Mister Metokur Leaves Youtube: An Internet Obituary
On August 26th, The followers of the the Youtube channel Mister Metokur would notice that all his videos had suddenly disappeared from his channel page and that a message had been posted to the community page. The message reads in part:
Where are the videos Jim? Read:
So I woke up today to a few videos that were yanked on my Youtube with the typical warnings about rules violations. But what makes it even more insane are the choices. The We wuz kangs video which was pretty popular and aimed at laughing at the Kemet and Black Israelite communities and had been up for about three years. I tried appealing it and within maybe 15 minutes got a response saying the strike was valid and the video wouldn't be reinstated. The other video was a minute long in length with me dubbing Jontron back into Yooka-Laylee. At that point I stopped trying.
My ability to do videos on Youtube is pretty much done at this point. Walking a tightrope of what is allowed for humor or politics and what isn't is maddening and basically just kills any drive I have. For the past 6 or so months I'd have a good idea for a video or even a series and then inevitably realize there isn't any conceivable way it'll fly on the platform. It sucks and it's soul draining. You either gimp what you would make or make nothing at all. And the entire time you are dealing with that conundrum you are watching as channel after channel is picked off around you.
(...)
My solution to Youtube was purging it myself. I mean you can't strike down what isn't there and at this point I just don't have the energy to fuck around with this strike/appeal/strike/appeal bullshit anymore.
(...)
I couldn't tell you what brought on the newest round of flagings. Take your pick, I've mocked countless groups. For all I know Google just decided it was my time.
The Curator of Internet Insanity
Mister Metokur, formerly known as the Internet Aristocrat, and affectionately known as Jim, is a (formerly Youtube) content creator, who according to himself when he is at his most eloquent, works to discover and chronicle internet insanity for the entertainment of himself and his viewers, or 'laughing at stupid shit on the internet' when he is not.
Mister Metokur Youtube profile picture - picture from Youtube
While Jim's videos feature a fair share of internet weirdos, the targets of Jim's mockery know no bounds; people and organisations on both sides of the political spectrum, famous internet personalities and journalists have all been subjects of Mister Metokur's ridicule. Jim has made videos mocking Tumbler fringe groups, journalists Kurt Eichenwald and Laura Loomer, black supremacist groups and the political campaign of Carl Benjamin, better known under his Youtube handle Sargon of Akkad. Jim was involved in GamerGate at its early stage and has made series on both the rise and fall of the Channel Awesome and its associated acts and the skeptic Youtuber Kraut and Tea and his battle with the alt-right fringe on Youtube. Jim also has his serious side, which can be seen when he spins his cautionary tales about genuinely mentally internet denizens such as the schizophrenic creator of TempleOS Terry A. Davis or the perpetrator of the Eaton Township Weis Markets shooting Randy Stair(my favourite video of his) and his hand in shredding light on the horrific actions of the pedophiles Jonathan Ross and Nick Bates. While Jim's video output has been pretty sluggish as of late, Jim is heavily involved with his community, streams regularly, and is occasionally featured on the shows of other Youtubers.
Internet Old Man
One thing one quickly notices about Mister Metokur is his total anonymity and his unwillingness to form online friendships. Sure, Jim will join your stream or sit on your show on a regular basis, but he makes it very clear that the people he only has a relationship with online are not his friends. His strong focus on keeping his online persona and his personal life separate is something that is seen less and less on the internet on today and is indicative of a mindset that stems from an earlier era of the internet, where the internet was much less centralized and integrated and anonymous user profiles were the norm. Jim has also on a couple of occasions spoken about what he calls the different eras of the social internet, from the early times of BBS, through to era of web forums and up to the current era dominated by heavily curated and sanitized social media platforms run by Silicon Valley giants.
A Disappearing Era
As the above message posted to the Mister Metokur community site indicates, Youtube's draconian copyright strike system as well as the ever increasing difficulty of getting content through Youtube's ever tightening and often arbitrary content curation filters have made him pull the plug on creating Youtube videos for good. While it for now has just meant that he has pulled his videos from Youtube and moved them to his channel on Bitchute, it is a symptom of the dawning of a new Youtube: The promotion of rounded, inoffensive and easily monetizable content that is often produced by corporations rather than individual content creators that pleases advertisers and the relegation of edgier, darker or raunchier content produced by individuals to either a permanently demonetized state or complete purge from the site.
We need you, Jim
Like Mister Metokur and Styxhexenhammer666, another Youtube old timer, I lament this development as it goes against what made Youtube the revolutionary website that it truly was back at its inception. It provided a platform for anyone with a camcorder to create and upload video content (something that in the earlier, low-bandwith eras of the internet was unthinkable) for everyone to see and maybe even realize the dream of becoming internet famous. The dream that the early Youtube promised might still live on in theory today, but a quick look at your trending tab is likely to reveal a lot more corporate produced content, such as music videos by current artists or clips from a major news outlet than content produced by individual content creators. This, combined with the fact that anonymity is tolerated to a lesser and lesser extent on the large social media platforms, makes it harder and harder to produce content that political or edgy content that diverges significantly from the status quo, and the curation of such content by the oligopoly of Silicon Valley firms looks more and more like a transparent value judgement by these companies on what kind of entertainment people are allowed to consume.
While I do not always have the temperament for Jim's content or share his love for Internet Bloodsports, I do sometimes put aside my usual high-brow podcasts or music playlists to enjoy Jim's humorous pieces on the finest cuts of internet dumpster fires interspersed with his well-known witty comments and the occasional nugget of insight into internet history or the human condition. People like Jim, who armed with nothing but his good wits and a crappy Logitech mike are ready to ridicule anyone or anything if there is a good laugh to be had are becoming increasingly rare on the internet of today, and the safe havens for where such content can still be produced are increasingly found outside the internet mainstream. Jim is a symbol of one of the greatest strengths of the internet: Granting those who wishes to speak truth to power an anonymous platform to reach millions of people and his struggle to create the content he wishes is the symbolic struggle between those wanting the free flow of information and content and the social media mastodons, who fights for a safer, streamlined and sanitized online space, banning not only spicy memes but also divergent political opinions.
And that fight is important, both if you want your voice heard or if you just want to laugh at stupid shit on the internet.
Thanks Jim, glad you could help
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