Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Yesterday, our latest TEN episode dropped.
https://youtu.be/DSUhS4psteU
What's your reaction to the outcome of the election as it pertains to EVs and renewable?
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There's been some serious threats made against the team on YouTube by commenters today. We've deleted and reported the most egregious.
If you are contemplating threatening the team, you will be reported.
Thanks - Nikki.
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Hey everyone. It's Nikki here.
I know this week has been full of some pretty nasty stuff - I've seen a lot of it in the comments section (mostly driven by statements made by Republican candidate Trump and Mr. Elon Musk). It's been pretty horrid dealing with such a massive rise in hate aimed at myself and the rest of the team.
We're doing our best to counter this, and when possible, we are (again) finding ourselves doing some light moderating to deal with the absolute worst of the comments. We don't want to. YouTube doesn't want us to, but we're trying to keep things as safe as possible, especially in the run-up to the election.
I'm also aware that some anti-trans, and anti-immigrant political ads have appeared on the channel, and I want to reiterate that we do not condone their appearance, nor do we condone the sentiments they espouse. YouTube has made it increasingly difficult for us to block certain ads from appearing, although if and when we come across one and have the correct URL to report it, we do.
In a similar vein, a very VERY well-known YouTube channel/podcast recently stole our content without asking, and is playing it in a small window alongside an in-studio chat. We will be issuing a copyright claim, but again, YouTube appears to have removed that easy-to-submit function. It'll take extra cycles from myself and the team, so please bear with me if I'm slow to respond, or otherwise a little... quiet.
I'm not alone. I've noticed āŖ@JessieGender1ā¬ and other creators have had issues of late with their content and YouTube's terrible policies (Jessie even made a really cool video on it that you can see on her channel). We continue to create, but the relationship that we're forced into by YouTube is a nightmare.
Alas, we've not been invited to any platforms like Nebula (it's invite only) so we have to keep dealing with the abuse that YouTube happily sends our way.
And this is the point at which I remind you of two very important things:Ā
1) We do publish our recent videos on PeerTube (peertube.tv/a/transportevolved/video-channels), where you can watch 1080p versions of our videos without ads. The down side? We can't keep our entire back catalog up (because of space restrictions), and we don't make any money from hosting our videos there.
2) Which brings me to the next point. I'm in the process of examining our Patreon income, and where we go from here. We've not changed our Patreon tiers since we joined the platform in 2015, but the monetary value of the tiers has fallen precipitously. $1 in 2015 is equivalent to $1.33 today, meaning that because we haven't changed our pledge levels, we're getting effectively 33% less today than it did back then. I don't know when we'll change our levels, but I expect to look into it around the holidays, after the U.S. Election. My plan is to keep the pledges the same for existing pledge holders, but increase tier prices for new supporters. Why? Basic finances. Everything from electricity prices for the studio to Internet access to salaries and health insurance has gone up a bunch, and we're really starting to feel the pinch.
Tomorrow is my Birthday, and I generally don't ask people for gifts or presents, because I don't like celebrating - but if you're so inclined, please consider donating to the channel either here or at www.patreon.com/transportevolved at either a yearly or a monthly level. If just 100 people who aren't already donating supported us for $12 a year, that'd make a massive difference to our channel's income and ability to keep making content. I've seen my team increasingly struggle with rent and healthcare costs, and I'd like to be able to keep their salary up with inflation. I haven't been able to do that.
Finally, please vote. For the love of all that is holy, if you're a U.S. Citizen, vote. I know Harris/Walz aren't perfect, but this year, for the first time, it feels like they are the only logical choice for keeping America's legacy alive. Having kept myself up for a good half of last night after nightmares driven by being called "Evil" by Candidate Trump, dealing with the hate and the threats, and trying to keep myself happy-go-lucky on camera - knowing people are voting for sanity and decency rather than hate and suspicion will be a massive... massive boost to the entire team's self-esteem right now.
Much love, stay safe, and Happy Halloween!
Nikki. x
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Yet again, we're getting kick back from folk about our content, and I'd love to get some serious thought on if you want us to continue the Chicken and Garden and Sunday Musing on āŖ@TransportevolvedTake2ā¬ . They don't take a long time to do. They're no hassle. But some people are really not happy about us continuing them, and I'd like to at least be able to say we have wide support (or not)
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Hey everyone! So YT has decided to start publishing videos we're uploading, and it's happened a few times. Today, I just made a video private that's not due to publish until Monday - It's had 25 views - consider yourself privileged if you saw it š - Nikki.
(Don't worry, it'll get published properly on Monday)
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Weāre getting ready for everything Electric in a few weeksā time, so hereās a quick post giving you some important info!
www.patreon.com/posts/110737984?utm_campaign=postsā¦
www.patreon.com/posts/110737984?utm_campaign=postsā¦
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Who here is coming to EverythingElectric in September in Vancouver?
Don't forget that you can go to ca.everythingelectric.show/ and buy your tickets. Enter the code "TRANSPORTEVOLVED" at checkout to get 20% off - and make sure WE get all of the ticket sales!
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This is probably the saddest thing I've had to write in a while, but the comments are back, and I don't see a way for them to not be. In the last two weeks, I've enjoyed the improved quality of comments on platforms outside of YouTube. Our Discord chat room has improved in numbers and quality. It's been great to see people getting involved here more. And my mental health dramatically improved because I wasn't seeing hate every day.
But our income fell dramatically. Aside from the few people no-longer supporting us, calling us 'cowards' and 'wimps' for not allowing comments (yes, there were a few), our Ad Revenue and eyeballs for videos fell off a metaphorical cliff.
For the two weeks where we didn't allow comments, our ad revenue on YouTube fell by as much as $600 over the previous month (where we'd been moderating more heavily than usual) and by several thousand from when we weren't moderating at all.
At the end of last week, I started an experiment: allow comments on a few videos to see what would happen. Almost immediately, view counts came back, and so too has ad revenue.
YouTube has told me again and again it doesn't punish if you turn off comments, and while correlation does not equal causation, it's the second time we've tried this and had similar results.
It is clear that in the age of AI, hate is viewed as engagement. And that's rewarded. I have to choose between keeping the channel alive and allowing hate, or letting the channel fold. I choose to keep my team employed and our coverage spread. I may be less willing to engage though, as a result.
YouTube doesn't take kindly to people using bots or automated systems. It now punishes people if they think their viewers are using repeat views on a video from multiple accounts (but the same IP address). So, I have some basic requests to make.
First, do not engage with the hate. We will try and do the same.
Second, engage with and lift up civil posts.
Third, share our videos with friends and family. Talk about our content, promote our Patreon, and tell people why we're making good stuff.
Fourth, report spam and hate. We ultimately have to report it from our end, but in the past, when we've reported harassment on YouTube and other platforms (mainly Facebook), we've been told it doesn't count, often because people are using words or phrases that aren't picked up by traditional anti-discrimination stuff.
Finally, keep supporting and watching. And understand that while we'd LOVE to be able to moderate to keep hate away, we're actively not being supported by the platforms we're on to make that possible. Know that it being there is not our condoning of it. We despise hate.
I'm going to remove the posts discussing why we turned off comments. They seem pointless now. I'm going to be spending more time away from YouTube, and less energy engaging with people for my own sanity and mental health. But I will continue making videos. Hopefully, I'll get to see some of you in Canada in a few weeks time.
Much love, and may apologies for not being able to find a better solution. We're not in a world yet where money doesn't matter. And I need to be able to pay the team.
Nikki. x
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Hey everyone ! Donāt forget to buy your tickets for EverythingElectric this September in Vancouver, BC!
You can get 20% off by using āTransportevolvedā at checkout, and we get 100% off the ticket sales!
Weāre going but itās not cheap (our air BnB was $2500!) so all tickets sold help us recover those costs!
ca.everythingelectric.show/
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We are aware that our most recent thumbnail upset some people, so we've fixed it for you.
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Welcome to Transport Evolved! Join us every day for content from Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Kate Walton-Elliott, Erin Carlie and Michael Horton as they explore and explain the world of cleaner, greener, safer, and smarter transport. Between us, we've got more than 20 years of driving cleaner, greener vehicles, and we believe that the future of transport depends on a whole lot more than one company!
From Tesla to Toyota and Faraday Future to Ford, we provide analysis and insight in a balanced and independent way.