Editing The Pen Addict 367/transcript (section)

== YouTube Comment Section ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Speaking of painful, I got to talk about one of the pain points that a lot of people automatically assume from YouTube. And that is the comment section. Do you have any issues or do you how do you handle your comment section on your YouTube channel? Because that seems to come up from time to time just about the overarching, maybe unfairly general YouTube comments section being, you know, kind of rough.

'''David Parker:''' You know, I'm very fortunate that for the most part, the comments I receive on my videos are very positive. For the most part, it's a positive community. You know, there are, however, times when you can get some uncalled for comments. Now, you have every right to have an opinion that's different than mine. I will never, you know, basically ban someone or delete their comment for just having a different opinion. But it's all in how you express that opinion. If it's a string of four-letter words, then that's not acceptable. You know, for me, sometimes I find it hard to understand how some people's minds work because I read through all the comments. I read through every single comment on my channel. Okay. And I reply to many of them. And that I – because I feel it's another way to interact with people. And that there are some viewers that I recognize that leave, like, negative comments each and every video. And not necessarily negative towards me, but just negative in general and negative in life. And I'm not sure how folks can kind of go through life like that with just everything coming out of their mouths being critical and negative. I mean, if someone's being a jerk, then I can deal with that. And those don't bug me as much. The ones that bug me are the ones where someone is being critical of me personally and their criticism has a nugget of truth to it. You know, if I feel it's totally wrong, it's easy to dismiss. But, you know, if they say that, hey, you should have done this or should have done that and I agree with them, then those are the ones that leave you kind of saying, yeah, you're right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. Well, that sounds good. And, you know, I was going to ask you, you know, do you read all the comments and look at all that stuff? And I guess you – I don't guess you have to, but it's kind of good. Like you're fostering a community over there and the way a comment section is handled by the owner of the channel kind of sets the tone for how you should act within there. And I definitely believe that it kind of becomes self-policing, right? When people are interacting over several videos over several years, you know, they understand like, hey, you know, this is what's expected in here and this is the tone in here and it just kind of plays off itself. Yeah.

'''David Parker:''' Yeah. And then, you know, if someone asks a question in the comments of me, then just like if someone sent me an email, then, you know, am I going to answer every question? I can't get to every question, but I, you know, I try to at least, you know, answer a fair amount of them. And that if I was, you know, a fan of a video channel and the creator would respond to my questions, then that's going to make me want to have a closer tie to that channel and want to watch more videos.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Tell our Panatic listeners that are wanting to be a content creator, either, you know, written word or in your realm, making videos on YouTube. Do you have any like a tip or two? You know, you don't have to go into like all the things and you actually have a pretty good video on creating content that we'll link into the show notes here. But do you have any kind of like quick tips?

'''David Parker:''' Like if you would do something different, like if you were starting today, you know, I like I like you said, you know, I actually created a video on this topic. I mentioned earlier about Stephen Brown's video, which is kind of about why aren't you doing reviews? That's a good video as well. But I decided to, like you said, make my own for folks that have kind of decided to create content and are asking themselves, OK, now what? And that, you know, I get people reaching out to me, asking questions to get advice. And just like I reached out to folks when I was getting started and I try to do my best to be very encouraging and impart some words of wisdom. Something I tell folks a lot is that realize that when you first start out, absolutely no one is going to care and no one is watching you. And that's a good thing. So you don't want to get discouraged by a lack of views. I've seen some channels where you can see that someone posted like two or three videos. They recorded them the same day. You can tell because they're all wearing the same clothes. And the the videos have like, you know, 10 views a piece. And then that person never posts again. They probably got discouraged and quit. And I tell people to not care about view count, because when you first start out, you're going to be awful. Uh, that, you know, what you want to do is you want to use that time when no one is watching to get better and to perfect your craft and find your voice and figure out what type of style you want to have and find out what you can bring to the table that no one else can bring. And then accentuate that for some people, they're going to find that quickly. And for other people, it might take months or years for the first two months of my channel. I produced a video a week. So I had eight videos out there and a total of 25 views.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Wow.

'''David Parker:''' And a single subscriber one. Uh, but you know, when that one person subscribed, it felt great because it was like a validation that somebody out there liked what I was doing and wanted to see more or, or they accidentally clicked on a button by mistake. One of the two. But, you know, I'm a strong believer that if you create good content, then people will find your work. You don't have to over promote yourself. And if you do good work, then you will eventually be rewarded. And so if you keep your head down and produce the highest quality content that you're capable of, if you can do that, then good things are going to happen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I could not agree with that more. Yeah. I think that's, that's perfectly said. And you've made some very, very specific, very good content that I want to talk about. I want to dig into some specific videos and I'm going to find out from you what some of your favorites are. But first, let me talk about our second sponsor for today's episode. And that's our good friends at Harry's. This episode of the pen addict is brought to you by Harry's. Did you know that the average person can spend 3000 hours of their lifetime shaving? Don't waste four months of your life overpaying for poor for performing razors. Get Harry's a razor that's so sharp you can shave less often and will save you money. Harry's was founded by two guys that were tired of paying for overpriced gimmicks. Vibrating heads, flex balls, handles that look like a prop on a sci-fi movie. These are just some of the tactics that the leading brands have used to overcharge us for years. Harry's makes quality, durable blades at a fair price. Just $2 per blade. To keep prices low, they cut out the middleman. Harry's bought a world-class blade factory in Germany that's been making some of the best razor blades in the world for 99 years. Now they can provide great quality at factory direct prices. And they offer a 100% quality guarantee. If you don't love your shave, let them know and they'll give you a full refund. I'm on vacation this week. Somehow I'm talking to you through the internet, but I packed all my Harry's kit to go on this trip. I'm breaking the walls now, David. Myke's going to yell at me, but I don't care. It's podcast magic. But I've shaved with all of my stuff that I've brought on vacation this week while we're recording this. It's kind of amazing how that happens, but I can't travel without my Harry's stuff. So as a listener of this show, you can get a trial set that comes with everything you need for a close, comfortable shave. Weighted ergonomic handle for an easy grip. Five-blade razor with a lubricating strip and trimmer blade for a close shave. Rich lathering shave gel that will leave you smelling great. And a travel blade cover to keep your razor dry and easy on the go. To redeem your trial set, just go to harrys.com slash pinaddict. That's harrys.com slash pinaddict to redeem your offer and help support the show. Our thanks to Harry's for their support of the Pinaddict and Relay FM. All right. So go ahead.

'''David Parker:''' Oh, I was going to say, I was going to say something really quick about Harry's. I'm a subscriber as well. I have two, well, we'll call them issues. One is that, okay, I'm used to like my old razors would like crust up after a while. You know, after a while, they just look like some crusty thing. And that's how you know when to throw them away. The Harry's razors, they look the same if you've been using it for a month as if you used it. They're brand new. So it's like, you can't look at it and just tell it's old. So when I'm done with it, I can't put it back in the little container. I got to throw it away because if I put it back in, you know, it's in essence, it's too clean. And then they last forever. Yeah. Because I'll be shaving. I'm like, okay, it has been weeks since I've changed my razor. Should I just change it because they do last forever. So those are my two endorsements for Harry's.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Thanks for doing that. And that's completely right. What you say about the blade. I like have to shove it up like into my eyeballs. Like how long have I used this? And is it like worn out yet? Because normally you could, like you said, you can tell with other blades. So Harry's great job by you. All right. I put down some videos, specific videos that I want to talk about. But before we get into my selections, can you give me one or two or three of the favorite videos you've ever made? How many, first off, how many videos do you have on your channel? Do you know?

'''David Parker:''' A little over 260, like 261, 262. You know, I post, you know, at a pretty consistent pace. And, you know, since I started my channel back in 2015, I've really only missed two weekends. I can't recall why I missed the one. But the other one was because I was traveling in China and couldn't access YouTube. So I guess that was a valid excuse. Right. But, you know, there's another viewer out there who started after I did who has almost a thousand videos. And, you know, unless this is my full-time job, I can't do that. This has been very rewarding for me. I enjoy providing information, entertainment to the community, and I get a lot out of it.