OK so I have had some form of online presence for a long time, be it writing blog posts, making podcasts or YouTube videos, obviously I have never been big or this place would have a lot more visitors. I haven't just been making stuff though I have also been enjoying other peoples content, I have seen internet stars made and then seen others come crashing down from grace in what seemed liked seconds.
So now it looks like we are in the middle of another shit storm, basically Channel Awesome an internet site previously called That Guy with The Glasses has been criticized by some of its former employees for allegedly mistreating its contributors. The allegations leveled at Channel Awesome have been circulating for the past few weeks so I guess I am a little bit late on this topic, I was totally unaware that the hashtag #ChangeTheChannel had been trending with Videomakers such as Allison "Obscurus Lupa" Pregler and Lindsay ''Nostalgia Chick'' Ellis having gone on Twitter to share their thoughts regarding Channel Awesome. In fact lots of popular video makers who had previously appeared on Channel Awesome started talking about the sites management, claiming that they left as a result of issues stemming from the behavior of its owners, Doug Walker, Rob Walker, and Mike Michaud.
Former contributors, who previously hosted their videos on the site, have been criticizing the attitudes of the Walker Brothers and CEO Mike Michaud, claiming that they were treated poorly during their time on the site. These complaints have ranged from criticisms of Doug Walker's alleged incompetence when it came to both his abilities or rather lack of ability to do technical things such as press record without seeking help and the way in which he handled the development of the site's feature-length films. To much deeper issues concerning the way Mike Michaud handled certain contributors to the site. To put it in simple terms if half of what has been claimed is true then the guy was and or is essentially a colossal douche pretty much whenever it concerns women and talent he personally viewed as low rent.
A Twitter campaign called #ChangeTheChannel was started in an effort to convince Channel Awesome's management to alter its approach to how it treats its contributors, and seems to have gained a lot of attention since being kicked off on March 14. In an extensive list of complaints about the site, CEO Mike Michaud was accused of sexism by Allison Pregler, who claimed: "Yes, he definitely does not like women. I believe he called me a "troublemaker" at one point.".
A huge document has been compiled which details pretty much all relevant complaints but I know most people don't have time to read through all of that, heck I have read it but I did it in a sort of casual skim through manner. Its not just people who have either walked or been fired moaning though, nope plenty of people have quit very recently over this including Todd In The Shadows, Suede, Diamanda Hagan, MikeJ, and Charles Sonnenburg and probably most importantly Linkara who I would argue is the sites biggest loss for many reasons. This is a pretty mass exodus of talent, and it leaves the site with a lot less to offer, the only person who has concretely said he wont be leaving is Brad aka The Cinema Snob.
I think its a shame to see the site fall apart like this but I actively support everyone who has left. It does seem like certain people made the site a very toxic environment to work for and those who have left have only done what I would advise anyone to do in a toxic environment and that's get the heck out of there as fast as possible both to escape the toxic place itself and before any bad mojo rubs off on them.
So now it looks like we are in the middle of another shit storm, basically Channel Awesome an internet site previously called That Guy with The Glasses has been criticized by some of its former employees for allegedly mistreating its contributors. The allegations leveled at Channel Awesome have been circulating for the past few weeks so I guess I am a little bit late on this topic, I was totally unaware that the hashtag #ChangeTheChannel had been trending with Videomakers such as Allison "Obscurus Lupa" Pregler and Lindsay ''Nostalgia Chick'' Ellis having gone on Twitter to share their thoughts regarding Channel Awesome. In fact lots of popular video makers who had previously appeared on Channel Awesome started talking about the sites management, claiming that they left as a result of issues stemming from the behavior of its owners, Doug Walker, Rob Walker, and Mike Michaud.
Former contributors, who previously hosted their videos on the site, have been criticizing the attitudes of the Walker Brothers and CEO Mike Michaud, claiming that they were treated poorly during their time on the site. These complaints have ranged from criticisms of Doug Walker's alleged incompetence when it came to both his abilities or rather lack of ability to do technical things such as press record without seeking help and the way in which he handled the development of the site's feature-length films. To much deeper issues concerning the way Mike Michaud handled certain contributors to the site. To put it in simple terms if half of what has been claimed is true then the guy was and or is essentially a colossal douche pretty much whenever it concerns women and talent he personally viewed as low rent.
A Twitter campaign called #ChangeTheChannel was started in an effort to convince Channel Awesome's management to alter its approach to how it treats its contributors, and seems to have gained a lot of attention since being kicked off on March 14. In an extensive list of complaints about the site, CEO Mike Michaud was accused of sexism by Allison Pregler, who claimed: "Yes, he definitely does not like women. I believe he called me a "troublemaker" at one point.".
A huge document has been compiled which details pretty much all relevant complaints but I know most people don't have time to read through all of that, heck I have read it but I did it in a sort of casual skim through manner. Its not just people who have either walked or been fired moaning though, nope plenty of people have quit very recently over this including Todd In The Shadows, Suede, Diamanda Hagan, MikeJ, and Charles Sonnenburg and probably most importantly Linkara who I would argue is the sites biggest loss for many reasons. This is a pretty mass exodus of talent, and it leaves the site with a lot less to offer, the only person who has concretely said he wont be leaving is Brad aka The Cinema Snob.
I think its a shame to see the site fall apart like this but I actively support everyone who has left. It does seem like certain people made the site a very toxic environment to work for and those who have left have only done what I would advise anyone to do in a toxic environment and that's get the heck out of there as fast as possible both to escape the toxic place itself and before any bad mojo rubs off on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment