The long drama of Channel Awesome, Doug and Rob Walker, and CEO Mike Michaud

[Uzuki]

This is not that surprising because a hunch of nerds on the internet who jobs is to review or rant (not thag there's anything wrong with that) are probably not kind of people who make the best business decisions

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I know, it's just I wasn't expecting this level of incompetence. It seems like all the right choices are right in front of them and they keep letting them slip through their hands. Surprisingly you can run a business and still treat people like decent human beings. It's really not that hard.

 

[Wanderer5]

Man, I had wondered if there was a particular reason why Lindsay left, and that whole thing with Dan.....

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I guess the question is, what would be the killing blow for CA? What would need to happen for the killing blow? Doug Walker doing his own thing and leaving the channel?

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I guess the question is, what would be the killing blow for CA? What would need to happen for the killing blow? Doug Walker doing his own thing and leaving the channel?

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If Doug were to leave, it would destroy both him and CA at the same time. He doesn't own the rights to the Critic, and we've already seen in stunning clarity that he doesn't really have the raw talent or creativity to sustain himself as a content creator without that character. So CA would lose viewers and he wouldn't be able to survive on YT without them.

But considering that the entire site basically exists as a platform for Doug and he'd see zero benefit in leaving, I think that CA's time is just over and it will continue to bleed out until even Doug doesn't care anymore.

 

[unknownspectator]

man, gonzo's whole section was sad to read. I unsubscribed from CA yesterday. Good Riddance.

 

[Deleted member 3542]

The Holly Brown section I overlooked earlier. Not just the creepy Mike Ellis stuff, that seems to be a thing in other sections also, but her just fired and unable to get a job after due to their bullshit "contract." They took complete advantage of her and pretty much ruined her life.

 

[The Hobo]

Someone on 4chan posted a few years ago about their experiences working on Kickassia. He said Doug had no technical skills at all when it came to film making. It could have been someone making stuff up, but from reading the google doc, it falls in line what the former Channel Awesome contributors are saying about Doug.

 

[Rhomega]

man, gonzo's whole section was sad to read. I unsubscribed from CA yesterday. Good Riddance.

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I unsubscribed last week. I've been enjoying NC for years, but after all this coming out, I'm done. Still enjoy Linkara and Lindsey.

 

[GKSilKamina]

I haven't gone to Channel Awesome itself in a long time, though I still watch videos from several people that are currently/formerly a part of it: Lindsay Ellis, Brad Jones, Todd in the Shadows, Leon Thomas, etc. I'm shocked to see just how poorly things were handled. You're trying to run a company and yet have no decent means of communication with your staff? And when they do finally get a hold of you, you just straight up ignore them? And to think that's the lightest of the bullshit brought up in the document.

 

[caliph95]

I know, it's just I wasn't expecting this level of incompetence. It seems like all the right choices are right in front of them and they keep letting them slip through their hands. Surprisingly you can run a business and still treat people like decent human beings. It's really not that hard.

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It's probably because I'm a business student but yeah even that doesn't excuse sheer incompetence display by the higher ups

like even for pure pragmatism and not kindness you would want producers to be happy but nope

 

[Deleted member 3815]

Finished reading the entire document and it just straight up confirms one thing;

The Walker Brothers are talentless hack who have no idea how to treat other well or anything about film making and the only reason why the Nostalgia Critic got popular was because Doug just so happened to be in the right place at the right time as Youtube was still in its early days.

 

[caliph95]

I unsubscribed last week. I've been enjoying NC for years, but after all this coming out, I'm done. Still enjoy Linkara and Lindsey.

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I'm the same I don't think I can watch a nostalgic critic review but will continue with the ex producers

even the channel awesome thread here which had little visitors basically stopped

 

[Uzumaki Goku]

Well, here's the thing despite all this, his views are still up. He got 500k views for his Beauty and the Beast review.

 

[caliph95]

Well, here's the thing despite all this, his views are still up. He got 500k views for his Beauty and the Beast review.

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I doubted it would affect him was just talking about the thread here

I imagine unless it reaches YouTube they will be fine

 

[firehawk12]

Wait, Doug Walker doesn't own the Nostalgia Critic?

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Wait, Doug Walker doesn't own the Nostalgia Critic?

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Michaud owns the rights to the character and the name "Nostalgia Critic". Because Doug apparently didn't think it was a smart idea to copyright it himself, apparently.

 

[firehawk12]

Michaud owns the rights to the character and the name "Nostalgia Critic". Because Doug apparently didn't think it was a smart idea to copyright it himself, apparently.

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Wow, RIP. I guess he really is stuck with CA for the rest of his life.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Wow, RIP. I guess he really is stuck with CA for the rest of his life.

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I wouldn't put it that way, really. Doug shouldn't be able to cut ties and leave. He's part of the shit that's going on. As the public face (literally) of the company, this stuff should follow him for the rest of his career.

 

[Deleted member 3542]

Well, here's the thing despite all this, his views are still up. He got 500k views for his Beauty and the Beast review.

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He might make just enough in ad revenue to get by but I think this is all going to be diminishing returns. CA itself only has just above 1mil subs and for something that's been around for a decade that's incredibly low.

I popped over to the CA forums, haven't been in years, they're all pretty much looking to bail on their support. I think the only viewers he's going to have left are those completely oblivious to any of this and just click a youtube link that shows up in their feed. I don't think there's any way they can foster a community at this point to build their base and grow their numbers.

 

[Robdraggoo]

There's a not-65-pages, abridged version of the document.

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How do I view these? When i open them it just says protected file and I cant view anything other than the first page

 

[SergioFerrazJr]

.

 

[Future Foundation]

Are on mobile? I'm on my laptop right now, using Chrome here, and I'm able to access it and read all of it. It's a Google website, so maybe you need an account to see it?

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How do I view these? When i open them it just says protected file and I cant view anything other than the first page

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I'm having the same problem. I'm looking at it on an Android, and I can't get it to load.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

How do I view these? When i open them it just says protected file and I cant view anything other than the first page

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I'm having the same problem. I'm looking at it on an Android, and I can't get it to load.

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When I try to load it up on my laptop, there's an error message that says something along the lines of "WOW! This file is very popular!"

Essentially it sounds like too many people are accessing it at once and Google Docs is throttling new attempts to access the file until it calms down. You should be able to view it a little later.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

To think how much pain could've been avoided if Doug had bothered to check out even a single book on filmmaking and running a business from his library beforehand.

 

[The Bear]

Man, reading through the whole document just made me mad. I hope it lot of people will see it, so that the pain all those people had to go through won't be unnoticed.

 

[Robdraggoo]

Are on mobile? I'm on my laptop right now, using Chrome here, and I'm able to access it and read all of it. It's a Google website, so maybe you need an account to see it?

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Yes, it asks me to use my Google account to view it. But still. Eh

 

[Zan]

I'm the same I don't think I can watch a nostalgic critic review but will continue with the ex producers

even the channel awesome thread here which had little visitors basically stopped

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Trust me, as the thread creator of the CA hangout, I feel super fucking dirty even looking at it after this news.

 

[Merc_]

That document is crazy. What a poorly managed shitshow CA is.

 

[Kitschy Kitty]

The utter incompetence of the CEOs, and Doug's continual tidal wave of poorly thought out decisions and lack of self-awareness is equal parts funny, disgusting, and tragic.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Hey folks - we've set up a new thread to discuss the Google doc and the contributors' stories. You're free to keep talking in this thread if you like, but we thought that the revelations from Lupa's document merited a new thread.

 

[Brian McDoogle]

Hey folks - we've set up a new thread to discuss the Google doc and the contributors' stories. You're free to keep talking in this thread if you like, but we thought that the revelations from Lupa's document merited a new thread.

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Understandable. I was going to update the OP tonight with details from the document, as well as link to it, but a new thread makes sense.

 

[Sketchsanchez]

I can't get the doc to open :(

 

[CatDoggo]

He might make just enough in ad revenue to get by but I think this is all going to be diminishing returns. CA itself only has just above 1mil subs and for something that's been around for a decade that's incredibly low.

I popped over to the CA forums, haven't been in years, they're all pretty much looking to bail on their support. I think the only viewers he's going to have left are those completely oblivious to any of this and just click a youtube link that shows up in their feed. I don't think there's any way they can foster a community at this point to build their base and grow their numbers.

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Are they actually letting people on their forums talk about this? I figured that since their reaction has always been to ignore, delete, and block anything that doesn't look good for them that they'd bring the hammer down on any discussion in their forum. I wonder if the forum is so lightly moderated that they haven't even noticed people are talking about it.

 

[Strider_Blaze]

I'm the same I don't think I can watch a nostalgic critic review but will continue with the ex producers

even the channel awesome thread here which had little visitors basically stopped

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Yeah pretty sad that it wasn't that active in the first place since this forum was established. But at this point, I can't see myself watching CA's content again.

 

[Deleted member 9207]

Are they actually letting people on their forums talk about this? I figured that since their reaction has always been to ignore, delete, and block anything that doesn't look good for them that they'd bring the hammer down on any discussion in their forum. I wonder if the forum is so lightly moderated that they haven't even noticed people are talking about it.

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They barely care for their online presence. Forums have always seemed like an afterthought for them.

 

[Deleted member 3542]

Are they actually letting people on their forums talk about this? I figured that since their reaction has always been to ignore, delete, and block anything that doesn't look good for them that they'd bring the hammer down on any discussion in their forum. I wonder if the forum is so lightly moderated that they haven't even noticed people are talking about it.

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I have to assume they just have no idea and nobody really runs it. Going by the things we heard that's not surprising.

 

[Zed]

Michaud owns the rights to the character and the name "Nostalgia Critic". Because Doug apparently didn't think it was a smart idea to copyright it himself, apparently.

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In the US your work is automatically copyrighted the moment it is created. You don't need to register anything (although it is useful to be able to prove the work is yours). My guess is that he signed a contract that gave away the rights of the character to Michaud. I'm curious though if he sold the rights on purpose or was tricked into it.

 

[dennett316]

It also helps that AngryJoe, with no respect due to LordKat whatsoever, doesn't suck. Even if one disagrees with his opinion on a given game you can tell he puts a lot of effort into his "Angry Review" series and even his interviews at E3 (there are plenty of stories about how AJ will sprint from one interview to the next because he wants to cover as many games as he does during E3) whereas what little I sampled of LK from years ago on TGWTG wouldn't be found on a Z-list YouTube channel with even less of a budget than my own. LordKat didn't get anywhere because his content was terrible and TGWTG/Blistered Thumbs could only carry its worst so far.

As an aside, i'm surprised by how many creators still support Andrew "stole/steals content from women artists and literally raped a woman" Dickman. He was and in some cases still is a title card artist for former CA/TGWTG content creators.

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Wow...this is the first I've heard of any of this stuff. Fuck that guy.

 

[LiK]

Pat the NES Punk had some interesting anecdotes about this situation.

 

[OrinX]

Was this posted?

Channel Awesome Document Reading | Down the Rabbit Hole Livestream

 

[Myradeer]

Wow, I had fallen off from Nostalgia Critic years ago due to decline in quality, but I never realized Doug himself was so problematic as well.

Since lot of people here seem to be knowledgable on the subject of youtube film personalities, is there anything negative about YMS (Your Movie Sucks)? He's been my new go-to for review entertainment.

 

[JCHandsom]

Wow, I had fallen off from Nostalgia Critic years ago due to decline in quality, but I never realized Doug himself was so problematic as well.

Since lot of people here seem to be knowledgable on the subject of youtube film personalities, is there anything negative about YMS (Your Movie Sucks)? He's been my new go-to for review entertainment.

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I mean other than the fact that he's pretty surface level and overly nitpicky, not that I know of

 

[Myradeer]

I mean other than the fact that he's pretty surface level and overly nitpicky, not that I know of

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Thanks. I use youtube as source for entertainment rather than serious review, so that's perfectly fine for me.

 

[Zipper Zippo]

Back in the GG days, Rerez hyped and uploaded a video where he claimed he had found a solution to the "Anita Sarkeesian problem" (a woman having an opinion on the internet). His video explained that the solution was to allow her to create a videogame, and if that videogame failed, then she could fade away from the industry, defeated. Obviously this video did not have the response he expected. Later claimed that "both sides are bad". When he was later on a video about a trip to a game store, and Alpha Omega Sin was there too, I understood what side he was.

A few episodes ago this year, Joe kept mentioning that he was friends with Alpha Omega Sin, who not so long ago sent his considerable followers to harass Retronaut's Bob Mackie, and also tried to bait him into a twitter fight. Mackie wisely did not fall for that.

Rolfe, Matei, Shane, Joe, they all associate with this guy. Just do a google image search for "alpha omega sin sjw" for the youtube video snapshosts of what his content is if you do not know who this is.

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Well to be fair, Anita Sarkeesian is the last person I want to be representing women in videogames. I get her gist and sympathize with some of her arguments, but she comes off as obnoxious and overly exaggerated to me. Could be her scriptwriter, who knows? As for James associating with AOS, I doubt he even knows or cares about his beliefs. Frankly, it's AOS opinion and nothing more. Still going to stay subscribed to James since he really is a geniune guy after meeting him at Magfest two years ago.


Back on topic, as much as I want to believe that Doug was naive and totally oblivious to what was going on in CA, it's kind of hard to accept that after reading the documents. After being in CA for so long, you would've figured out there were several things amiss. But Doug kind of either played it off or intentionally remained ignorant. So far their "apology" kind of paints the creators as unhappy customers. I was getting the, "We're sorry you guys had a bad experience, but it's not our fault" vibe. Quite disappointed that CA took this direction.

 

[skeezx]

perhaps i'm getting off topic but i don't think i've enjoyed nostalgia critic for years now i think about it. i dunno if it's contingent with whatever's going on at CA but analogous to AVGN or angry joe since they "got big" it kind of went whole hog on the skits and production and i find myself caring less and less about his lampooning/commentary on material - the reason it was interesting in the first place. things seem to have just gone off rails altogether

 

[Rackham]

man, gonzo's whole section was sad to read. I unsubscribed from CA yesterday. Good Riddance.

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Saw His work and his numbers were pretty low though

Well to be fair, Anita Sarkeesian is the last person I want to be representing women in videogames.

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thats not fair

 

[Goat Mimicry]

Well to be fair, Anita Sarkeesian is the last person I want to be representing women in videogames. I get her gist and sympathize with some of her arguments, but she comes off as obnoxious and overly exaggerated to me. Could be her scriptwriter, who knows?

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Let's not discount the possibility that it could just be you.

But let's say she really is obnoxious. If that's the worst thing that can be said about her, that puts her above a shitload of people in the gaming community as a whole.

 

[JCHandsom]

Let's not discount the possibility that it could just be you.

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Yeah, personally I think she provides a valuable perspective and puts a lot of effort into her work. It's something that people get up in arms over the kind of feminist theory you'd run into for a bunch of 101 college courses.

 

[caliph95]

thats not fair

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I personally wouldn't want one person to represent an entire group especially when it comes to the entertainment industry because people are complex and varied

though she wouldn't be the last

 

[Rackham]

I personally wouldn't want one person to represent an entire group especially when it comes to the entertainment industry because people are complex and varied

though she wouldn't be the last

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She is a woman talking about women in video games. She has never said she is the be all end all opinion for all women in video games. What point are people trying to make when they say stuff like this against Anita