Photonicinduction is MIA

[aokman]

did anyone cache his video / save it? would love to see his final send off video...

Oddly i am still confused as to why he would make a goodbye video and then delete it all, it doesn't add up?

[IanB]

And he was in a good position to try and monetize it too I think, 20,000+ subs and I think approaching 10M views is a very enviable position.

He did mention something about being able to make nearly £1000 a month from Google ads. Which seems not too bad for a part time activity.

[AntiProtonBoy]

Really? That's interesting, because I remember him mentioning that the ad revenue barely paid for his internet bills. But that was a while back.

I can't say I was a subscriber from "the very beginning" of Photonicinduction's channel, but I was pretty damn close, back when it was mostly popular with only the people that knew what they were really looking at, maybe of the first 1,000 subscribers.  But now, to find out all of his material is gone, on what seems like a whim?  It feels like someone ran over my dog or something: angry and sad, definitely a loss all around.

I was a subscriber since the very early days, when he had about 100 subscribers... basically in the era when he didn't appear, nor say anything in his videos. I distinctly remember the reason why I subscribed is because he fired up a 300 kV transformer in the lounge room... lol.

In retrospect, it is quite fascinating how he evolved over the years. This also illustrates and how powerful YouTube can be, if you use it right. The turning point on Photonicinduction's channel was when his washing machine video got featured on the RayWilliamJohnson channel. Some of Ray's crowd eventually flooded into Photonic's channel; and for the better and worse, he was stuck with them.


Speculation here, but I think the situation is probably much deeper than him getting fed up. He might have gotten into trouble with the law, or perhaps his videos did not help his career.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I think approaching 10M views is a very enviable position.

The vast majority of those views were the classic washing machine, and zapping a spinning CD with  HV that was featured on some blogs. All teh other vids were waay less popular.

I think the bottom line was he was getting bored with it & it was taking up too much time - there's only so many things you can blow up before it loses its appeal (I speak from experience!).
A bit silly to not at least leave the washing machine vid there, as this wasn't especially dangerous and would have provided some income to him instead of the people who will inevitably copy it on their channels.

[Sionyn]

well its all speculation

he was enjoying too i don't see him pack it in either
he's been quite successful too appearing on a prime time youtube clip show in the uk.

shame really

[aokman]

get in quick guys re-upload of the vid

[Sionyn]

well there we are

valid reasons of course

still a shame

[TheWelly888]

I admit that I got bored with Photonicinduction's videos and did not watch any of his uploads over the past few months - the audio on his camera was poor and I found it too hard to hear what he was saying and the destructions appealed less and less to me.

Our Dave's videos still go from strength to strength and are still very interesting.

[HLA-27b]

There is a video of Stephen Fry on the internet talking about his manic depressive personality. What he says basically is that if you are an exposed personality you get an enourmous pressure to preform and also you get all sorts of crap opinions from dweebs and generally worthless people. He points out how people in the depressed state really do need moral support while at the same time are unable to let themselves receive it.

I think that people who get a lot of exposure on the internet are under much more pressure compared to Stephen Fry. It does not take a "weak" character. Like battle fatigue, sooner or later it overpowers you and forces you to "fuck all" and walk away. My admiration grows for peole who can whithstand this pressure.

To be honest I always suspected that what we see of Photonicinduction is his manic side and wondered if the depressed side would ever come around. Seeing the videos, if I was him I couldn't have handled as nearly as well. But still, pople in that state do need a lot of moral supprt.

I was considering making a few videos myself but this whole incident changed my opinion. I guess I will seek other venues to express myself - outside YouTube. At any rate if I ever do videos I will distance myself very carefully from what I do on the internet.

Finally, Photonicinduction is a very creative and very original person. I will miss his videos.

[IanB]

I think the key to surviving as a video producer on YouTube is to have plenty of positive content in your videos of an informative or educational nature. This aspect of contributing something worthwhile to the community is what will support your self-esteem and allow you to brush off the inevitable detractors. It's the same kind of thing that makes people want to be school teachers and keeps them going in spite of all the downsides to the job.

As I touched on in an earlier post, I think the information content is what makes videos interesting to me and keeps me watching them. Like Mike said, after you have seen one or two things blown up you have seen them all. What brings me back to Dave's videos and Mike's videos and others I subscribe to is the educational content within them. It doesn't have to be advanced stuff either--teardowns are fascinating to anyone who has ever wondered what is inside the gadgets they own. Disassemble a digital camera to see what makes it tick: excellent; smash a camera to pieces with a hammer to see bits fly everywhere: boring.

[Zad]

I must admit I could never quite "get" PI. He seemed to be an intelligent bloke, hiding under the facade of being a bit of a chav geezer. It's difficult to translate that if you don't understand UK English, I guess the closest would be to say trailer park trash which, after even a few minutes watching, he obviously isn't. Just like the TV series Scrapheap Challenge (Junkyard Wars in the US) each video has to be better than the previous one, you are always going to come to a point where it is just getting too extreme, costing too much, taking too long or becoming too risky. I think going back to reality is a good choice for him. YouTube will still be here if he ever wants to produce new content.

I know a couple of people here who make a living from making YouTube content, both in areas related to games software. I know that for one of them the pressure has become almost intolerable over this last year and he has had to step back from things because it was causing him very real problems. With conventional media you are somewhat isolated from the consumer, but with YouTube the feedback is very direct indeed. What compounds this is that a huge percentage of the audience is immature, both physically and mentally. This is not a judgement, just a statement of fact. The biggest YT audience is teenagers, who have hormones, and those who are particularly vociferous are the ones fighting to be pack leader. This entails all the traits we have come to hate; trolling, spam posting, gratuitous thumbing-down and so on.

Unfortunately, the effect of this is that the childish bangs, smells and rude words that draw in the big numbers. I know of a whole series of Minecraft videos that were bringing in well over a million views each within a few days. They must have taken an hour at most to film, maybe a couple more to edit. Compare that to Dave's videos which take a lot of preparation and only get a fraction of the views.

The thing is though, the teenage Minecraft audience is now thumbing down videos, getting irate and demanding more. When you get that happen to you, it must be hard not to let it get to you.

[Zero999]

I'm glad he's left YouTube and think the final two videos were his best.

Although I found some of his videos very funny, I did think he was irresponsible and the stunt with a 1W laser was both stupid and dangerous. I wish him all the best and if he does return, he posts educational material as well as comedy.

[Chet T16]

What was the laser video?

[hans]

I did watch most of his video's lately. Sometimes his video's were just plain old destruction of things, which can get a bit boring (like the where-is-my-hammer-for-this-crappy-old-television-joke gets tired after seeing it two times). Some idea's were quite surprising or interesting, like the HV rectifier glowing beautifully (yet very dangerous) or his lasers. Honestly, I don't mind it being dangerous as hell, as I have no desire to try ANY of the stuff out my self. I still know electricity can kill very easily and that doesn't change seeing him handling 230V wires as if they were from a battery.

I find it a shame he left, but I fully respect that his social life goes first.

I also have a feeling that he took the copying of his christmas experiment by Thegeekgroup/physicsduck very seriously. I have seen physicsduck's blog about his response and he was like 'sorry whatever, but you're still welcome here'. He showed how much money is made from Youtube by the geekgroup official channel. It was like $1300 PER YEAR. And he explained that the whole camera set they carry is well over 10 times that.
But I can imagine that copying the idea from him is kinda lame. I would be the same to when Dave would release his power supply bench kit and someone else (with a reasonably popular channel) comes by 'huh oh we also are coming up with a power supply kit, but with none of the flaws of Dave's kit!'. That would be a huge rip off to the whole community.

I don't know exactly what is wrong with the 1W laser experiment.. yes lasers are dangerous, but what was the biggest commotion about (shining at airplanes?). Like the HV rectifier tube isn't dangerous! I have read something into them, and some guys were talking about thin walls. If you have them, either get good protection or just don't do it (because neighbours may get X-rays too!).

It's kinda sad he felt so much pressure on overdoing himself. It's like cheating in race games.. first you're like 'woow this car is soo faast'. 5 minutes later you're getting a bit bored, and you cheat more.. 15 minutes later, you've cheated so much it's getting ridicilious and out of control. 'out of control' in a racegame is no big deal, but it would be with high power stuff.

[EEVblog]

I finally got to watch his parting videos, and I can now certainly understand his reasoning.
It's a similar pressure for almost every Youtube content producer, including myself, but some cop it a lot more than others, and it can get tough. Luckily it's not as big a problem for me as it is for some others. I actually admire him for ditching it all and getting on with life.

I cop the hateful comments too, the occasional death threat or wishing I would die etc, the endless negative comments about my voice, my style, what I should do or should do, what I should have said or didn't say etc etc.
I started out leaving it all there, but now I'm actively deleting the stupid or hateful comments and banning people, so the rest of the world doesn't have to see that crap either. But just doing that sucks up a lot of your life. When you get 7000+ views per day across all your old videos (not including the latest uploads), that adds up to a lot of comments and email etc, and of course it only gets worse with time.

And then there are the genuine technical questions, both on Youtube comments and via email. I can't possibly answer then all, and that makes me sad, but you have to come to terms with the practicality of it all.

Part of the reason I took the risk to go full time is that the blog was sucking my life away. I was spending most nights and full weekends working on it all, and the wife was only obliging because it seemed to be leading somewhere. Now I have the weekends back (that was the deal with the wife), and a resemblance of a life, but she still complains I spend too much time on it.
And I now get complaints that I'm not uploading enough material now that I'm "full time" at it, and so therefore have oodles of free time to produce endless content...
*sigh*

Dave.

[Uncle Vernon]

I finally got to watch his parting videos, and I can now certainly understand his reasoning.
It's a similar pressure for almost every Youtube content producer, including myself, but some cop it a lot more than others, and it can get tough.

Some bring it upon themselves more than others too. The cheap thrills approach just encourages more and more DEMANDS for cheap thrills, if those are the basis for the content then the producer is destined to become another performing seal. You smashed up some cheap rubbish meters once, and some people were baying for more months afterwards.

Luckily it's not as big a problem for me as it is for some others. I actually admire him for ditching it all and getting on with life.

It's not just luck, it's also good management. In Blogs, in business, even as an employee there are always plenty of people trying to get you to do things and behave in a way that suits them. Ultimately that is not sustainable if it deviates from where you want to be heading. I'd agree, good on the guy for taking charge of what he wants to be doing with his life.

I cop the hateful comments too, the occasional death threat or wishing I would die etc, the endless negative comments about my voice, my style, what I should do or should do, what I should have said or didn't say etc etc.

Offer them twice their money back, twice nothing is nothing! Even for the few that donate it was never a contract to perform, and I doubt many of those are the ones complaining.

I started out leaving it all there, but now I'm actively deleting the stupid or hateful comments and banning people, so the rest of the world doesn't have to see that crap either. But just doing that sucks up a lot of your life.  ................. And then there are the genuine technical questions, both on Youtube comments and via email. I can't possibly answer then all, and that makes me sad, but you have to come to terms with the practicality of it all.

Which is where so many end up disappearing up their own orifices. As a sweeping generalisation people are basically selfish and self interested, it's your choice when you produce kits or videos or answer email and how much of eachyou can reasonably achieve. The great thing about this platform is it makes it possible for participation where other clever people can help  with answers.

Part of the reason I took the risk to go full time is that the blog was sucking my life away. I was spending most nights and full weekends working on it all, and the wife was only obliging because it seemed to be leading somewhere. Now I have the weekends back (that was the deal with the wife), and a resemblance of a life, but she still complains I spend too much time on it.

That's a conflict which never ends and not one specific only to video blogging. We all have to keep our eye on the ball of what matters and what is really important, those who get it right in the end are the real long term success stories.

And I now get complaints that I'm not uploading enough material now that I'm "full time" at it, and so therefore have oodles of free time to produce endless content...

Those who complain are welcome to Begin producing their own blogs, just as Jerry Harvey is welcome to enter the world of on-line retail, Lets see how successful they can be. And never forget for every complaint there are probably a thousand appreciative souls who've had no reason to put pen to paper.
All too often we give too much attention to the squeaky wheels, I've come to terms that I have I have some customers who will never be happy and some to who my efforts can really make a positive difference. My 2012 resolution is to spend as little time as possible tend to those who will never really be happy and as much effort as is possible/practical to the appreciative majority. The whingers of the world can make their own arrangements.

[EEVblog]

Some bring it upon themselves more than others too. The cheap thrills approach just encourages more and more DEMANDS for cheap thrills, if those are the basis for the content then the producer is destined to become another performing seal. You smashed up some cheap rubbish meters once, and some people were baying for more months afterwards.

Offer them twice their money back, twice nothing is nothing! Even for the few that donate it was never a contract to perform, and I doubt many of those are the ones complaining.

Yes, the ones who donate never complain or give demands, which is great.
It's usually only the anonymous zero-content producers who complain.

Which is where so many end up disappearing up their own orifices. As a sweeping generalisation people are basically selfish and self interested, it's your choice when you produce kits or videos or answer email and how much of eachyou can reasonably achieve. The great thing about this platform is it makes it possible for participation where other clever people can help  with answers.

Yep, I now direct all technical questions to the forum which is great, and they'll get a much better, quicker, and more widely opinionated reply.
Most are genuine and simply don't notice my saying this on the blog/youtube channel page.

Those who complain are welcome to Begin producing their own blogs, just as Jerry Harvey is welcome to enter the world of on-line retail, Lets see how successful they can be. And never forget for every complaint there are probably a thousand appreciative souls who've had no reason to put pen to paper.

Yep, that's my standard reply - start your own blog, or post a video response if you think you can do/explain something better. Strange that no one ever takes me up on the offer 

Dave.

[AntiProtonBoy]

What compounds this is that a huge percentage of the audience is immature, both physically and mentally. This is not a judgement, just a statement of fact. The biggest YT audience is teenagers, who have hormones, and those who are particularly vociferous are the ones fighting to be pack leader. This entails all the traits we have come to hate; trolling, spam posting, gratuitous thumbing-down and so on.

Quoted for the truth.

I'm primarily involved in making games and apps for the iOS platform. The sort of comments and feedback you get from the crowd can be demoralising. Many developers I have talked to (and read about in their personal blogs) said that they actively refuse to get involved with the community purely for that reason. They basically spend lots man hours, love and money on the project, only to get juvenile comments, completely pissing all over the product due to superficial reasons. Of course, criticism is always invaluable, but some "critic's" method of delivery just sux balls.

Unfortunately, turning a blind eye to these kinds of things is not very practical if you are 1 or 2 man team involved in the project. It's also hard, because some of these overblown user comments can be damaging to the team if they are not addressed properly. So what do you do? You get sucked into a PR vortex. No wonder PR and HR departments that are painful to deal with in big corporations... those departments are specifically designed to be human firewalls against stupidity for the upper management.

RayWillianJonson's channel is pretty good case study how to handle some of the nastiness. I think he is doing a lot of things right in that respect. Most people who are being nasty are just griefing for the sake of their own amusement. In those situations you have three options: You either delete, ignore, or play along with it. I'd say play along with it, if you can. Ignoring is probably your second best choice. Ignoring will not stir the hornet's nest, you mentally block-out internet idiots and thus not letting them affecting you emotionally. Deleting should be really a last resort action, mainly because that creates a lot of work for you.

If you play along with the joke, it shows the audience that you can take a piss, and they will less likely to give you shit in the future. Ray does that often - you see him saying a lot of jokes/derogatory stuff about himself, which basically shows that no matter how much crap you throw at him, none of that will stick on him.

Another interesting strategy I've seen on RayWillianJonson's channel is that they disable commenting after about 1 or 2 weeks the video was posted. It seems to be a good compromise between allowing the fans to go nuts with the commenting and then purge the whole lot once it's out of their system. I guess it's easy for Ray to do, because he as big YouTube footprint, so discarding user generated content like that will make no difference to his popularity. Might be a different story if you still leverage on user content to make a name for yourself.

Humans. Pain in the arse.

[Wartex]

[metalphreak]

I think he started off doing these videos for intelligent people who want to kick back and just enjoy some mayhem. Then people who don't actually know anything about electricity and electronics started berating him, telling him its dangerous, flagging his videos about the lasers etc. I think part of the issue is that he comes across as a bit of a nutter or a "bogan" when he is actually quite intelligent (and nothing he did was ever life threateningly dangerous albeit a little careless).

I enjoyed many of his videos and his style of "presenting" was funny. I don't think his videos were ever very educational, but they weren't meant to be. About the only thing he has in common with Dave's videos is the inclusion of electronics

I wish him all the best and his decision to do what makes himself happy is the right one.

[Sionyn]

when in doubt have it out

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Come-Back-Photonicinduction/303146713060699

[Ajahn Lambda]

when in doubt have it out

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Come-Back-Photonicinduction/303146713060699

Thanks for sharing.  If nothing else, I sincerely hope his truly-devoted fans, i.e. the ones that knew what was he was doing and got a good laugh and/or learned from it, can at least stick together.  I still doubt he will return any time soon; Dave and several others here have echoed that sentiment, for reasons Andy gave us himself in the videos.


Ideally, I'd like to see a 'closed return' of sorts.  One where people can follow him by direct invitation only, and at some other video hosting site to avoid the onslaught of stupidity.  Maybe he needs a lackey to perform some of those administrative duties, like editing, invitations, banning, etc.?  I'm almost sure Dave could use one sometimes at least. 


Just as a 'disclosure', if you can even call it that, I've only uploaded two videos to YouTube, which I recorded back in 2007 on a whim, with a crappy Sony-Ericsson cell phone.  Those were of a 3-phase BLDC controller board build for an embedded systems class.  I still get messages, asking for schematics, more videos, have I updated it, can I buy one, hurr durr your design sucks, and I think BLDC means something else in another language (maybe 'BDSM' in Dutch??? because I frequently get negativity from users in that part of the world).   I've not answered a single one for reasons we've discussed in this thread.  At first I felt bad, but now I think it was a wise choice.  I didn't make those videos for anyone else but my design team and my grading professor, just in case we blew it up, to prove that it worked at some point.


Will I change my mind about that in the future?  Maybe, especially as I finalize products to release to the general public, but I will probably not allow ratings or comments unless there's a demand for it (in a positive way!).  I'm a one-man show, and there sure as Hell isn't money for management monkeys!

[slateraptor]

Wow. That final video was...sad.

[aokman]

for anyone interested in seeing the other side to some of this from thegeekgroup: Skip to 33min mark, for some reason it wont embed the time stamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUbaAyXYMnbQu0BGGPbvxHsw&feature=player_detailpage&v=w-ANs3jmYKw#t=1976s

[ModemHead]

He's back again.  Complaining about people copying and re-uploading his old videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/PhotonicinductionArc