#243 Follow Creators, Not Crowds. My Response To Jake Frew

Jake Frew's YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/@JakeFrew

Jake Frew's Patreon page  https://www.patreon.com/c/JakeFrew

What would you choose if YouTube hid views and subscriber counts—hype or your own taste? I respond to Jake Frew's Patreon post about YouTube Metrics and Airline etiquette.  I discuss a world without public metrics and trace how that shift might bring us back to trust, storytelling, and the simple power of word of mouth. From the Mona Lisa’s fame without a counter to the way a Spielberg credit earns an automatic watch, I explain why following a creator’s voice can be more satisfying than chasing whatever tops the charts.

As for airline etiquette I talk about being a shades-up person most of the time, when it’s kind to drop them, why not reclining in tight cabins respects the person behind you, and how back-to-front boarding logic beats aisle gridlock. Add a few low-friction habits—slide over, don’t guard the aisle, stash bags fast—and everyone’s flight gets easier. 

I believe we should support the creators who earn your trust, whether that’s subscribing, sharing, or joining their Patreon. If this resonated, hit follow, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review with your take.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Respond To Jake Frew
• 3:23 Life Without YouTube Metrics
• 6:09 Following Creators Over Popularity
• 9:14 Try Hiding Views And Subs
• 10:30 Airplane Window Shade Debate
• 12:19 Seat Etiquette And Personal Space
• 14:29 Boarding Logic And Back-To-Front
• 16:59 Flying Frustrations And Delays

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:03

Hey, this is Scott Townsend. Thanks for listening to the Scott Townsend show. And today I'm doing something a little different, very different, and that is uh responding. I'm gonna respond to Jake Frew's uh video that he posted on Patreon today. I'm a patron of Jake Frew. He's a uh video content creator, uh, all around great guy, and uh I've been following him now for a couple years at least. And so uh yeah, as uh because I am a patron, I get some little extras, and so I got a little something extra today. A video that he posted with some thoughts on different things, so I thought I would just respond. He didn't ask anybody to respond, but I thought I would respond to. I mean, he didn't ask anybody to respond via video, uh, but I thought I would. Uh, number one, because I needed to create some podcast content, and two, uh, just want to be a little different. So one of his questions was would YouTube, what was it, thoughts on YouTube metrics? Would anybody like YouTube better if you couldn't see YouTube metrics? Like you couldn't tell how many subscribers the person had, you couldn't see how many views the video had. So I don't know. Uh I mean if it's good, people will find it, tell each other about it. Uh there's you know, if you if you really think about it, um sometimes people will watch stuff that seems like a lot of other people have been watching. Uh other times it's kind of fun to find rare and uh obscure art out there that not everybody's jumped on the back bandwagon with. Um, I think back in the old day, would it be better if we didn't have the metrics? So, you know, when you look at uh like the Mona Lisa, the painting, the Mona Lisa, there's no viewer counts on the frame, there's no uh number of people who follow the Mona Lisa, it's just a painting, and because of word of mouth and people writing about it, talking about it, singing about it, making up songs about it, we're all curious as to the Mona Lisa, and I you know there's only one place you can go to actually see it, so it's kind of rare. There's there's there's a scarcity there. Um so I think there's something to be said for scarcity. And in this case, you know, if if there's no metrics and you I can't see how many people have watched a video when I still watch the video, I I think I would be more concerned with who I'm uh following. I would be more purposeful. It might be fun to go out there and just do a random dive into some, you know, just pick random videos to watch from time to time. But you know, it's like kind of like TV uh or music. You find you find some, you find a genre you like, you find an artist that you like, and you kind of follow with that because that's kind of your jam, that's your bag, that's your groove. And so I think the same would hold true for videos. Um, it's just like a TV show. You know, there's a lot of people who like friends, and for good reason, it was well written, well done, good actors, good acting, funny jokes, uh appealed to a lot of people, and there's there's nothing wrong with that. Then you got other shows like I've never watched Doctor Who, and I don't know that I want to, but there's a lot of people who like to watch Doctor Who, and they're really into it. Uh and and and that's okay. That's just not I don't even know if it's for me. I I'm I'm not even curious enough to watch it. I don't know who the numbers are, I don't know how many people watch it. I don't know anything about it except for a telephone booth. That's it. So I think we curate by following a person, an artist. Like if Steven Spielberg directs a movie, makes a movie. I'm gonna watch it. Doesn't matter. Because I'm a big Steven Spielberg fan. Jake Fru. If Jake puts out a video, I trust that he does a good job. I enjoy his content, and because I enjoy it, I go so far as to put money towards it every month. And when he posts something, I'm gonna read it, watch it, and in this case, uh re uh not review respond to it. So but I also know that people like lists, they like the New York Times bestseller. What's number one? What's number two? Uh who's the best football team, who's the best sport, what's the best sports team, what's the who's the winner? Everybody wants to know, follow along. So I don't know. Man, I don't know about that one. Uh I I would I I would suggest, you know, if I could, and if they would, so I would suggest they try it. Okay, go ahead and try it. Don't post how many subscribers you have, and don't post how many views there are of a video, and just you know, let word of mouth play out, let people talk about it. And uh like Landman. I've not seen Landman yet, but I've seen a lot of people talk about it, heard a lot heard a lot of people talk about it. Uh, I've seen a couple of teasers. I saw Billy Bob Thornton on Joe Rogan the other day. So now I'm my interest has been peaked. So good content will always come to the top, rise to the top, crappy content, it won't. Uh there may be some short-lived one-hit wonders out there, but you know, but those aren't the ones that we remember, those aren't the ones that we go back to. We go back to the well where people have proven themselves to be uh good creators, so we find out who they are and we kind of uh uh latch onto them. So I would say, you know what, try YouTube without the numbers, without the metrics. There, there you go. I just kind of had to think my way through that. The other question Jake uh asked and wanted to re ask for a re uh response to is uh something about airline airplane etiquette. And uh what about airplane etiquette? I have a lot of thoughts on airplane etiquette. I think what what was his question? Oh, people turning down, pulling down the shade in the middle of the day and it being dark in the airplane and the tube full of people. And why his question, you know, his thoughts were why wouldn't people leave the shade up so that they could what look outside and enjoy the view? You know, because you don't get that view very often. Uh so yeah, I'm all for shades up. Except for when you're flying from south to north and the west sun, setting sun, and it's hot, and you're on the west side of the plane, you're on that side of the plane. Uh it it would to help control the temperature inside the tube so you're not cooking, although they have air conditioning, it would be a good idea. And I've even heard stewardesses mention, you know, you might pull down the shade to help control the heat in the plane because of the setting sun, all that. So I get that. But for the most part, I'm a shades up kind of guy. Other thoughts on airplane etiquette. Uh I I when I go on an airplane, I I'm your least concern. I want everyone to get along to get from point A to point B with as little hassle and fuss as possible. I will sit in my seat. I will if I'm next to the window, I'll try to scoot over as close as I can to the window so I'm not touching the person in the middle seat, if at all possible, and just stay there hands folded, like a good little boy, until we land. Um, I am not fussy about what the stewardess brings to munch on or drink. Um, I'm not going to put my seat back. Not going to do it. Uh uh just because the seat can go back a few inches doesn't mean it should go back a few inches. I don't want to be getting any closer to the person behind me. And yeah, I mean, and then encroaching on their space. Uh, if the seats were a little bit farther apart, maybe, but no, not gonna not gonna do that either. And getting on the plane. Etiquette. I think if it was Townsend Airlines, I would have everyone bored from back to front. So you open the door, and the people, if your seat, assigned seat is in the back, you go first and just go all the way down the tube and then just fill the tube up until you get to the front. Whereas with a random anything goes seating arrangement, people are picking and choosing what seat they get into, and they're backing up a little bit, then they're going forward, backing up, and you know, then they finally get to where they think they might want to be. And now you're trying to make a judgment call because there's someone in the middle, or I don't know, you know. So here's me. I know exactly where I'm going. I'm going all the way to the back of the plane, against the back, to the left, if it's open, or to the right of the aisle. That's me. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm not holding things up. I am going to progress until all the way, go all the way to the back and to the left or right by the window. I don't know. I'm just trying to be accommodating, helpful. Uh, we're all gonna get there at the same time, whether you're sitting in front or sitting in back, it's about a few milliseconds before the people in front get there before you do. Um, so yeah, I I don't like airports. I really don't like flying. I love to fly. I love to fly. It's the people that I don't enjoy being around. You know, uh it's people that have made us get to the point where we have to be x-rayed and radared and scanned and frisked and groped. Um purses and bags and backpacks gone through. You gotta throw away little bottles of shampoo and can't carry a pocket knife and uh so much, so stressful. Just like a bunch of cows hurting people through, like a bunch of cattle. So I I I if I don't have to fly, I don't. Oh, and then the delays. There's always delays, all kinds of delays. You're at their mercy. Whether you get there or not on time is anybody's guess. Chances are it's not going to be on time. And then when weather hits, bad weather hits, you can really get screwed up. You can really, yeah, I can really foul up your schedule. So those are my thoughts. Airplane etiquette. Don't crank the seat back, don't draw attention to yourself, just set your butt down and scoot over and don't try to keep the aisle seat and make people walk over you. If you get the aisle seat because it's the only seat left, then lucky you. But yeah, it's different for me if it's first class when I've paid for a seat. Uh and it's up front, I still wouldn't mind being the last aboard. I don't need to be the front the first person. Because here's what's weird is if you're the the uh if you're sitting in first class, and I've sat in first class before on several occasions, they let you on first, you take your seat, and then everybody parades past you to get to the steerage section of the airplane, and they're looking at you, you're looking at them, or trying not to make eye contact, like, ooh, who are they? Ooh, who are they? It's it's that's kind of awkward. I would rather, if I'm sitting in front in first class, I would rather go on last so that all these people don't have to be walking past me to get to their seat. Let everybody get on the plane, then I can get on the plane and and it was no fuss, no mus. Yeah, I don't have to be walking past a ton of people, a ton of people don't have to be walking past me. There, there you go. So, Jake, there's my thoughts on some of the things that you brought up today. If you want to follow Jake, I'll put a link to his uh channel down below. If you want to be a patron of his channel, I'll have a Patreon link down below too. I highly suggest it. My recommendation. And uh for what it's worth, I've put my money where my mouth is, and I think uh you wouldn't I think you would enjoy the channel, and I would like to see more people. I'm sure he has a lot of fans, a lot of uh uh patrons. Uh, but you know, he he could and we all could use more. So yeah. Anyway, thanks for listening. Sorry, it's long, it's kind of rambling. Um, that's it for now. So, yeah, for I was gonna say for Scott Townsend, but no. This is Scott Townsend. Thanks for watching, listening to Scott Townsend show. Have a great day, everything's gonna be all right, and we'll talk to you later.