the-blog

I've Lost my WWE Slam Crate Partnership

Sat, 06 May 2017 00:27:05 +0100

Yeah, that title is quite eye-catching and it's not clickbait/misleading whatsoever.

As of today, May 5, I've lost my partnership deal with WWE Slam Crate/Loot Crate. I awoke at the top of this hour, to catch an email that was sent to myself about 4 hours ago. The email came from my manager, who was informing me that I've been dropped from my partnership deal with them.

The reason: Lack of sales. People, for whatever reason, weren't signing up for WWE Slam Crate under my referral/partner link. When people join WWE Slam Crate under that custom link, it's a beneficial sale on my account. When that happens, the company sees it and says "This guy is bringing us business". However, that wasn't the case here.

From what I saw, only ONE person joined the service via my link in the last 8 months. Despite the first 3 unboxings having thousands of views each, only 1 person joined the service (and I know who he is, which I thank him for). So since they weren't seeing results, I'm out of the deal. I'll go into detail in a video tomorrow on the main channel to shed light on this.

Milestone

Wed, 21 Dec 2016 19:35:39 +0100

About 1-2 days ago, I checked my channel's Dashboard and saw a milestone that I'm glad to see.

The main channel just recently hit 500,000 video views between almost 1,900 public videos.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has ever viewed my videos, I'm so ecstatic over this discovery after 4 1/2 years of continuous work.

Upcoming Announcement

Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:28:23 +0100

I've been recently in talks with a specific company via email about doing promotional business with them in the near future.

It's a service that easily has its name out there to the world, not going to spoil it yet until I bring it up on video.

I don't know if this upcoming deal will be considered a business deal, sponsorship, or whatever it will be known as. You'll have to wait and see for this one.

The Status of my DoubleZWWE Channel

Sun, 09 Oct 2016 05:55:21 +0100

Something has been on my mind lately that I wanted to discuss, which is my DoubleZWWE channel.

Lately, the views have plummeted like crazy over the last few months and my recent viewing of the monthly video view analytics really caught my attention. The channel recently hit 25,000 Subscribers, but only a handful of videos within the last 20 videos on that channel have reached at least 1,000 views. I checked my analytics right before making this post and the view count discovery is severely startling (as shown below).

The view count for last month, September 2016, was 352,090 views. That's the lowest monthly view count total that I've had for the channel since December 2013. December 2013 video view count was 354,093. Every month between that time period has had more views than that, yet the view count has fallen dramatically lately.

I honestly have no idea what is going on, but this is shocking to see. The subscriber count growth has slowed down and a lot of new videos get blocked immediately upon upload. The top 2 videos still get good view count growth, but not a lot.

I'm not sure what's going on, but something's not right if the monthly view count is at the lowest that it has been in 3 years.

Well, it's been a while

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 22:05:04 +0100

For the first time in 9 months, a blog is FINALLY being posted. :O

OMG, alert the media. Hell has frozen over, LET IT GO!

Anyway, I thought I'd take this blog to explain why I haven't updated the website since January and why it looks barren now. As people may know, my debit card information was hacked back in January and again in February after I obtained a new debit card. It turns out, their information was compromised due to malware on my computer and I managed to take care of it. However, that also relates to the absence of this website's updates.

My original debit card information was linked to my account on Yola, which is the website I use to create this website, in order to obtain a custom domain URL. That means I'd pay monthly to get the ".yolasite" portion out of the URL. Once my debit card information got hacked twice, I got an email saying "Your information isn't updated and you've lost your custom domain URL."

Once I lost the URL and after having my information stolen, I lost the need to keep this website updated and even considered shutting it down lately. However, I think it's time to change things up in the future for this website.

After looking at the tabs I had on this site, I realize how much of an update it needed. Hell, I still had a tab for WWE 2K15 videos. So what I want to do is mostly restart the site coming up. I'm going to do a new tab for Contact Information and then come up with ideas for content that I want posted on this website.

If anyone has any suggestions for what they'd like to see on this site, reach me on social media.

Debit Card Fraud Issue

Sun, 17 Jan 2016 20:40:16 +0100

Yesterday, I uploaded a vlog to my TheDoubleZ channel, talking about a recent issue. I'll give it in text form because I've got an update since this morning's early vlog.

This past Thursday, I received a phone call before my haircut to contact my credit union's Fraud Division. This confused me to no end, so I did so an hour later because I had to get a haircut. I contacted my credit union over the phone and after some talking, I discovered that someone somehow got either my bank or debit card information and made some fraudulent charges to my account. Since then, the woman over the phone has halted my account for now to prevent further issues and is issuing me a new debit card for safety reasons (and my current card was set to expire this month). Tomorrow, I'm going to start getting this issue sorted out.

NOW, I've got an update since the video. My mother printed the recent transactions and I see what has recently gone on. It looks like the transactions have happened over the course of 1-2 different days. I've noticed transactions that look bizarre and I will be bringing them up with my credit union in order to try to retrieve the spent money, if possible.

Another thing that I was just recently told that caught my ear is that my mother mentioned that 3 other people that she knows that have accounts in the same credit union as me also have had their information hacked, so that's very crazy. It sounds like someone must've hacked the bank's information server in order to take money. I think my mother has mentioned that the news will most likely be informed of this. If so, I hope it'll be looked into and get some answers on what has gone on.

Once I get an update this point forward, I will provide any updates on the side channel (TheDoubleZ).

Reflecting on 2015

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 04:14:22 +0100

As of this post, it's an hour before 2016 begins. Sitting here, I thought I'd make this final blog entry of 2015 as a way to reflect on how this year has been.

A lot has gone down. The channel reached 1,000 subscribers back in February, lost 3 relatives this year, changed YouTube Networks, finally debunked my theory of having Bipolar Disorder, finally got medicated for my stomach issue after 7 years of issues, unleashed all of the Unboxing series playlists, Gaming Channel hit 150 subs and is almost at 200, DoubleZWWE reached 20k subs, did the fun Promo video on John Cena, WWE '12 vs. WWE '13 vs. WWE 2K14 vs. WWE 2K15 has become my most viewed video of both this year and of all of my videos thus far, grew my video game console collection, dealt with dislike trolls, completed the Wrestlemania DVD collection (for now), have gone through meltdown periods, upgraded to the replica Spinner Belt, and so many other things that I can't easily remember off the top of my head.

In terms of channel goals, I only have 1 for this year. 2,000 subscribers. Only around 360 subscribers away from the goal and I know that'll hit the goal in no time. Only thing to also do is get the views up, since they've been down ever since May of last year when YouTube did the whole View Recount issue when views were undercounted by about 2% (in their words) and they haven't been up since. I've had some videos reach a good amount of views (mainly, most of the monthly subscription unboxing videos), but hardly anything else.

So I'm hoping this year of 2016 will be bigger, not certain what the year will hold. All I can hope for is more progress and a turnaround in my personal life. Thanks to everyone who has been supportive for however long you may have been supportive for, you all mother freaking rock.

ALSO, I'll be having a new announcement video coming ASAP about the new video series I'm currently working on. I've got 1 episode fully produced for this upcoming series, but I'll explain more in the announcement video. Have a Happy New Year folks.

Network changes

Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:43:20 +0100

As of today, 9/24/15, I am officially out of my contract with my network, Freedom.

I joined the network, very quickly, around the end of October of 2014, right after I was out of my contract with Maker Gen. I applied for Freedom the day I was out of my Maker Gen contract and was accepted the next day. After a while with Freedom, I requested my release from my contract with them last month and it finally got approved today.

The reason why I left Freedom is for 2 particular reasons. Before I quickly state my 2 reasons, I'm still partnered with them on my Gaming channel, but not anymore on my main channel.

1. Networks like Freedom that easily let anybody into their network don't really benefit good sized channels, like mine. If you're just starting on your channel, a network like Maker Gen or Freedom works just fine. If your channel is at a bigger size, a network like that doesn't really help with much.

2. Something seemed fishy about the pay. As people probably know, more views = more money on YouTube. I'm not in it for the money, I just make it on the side along the way. But something weird caught my eye that made me think that the network wasn't for me. After doing research, I found out that 4 months of the year pay the highest in terms of ads. March, June, September, and December. Those are the 4 months at the end of each financial quarter for businesses, which means they're the 4 months when companies will spend extra money on ads and it'll mean more money for you because of those ads on your videos.

It's especially obvious of that during December, since that's the Holiday Season. I checked my stats for March and June and a big red flag popped in my head. I had around 10,000 views in March and a little more than 15,000 in June. HOWEVER, I got paid almost $1 more in March than June despite the fact that I had a higher view count in the month of June compared to March. How that happened, I'll never know. I know the contract agreement was a 60/40 split, but even that split leaving those kinds of payouts doesn't make a lick of sense. You don't make almost $8 in March on 10k views and a little around $7 in June on 15k+ views without something not adding up.

So that stuff made me think that things weren't going to get better and I chose to leave. I also heard people say negative things about Freedom, which I did my research on before I made the choice to leave. My current plan is to join Curse, which has a better revenue split and a far better reputation. I applied just before starting this blog post and I already meet their requirements in terms of my channel stats. I should know by tomorrow what their answer is to my application, so I can't wait.

The 'Jimmy Snuka' Issue

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 23:21:56 +0100

It's time to address the elephant in the room, the recent reports that Jimmy Snuka is finally being charged with the 1983 murder of his then-girlfriend (whose name I can't remember).

I have to ask one thing. What took so long? 32 years to be charged with this thing, should've been done sooner.

From what I've heard, he's off WWE's website like we saw with Hulk Hogan after his racism issue that came out not too long ago. I don't blame them for doing this to Snuka's profile, it has to be done. I know he's going through a lot right now due to stomach cancer, which I wish him a full recovery on, but this is going to nip him in the butt from here on out.

My struggle with Bipolar Disorder

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 05:08:50 +0100

It's time to get down to the most serious topic I'll ever blog about here on my website.

I have personally diagnosed myself with Bipolar Disorder (after doing research) this past January. An episode of Degrassi from a while back, research on the condition, and taking multiple online tests have lead to my personal diagnosis. The reason I refuse to seek a doctor/therapist's diagnosis is because doctors always tell you "Something's wrong, you need medication". I refuse to take medication after what I went through in the Fall of 2009 with ADHD.

I'll quickly tell that story because it intertwines with this issue. Fall of 2009, my mom brought me to a therapist to see if I could get medication to stabilize my Asperger's Syndrome to better improve my performance in school. Instead of getting medication for that, I get diagnosed with ADHD and given Byuproprian/Buproprian to help my ADHD and depression issue I was going through at that time. The small pills didn't do a thing and the bigger pills that she made me take made both problems worse. Because of that failure of an experience with medication, I refuse to take pills to treat things outside of what aspirin can help with.

So I choose not to seek professional help to prevent myself from potentially being subjected to that cycle again like I did almost 6 years ago. The thing about Bipolar Disorder is that it can pretty much be described as mood swings to a certain degree. One moment, I could feel good and have energy and then suddenly because silent and depressed the next. I easily recognize this happening while I'm at work, sometimes at home. The one benefit of Bipolar Disorder though is I can suddenly have periods of high creativity, which is great for planning together video ideas to get me out of any Writer's Block. Although, it's scary when it happens.

The true issue with the condition is the mood swings itself. Sometimes, I can feel good and just try to have fun. Before I know it, I can suddenly become isolated and feel like having an emotional breakdown without saying a word to anyone beforehand. I've already had a handful of times where I felt like I was going to have an emotional breakdown during work and took a LOT of inner power to hold that all in. If that's not a struggle from within, I don't know what is (other than struggling to prevent myself from going nuts and destroying junk).

One thing I think is starting to become therapeutic, in a way, is doing my YouTube videos (primarily, my occasional Ultimate Rant videos). It's something that helps divert my mind onto something different and keeps me at a stable level. The Ultimate Rant videos seem to help me in order to let out any inner emotion/anger I have rather than bottling stuff up. But there's a different side to me when that camera is off. I can get my energy up for my videos, but then feel and act a different way when I'm not on camera.

One thing I know has been affecting my mood as well is something that has been screwing with me for the past year and 8 months: Being single. Why is that affecting me? Well, it's because of a few things listed below.

1. I can't stand being alone. Being alone for such a lengthy period of time makes me fear that I'll be alone forever, which I know NOBODY enjoys.
2. There are so many relationship-type experiences that I'm missing out on, despite being 23. 99% of the time, if you list something you can do in a relationship, you'll be listing something I still haven't done.
3. I've become severely fed up with my co-workers rubbing it in my face that they've been through relationship stuff (relationships, marriages, sex, etc) and I haven't. The 2 things I hear the most coming out of their mouths is "You need a woman" and "You need to get laid". TELL ME SOMETHING I HAVEN'T HEARD A BILLION TIMES!

Something that has been haunting me as well is something that I didn't think would be like this, not having a girlfriend that lives in the same state as me in the past 8 years. My first relationship, which was the only relationship of mine with a woman that lives in the same state as me, ended in late-September of 2007. Since then, not 1 woman in the state of Michigan has wanted to be with me. I'll let you digest that statistic right there.

To simply think that nobody that I graduated high school with wanted to be with me is honestly a startling thing. Not being with a woman who went to the same school as me from 10th-12th grade was a primary reason why I didn't even bother attending my Senior Prom to avoid going alone and feeling down about it. Being single right now is also a reason why I don't even want to attend this upcoming scheduled "5-Year High School Reunion" that's planned for next month. Everyone I graduated with will be there, talking about their great lives since high school of having a great job and that someone special. What will I say I've gotten since high school? A job I've been at for the last 2 years and YouTube. Ok, that's one thing. Now what about that special someone or at least a girlfriend at that point?

I've looked myself in the mirror NUMEROUS times and ask myself the same question every single time. "What the hell has happened to me?" Being single for this lengthy period of time, having Bipolar Disorder, and intolerable co-workers (not all of them are intolerable, let me make that clear) is migraine-inducing. Being alone this long has even gotten me into the mindset that my dating life is officially over at this point. I've always dreamed of this amazing and happy life for me to live, but how do I know that it can happen at this point?

I need to find a way to overcome this and regain control of my life, but I just don't know how right now.