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Youtube Comment Insanity | |
Posted July 19, 2009 - 16:26:25
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 So, some of you may remember a little video I did several years ago with Topher, Steve, Belkie and a few others called The Tragedy of Willie. It involved us paying a fictionalized "tribute" to an Alaskan Salmon we named "Willie." Why did we name it Willie? Because we were going to "Free" it by throwing it in the river. Sadly, we had a camera error, so we missed that actual shot -- so the "cremation" story got thrown in (and I really need to stop putting words in quotes). It's a mildly amusing video, and I've always found it entertaining. It was one of the first videos I put on Youtube, and it's one of the most viewed videos I've ever produced.
And it has generated far more controversy than even Bad Monkey ever could have.
See, the Youtube version of "The Tragedy of Willie" (which features a different soundtrack due to a copyright issue) gets included in related videos for the film "Free Willy." And even though my video explicitly states that it's about an Alaskan Salmon, they get confused.
Then they get offended.
Now, Youtube comments are usually harsh. I wasn't surprised when "anikajones88" posted:what a waste of my time In fact, I just replied with my standard "AWESOME" (which is what I say to most trolls). What puzzles me though are things like when "Jorlloyd" asked me:is this video about an orca named Keiko who played willie in free willy ort about a salmon? I just sort of hurt in my brain when people ask me that. Seriously. It says all over the page and the video that it's about a salmon. I mean what am I supposed to do when someone like "awsomzpossumz" says:this is not willie he was burried hes a good whale THEY WONT EAT HIM YOU ASS YOU HAVE NO RESPECT Seriously. Someone said this.
It's okay though, because "indian7755" lent his sage words of advice:u r a fucking ass hole i have no respect for u and ur gay vid fuck u go fucking kill ur self get some respect i r not a man or woman for this vid ur an ass What a very enlightened thing to say indian7755, very enlightened.
But then I got into an absolutely insane conversation with ConnyBrown1962 (which you can see behind the cut)
ConnyBrown1962 started simply enough with:This is really sickening you jerks Confused, I broke from my normal responses and typed this back to her(?):It's a salmon. From the grocery store.
Unless you're a vegetarian, I don't get your problem. My confusion got an ever so polite reply from ConnyBrown1962:Your a moron and an complete idiot. Grammatical issues aside, this still left me puzzled. I posted back:You've yet to actually explain what your problem with the video is. Sadly, ConnyBrown1962 didn't reply to me. Instead Jenasistv chimed in a reply to me:What the problem is, is that people are attatched to Willie and a lot of people feel a connection to a creature they never meet, like people feel a connection to their idols, and you are mocking a creature that is a perfect image of tragedy and heartack. Its upsetting when people who are drawn to the story of Willie see someone with little understanding do this. Look up the story and history of this creature. In all honesty its not even a funny vid. Someone please tell me what "heartack" is, seriously. At this point I think I cracked a little bit, and typed this:This video has NOTHING to do with the whale Keiko. Didn't even know that Keiko was even DEAD when we made it. It's about a damned salmon named "Willie" not a whale named "Willy" or "Keiko." For pete's sake, it's even SPELLED differently.
Your inability to differentiate a whale from an Alaskan Salmon is rather frightening though. One is a large aquatic mammal, the other is a fresh water fish. Too far? Absolutely. So, yeah. That happened.
I could go through more, but instead I just recommend that you read the comment section yourself and have a good laugh. It's worth your time.
(Oh, and I've fixed TRHOnline's logging people out issue... I'll have a fully working front page put back together in the next few days then.)
- Traegorn
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