(But not Things You Wouldn't Know If We Didn't Blog Intermittently)
Tom Scott is ending his ten year series of YouTube videos, which he tentatively entitled "Things You Might Not Know" when he started.
On New Year’s Day, exactly a decade since the first Things You Might Not Know video was published, Scott posted his last. “I’ve been throwing stuff at the internet since 1999, and for many, many years, that stuff went almost nowhere,” he said on the valedictory posting. “I remember thinking so many times during all those years … will any of this stuff I’m making ever work? Well, this did.”
The final video, embedded below, begins with some introductory words, and at about the 5-minute mark it morphs into a series of clips from his many video adventures
Tom reports being tired and burned out and desirous of spending more time on other things, including family. I quite agree. I've been blogging TYWKIWDBI for 16 years and have often thought about quitting. But not yet.
I made podcasts for a few years, before it was cool ('05-'09), and totally understand. In fact, this goes for everyone who "volunteers" internet content. The deadlines are nice and keep you motivated, but they're also increasingly hard to deal with. Furthermore, your audience often doesn't have a clue of your real life, and it just changes. You get older, health issues arise, you move, family changes, job changes etc.
ReplyDeleteI quit when my computer crashed, and my new one had a new version of windows that didn't support my somewhat antiquated and abandoned (but oh-so functional) recording software. I feel a bit bad that I never let my audience know why, but in retrospect, it was good to have stopped. My life just had changed to much to keep up the work. The podcasts were also just getting out of control, work-wise. They took me an hour per minute in prep-time.
I still miss making them and can not get myself to toss my microphone away.
I'm so happy that there are still a lot of people who create stuff, not to monetize it (even if they fetch some money), but for the love of just making and sharing cool stuff. In every tiny overlooked niche you can imagine. That is what makes the internet beautiful and valuable.
Stan ~ please don't leave us!!
ReplyDeletebobbie
Not planning to for a while at least.
DeleteGreat to hear!
DeleteThat's cool that you are still going. You're one interesting and honest person.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good opportunity to mention that Tom Scott appeared on the great British quiz show "Only Connect" many years ago:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/c_Fa_fucl1o?si=388g4jXejXu-Ygw9
A fiendishly challenging set of questions, and an enjoyable half hour. Thank you.
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