[HN Gopher] Reflections on 1 Year of (Trying to) Become Successf...
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Reflections on 1 Year of (Trying to) Become Successful on YouTube
Author : ChaseRensberger
Score : 33 points
Date : 2025-01-10 19:52 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (chaserensberger.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (chaserensberger.com)
| ClosedPistachio wrote:
| Nitpick - the point of parentheses, as used in the article title,
| are to add optional extra context without being required to make
| the sentence complete. The sentence "Reflections on 1 year of
| become successful on YouTube" isn't complete. Either remove the
| parentheses (thus making those words part of the title), or
| consider a different sentence structure.
| szundi wrote:
| Probably become=>becoming whould help
| thundergolfer wrote:
| "Reflections on 1 Year of (Trying to) Becoming Successful"
| isn't correct either.
| blakehawkins wrote:
| People write like they read and speak, which is where this
| mistake comes from
|
| The right way is to replace the parentheses with a pair of
| dashes, one before and one after the deemphasized clause
| lisper wrote:
| Or just remove the parens. They don't really add (much
| of) anything. (See what I did there?)
|
| Or maybe:
|
| "... trying (unsuccessfully) to succeed..."
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| I think these are all really good points. I certainly
| need to improve at my article writing abilities. I have
| removed the parentheses from the title.
| ghaff wrote:
| Probably em-dash in a formatted document rather than pair
| of hyphens like I'd use here. I'm pretty sure there are
| some stylistic recommendations about parens vs. em-
| dashes. I probably used to overuse parens but, in spite
| of being on my company's style committee for almost 15
| years, I'm not sure I was ever all that consistent and
| I'm not sure we had hard and fast rules.
| namanyayg wrote:
| OP has been "trying" for 1 year, not "becoming" for one year.
| adamesque wrote:
| I love this nongrammatical/idiomatic use of parentheses
| actually. Language is a tool, and its rules can be just as
| powerful when violated as when upheld.
|
| In this case they convey a subtext you can't get as gracefully
| by being a slave to syntax-- that the author hoped the post
| would be about how they did achieve success, but that didn't
| happen, forcing the parenthetical qualifier. I don't think
| another treatment would express that quite as well; you can
| almost feel the wince.
| laborcontract wrote:
| you'd normally use square braces [for this kind of thing]
| sdwr wrote:
| Square braces are used to show you are editing a quote for
| grammar or brevity, not to change the meaning of your own
| sentence. Ex:
|
| > I love this [...] use of parentheses. [Rules] can be just
| as powerful when violated as when upheld.
| potsandpans wrote:
| Nitpick to your nitpick:
|
| You've offered a linguistically prescriptive interpretation
| that ignores nuance and flexibility of language.
|
| While it may be the case that the canonical "point" of
| parenthesis is what you've described, the purpose only remains
| for as long as we culturally accept that definition.
|
| The usage of parenthesis as an aside to indicate a certain
| emotion somewhat playfully is not only acceptable, it's entered
| into the cultural zeitgeist. We all understand the meaning. The
| sentence is complete -- regardless of the rules you've cited --
| because the reader doesn't eliminate the parenthesis from their
| context like a robot, and we have a common understanding of
| what the aside is trying to communicate.
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| I appreciate the nitpick. I am certainly not the strongest
| writer but hope to write more articles in the future. Thank you
| for the feedback.
| omoikane wrote:
| I wonder if they have a specific goal in mind that they use to
| define success. Maybe it's a more general "we will know we are
| successful when we get there", or maybe it's a specific metric
| like the number of views. The latter feels like a real grind.
|
| Related:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41549649 - How to succeed in
| MrBeast production (2024-09-15, 1352 comments)
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| I don't think we have a number in mind. Just trying to have fun
| and film it.
| Rastonbury wrote:
| Seems to be just counting on a lucky viral success as there is no
| theme/niche, I generally only sub where there's a track record of
| content that is both quality and multiple videos that interest me
| jjcob wrote:
| They seem to imitate the MrBeast format. But they are missing
| the storytelling, pacing, execution and scale of MrBeast
| videos. (And also the banter that makes MrBeast videos feel a
| bit like a sitcom episode)
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| Luke used to work there so I think some of that style may
| bleed in, especially during the editing process. Appreciate
| you taking the time to read the article. I'd love to hear
| more about how you think we could improve in any of the areas
| you mentioned.
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| Sincerely appreciate you checking out the article. Thanks for
| your feedback.
| laborcontract wrote:
| with all due respect i find the type of content you (and the
| myriad other people who post the exact same type of mr. beast-
| molded content) tiresome and repulsive.
|
| Moreover, every single video is about "I". An "I" video only
| works if people care about who "I" is, otherwise it's just self
| centered, unhuman content creation.
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| I actually don't disagree with you at all. I think that is the
| kind of content that Luke is most suited/wants to make. Him
| being a close friend of mind I just want to help him succeed.
| My goal for this article was to be a kind've meta look at the
| process of it all. I certainly would love this channel (and
| YouTube) to move away from this kind've wrapping paper though.
| Appreciate you checking out the article!
| keiferski wrote:
| I actually find it quite reassuring that YouTubers with an
| individual style and personality end up doing better than those
| trying to make generic me-too Mr. Beast style content. Looking at
| the OP's channel, there is basically nothing about their videos
| which screams "unique individual", which is probably why they are
| struggling. I have discovered dozens of creators that maybe don't
| have the most optimized thumbnail, titles, or production values,
| but still manage to convey a unique personality that comes
| through in their videos.
|
| As I said, this is actually pretty reassuring and is probably why
| YouTube, all things considered, is the most authentic social
| media platform nowadays.
|
| I hope that wasn't too harsh, and my advice to the creator is to
| think more about what your unique brand is, how you can convey it
| in a thumbnail or video title _instantly_ , and just generally be
| more authentic and original in your videos.
| ChaseRensberger wrote:
| I actually don't disagree with you at all. I think that is the
| kind of content that Luke is most suited/wants to make. Him
| being a close friend of mind I just want to help him succeed.
| My goal for this article was to be a kind've meta look at the
| process of it all. Super interesting to hear your perspective.
| Appreciate you checking out the article!
| juancroldan wrote:
| It really surprises me how much competition YouTube videos have
| gotten over the years. Back in 2009, I recorded a video of
| burning a Coke can soaked in alcohol, and it got 20,000 views.
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