Oh man, don’t hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning…

An interesting part of the discussion was about something Guy at Midwinter Minis did on his YouTube channel.  He wanted to test the YT content algorithm and wrote two companion videos intended to be as alike as possible except for their title and focus, one was, “Warhammer is the BEST it’s ever been” and the other, “Warhammer is the WORST it’s ever been”.  The negative one has more than twice as many views and was the most watched video he made last year.  His point is that YouTube is “brainwashing you with negativity”, i.e. that the YT algorithm is pushing negative content at us and perpetuating a negative spiral as creators chase views and put out more negative focused content to match what is most successful/rewarding which the algorithm then adjusts to reflect.  His analysis is here and is well worth a look, and no, it hasn’t changed his intention to make positive content.  It is interesting that even someone like Guy with nearly 500,000 followers on YT can’t actually generate enough payments directly from YT to keep the lights on as a full time content provider, his income is primarily reliant on sponsorship and his Patreons.

I appreciate @sundancer ‘s point about just disconnecting from immediate access to social media.  Personally I have a different way of bypassing the negative waves.  I have set up my accounts to ‘curate’ my experience.  I do this by being very disciplined about what I look at and engage with on social media.  I only look at hobby content, and only engage with positive hobby content.  I also actively discourage content I don’t want to see by using blocking and “Show less of this” options.  This is easier on some platforms than others but even Insta can be made to only show hobby content if you are persistent enough.  This has also worked on Threads and Bluesky and to a lesser extent Facebook.  However, I binned Twitter/X because it was impossible to stop that platform pushing content I didn’t want. YT is also trickier and I’ve taken the suggestion from Gerry to have my Subscriptions page my homepage on YT and turn off Shorts.

We are not powerless.  We can make a difference.  I make my own positive contributions to the communities and platforms I’m on.  I post hobby content in most places I have an account and  make a point of liking as much content that others have posted as possible.  Let’s enjoy hobby together, and enjoy each other’s hobby.

@zoidpinhead social media in general thrive on negativity, because negativity brings interactions.
You can’t get a lot of response if everyone agrees with a topic. I think C’t (the German magazine dedicated to computers) published an article about that sad little fact that the algorythms these things use will only ever reinforce that. It’s why the entire internet can feel like one giant ball of negativity.

That is why it really is for the best to ditch as many social media as you can. Or at the very least get them of your mobile phone so you won’t be tempted by them. I’m so glad I ‘missed’ Twitter, Facebook and the like. It might explain why I simply don’t things like Instagram and Twitter. I prefer classic forums where you can good discussions and not be limited by the amount of stuff you rant about.

Anyways … on to the positive things.

As I commented on the thread below the XLBS … it’s the OTT Weekenders and XLBS I like for being so positive all of the time.
Especially when there’s a subject the guys really really like.

Rogue Hobbies … zero negativity and soo much positive energy it’s refreshing:
https://youtube.com/@roguehobbies?si=TJDKsLRu1ehQItbs

Then there’s creators like Laura Kampf, NerdForge, Ali Spagnola, Adam Savage, Simone Giertz, Colin Furze, Aging Wheels and Boylei Hobby Time. They make mistakes, but they’re never negative for the sake of being negative like so many youtubers appear to be. There’s probably a few I forgot, but that’s more because they don’t post as often.

It’s kind of why I avoid channels that engage with that clickbait negativity nonsense ( … ).

There’s times I do want to scream into the void. I’m trying to limit that, but I also know that I can’t bottle it up forever either.
Maybe all I need is a sound proof room with loads of destructable objects … but in the mean time videogames can do that job.

Positive hobby vibes: I am going through a large freezer bag full of loose Mithril miniatures – not all of which may be complete – have just finished several Orcs, a Black Troll of Mordor, master Elrond holding a book, a mannish captain of Orthanc (= Dunlending), Tom Bombadil (unknown to Peter Jackson acolytes), a bandit girl (must be a MERP character) and the singing girl who is supposed to be accompanied by a lute player. I painted her using Candice Night from the Renaissance Rock band Blackmore’s Night as inspiration, but wasn’t sure if I had the lute player.

More digging through aforementioned freezer bag revealed that I do and he will, of course, be painted as Richie Blackmore. Even has an appropriate hair style. Next up: Thranduil enthroned, Glorfindel (also unknown to Peter Jackson fans) on a horse, a Cave Troll, Theoden King mounted, sword raised to lead the charge – Kings used to do that, you know…- and Legolas & Gimli minus Gimli. I may have already painted Gimli, but he’s buried in a plastic case containing my Dwarf army, which hasn’t seen the light of day since the local MESBG group fell apart.