"Be careful on the .org..." [Solved]

[Phantasmagoriat]

I don't know if anyone pointed this out yet, but I've noticed some newcomers to the org feel oddly intimidated by the site. Or have some sort of negative view towards it. To my surprise, I even sensed it from a complete stranger during an AMV How-To panel I ran today.

Me: "Does anyone know what a MEP is?"
Girl: "I do, 'Multi Editor Project'-- I was involved in one."
Me: "Really? where?"
Girl: "YouTube"
Girl: "Hey you know, they also do that sort of thing on animemusicvideos.org"
Girl: "Oh... yeah."

Maybe I was just imagining things, but the way she said "Oh...yeah" was really off-putting to me. It wasn't like "Oh! I'll check them out!" it was more like "Oh... Do not want." I've noticed negative connotations like this in the forums before, but never in person. I always wondered where that came from. Well, after the panel I decided to do some detective work. I thought maybe she did some research before coming to the panel, do I googled "how to make an amv" and this was the very first link that came up:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Simple-and-Easy-AMV

Share it with the world! A good place to put your first few videos is Youtube, here you can receive alot of positive feedback on your videos, as well as a few honest opinions. This can get your confidence up. Also you may want to take the time on getting extremely good editors to comment your video telling you their opinion, which will most likely be a lot more useful than the common Youtuber's. After you feel confident enough you should start posting your lastest videos on Anime Music Videos, there you will find that everything is more competitive, and refined than a Youtube amv-ers world, also when you make the transfer never mention that you are from Youtube, never post a link to Youtube, and in fact its better off if you delete your Youtube and make your a-m-v.org name totally different from your Youtube name (it would also be a good idea to read the tutorial about uploading a video to a-m-v.org, since it is a lot different that Youtube's system). All of the "no Youtube" comes from the fact that a-m-v.org is set at a higher standard than youtube, and generally boasting about your "Youtube greatness" will only give you frowns, don't shy away from the "org" though, because it will take your editing to a level you only dreamed about while you were on Youtube. You can make use of the forum there to announce your latest amvs, as well as receive feedback, which will be much more informative of what the viewer actually thinks of your amv, than youtube. After posting a few videos there and feel like you've reached the pinnacle of editing, you may want to send a video to an anime convention that displays amvs. This way a huge audience will be able to see your amv on a giant screen.

So I think I solved the mystery of where that comes from. Or maybe that's exactly what the org is like...IDK...

[Bauzi]

The reception on YouTube got better, but I think that pretty much sums a-m-v.org up.

You get way easier praise on YouTube and it's a good plays to have fun with relative low effort. It's a good plays for messing around. Things are way more serious on sites like a-m-v.org. It's not as casual as YouTube.

[JaddziaDax]

I never found anything competitive here. Yeah there are some people who play the popularity game, but I guess I never got involved with that. I improved in my editing because I wanted to improve

[Kireblue]

That description of the org is actually true, but the way its said is.......unwelcoming to say the least.

Oh but I think that youtube is actually more competitive than the org though.

[MycathatesyouAMV]

Because some people on here can be pricks...

Still, Org >>>>>>>>> Utube anyday

[GloryQuestor]

From my viewpoint, it was pretty opinion-filled and biased, which any how-to should not be. It should be up to the reader to make up their own mind, not have some article make their decisions for them.

Well, I decided to take action and put in some nicer changes all around:

After reviewing it, I am amending the information on AnimeMusicVideos.Org, as it is a bit out of date.

First, I fixed the names to conform to our actual site names -- our official name is "AnimeMusicVideos.Org" and our alternate name is "A-M-V.Org". a-m-v.org points to a completely different website and should not be used in referencing our site.

"After you feel confident enough you should start posting your lastest videos on AnimeMusicVideos.Org."

Changed this to "In addition to YouTube, you may also consider visiting AnimeMusicVideos.Org."

"Also, when you make the transfer never mention that you are from Youtube, never post a link to Youtube, and in fact its better off if you delete your Youtube and make your a-m-v.org name totally different from your Youtube name."

We do actually allow YouTube links and connectivity now; editors from YT are always welcome to the Org and can discuss and connect to their videos indirectly if they wish. Therefore, I removed the parts that seems to paint AnimeMusicVideos.Org as not welcoming of YouTube-using AMV editors. It should be up to those editors to decide if they like AnimeMusicVideos.Org, and not to be disuaded by an opinion in an article.

"All of the "no Youtube" comes from the fact that a-m-v.org is set at a higher standard than youtube, and generally boasting about your "Youtube greatness" will only give you frowns, don't shy away from the "org" though, because it will take your editing to a level you only dreamed about while you were on Youtube."

Again, this is someone's opinion, not entirely fact. While it is true that we do have a bit of a higher standard, we also provide various guides that give editors the opportunity to achieve a higher standard if they want to. The community should not be painted as an Us-and-Them space, since somewhere in the forums and chat room, you might meet people who will say that but some others who will not. The Org is a community of many people -- we are not all like this, and it shouldn't be stated as such.

"You can make use of the forum there to announce your latest amvs, as well as receive feedback that will be much more informative of what the viewer actually thinks of your AMV, than YouTube."

I removed the part from "as well as receive feedback...", as this is again opinion and not fact. Editors may receive informative feedback, but then again they may not. It all depends on who responds to their video entries. It has been changed to: "You can make use of the forum there to announce your latest AMVs, perform an "opinion exchange" with other members, or review the many guides available that may improve upon your editing skills or add to what you already know."

"After posting a few videos there and feel like you've reached the pinnacle of editing,"

Finally, I decided to amend this to read "When you feel that you are ready, ". This is because, as the AMV contest coordinator for Tekkoshocon, I encourage all editors to send their videos when they feel they are ready, not simply by going to AnimeMusicVideos.Org first or by reaching the "pinnacle of editing", which is pretty vague and a bit misleading, as it has been proven many videos that have the basic level of editing actually may do quite well in the convention circuit.

As you can see, I'm not trying to slant the article in our organization's favor, but rather trying to filter out the opinion and put in some facts in order to have the reader make up their own mind about all of their options.

If you have any questions on the above, please let me know by the reply link.

Thank you,

John Wendel
Website Administrator
AnimeMusicVideos.Org

Let me know what you think of the revised article.

[Fall_Child42]

I want to know about this "positive reception on youtube" thing
man nobody watches my crap on youtube.
I get nothing. (except for the videos of mine other people uploaded)

[BasharOfTheAges]

I think the dichotomy is kinda like the 'everybody gets a gold star' 90s/00s kindergarden mindset vs the 'shut your mouth and know your role' traditional mindset of schooling. I've noticed a lot of fan-based communities are more like the former, most likely because they're filled with children who have grown to expect the former. It actually gets a little plesentville-level creepy sometimes, because you know about half of the people are just wearing a mask.

From a sociological standpoint, this difference is the same as the one that separates the kinds of teachers that love to teach and the ones that kinda fell into it. Some people can handle the same kinds of people making the same kinds of mistakes year after year and not crack. Most people can't. They become bitter and misanthropic; they develop evil things like standards and best practices and wonder why the fuck you don't just read the damn notes they gave you and shut up until you have a question they don't already cover. I guess what I'm trying to say is be grateful to your teachers.

In a forum community this resentment is usually fixed by churn. People get sick of it and leave. This is normal and natural - it is the way of things. People don't want to do this here. They make friends and want to settle in for a long time. This upsets the balance. This makes us hard-asses to the outside world of unique snowflakes. The only way to handle it is strict moderation, both internal and external. We don't generally want that, there have been diatribes about it. So, our reputation will remain. The only change, all things previously stated taken into account, could possibly come with an understanding by the unique snowflakes of this reality. I think that's kinda like trying to give Shakespeare to a 5th grader and expecting them to understand it.

I want to know about this "positive reception on youtube" thing
man nobody watches my crap on youtube.
I get nothing. (except for the videos of mine other people uploaded)

You need to put yourself into a mindset of an 8 year old. Using the currency of promotion by offering to be someone's "friend." Also, I think there's a lot of spamming videos to websites that cater to the tween crowd. You need to make your goal to become internet famous. Spend some time up front until something goes viral and you have followers, then create more and then the followers will spread it around for you.

[Phantasmagoriat]

Well, I decided to take action and put in some nicer changes all around:
...

Oh awesome, I was hoping someone would do that
It's a lot less biased now, and doesn't sound like someone got really butthurt

[CorpseGoddess]

I want to know about this "positive reception on youtube" thing
man nobody watches my crap on youtube.
I get nothing. (except for the videos of mine other people uploaded)

I think the thing with the Tube is that it's much more fan-oriented, as opposed to editor-oriented as it is here. Not a lot of squeeing goes on at the .org, and if it does, it's in moderation and usually aimed at the editing aspect of the video, rather than the content (in my experience). Now, on the Tube, a few of my vids have views in the 40K+ range, and they're by fans of the series/pairing/music+video combo, etc. The comments like "OMG I love Touga thank you so much for making this vid!" far outstrip the "This was an excellently edited video, your use of lip-synch was spot-on" type.

I make amv's because I enjoy it, and one of the aspects I enjoy is audience reaction, so yeah, I like the joy people get after seeing my vids. I like knowing about it. I also put my videos up on the Tube in a small effort to counteract the volumes of dreadfully edited dreck that is thrown up there on a regular basis, to show people that there is a way to make better videos that people can enjoy. And sometimes it works--one of the comments I appreciated the most was on my "DPH" vid, when somebody said, "Finally, somebody make an ACTUAL Hetalia amv and not just a slideshow they decided to call an amv!"

I think it's just a matter of the personal taste of the audience on the Tube, which is far larger and more diverse than the population here.