mothman-homie

[mothman-homie]

Trying to shift blame away from Shane and Ryan is parasocial cope. No way a decision like this is made without the implicit endorsement of their top talent.

[mothman-homie]

at least on tiktok after watchers most recent update im seeing ppl say "backtracking is embarrassing" and i just cannot agree with that statement. they did something that got an overwhelmingly negative response, wouldn't you hope that they'd go back and change what they've done rather than doubling down?

[mothman-homie]

Am I happy Watcher rolled back their plan and apologized? Yes. Have I still lost any desire to watch their videos? Yes. Do I think people are being too harsh towards Steven, singling him out and such? Yes. Do I think Steven and Andrew bringing back worth it in the middle of a global cost of living crisis is extremely out of touch? Yes.

All of these things can coexist. Feelings towards the situation can be complex. It happens.

[mothman-homie]

[mothman-homie]

[mothman-homie]

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand people wanting to go back to how everything was before this debacle

But I can’t in good faith ever look at these guys the same way again. It doesn’t matter who’s decision it was, or why they did it, all three of them sat on that couch and were full send ready to leave their community behind to make some more money

I’ve been around since the Unsolved days and I was so excited to help them build up this new channel that was all theirs, free of the control of Buzzfeed, and them not even taking 5 seconds to think of how that community would feel leaving them behind for a payed service would feel tells me everything I need to know about them

So many people have been saying it, but it bares repeating, they had SO many other options to fix their financials. Downsizing, moving out of LA, not doing Worth It, not going international with Ghost Files, fucking promoting their Patreon. And from all of the analyzing from those who know what they’re talking about, it doesn’t sound like they were hurting for cash it all, it sounds like they don’t want to give up the lifestyles they currently have, want to do more, and were willing to throw their community under the bus to do it

I think what really sold it to me that the guys in the “Goodbye YouTube” were the real version of these guys and not the “We’re Sorry” video was the fact that in the small amount of time they had, they still had time to bemoan about how they were doing it so they wouldn’t have to “bow to the whims of the advertisers” and “oh well now we can’t pay our staff a good waste but if this is what you want :/“

Like yeah, they apologized, but they still double down that they were doing it for “the right reasons”

I’ve been around on YouTube long enough where I feel like I can tell when people are actively having to bend their backs to appeal to the almighty algorithm and advertisers, and Watcher is not one of those channels. They have NEVER made a comment about having issues with the platform before this, they have never done anything to ask for extra support, or help, or even plugging their fucking Patreon

I still want to watch their content, I still think they’re funny and I still think their shows are creative and entertaining, but it’s going to be a long while before the bad taste in my mouth from this decision goes away

[mothman-homie]

okay watcher fandom!!! time to get outside and touch some grass!!! war is over!!! go live life!!!

[mothman-homie]

do you think watcher have any plans to say anything or are they just vibing

[mothman-homie]

Try guys rn

[mothman-homie]

now thats a game changer

[mothman-homie]

why are you babyfying two grown ass men. if shane and ryan would not agree with steven, they could LEAVE. you people preach time and time again how you watch the watcher just because of them. they are all co owners and they all make decisions and it's making me nuts how you all lick their asses so clean and pretty. have you seen their fucking patreon page. they are not your fucking struggling artists. GOD

[mothman-homie]

soz im still eating popcorn about the watcher situation but learning that theyre gutting their patreon to be exclusively about their podcast (that ive literally never heard of) no watcher weekly, no sneak peeks, no early access is absolutely Insane to me. talk about shooting yourself in the foot ...........

[mothman-homie]

Everyone is already talking about the Watcher thing so there's not much more to add but I'll say this : I know this is all parasocial and we don't really know these men but the main draw has always been the chemistry between Ryan and Shane and the earnest passion they put into their projects. This video, though? The whole production felt so manipulative and... insincere. The long shots on Watcher decor, the melodramatic music, the "I hope you follow us one last time" ? Yeah nah. At this stage even if I COULD afford their streaming service I wouldn't want it bc I don't want to support people who pull shit like that.

[mothman-homie]

Jesus Christ, the vultures didn't even wait 24 hours

[mothman-homie]

One thing that keeps confusing me is that they claim ghost files costs several hundreds of thousands of dollars per episode. I’ve tried to wrap my head around this ever since the announcement because flying a crew of 6 or so people out for two days and renting out the location COULD NOT be costing that much unless they’re either lying or blowing money on first class flights and expensive food/accommodations and even THEN do I not see them breaking 200k on a single episode. Dear lord hire an accountant I’m half convinced someone’s laundering money

[mothman-homie]

what watcher is doing is really gross. since they're putting content behind yet another paywall, i want to share some docs with y'all so you can be informed before you decide if you want to have yet another subscription service

[mothman-homie]

Subscriber count when they posted the Goodbye YouTube video

Subscriber count five hours later

Subscribed count 20 hours later

It’s not a nosedive, but that’s a significant drop in less than 24 hours. If a steady decline in subscribers continues, I wonder where they’ll end up even before their new solo streaming service fully launches.