#Probably caters to a niche audience lmao

[mx-myth]

Maybe I'm thinking too much but galaxy-brain idea: the watchmaker of filigree street fitzloved au. The Fool being a clairvoyant toy maker. Fitz slowing down and looking at the windows thinking about little too long about what toys Molly's (his) daughter likes. Nighteyes, his dog-who-might-be-a-wolf tugging him inside. "You weren't my Fitz yet."

[synoxshots]

30 questions tag game

Tagged by: @thedinalixlegacy thank you!

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 5 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

Name/Nickname: Ro

Gender: Female

Star sign: Scorpio

Height: 5′, no more...

Birthday: 15th November

Time: 23.27

Favorite bands: Los Campesinos! and The Libertines

Favorite solo artists: David Bowie

Song stuck in my head: Crazy - The Homeless Gospel Choir because it is hitting hard at the moment...

Last movie: I’m not sure I’ve actually watched anything this year so it’s probably Soul

Last show: University Challenge hahahaha, quizzy Mondays are very important! (I got one? two? questions right in the whole show this evening lmao)

When did I create this blog: Last June, been on tumblr since 2010 though *eye twitch* 

What do I post: swtor! 

Last thing I googled: captain america (I was playing pictionary and needed a quick reference)

Other blogs: @battingonjakku is my personal/multifandom blog that I’ve had since I was 16 and is thus a nightmare. nowadays I mostly do sports and star wars and cute dogs there, plus legendary games such as ‘horse or crisp’, you can follow it if you really want but it caters to a very niche audience. have a photography blog lingering about somewhere from an old project, have a Proper Sports Writing Blog outside tumblr which I haven’t touched since 2019 and not seriously since probably 2017 so it doesn’t count so much these days

Do I get asks: yeah! I reblog quite a lot of ask memes haha

Why I chose my url: finished reading Annihilation a couple of months before making it and that’s basically the book, plus Theron and Satele are my favourite swtor chars

Following: 206

Followers: 179 (a madness! <3) 

Average hours of sleep: 6-7, I would probably feel better if I had more

Lucky number: don’t have one tbh

Instruments: guitar mostly, have some other stringed instruments - mandolin, baritone uke, uke. have a keyboard and started learning briefly but lost track of it for reasons

What am I wearing: hoodie and jeggings, about to put my pjs on

Dream job: museum curator is the easiest way to describe it. collections management is my thing basically. 

Dream trip: to go see the northern lights

Favorite food: oooooffft. garlic bread is up there? 

Nationality: British

Favorite song: Stand By Me - Ben E King classic.

Last book read: I’m gonna sound really fun here but it’s a book about managing previously unmanaged museum collections

Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in:

1. Star Wars I guess 

2. maybe a village in BotW 

honestly my mind is drawing a blank here.

Tagging: @kyber-heart @raven-of-domain-kwaad @cyrraluu @gothwarlocks @starlightjedi but only if you want to :)

[yslkook]

I am the person who asked about cultural appropriation and I felt so much better after seeing your post. I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it shouldn’t be used to invalidate other people’s opinions. I have been a kpop fan for a long time and I remember when ddududdudu came out I was a huge blackpink fan back then and I saw the bindi and I felt kind of weird. I didn’t know how to react but I didn’t really like it. I was young and a bit naïve so I think that was my first real exposure to cultural appropriation. I didn’t really acknowledge it before because it wasn’t people I look up to doing it. And I had my reasons for being offended. 1.) I have experienced a lot of racism as an Indian living abroad and have been called all sorts of slurs for being too Indian so I don’t feel comfortable wearing a bindi but others could and when I went online they were praised for their amazing outfits and looks 2.) I had never seen blackpink address their Indian fans or anything to do with Indian culture. Then I went on Twitter hoping to see other people maybe speak up about it but oh my god it was a messsss. People were losing their shit over how it wasn’t even Indian culture cuz it was just a gem and then also that it doesn’t matter cuz Indians don’t even mind if others wear bindis. And there were non-Indian people defending their faves so fiercely to the point they started insulting Indian culture and i was so scared. I was in a kpop group chat back then and I mentioned there that I didn’t like it and they were okay with that. But after seeing what happened on Twitter, I felt a bit scared that people might think I overreacted so I literally told them that ‘I was feeling bitchy’ and ‘forget what I said’. I really invalidated myself and my opinions even though I personally felt offended. Over the years I have realised how big of a problem this is, not just in kpop, but in the media we’re exposed to in general. But it’s more frustrating to see the idols that tell me they love their fans equally and love everyone also take freely from my culture and not give back. I’m at the point where I don’t feel like a fan because kpop is not catered towards someone like me. And whenever I have tried to educate others, people take it upon themselves to shut me out. Like I’m not even trying to cancel your faves, just educate them but for some reason as soon as certain fans hear cultural appropriation they go into full attack mode thinking that their faves are being cancelled. And this made me realise that there is so much hypocrisy and internalised racism present to this day, not just against Indians but so many other minorities. A lot of kpop fans also have double standards when it comes to racism. Even if they support artists of colour, they can still be racist. It’s sad because kpop has grown so much and have a large audience of young people who look up to them. And when these idols get away with feigning ignorance, their fans think that’s it’s okay to do the same too. It’s a dangerous concept for a generation that should be advancing with their thinking, not going back in time. Also I’m really sorry the ask became so long. I might as well have submitted an essay. I had to talk to someone about this after I saw someone tell me that I should be happy that kpop idols wear bindis because they look good in it....meanwhile if I wear it, I get called things I can’t even say on here. Some people just don’t seem to understand that. Also, I know that I mentioned blackpink a lot here but that’s because I used to be a blink so that was my personal experience with them. I know there are groups out there who have done worse and it just makes me sadder. I am put off of kpop but I really do enjoy the music and the whole fun of being a kpop fan. But the ignorance that runs through the kpop industry and some of the fans too really can’t be ignored.

yeah its definitely jarring for elements of your culture to be thrown in your face while people outside of your culture are praised for taking the same things that others would bully you for. a lot of fans seem to be quick to call out racism and xenophobia against kpop idols (which is a very real thing obviously) but turn a blind eye when there are clear instances of 1. fandom racism 2. cultural appropriation and racism being perpetuated by idols/companies

the original intent of cancel culture makes sense, but i feel like now the conversation stems around the fear of being cancelled rather than accepting accountability and doing better moving forward. people are allowed to grow and change...but dismissing that the wrongdoing even happened is not the way. ive mainly heard about this kind of devotion/behavior on twitter though (no wonder kpop stans have a bad name when the first thing that comes to mind is kpop twitter). i feel like people on here are pretty good about not brushing this to the side

you definitely didnt overreact by just calling out that it wasnt okay and it was also wrong for people to say it was just a "gem" lmaoooo wtf. and you obviously cant just make a generalized statement to say that indians dont mind...who is anyone to say that. even a south asian who doesnt mind that much doesnt have the right to say that all indians dont mind if others wear the bindi...because people can have differing opinions (in my opinion). but its pretty obvious when things do and dont belong

you probably didnt send me an ask for unsolicited advice but ill give it to you anyway- anyone (in real life or on the internet) who makes you feel like your lived experiences dont matter are not worth your time. you know your intentions are good by calling bad things out when you see it. if paying attention to kpop on twitter is affecting you that badly, then maybe take a step back and see how you feel. anything that is affecting your internal peace should be re-assessed, protect your peace!! i agree with you, the ignorance cant and shouldnt be ignored by idols/companies and fans!

as far as engaging with kpop despite all of this...it's up to you to determine what level of engagement you want to have. it's definitely very off putting but these days, is no ethical consumption i feel lmao. maybe it would help if you found a niche of fandom that you're comfortable with engaging in. i feel like people on here are very cool and not quick to dismiss things

and no worries about writing a long ask LMAO bc i wrote one right back and had to include a read more...

[wickymicky]

can weki meki be considered successful though? i love them and their fanbase is a positive place compared to other ioi groups, but they haven't gotten any wins and i think that people really don't talk about them (the general korean public + the international kpop fandom doesn't seem to pay any attention to anyone but the ioi members) i mean i guess in that theyre still promoting theyre successful but not really in actual popularity, which is really too bad since theyre such a good group :(

it depends on how you define success, for sure. they’re not successful in terms of general popularity, sure, but they have a solid audience. i think if you have enough people who not only like your group, but actually ult your group, you’re doing something right. dreamcatcher’s the same way. both of these groups put out songs that fit their respective aesthetics, and cater to their existing fanbases. i think you build a better fanbase by appeasing the people who already love you than by trying to win over as many people as possible. because when you aim for universal popularity, it shows, and the songs can sometimes lack personality, and comebacks can be drastically different from each other because the company considers each attempt a failure. i gotta mention dia again... they’re a group whose company really seems to want to shoot for the widest possible audience, and so they just kept trying shit and moving on to something else when it didnt go viral. 

it seems like mbk’s intended audience when giving dia a comeback is “people who arent fans”, in order to try and win them over and be instantly successful overnight, like momoland was with bboom bboom. fantagio and happyface’s intended audience seems to be “our fans, people who get us and are liking what we’re doing here already”. that’s the kind of thing that makes someone go from a casual fan to ulting a group, and those are the people who tell their friends to listen to their favorite group lol. weki meki and dreamcatcher have strong fandoms because they spread by word of mouth, i think. so does loona, that’s the whole point of the “stan loona” meme lol, that counts as word of mouth. loona’s career is taking off a little bit right now, but i think generally the reason people get into loona is because they see how much other people like loona, lol. that’s how i did! same with dreamcatcher and kinda same with weki meki, though i was aware of them before i got into them, a little bit. 

so i guess weki meki aren’t successful in terms of like... you know... success... lmao....... but i think they’re successful in doing what they set out to do and not only getting a fandom but maintaining a fandom. they’re a fun group to be a fan of, i think. that’s why they won me and a lot of other people over. i think that’s a valid form of success. maybe they dont make as much money as other groups (they definitely dont lmao), but... i mean that probably should matter to me more lmao but selfishly i kinda dont care, i dont get into groups because of how monetarily successful they are, i’m just here for a good time. if weki meki never gets a music show win, it wouldnt make any difference to me. i’ll support them and vote for them cause it’d be nice to, but it’s not that important to me. i think engagement from fans is just as important if not more so than wins and chart positions. groups dont stick around for years because they have famous members or had a hit song or whatever... if they did, then pentagon would be as big as bts lol. groups stick around because they have an audience. attention isnt important unless you know how to keep it. it’s no use if they have a big song and then nobody sticks around for their next one. having two songs that do “pretty good” is better than having one that does amazing and one that totally flops. and i think having a dedicated fandom is a pretty important factor in determining what songs do “pretty good” in the first place. 

also, i think that in the grand scheme of things, they’re not like a totally nugu group. just like how it’s wrong to call them popular, it’s also wrong to call them unpopular, lol. they’re doing alright, all things considered. picky picky is almost at 10 million views, which’ll be their third to hit that milestone, and while tiki taka and dazzle dazzle arent anywhere near that, still, there’s a lot of groups that would kill to have even one music video with 10 million. when you compare them to groups that regularly get music show wins or music videos with 20 or 30 million views, sure weki meki look like an obscure group, especially in terms of how well theyre known outside of korea, and even in korea, as you said. but when you compare them to the groups who struggle to crack a million views, and who lose and gain members every comeback, and who even other kpop fans often havent heard of... then i think it’s clear that weki meki are sitting in a relatively comfortable position. it’s not perfect, but things are fairly okay, lol. 

oh and one last thing, i just wanna say that “being known inside/outside of korea” also isnt that big a deal to me tbh. much as it pains me to say it... i think armys are sorta half-right when they say that it’s really just bts at the top. i think it’s not that simple, obviously groups like blackpink, twice, and red velvet have made a huge impact, and of course groups like snsd and exo, but still, the pool of groups like that is relatively small. for the most part, kpop is still pretty small and niche. success with the general public in and out of korea doesnt necessarily matter to me all that much, because i think what matters more is how successful a group is among kpop fans. even in korea, like, not every korean person is into kpop lol. there are people like us who are into the scene and community, and there are people who dont give a shit. i mean, that should be obvious, but it’s worth pointing out that like nobody talks about anime like it has to appeal to the general public. sure, everyone’s heard of dragonball and naruto, but there are successful anime out there that the general public has never heard of, but theyre successful because people who are into anime like it a lot. you know what i mean? its successful in the anime fan community. when you look at it like that, comparing weki meki to a group that has found recognition outside the kpop fan community is kind of a stretch and not very helpful. if you think about how recognized weki meki are by the community of people who are into kpop girl groups, then i think they’re not doing that bad. shrug. and i think their future is still bright

[relatablepicturesofpatrickgill]

I’m sorry if this is cynical, but I’d really like your input on it (as an experience polygon vid/pat stream viewer): Do you think Pat is pushing the after hours streaming stuff because Polygon is ending? Or, at least, to try and maintain the ‘funny video/personality’ fans? I’ve noticed a lot of other polygon vid personalities are doing similar things, and main polygon video content keeps slowing down and changing, presumably in compliance w/ vox media strategy? Have you noticed too?

First of all real bold of you sending this to a Pat fanblog where all I do is make dumbass shitposts and post cat clips, as if I know a single goddamn thing about anything, but since you asked I’ll try to answer as many of your questions as possible. (I’m not mad about being asked btw I just really find it funny you’d send it here of all places lmao). Disclaimer time: I am not in any way affiliated with Polygon or Vox Media nor do I know how they operate behind the scenes.

Do I personally think Polygon is ending and that Pat streams because of that? Short answer, no. However, I believe Polygon’s necessary (yes, I said necessary) and inevitable (yes, INEVITABLE) change in content is due to a lot of deeper issues people might not know about, which I’ve gathered from research and being an idiot whomst has watched Youtube for 10+ years. Let me just say, the last year or so has pretty much been the “Everybody Knows Shits Fucked” song on repeat until we die so this is going to be a long ass post. Buckle up kiddos we’re warp speeding into this fuckfest together.

Youtube Advertiser Boycott And The Algorithms

Every social media website employs the use of algorithms to decide how content gets sorted, and Youtube isn’t any different. That’s why Youtubers constantly ask you to “like, comment and subscribe” because it helps their content get noticed through Youtube’s internal system – such as search priority, the trending section, your homepage and your recommended tab, as well as the recommended sidebar on individual videos. As for content, one of the more effective models was to find a niche and cater to it, something Polygon did by creating Monster Factory and similar humored series alongside their serious content.

And for a while, it worked. Except things change.

Before we get any further I highly suggest you read this article written by Julia Alexander about the complicated history of Youtube’s monetization system, but I’ll try to give a quick summary. Something controversial will happen on Youtube, causing brands to pull their business from the platform until they can get more security on what types of videos their ads play on, then Youtube refines the system to give brands more control. Rinse and repeat. The new system results in a massive amount of videos being demonetized, causing creators to lose revenue and viewer engagement and then request appeals to have their content reviewed by humans, which in turn improves the algorithm. Those most negatively affected by the system must diversify their payments either through Patreon, Twitch, merch, etc, or in worst case scenarios, give up on their dreams of being a Youtuber.

Youtube has a lot of incentive to keep creators updated on changes, so when users ask, “hey, can we know what’s going on with the website?” Youtube responds with an informative, “absolutely not. Die.” The userbase, as a result, is forced to run their own investigations. Nerd City published a video revealing another algorithm (one just as prone to mistakes) assigns all videos with an MPAA-style rating to make it easier for businesses to decide what sort of content they’re comfortable advertising on. This rating – hidden from both the uploader and their audience – Cannot. Be. Appealed. Good fucking system am I right!!! (Also, please watch the video if you get the chance, it brings up some points about machine learning and how the system negatively affects marginalized creators).

One more thing, do you remember what I said earlier about how a video gets popular on Youtube’s internal system? Well, creators have reason to believe a higher rating attributes to view suppression – meaning their videos might end up exempt from the things I listed. This makes it so much harder for a channel to grow their userbase outside of an already established audience. If you’re following along you might be able to tell where I’m going with this, but if not…

What Does This Have To Do With Video Games Polygon?

Once again, I do not know any of the behind the scenes Polygon lore and a lot of this is guesswork on my part. I’d imagine as a branch of Vox Media, Polygon would have a higher priority getting any potentially demonetized videos appealed than smaller, independent channels do. However, when your own website is reporting the system responsible for sorting and rating videos goes deeper than just demonetization, with a full MPAA-style ranking that’s been shown to suppress the growth of certain content not deemed advertiser friendly, such as excessive profanity and sexually suggestive content, which turns out is a subset of the niche your channel has developed – that’s a problem.

This isn’t me being critical of their content or saying what they make is bad (considering I’m a fan of it as well), this is an objective look at the reality of a rapidly changing platform. Unfortunately, the biggest flags in my head for Polygon happen to be the Jackbox series and… Monster Factory. There’s absolutely no way some of those videos are getting a kid-friendly rating, and it’s possible the bot is slapping some of them with a mature rating – the worst one where enough of those could potentially affect the rating of the entire channel. Griffin, in one of the Spore MF videos, emphatically yells, “come fuck this” to the heavens; lo and behold, a few years later Youtube finally does.

Of course, this is just one of a few different problems Polygon is facing. The Mcelroys left to focus on their own businesses, taking some of their fans with them. Other fans who mainly want the video game news might end up unsubscribing if too many videos irrelevant to their interests are posted. Some series, while perfectly funny in their own right, have trouble breaking out and appealing to a wider audience.

Polygone But Not Forgotten?

I’ll try to put it as softly as I can: almost all creators on Youtube have to reevaluate the content they put out and how it fits into Youtube’s ad-friendly guidelines if they want to continue receiving ad revenue and viewer engagement from the site. This is not just a Polygon specific problem, and as a news channel they benefit a lot more by working within the new parameters. Polygon’s primary priority should be their video game website, where I go to read all the articles that aren’t about video games, as ad revenue is probably more stable and allows them more room for sillier content. As for their channel, the “horny niche” appeal doesn’t have as much of a place anymore. Well, on Youtube at least.

Twitch, however, seems like a better home for Polygon’s familiar borderline type of humor. On a stream Pat said, as the live video producer, he’s responsible for getting their channel partnered which will come with some very important benefits, such as the ability to subscribe. I’d assume creating content for Youtube takes priority over this, and there’s also the fact that Pat is just one person and needs to balance this with other things like “having a life” and “eating??? Perhaps???” (maybe even A Vegetable). By the way, to answer one of your other questions, it’s normal for creators to have projects outside of their work and build their own personal brand, like Pat’s Twitch channel, Brian’s Youtube channel, Simone’s author account and everyone’s countless podcasts. It’s not recommended to rely solely on Youtube for your income, even before the ad boycotts, so if you can diversify your content then do so.

Listen, I know this is disappointing and I know it’s not the answer people want. Youtube’s new system isn’t going away and the video team needs to accommodate for these changes or otherwise Perish. I believe in Polygon’s ability to deliver informative, humorous and accessible content, they just need the time to do it. As an audience, a way to offer support during this difficult time is to just be as understanding and patient as possible, and give the content they put out a chance if you can.

Now I am not an expert on any of this, but if you have any questions or comments you can send them to my main @malarcana and I’ll try to answer them. Thanks for reading!

[iosihexa]

some stuff about youtube fandoms

(Some rambling about fandom culture. This is not meant to be taken seriously or reblogged or anything like that, it’s just.....something that i randomly decided to do. Because it’s chinese new year and I’ve been watching dnp all day. Text under the readmore.)

Youtube, condensed as one large mega-fandom, is arguably the worst collection of people on the internet ON AVERAGE (i know some wonderful people from youtube fandoms, but there are a heckload of pretty awful ones......) because it's so accessible to both fans and creators; at some point people kind of got this odd misconception that being a Youtuber is a- not surefire, per se, but an "easier" way to get a large following, probably because of the examples we have case-in-point (most popular ones just talk about stuff and play games which is a gross oversimplification of their job, but anyways. that's how people see it), as well as the common mindset that "just filming videos all day at home must be great, if it's what you love".

So on one hand you have people, amateurs who believe they can be the next Pewdiepie or Zoella or something, and I'm not discrediting any of their (the amateurs') work- but you have to acknowledge that it takes not only skill and hard work but also a great deal of luck and also, ahem, a little bit of the thing we call the 'genetic lottery' - there's a reason why there are so many popular youtubers who are attractive white dudes. You have these mostly-unsuccessful amateurs, trying to cater to an already-formed audience (many current popular Youtubers have been around since the early days, 2006 - 2008, essentially, and it’s definitely worth noting that being around for the beginnings of the site has resulted in shaping the development of Youtube fandom in and out) and you know what these amateurs also are?

They're fans.

And the fanbase is so widespread and diverse, because it's one of the only truly globally accessible modern media fanbases, because everyone watches Youtube videos, uses Youtube- watching music videos, tutorials, memes, reviews, EVERYTHING, so there's a high chance that everyone you talk to will have at least watched one Youtube video in their life, because a member of family wanted to show them something funny, or they needed to know how to do something, etc. And as shown with TV, the visual medium of Youtube; that is to say, the video, combined with the average Youtuber's vlog length or whatever- between 2-3 minutes and like 15 minutes maximum, makes it the perfect global form of consumable media that caters to the widest audience possible. Short, easier to take in than, say, a book or an episode of anime, due to the general lack of continued storyline, and tailored perfectly to fit the demands of the every-growing consumer market. It's also a lot easier for international fans to try to follow along and understand someone who's talking and using body language and making use of a visual medium than it is to read a book or play a dialogue-driven video game.

And since the Youtube community is so easy to access, for EVERYONE, that means a great deal of aspiring kids are willing to go on and give it a go, or at least make accounts and become those annoying "LMAO!!! XDDDD" comments in the dregs of every youtube video comment section.

The thing is also that a great deal of Youtube fans haven't been exposed to "non-cringey" forms of entertainment, and even still some haven't gotten out of their 2010 phases, so they still make crappy rape jokes and say things like "damn you len!!!" on every video. Because Youtube is so accessible and older videos are just as easy to find as newer ones, so people easily pick up vernacular and various slang trends from 5 years ago.

You can compare this to any other type of fandom: we have the east asia pop culture side; ie. anime and K-pop. Both of which are harder to get to because of the cultural and language gaps, and the fact that they're still a lot less common to run across these days than say, a comedy sketch on the front page of Youtube that your friend showed you, rather than the esoteric niche interests of quirky teenagers who like rewatching Neon Genesis Evangelion in their spare time.

Another example is TV shows, the most prominent being the Supernatural / Doctor Who / BBC Sherlock fandom, which, i must admit, has died down a little at least in recent years. These fandoms come close to Youtube mainly because of the target audience (12-16 year olds consume it best, but there are a lot of older and sometimes younger fans who enjoy it too) and the fact that being popular and broadcast on widespread TV channels in a lot of countries does make it so that 11 year olds try to join tumblr and make up a fake age using a year of birth a few decades before they were born so that they can access that sweet, sweet Destiel content. Or something. I don't know anything about Supernatural.

So, to condense my entire 1000+ word ramble on why Youtube is the most generally unpleasant fandom on the Internet, it comes down to this: As a largely easy-to-consume, widespread media form, it does its job exceedingly well, which allows for a wide variety of people to join Youtube as opposed to consuming content for other, more niche interests. Not that mainstream TV is niche or anything, but Youtube is according to your own time, and TV is not scheduled at the most convenient time for everyone.

This level of accessibility makes it so that it's a lot easier, through the medium and interface of Youtube, with the convenience of the comments and replies section, the likes and dislikes buttons, playlists, recommendations, subscriptions and the like, for anyone to express their opinions, without filtering out the large demographic of younger and perhaps not quite as well worded members of the Internet. The fact that pretty much all of it is completely, totally unmoderated probably doesn't help, either.

Youtube is good, great even, but the fandoms held within are essentially like that feeling you get when you're on a plane and you want to throw up- cold sweats, waves of nausea, generally trying to control your breathing so as to not act upon the sudden desire to expel everything you've eaten for the past 24 hours, wishing it'd all be over already- yeah, that. Oh, but also the euphoria you get when the sickness passes. There was a metaphor in there somewhere.

Edit: I forgot to address another part of why Youtube fandoms are notorious: the ridiculous prevalence of shipping and the unbelievable scope for discourse.

The thing is, that whilst there are a great deal of fans who have evaluated their choices properly regarding various topics, there are plenty of people who haven’t thought about the way their own fan-created content affects the rest of the Internet and, indeed, the original creators, the Youtubers who are at the centre of the fandom. For Dan and Phil, this doesn’t seem to be much of a problem- Dan has expressly endorsed the creation of phan content, in the interest of allowing people to nurture their own creative vices. I don’t have a particularly strong stance in this particular discourse, but there are many, many people who are largely against shipping Youtubers, out of all real-life people fandoms, because Youtubers are the most connected to their fanbase- a lot of source material comes from the fans, and indeed the content of the creators is very much shaped by the nature of the fandom, and vice verse, of course. Youtubers are pretty much guaranteed to have a strong notion as to the general sway of the fandom - whether it be the astonishing prevalence of people that ship you with your best friend / roommate, or not.

Fictional characters are mostly harmless; people don’t have much of a problem with shipping them for fear of hurting real people’s feelings (excluding the widespread homophobia debate, but that’s something for another time.) However, when real-life people come into play, it’s probably quite natural for people to take a few moments and look at fandoms, Youtube fandoms, which focus on real life people, and step back to say, “Hey, is it really on the same level as the people who ship fictional characters?”

And thus is the nature of people’s perspectives regarding the Youtube RPFs.