AS a matter of course, starting with Memorial Day, I make an effort to go through my entire friends list and tag some of the much-neglected channels I haven't visited for some time.  It seems that, over the past several years, and since I've been active on LV, I've been pretty-much stayed at home and avoided the "Unofficial start of Summer" and all the "3-Weekend Frenzy" - traffic, crowds, etc.   that goes with it!!  
That's why, over these last few years, I've made it a point, while induldging in spring cleaning, the "manage" my LV channels.  PART of this "managment process" includes visiting channels to see how actively involved they are with their channels and LV in general.  
Well, I've had some  interesting surprises that I would like to share with you all.  

(1)  THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE PARTICIPATION IN LIVE VIDEO - PRESENTING VIDEOS, OR EVEN VISITING 
THERE OWN CHANNELS BY NUMEROUS PEOPLE ON MY FRIENDS LIST !!!   
No REAL  surprise, actually, because of all the "shenanigans" that have been played out here over the past 
eighteen months.  It's understandable that, amidst shut downs,  micro-managing and exasperating delays in 
uploads, what seems to be a "double standard" where "some" "get some" - and many "get none", people will 
get discouraged and leave, heading for "The Ning Sites" or the other "social networks" where such problems 
don't seem as prevalent! 
(2)   AMONGST THE BIGGEST "CULPRITS" HAVE BEEN PEOPLE WITH NO AVATARS/ICONS ON THEIR 
CHANNELS!!  
Last year, I received a multitude of friend requests from people who neglected to put up avatars on their 
channels.  I can't speak for others, but on my channels, I carefully picked an avatar that best-fit my own
personality and creative bent!   I felt that putting an avatar (aka-icon) on One's channel denotes a certain pride
One has of their channel and their work on that channel.  It also denotes a certain "permanence", where they
intend to stay - not put one up to apease a friend of theirs, only to forget they even HAD a channel here! 
(3)    THE LARGEST PERCENTAGE OF THOSE "CULPRIT" WERE UNDER EIGHTEEN!!  
I've run into several "scenarios" regarding this.  Scenario One - See #2 above!  *smile*  Scenario Two is the 
youngster who, being bored over Summer Vacation, decided to put up a channel, just to aleviate the 
boredom and "spice up" their lives!!  After all, besides a "warning", there is no real control over content here. 
If our "budding pubescent" teenager wants to watch "massive mammaries" displayed, he'll get his eye full!!  
*grin*  Kinda what I and my buddies used to do at the nearby magazine store when we were going through 
school - only when Mack caught us, he threw us out for a few hours - he called it our "cool down" period!! 
*grin* 
(4)     THERE IS A DEFINITE "TREND" BETWEEN SUMMER AND THE CREATION OF THESE NEW CHANNELS!!! 
Unlike the popular belief we had last year, that most of the "non-avatared" channels were mere sock 
channels, created by tyrants, shapeshifters or trolls (Hilarious!!), most of the dates, where the channels in 
question were first put up, coincides with the Summer - between June and August.  Although the ranges in
ages differ considerably, most were between 13 to 25 - around the age ranges for Junior High through 
College - Refer to #3 above!!  *smile* 
(5)   WHY AM I KEEPING THESE UNMANAGED CHANNELS?!! 
THAT'S what was going through my head last night and this morning!  WHY?  Well, the first thing that came
to mind was "MY FRIENDS LIST" and trying to keep in four digits instead of the paltry three digits my new 
channels have now.  But, my next "why" was looking at the futility of keeping on what I could only describe as
"dead channels" just to keep my "Numbers" up!!  I would imagine that over 100 thousand new channesl have
been put up between last Summer and now.  But that would mean I'd have to go and look for more - right?! 
YEAH, because why do I want to look at the same old videos, often denoting a theme that is now considered
hackneyed to say the least, just to keep my "Numbers" up!!

Well, I did what I considered the Right Thing!  I deleted, probably, over 100 old channels, staring with the ones that
didn't have avatars/icons and in a few weeks, will go back and delete the ones where I haven't seen any activity in a year or more.  There is a channel, in my CREW list, that hasn't seen any activity in over a year now!  That channel may very-well ALSO get the Gate!! 

I used to have plenty of activity on my channel.  Many people would come in, view my videos, hit them and even leave a comment!  But over the past year, my visitors have dropped down abruptly.  
Some of the problem is that Live Video is now "LIVE VIDEO" !!  and many of the channels are going on "live" (kinda) and taking advantage of the features that were set up last year!!  Usually the people that are most using this feature are companies or individutals that have a large-enough "budget" to afford to put on a good show!!  The ones that don't but still try, often find themselves "ALONE_LIVE"!!  *shrug*  There are some Vloggers out there that attempt to keep their audience interested for up to an hour or more.  But they don't prepare enough material to cover the time.
But some of the reason is "material" itself.  I don't possess a decent-enough movie editor to do a lot of what the more popular channels do.  I don't even have a video camera, nor do I frequent venues that most would consider "attractive" - or the places I go to have prohibitions about video cameras altogether!  So, I scour the Internet to try to find material that I can safely upload (TOS) and through getting a "feel" for my audience, put up videos they would like to see!  Sometimes I fall off the mark (Human Moment!) but most of the time, I'm given positive feedback for my efforts - and make up for whatever shortcomings with the comments I create!!  *grin*  But let's face it Folks, Live Video, and it's new channel members, are taking a different "tack" in their viewing, away from what the older members used to find interesting!  Did you know, by the way, that Jen Jackson tried a different partner after Bikini News shut down?  It evidently flopped because her visits to this site have been sketchy to say the least!!  
No, the problem not only lies with the videos we present, it also has to do with the fact that LV is in the midsts of "Old Crew" vs "New Crew" on the block!!  It's understandable really, because who wants to go right back out and go "trolling for Friends" as it were!!  But quite frankly, keeping the same friends, who's channels have been idle for months to years, and keeping our "Numbers Up", is not what I came here to do, nor what I look for in Entertainment!!   

I couldn't recommend more, to all my Friends and Crew Members, to reach out and find some new Friends - the "New Kids On The Block" in order to inffuse some new Life into your channels!!   There is a method for doing this but it will take some work - I'm only a third of the way through my Friends List right now but should be done before Memorial Day's over!!  So, PLEASE email me or rspond to this blog and let me know how you all feel!!  

See You In the Lidst's !!!  *smile* ~ Cy'  

This is my first attempt at a "blog" in this website but since LV was nice enough to offer this feature, I suppose I would be remiss in not availing myself of it!! 

So, WHY would I start with a topic such as this?  Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist NOT to understand that things have ... changed!  In fact, much has changed in the two-plus years I've been on Live Video.  In fact, It was called "Live Digital" just as I was coming  on - then it changed Its' name and has remained Live Video ever since.  WELL IT CONFUSED THE HELL OUTTA ME !!!  *sheesh*

Back in 2006, when I first came on here, I was following my usual passion of "Net Surfing" and going into various chatrooms, oblivious to the fact that "chatrooms" were "Out" and the "Social Networking thang" was beginning.  It (the bot!) asked me so nicely to "sign up"  and I thought it was necessary to do so in order to view the videos here, so I did.  But as we all know, "Net Surfing" is a fickle endeavor, and usually your typical "Net Surfer" just cruises in for a little while, then moves on - to "find the End of The Internet"!!!  Actually, I didn't do ANYTHING with LV - and was "cornfused and beewildered" when the "LD/LV" transition took place.  "Where's Live Digital and who's this Live Video site"?!!  I was also confused (if not annoyed) to have all this "spam" in my inbox telling me of perfect strangers who wanted to be my "Friend" !!!  But finally, one night - when I didn't have much else to do - my buddies at my favorite chatroom at the time (Chat Your Ass Off. Com. - still exists btw!!) weren't "In" and I was bored - I went into Live Video, if for any other reason, to find out more about these total strangers who wanted to be my "Friend"!! 

I went through all the hoops & ladders to finally DO something with this "channel" they gave me, then after accepting these so-called "Friends" (some of them had already left LV! - go figure!!), I began "Surfing" Live Video!! 
Well, it didn't take me too long to be "hooked" on all the different people that were here - and with the idea of actually watching videos that I would've either waited for one of my friends on my "Forward List" to provide - or going from EVTV1, Funnyjunk or other sites I went to for "video entertainment", for jokes and laughs!!  During that time, I discovered "Real Player" - then I found out Realplayer wasn't the ONLY coding program around!!  Later, I discovered I had a program on my laptop called "Paint"!  And I could actually DO ARTWORK, make funny remarks on pictures, etc!!  I started to have ... FUN!!!   

I also began commenting on videos - emailing people - actually MAKING ... Friends!!!  And over time, I began having as close to a "relationship" as one can have without actually going out and meeting these people - and since I didn't have the wearwithall, time or inclination to travel all over the World to actually MEET everybody, it was nice that I had a platform like LV to DO this with!!!  

The problem with Chatrooms at the time they were so "novel and popular" was you rarely ever got a chance to actually SEE the person you were chatting with.  At first, it was kinda annoying - I mean, we're naturally driven to accept someone as a "Friend" only after we've met them - hung out with them - shared a couple of "Life experiences" with them - formulated in our minds that we actually LIKE them enough to actually call them a "Friend"!!  Chatrooms back then tried to accomodate this by allowing us to create avatars - or put up pictures of ourselves.  It didn't take long, though, for us to realize that MANY of us were, either putting up cartoon images of their personalities - or whom they percieved themselves to be - or putting up pictures of themselves when they were far-younger than they actually were - or of somebody else they would like to look like!!  Interesting isn't it?
The "Charade" of "Internet Socializing"!  Nothing is what it really is - and we're left to our PRECEPTIONS of what they might be!!  But on a Social Network like LV, everything's basically for "Fun" - we're EXPECTED to be charactitures of our channels - with the OPTIONS of actually displaying our physical personas! 

But People are what they are - some go along with this and enjoy the fun - others have "fun" giving others grief! 
THAT's when I discovered WHY they have Delete and Block buttons!!!  I've been a big proponent of those - came from the years I spent in chatrooms not wanting to put up with some of the "demonic fools" that would come in, starved for attention their mommies never gave em and causing trouble amongst other chatters!!    

I usually stay away from most of the "emo" and so-called "tyranny" that floats around.  You know what I'm referring to - the "trolls" and others that would create grief for others.  Like we don't have enough "Grief" in the Real World, these clowns gotta hand us MORE!!

But I also am very open as to my friendships and have been told I have one of the largest "Crews" around!!  The reason?!  Simply that it's practically IMPOSSIBLE to tag EVERYBODY on my Friends List!  I know - I've tried!!!  I've broken them down to Males & Females/ Over and Under Eighteen/ PG / M/ small or written comments rather than pictures, etc, etc, etc.  Thought I'd break them all down and spend a couple of days on each catagory...  WELLL - what happened was that idea took up more and more time as my Friends List grew!!  Pretty soon, I wasn't getting to bed till after 2am on a work night and I was starting to look like a racoon, the rings under my eyes were getting so pronounced!!!  So, I developed a "system" where I use my Crew List for my daily tagging - try to tag my subscribers once a week - then, time providing, I tag everybody on my Friends List!  It "Kinda" works!  But like any "system" created by a Human, without much planning, distracted and always "in-a-hurry", it's flawed!!  But like any Legal system, I always preface, "it's the best system we have so far"!!! 

Lately, I've been very disturbed (like I'm not all the time anyways!!) about the "happenings" going on here.  I'm well aware that MANY of us have had problems uploading videos - being videos go up, being "hit" a couple times, along with comments, favorited, etc - only to have them deleted a few hours later.  Otherwise innocent (and sometimes not-so-innocent) videos being deleted - often without an explaination beyond, "copyright infringement" or "vioation of TOS"!  It's like "little grassy knolls" following us and jumping out with a "club" that says "deleted" on it!!  I've heard rumors of LV actually allowing homeless folks to act as "moderators" and "administrators", viewing our material and deciding for themselves whether or not the media they were viewing was worthwhile - all the way to the same jobs being offered to illegal immigrants!!!  Since June of last year, the "Rumor Mill" has been spinning out some "DOOZIES" !!!   

But the only "common denominator" I've found is the total LACK of communication with LV staff - let alone, LV management in relating to channel operators EXACTLY the "what's" and the "why's" of their decisions!  To date, I've emailed them around twelve times - and To date, have gotten only ONE reply - three months later!!!  By then, the problem came and went and I had two or more things to email them with - but demurred because I figured they wouldn't respond!  

So, what has actually happened, at least to my observation, is that, to many of us, a "cyber-pall" has enveloped us - we're feeling more and more disenfranchised, with a feeling that our creativity has been stifled no matter how "inoffensive" our material is - and believing we're being judged by folks who are homeless!!!  ... or something like that!!  

So, please respond to this blog.  I mean, telling me I'm "full-O'Crap" isn't really what I'd call "constructive" ... but it speaks to your frame of mind at least!!!  Thanks!!!