Wikitubia:Interviews/AlternateHistoryHub

This interview was conducted on December 18, 2017 by Purzyckij

Alternate History Hub is a YouTuber with over 1.4 Million subscribers

Q1: When and how did you discover YouTube, and what were your first thoughts on the site? You know it’s funny, I can’t remember discovering Youtube for the first time. All I can recall now is a grey time where Youtube just appeared. I was in 7th grade, and my family just moved into this apartment. I couldn’t go outside, so my mom allowed me to use the family computer. Discovering Youtube and the Internet were one in the same for me. There was no time before Youtube for me, it’s just always been since I was a kid.

Q2: Who or what inspired you to start making videos on YouTube?

If you asked that question to me in 2008, 2010 and 2012, you’d get a different response each time. When I discovered Youtube I instantly wanted to make videos. Lego stop motion videos were huge in 2008. So, I tried to emulate it. They were terrible. My god were they terrible. We all have to start somewhere though. Those horrible shorts were things that introduced me to editing software. The very high tech, iMovie HD. Making videos was just fun to do. It was like playing video games or drawing. Throughout high school I made animations, and comedy sketches with friends. They were also terrible. My inspiration was the fun of sharing the videos with family and friends, seeing their support. It was an enjoyable hobby. It still is, even if I get paid for it.

Q3: What was the reason behind wanting to create these “What Ifs” of historical events?

My friend Tyler, the same one who does livestreams with me every Sunday, showed me this community of channels doing something called “alternate history”. I’d always been interested in history due to video games and Wikipedia. So videos imagining if the South won the Civil War or Germany won WWII blew my mind. Back in 2012, the largest of these channels had 3,000 subs. It was huge for alternate history. For some reason always ended his scenarios with communism taking over. Ending a good video on a Soviet victory always irked me, even with my mediocre understanding of history. I simply thought “Hey, I should give this a try”. Try to give a less biased view on the scenarios. Since alternate history channels were a community back then, I was an ambitious little punk and thought, ‘hey, my channel could be the center of this little community’. That’s where the name ‘AlternateHistoryHub’ came from. This was also before the channel had any subscribers.

Q4: Who was the first YouTuber you were a fan of and do you still watch them today? I don’t think I really started following certain channels until around 2010. The first channel I was a massive fan of ‘freddiew’. The production value, the humor, the entire shebang was just top notch. That’s my earliest memory of awaiting every new video a Youtube would release. I’m sure theres probably another one even earlier I’d cringe at the memory of, with the things junior high kids are fans of.

Q5: Where you able to make YouTube your primary source of income?

Thankfully yes. I actually didn’t start making money from the channel until 2014. Before then AlternateHistoryHub was just kind of a thing I did casually. It wasn’t until my brother suggested I could actually make money from it that I actually signed up for monetization.

Q6: You have been creating content on YouTube of almost 5 years now, what keeps you going? Rent and food. No, but really, the thing that keeps me going is, I enjoy it. AlternateHistoryHub is fun for me, even if I get bored at times. This is something I feel lucky to have. I get to imagine alternate worlds and create videos. I never even expected this to be a thing, but somehow here I am. It’s still fun for me to do this.

Q7: If there was one YouTuber you could do a collab with, who would it be?

CGPGrey and the VlogBrothers. They were the prime inspiration for AlternateHistoryHub. Our content is so different though I doubt it’d ever happen.

'''Q8: On both your YouTube channels (Alternate History Hub & Knowledge Hub) you are known for just your voice. Why did you decide to use animation figures and voice over instead of you being behind the camera?''' Chuck Jones once said that he doesn’t belong in front of the camera, he belongs behind it. I can relate to that. I hate taking pictures of myself, let alone recording myself for the world to see. Using the figures and doing a voice over is a better way to flesh out the alternate scenarios. Helps people imagine it. I get to put more energy and heart into those stupid little people. It allows every video to have at least some distinctness to it.

'''Q9: Since YouTube has started its reward program, between your two channels, you have 2 silver & 1 gold play button. What does having those play buttons mean to you?'''

Play buttons to me are a reminder of past goals. I love them, don’t get me wrong. Every single time one has shown up, I am happy that there is my channel’s name on such a reward. However it doesn’t beat that feeling of refreshing the page to see a 99k go to 100k, or a 999k go to a million. They do look good on a wall though.

Q10: To you, how much has YouTube changed since you started making videos?

It’s not the site I started with. I don’t think Youtube has ever been one definitive site. It’s always changed, like a blob. It takes on a new shape every year. Looking back I can’t help but feel nostalgic over 2012 Youtube. Creators could upload short videos and make a living. Vine didn’t even exist. Animations were in their glory days. I understand why Youtube changed their policy back then. They are a corporation. So many creators were left in the dust by that decision however. Egoraptor hasn’t even animated a video since 2014. The Youtube of today is sterile. The wild west spirit of 2007 is dying, if it’s not dead already. Crazy videos and ambitious creators still exist, but they’re losing ground to the city. Youtube is trying to put on a mask to hide the Internet site it once was. It’s attempting to be a Netflix, Hulu or hell, even a NBC. It’s not. It’s a website. In an attempt to appeal to the advertisers, the Comic Code people, they’re wiping away that old Youtube. It’s killing a little bit of it’s own original spirit along with it. I went on a little rant, but to sum it all up I miss what it used to be.

Q11: If you could bring back one feature YouTube used to have, what would it be and why?

Useful subscriptions would be fantastic. Subscriptions today don’t mean anything. You don’t really see the subscriptions anymore. Instead it’s videos Youtube thinks you’ll like. If you want to actually see future content of a creator you need to ding a bell. That’s just annoying.

'''Q12: Has the “Adpocalypse” affected your channel in anyway? '''

Education channels actually got hit the least out of everyone. I guess cuz we’re the least controversial to advertisers (apart from beauty channels). I did see a dip and many of my friends were affected. It was one of the moments I was terrified for the future of the platform. It will always be seen as the the final nail when Youtube became that corporation to me.

Q13: Do you have a favorite and/or least favorite video you have made?

My favorite videos are always my most recent ones. I try to improve them in quality every single time. I do feel like “What if the Cuban Missile Crisis Went Hot’ and ‘What if Pearl Harbor was Never Attacked’, will be my best videos. They have a documentary style and their own flair. My least favorite is probably ‘What if Cars Never Existed’. It just is bland and uninspiring looking back. It was a collaboration I did with a friend, but I wouldn't have chose the topic if it wasn’t for him.

'''Q14: To you, is YouTube starting to die? if it is, what do you think the site could do to help it get it back to what it once was?'''

I don’t think Youtube is ever going to die. It’s one of the largest websites in the world, backed by one of the biggest companies today. I think Youtube and Internet’s future is worse. For decades the Internet has been the Wild West. Everything goes, nothing is sacred. People made crazy unfiltered content and millions saw it. The internet is an escape from the confides of modern media and sterile reality. Youtube was created as this site where anyone can make a video. That’s the premise. The age of cowboys and outlaws though, is ending. The frontier with time, stops being the frontier. The city sweeps in. The chaos becomes organized. Youtube isn’t the crazy place it once was. Youtube is a clean corporation to terrified of anything it once resembled because the advertisers would hate it. It censors those it once embraced. We’re now having to face television standards on a platform created to not be television. Young creators are struggling to make a living on this site while Steven Colbert and Kimmel line the trending page every single day. Net neutrality is now dead and we’ll see the full ramifications of that in the near future. I theorize one thing. The 2000’s and 2010’s will be remembered as the Wild West of the Internet before the orderly city folk came in. So no, Youtube will not die, it will shamble on as a former husk. We’ll look fondly on the past and deal with the new limitations. That’s a worse fate to be honest. Q15: What do you use to record and edit your videos?

I use a Scarlett 2i2 USB microphone and Final Cut Pro.

Q16: What is your favorite part about having a YouTube channel?

There’s so many parts that I can’t really chose from. I would say the greatest part is simply the freedom of it. The freedom to be my own boss. The freedom to isolate myself from the world to focus on my work. The freedom to create any content I want on my own time table. Q17: When you are not making videos, what do you like to do in your free time?

I’m going to sound incredibly basic, but I really spend a lot of time playing video games. Tons of Hearts of Iron 4 and Halo 5. I’ve been getting into PUBG. Its not just that, I also try to keep up my drawing skills. I like to digitally paint.

Q18: Did you ever think you would have over a Million subscribers?

I never even thought I’d hit 3,000 subscribers. This was just a hobby. The growth of a Youtube channel is like a bubble. First it’s 1k, then 5k, then 10k. Soon it goes to 100k. I remember telling people I had 60k subscribers and they thought that was great. You never think you’re doing to reach that level and each accomplishment is a fantastic experience. Eventually past 500k I was growing at a rate I saw 1 million as the last bubble. I’m surprised I even reached this level. History isn’t the biggest topic in the world, especially theorizing about it. I never expected AlternateHistoryHub to be a big history-themed channel, let along one of the biggest (I think).

Q19: What video do you think helped blow up your channel?

Godzilla, the Purge and the Fallout videos. People like that pop culture. Those are the ones that people initially discovered the channel. I’ve always been irked its not one of my main history videos but hey, that’s the platform. It’s crazy history videos have as many as they do.

Q20: Do you have any memorable fan experience?

I once had a continent contest. Basically I drew this continent and made a video telling people to draw whatever countries, borders or lore using this map. This was a continent I had in my head since high school. It was so fascinating seeing so many people take this thing close to me and put their own spin on it. Some of the maps were professional quality and gorgeous. The lore people created was fantastic as well. That’ll be the one that stands out. Q21: What was the coolest and/or weirdest thing a fan has given you?

I dont know if it counts as given, but I would say the memes in my won Discord server are the oddest things. The server is fantastic don’t get me wrong. It somehow just created its own odd culture, somewhat revolving around me and also the interactions among the users. The server is pretty weird though, so I’ve tried to keep it under wraps (much to their dismay).

Q22: What advice would you give someone trying to make YouTube videos?

Be genuine. Do this because it’s something you’re passionate about. I went on a trip to VidCon this summer. While it was very nice to see the younger generation so impacted by Youtube, it also was pretty concerning as well. Kids were running around with their phones, recording people to get “content”. Much like kids before tried to copy TV, or comics, today they’re copying Youtubers. Many want to just make videos because they see the lavish lifestyles twerps like Jake Paul have so happily displayed to an impressionable fanbase of tweens. If you are going to make a Youtube video, or a channel, never do it for the money. It shouldn't matter if it hits a million billion views, because if its made with that intention it will fail. Only make a video if you have a unique voice to add. Many get into Youtube today because it’s the modern version of running off the Hollywood to be “famous”, but instead it’s online instead. The best content creators make videos not for the “revenue”, they make content because it’s something they’re passionate about. This varies on your genre of course, not every video needs to be a work of art if you're in certain genres. However you should never be in this to be like the Jake Pauls of the world. We have enough of those sucking the soul from this platform. If you happen to get big, don’t take that as a sign you’re a remarkable person. Too many people lately have gained egos simply because they have Youtube “fame”. We make content online, we are not God’s gift to humanity. Never sacrifice relationships or friendships for videos. Never go after other Youtubers like a dramatic little kid. Fellow Youtubers are your greatest asset. Collaborations are great ways to make friends and also help your own numbers. Only join this life if you think you’ll have fun and want to work hard at the same time. Don’t do it solely for the money because you’ll hate your life when this is your only income. The money is what allows us to continue doing this as a job.

Q23: What is the future for you and your channel?

The future of the channel? I want to hit 1.5 million, that’d be nice. I think the future will be making my content something more respectable. I want to inspire more people to get into history, so if that requires the occasional thematic changes (maybe more dramatic) then so be it. I had a revelation earlier this year. I realized I’m not an educational channel. I have education elements yes, but I’m a guy who theorizes about history for fun. The point of my channel is to explore wacky and odd topics involving politics and humanism that nobody really does. I’m making the content I would want to watch. Even if it takes a couple weeks or pauses occasionally. AlternateHistoryHub isn’t an educational channel, or history. It’s a weird island that can’t be explained really. Its it’s own thing. As for me? I want to continue AlternateHistoryHub for however long this lasts. I’m still passionate about it, and I feel like I always will be. I’m 5 years in, and it feels like I barely covered anything. As the channel gets older it will only get weirder. I’ve wanted to get into writing. My videos have given me ideas. I had this odd idea involving a habitable moon, floating cities supported by giant angelic statues, and these robot winged fairies. Who knows where this idea will take me. Call it alternate fantasy. I don’t really know what the future will bring. I have a few goals. I’m a superstitious man. Let’s just say I don’t want to jinx this.