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. OK, let's even replace the words "conspiracy theorist" with "alternative historian", but all of Solonin's "history" books are about WWII, not the Russian Empire, which our aviator spent 35 minutes talking about in his video. I just hope his research for aviation videos is slightly better.

But I didn't come here to moan about evil Canadian-Ukrainians trying to make my beloved Russia look bad, no (okay, I did, but only a little bit). It's actually about that very Audience section. You see, I usually use it as a place where I can get my inspiration. A place where I can see what channels my audience enjoys. So I can go there and watch there videos to learn something new, to pick up some details of how they prepare for their videos, how they narrate, what kind of visuals or sounds they use at the end of the day. But now it kinda fails to deliver. So I came directly to you, my viewers. Please, tell me about YouTube channels you personally like. Of course, preferably long form and on subjects close to my interests, such as history or culture. But video essays on something like art, music, cinema or even computer games wouId also be nice. And I will be especially grateful for some lesser-known channels. I know that most of you enjoy Vox, Johnny Harris or Lemmino, but these guys (or companies) been there for ages, their style is adopted by thousands of creators and while there's obviously a lot of thing I can learn from them...it's just not that interesting to mindlessly copy the most successful channels out there.

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9 months ago | [YT] | 151

Setarko

Hello there. All of you have probably followed the start of the Paris Olympics to one degree or another. Even if you are not a sports fan, you've probably heard about it through some recent scandal. And of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity (it only comes around once every 4 years after all). So my next video is going to be about the 1980 Moscow Olympics. But here's the deal - I can talk about it for ages. I can tell you about the banishment of all the prostitutes and homeless people from Moscow. Or about Pepsi that was the first western company to break the Iron Curtain. Or the death of Vladimir Vysotsky, which happened during the Olympics and literally overshadowed it. I had to pick one specific topic... and I couldn't. So now you can do it instead.

1 year ago | [YT] | 96

Setarko

Hey there, long time no see! I came here to do the same thing I usually do when I come here. To tell you that I've been slacking and that's why my next video is going to be later than usual. I guess I could come up with a lot of reasons, but it's better to be honest. It's EURO-2024 and so far, every single game has been a banger. So I decided to take at least a week off to enjoy it. Yes, I'm a certified скуф and I still watch football in 2024, bite me!

Russia is obviously banned from participating so I had to find some other nations to support. I tend to like English teams so I could have ended this post with the classical "It's coming home" but we all know it's not coming anywhere as long as Southgate is at the wheel. So Força Portugal!

1 year ago | [YT] | 122

Setarko

Hey guys, it is that time the year again when I whine about something. Today we have a special guest for our whining session. A website called buymeacoffee.com. I've used it for like 2 years. It is a website that allows people to get donations from their fans. They charged a fee for it, naturally, that's the way the business works. As you know transfering money to and from Russia has become harder recently. Buymeacoffee website states that "We believe everyone is a creator. Our goal is to help a million people earn from their creativity by 2030". A noble goal! Many of you helped me using that website so I want to thank you all once again. But back to the topic. So today I got an e-mail from this website (pic 1) telling me that my account has been terminated because they have "restricted Russian creators from our platform". And actually that's not what I wanted to whine about! I actually believe that any company can and should decide if they want to work with Russians. If they don't - fine. But let's go back to this letter. So, some details.
"As you may already be aware, Buy Me a Coffee has restricted Russian creators from our platform to adhere to international regulations and our platform’s specific rules".
No, I was not aware. I didn't get any e-mails from you (until now), your website has zero news about that particular change, your help center and F.A.Q. page don't have them either. Even your social media pages have nothing on the topic. But fine, maybe I was already aware of it. Somehow. My last letter from this website (regarding any payment issues) was on November 16th, 2022, when they stated that "Hi Setarko,

We have been informed by our payment provider Payoneer that they’re discontinuing payouts to Russian bank accounts. You will need to provide a non-Russian bank account in order to continue receiving payments.". So, okay, I guess I should just open a non-Russian bank account and I'll be fine? And I was fine for 1.5 years. Now back to our recent letter. "It has recently come to our attention that, although your payouts were directed to another country, our records indicate your actual residence is in Russia." So...I've opened a bank account in another country (as you told me) but somehow you managed to find out that I still reside in Russia! Do I have a tracking device on me? But okay, maybe you saw my IP address and realized it is Russian? Sure, but we will go back to that later.

Anyway, then they tell me that "to facilitate a smooth transition for you" my account needs to be closed in 3 days. And they even kindly asked me by to ensure I withdraw the remaining money in my account before that date. How touching. Obviously, I'm currently in Russia (as buymeacoffee said) and I'm rushing to my buymeacoffee.com and what do I see? I see pic. 2. I cannot access this website because the site owner may have set restrictions that prevent me from accessing the site. Error 1020. Anyone who knows something about such error will tell you that this error indicated a geo block. They block people in Russia from accessing their website. So these guys told me that "hey, we noticed that you are from Russia! That's not allowed, we have sanctions against that! But we care about your smooth transition. Go ahead and please withdraw your funds before we close your account forever... SIKE! We already did that! Buy you are coffee? More like buy you an Iskander missile you dirty sanctioned bastard".

So basically their policy is to deny service to people on the basis of their passport. Because that's what it's all about. I complied with all their rules, I've opened a separate bank account in another country...But hey "our records indicate that you are still a dirty Russian!". Btw, what records? Bank statements? It is a foreign bank. IP address? You can't see which IP address I use to login to my account on your website because I can't even visit your website from Russia! I can visit it only from another country! So which records, huh? Your record that I am Russian? Guilty. I guess this particular stain will always be on my reputation. But once again, that's fine. Morally questionable, but if a private company wants to deny service to someone (on the basis of their nationality) - that's fine. Giving me 3 days to withdraw my money when you are fully aware that you literally blocked me from visiting your website? Totally fine. But what do you mean "potential refund of your account balance to your supporters?" Potential? So maaaaybe you will refund them and maybe not? Fuck off. Anyways, luckily I was able to access my account and I manually issued refunds to everyone who supported me throughout last year using this website. I hope you will get all your money back and BuyMeACoffee doesn't get a single penny. I also hope that this company goes bankrupt and soon. A man can only dream.

As I always said - I am a grown man with a real grownup job. YouTube is just a hobby for me, so I will still have some food on the table even without making videos. But if you want to support me - consider subscribing to my Patreon or donating using cryptowallets that are in the description of any of my videos.
Btw, Patreon also complies with the U.S. santions and doesn't allow people to use Russian banks. But it allows people with Russian passports to use their foreign bank accounts. Which should be a controversial thing to do...but somehow it is. Here's a quote from Business Insider article on the issue:
"Jack Conte, Patreon's CEO, said he didn't want to punish creators for a political decision they had no say in. "I don't think individual creators should have to pay for the misdeeds of their authoritarian leader. I don't want to put that on creative people," Conte said. "They may disagree with the war, and I don't want to punish them for their geographic location." Conte acknowledged that the decision may be more symbolic than practical. Most US banks, along with financial-services companies such as Visa and Mastercard, no longer offer service in the country, so it's likely that many creators on the platform have still been affected."

Well, what can I say after all that? Thank you, Jack Conte for still seeing Russians as actual people.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

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1 year ago | [YT] | 224

Setarko

Hey there! I've uploaded a new video, but since its topic is not too suitable for monetization, YouTube is not too eager to promote it. So maybe you missed it. In this video I talk about how the Soviet state treated the subject of sex in official politics, in mainstream art, and in ordinary people's lives.

And also for those wondering, Russian Iceberg is coming back. Level 2 will contain a wide range of stories, from the sinking of the Kursk submarine to Genghis Khan's grave. Stay tuned!

1 year ago | [YT] | 66

Setarko

Hey guys, guess what - I am sick once AGAIN. Which means one of three things: 1) Jesus hates me (because he sent me some virus on his birthday, not cool); 2) FSB is warning me not to continue with my iceberg thing or 3) Winter SUCKS big time. No, seriously, I hate winter. Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll be able to continue working on the next video (my voice is gone), so yeah, no video this coming Sunday, I guess. Big sad, big sad.

1 year ago | [YT] | 301

Setarko

Soon.

1 year ago | [YT] | 142