YouTube Sailors Carbon Dating

[OldManMirage]

I'm just ranting a little here. Sometimes I am rather slow on the pick up...

I have just come to realize that some of the YouTube channels of sailors I like to watch are months, or more, in the past. In some cases they are apparently done with their journey and just posting weekly updates.

Now, I understand you can't upload right away in many cases. Heck, it usually takes me at least a week or two to find time to put mine together and upload it, and I'm right here at home !

Still, this bothers me. It seems disingenuous. Especially if its someone who is still talking about supporting them, and does not actually point out the fact they are no longer sailing. Or at least letting viewers know, somehow, when the video was actually taken.

I am not going to name anyone specific but...

….Does this bother anyone else ? Or am I being too stuffy ?

[boatman61]

Voyeurs generally could not care less when it happens.. as long as they get to watch the 'happening'..

[jmh2002]

You are being too stuffy in my opinion. I watch a lot of these channels and to me it's mostly clear that the videos are not in real time (based on relevant seasons, etc).

It should be normal to understand that it takes hours or even days to record the raw footage and then hours or sometimes even a full day to edit too (especially for the more 'professional' channels).

This is really no different to any other video, documentary, tv show, or movie, just the scale is a bit smaller (or not, with some channels).

And this is even before they get to the stage of being ready to upload, and needing a suitable internet connection to do so, especially if they really are 'out there' cruising.

And yes, many channels do mention it, because surprisingly (at least for me) many viewers seem to be confused about this.

So I am in fact surprised that this surprises or bothers viewers.

Instead just watch and enjoy

[WingRyder]

A lot of these channels are in some pretty remote places and take a great deal of pain and effort to obtain wifi signals in 3rd world situations... some of them are off the grid for months at a time... Drake Paragon & Delos comes to mind.

So, in order to keep things chronological and caught up, would you rather they just leave out all the content from the amazing places they have been in the past couple of months, and just skip to near real time? Or would you rather them share their journey along the way?

Also the weird time warp is when they do a live chat, and are in a completely different place than where their videos are. Cpt Rick Moore and Delos hooked up in Grenada a few months ago, it was on Rick's channel 2 months ago, and Delos didn't post it until last week... Mindfreak!

Anyway, given the amount of filming, editing, posting, on multiple social media sites, the amount of time and equipment involved in making 4k documentary quality content, is astounding! I cut them some slack for not being up to the minute.

[dwedeking2]

Those videos are timely. They're just on island time. You're not.

[Matt Johnson]

We've found that people still want a TV experience with weekly semi-scheduled videos. The obvious problem with that is when crossing an ocean, or when we are doing a lot of different things (or nothing) in a weeks time. To make this schedule work, we have to push back things from realtime.

We're currently wintering in the Azores. Since people also don't want the channel to go dark for 5 months while waiting out the season change, we've 'saved' up video to cover those months. That's fine and works for us too.

Matt

[OldManMirage]

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear.

I completely understand if someone is out cruising and several weeks to a couple of months go by before a video gets posted. Most of the time you can figure this out as you go along.

I suppose what bugged me - and perhaps I need to look at them more closely - is that I have come across more than one that appears to be at least a year in the past. And yet they are still posting updates as though they happening semi-real time. For all I know they may be done cruising and back home. It just felt a little disingenuous - best word I can come with.

I'll shut up.

[S/V Alchemy]

You needn't shut up. I suspect others a little less attuned to the rhythm of sailing, the access to connectivity (you don't generally have the bandwidth to upload a 20 minute clip over free harbour Wi-Fi...at least, I don't), and the time required to edit and otherwise produce video clips.



There is also, IMO, the as-yet-undiscussed rationale for not telling the world exactly where your boat happens to be at any given time. There are plenty of places to sail where a low profile is part of good boatkeeping, and there are places where I would only want certain navies to know where we were. Offshore is less of an issue.

[Shrew]

I see the problem as one of time. They need to cruise, record content, edit the content and then find time to upload the content. Most people underestimate how much time it takes to edit and produce 15 - 20 minutes worth of content. It is a full-time job for one person to edit the content and produce that much quality viewable content.

Through all of that, they have an actual life to live and a cruising lifestyle to enjoy.

Calling it disingenuous is really reaching.

[Hardhead]

Just the nature of "reality" type television. Just be grateful you can still share their experiences with them and contribute to their support.

[Dave Lochner]

There was a time that I had similar concerns. And some of the you tubers have recognized it and have started time stamping their videos.

The other side of the coin is video editing is a labor and electricity intensive process. I had heard a minute of video requires an hour of editing. After trying to edit a few videos, I believe that. The 20 minute video has about 20 hours of editing behind it, in addition to the time it took to generate the raw footage which might represent another 20 hours of video.

The video is sometimes edited by the folks actually doing the sailing. Others have friends who do a lot of the post production work ashore. The video must be shot then shipped back to the editors who produce the final product.

Then, as others have mentioned there is internet availability. None but the wealthiest of us are going to upload video via a Sat phone link.

[SV_Harbinger]

While not in the YouTube videographer camp (and just blipping on the ragged edge of the casual picture taking radar) I can probably say that I would have an enormously hard time producing 15 minutes of usable and interesting video from my yearly cruise that didn't overwhelmingly focus on me sitting, eating, or possibly teaching everyone the meaning of swear like a sailor cause X is broken or I stubbed my toe, or similar. Perhaps with food, but that's about it and that would only get so far...
So I definitely, appreciate all effort they put into their videos, and am happy to see them when I see them.

[knotstogo]

I treat the channels I watch without the expectation that they are in real time. To me, the content is like low budget television, that is to say that it has been filmed over some period and the provider has edited the footage down into presentable episodes. Most of the videos I watch are topical anyway, they don't describe a long epic but a particular subject. For example, the one-off, how-to-do-xyz type of video.


I understand that there are viewers that are under the impression a series is happening in real time. There is a popular sailor, Nike of WhiteSpotPirates, who has been making content for a few years. I noticed a couple of seasons ago that she started to make it very explicit that her videos were produced out of sync with the real world. I am under the impression that at least one of her viewers may have tried to meet up with her in a place her video had been shot. She actually apologized for not being clear on that issue but honestly, the fact that she felt she had to apologize aggravated me. Her production technique involved shipping hard drives back to a friend in Europe for editing and her sailing adventure was one part of her life that involved a "real job" and seasonal visits back to Germany.



I suppose it is just my character but I had no expectation of her, or anyone else, producing a real time video diary. Then again, I don't really support any channels on Patreon, I just browse the things that I find meaningful or entertaining. Now with all that said, there are times I search for video hoping to find contemporary content, like the effects of a hurricane or some sort of newsworthy event.


It's interesting how people perceive and interact with the virtual world!

[Peregrine1983]

Just curious.. are you saying you feel the videos should be removed once they are "old", or do you feel they should be more clearly marked as "old"?


If YouTube removed every video blog episode that was more than a few months old they'd basically have no content.

[OldManMirage]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

Just curious.. are you saying you feel the videos should be removed once they are "old", or do you feel they should be more clearly marked as "old"?


If YouTube removed every video blog episode that was more than a few months old they'd basically have no content.

No, of course not. I have no problem with videos that are old. Some of the best ones I've watched are of voyages that are years, even decades in the past.


My dilemma was with a few (and again, I'm not going to name names) that I came across that had apparently stopped cruising, and yet were putting out updates on a semi-schedule as though they were cruising still, without really saying so.


It just kinda bugged me, and I wondered if anyone else would feel that way.


I'm already over it.