stalks and NOT celery!

[LynnJa999]

It is very difficult, as someone who wants to, but has not yet, left their driveway to be a nomad, to watch Carolyn's video about the threat she received... I drove long haul for a couple years, and I do know that 99.9% of people in this amazing country are good-hearted folks, who would rush to your aid if you needed help. I know for a fact that if I had ever screamed in the night, at a truck stop, there would have been 40 men with clubs running to my rig to alleviate whatever my threat was. Truckers are, by my experience, a great group of guys, in general. That being said, it 'only takes one bad apple...' It is true that we women have a whole other layer of caution that we need to take. I know from regular work life that really strong, independent women are beloved by really strong, confident men, and terrifying to those that are not. It only takes one terrified man, acting out his fears, to ruin your day/week/month/rest of your life, depending on the extent of his perceived injury and subsequent aggression. We are, after all, only primates, and some of us have not gotten to the 'compassion portion of the thinking process' yet. "You SCARE me! Me beat/rape/kill you! Uggg!" I'm not going to let that keep me from going on my nomadic adventures, but it does remind me to be very sober out in the world, keeping that peeled-eyeball on my surroundings.
I think Carolyn is amazing, and I laud her courage. I dearly wish she still had Capone by her side, for many reasons - safety being a major one.

 

[travelaround]

It is very difficult, as someone who wants to, but has not yet, left their driveway to be a nomad, to watch Carolyn's video about the threat she received...     . . . I think Carolyn is amazing, and I laud her courage. I dearly wish she still had Capone by her side, for many reasons - safety being a major one.

I think most vandwellers won't be threatened. Carolyn was threatened because of being a successful YouTuber with over 80K subscribers, earning a living with it. Some people can't stand to see others be successful. Tragic!

When I was very young, say, about 18 . . . I made a conscious decision not to be jealous of the success of others. Before that, I was feeling the envy, but I wasn't comfortable with it. After making the conscious decision against envy, I felt free to congratulate people on their successes, high incomes, new homes, whatever they gained or achieved. It really wasn't all that hard and I felt a whole lot better in being able to be happy for others.

I guess some people never got past the envy. Tragic for them, and for whoever they lash out at as there's always going to be someone with more than us.

A dog is a good protector - but common sense is even better. I hope Carolyn will be able to get past this trauma and enjoy her RV life once again.

Edited to add: Welcome to the forum, LynnJa!

 

[LynnJa999]

Thanks for the greeting, TravelAround!

I agree 101% - if we loathe and despise that which we want to become, we are, effectively, hating ourselves. Like Jerry Garcia said, "Living well is the best revenge." I hope Carolyn does get rich from her Youtube channel. Jealousy is an incredible waste of a person's emotion and energy. GO DO IT YOURSELF! Don't be mad at someone else for doing it, and by all means, don't threaten to harm them! I can't imagine what level of fear and cowardice a person needs to be in to act out that way.
I have thought that I would make videos once I got out there, too... I find other people's adventures very interesting, so, why not mine,too? I also love to help people and if I could save anyone else from making the same mistakes that I inevitably will, I would be very glad for that.

 

[Dingfelder]

If you did, it would probably be better to blur out your license plate and not let people know where you are unless they are family or friends. And you should probably try to provide real content rather than just show yourself walking around or sipping water, like so many channels do. Ten minutes into a long video and there's still no content yet! Sheesh ...

I do believe picking up stalkers or haters is pretty natural, even if you're a "nobody" in the conventional sense. Some girls will hate you just because you have nice shoes; some guys will hate you just because you're bigger than they are, or smaller, have nicer glasses than they do ... pretty much anything. They just need to express the discontent they feel on the inside by focusing it outward ... and sometimes on the first person they see. I've seen crazy feuds come up out of nothing in the offices I've worked in, for instance. And it's easy to get random stink-eye from total strangers just because their mood is off or they're a little nuts and don't know it.

So if regular people have to allow for that, people who put themselves out there for public consumption are guaranteed it. I believe a stalker or other weirdo is almost inevitable for popular youtubers ... so they probably should understand that going in or even before they start, and get their emotions (and safety precautions) in line accordingly.

 

[Ms Linda]

Yep! And that's why I don't have a YT channel. I like to be a nobody living life peacefully  :heart:

 

[RoamerRV428]

I clicked and only listened to a tiny bit.
I heard 'whine whine whine whine whine whine whine whine'

that is not a judgement at all, it is what I personally heard. I can't watch stuff like this anymore. Like MaTaLa says, one reason he gave up news like me, we don't want this in our lives. This is a thing with me, the whining of others, no matter the content, I just can't stand anymore. I shy from vids etc like this.

don't get me wrong, from the posts I am reading I am sure she has some valid troubles and more. You put yourself out there, you will find negative situations. Everyone might encounter this. Many a women have stalked men also , hey just look at the Lifetime movies on tv. Women are scary and go after men crazy like also LOL but I digress....she has real situations to handle tho and I hope nothing but the best for her but I couldn't sit thru that video but I hope she comes out ahead and her troubles lessen.

 

[Cammalu]

Roamed I can’t sit through any of those videos either. They need to start making a point in the first minute or I’m gone. Rambling kills it for me.

I guess they need to understand what the filmmakers have known all along. Capture your audience from the start.

 

[Dingfelder]

Yup. Lots of channels I check in on do that. Just ramble with no sense of audience whatsoever. Maybe they're narcissists who think everything they do is charming or interesting or somehow "good enough" ... but I think most tubers like that are simply oblivious.

Classic short story advice is "start in the middle." The idea is you get people involved immediately, because if you can't get them past your first paragraph, they won't hang around for the next one. Same thing applies to lots of other entertainment forms, and definitely to youtube videos. It's not like viewers don't have alternatives, after all ...

One thing I often find annoying is when a video has a title that's about some subject ... but you don't see it until a long ways in. First you have to watch someone eat breakfast for 15 minutes and talk about her parakeet ... then finally comes the supposed subject of the video. And about that: if your video is 15 minutes of eating breakfast and 2 minutes of the title subject, the title shouldn't be, say, "Winterizing your RV," but "15 minutes of me eating breakfast!"

 

[AnonymousDog]

I can sympathize the loss of her dog. Been there. It's tough.

But geez...to make video of your sorrow, a video that's going to earn you more income from complaining about how bad things are..kinda seems disingenuous to me.

 

[travelaround]

...get people involved immediately, because if you can't get them past your first paragraph, they won't hang around for the next one.

Thanks for the video making advice.

I think you all are on to something. We need to stay genuine, straight forward, and keep to the point of the video.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Yes Cammalu, I couldn't put my finger on why I despise those vids. I guess it is length cause the ramble makes me go brain dead and it is instant whine whine to me. Duh, thanks, makes so much sense. Capture my attention immediately, keep it super short and some message might get thru to me, other than that I don't care cause then all I hear after a few minutes is whine whine whine LOL 'click, they are gone fast' thank goodness we can turn off what we turn on HA

 

[Ms Linda]

I think they ramble on so they can throw in a few ads for monetization. If I like a channel I just click on it and let it play while I pay bills online or play spider solitaire

 

[RoamerRV428]

ahhh, a reason behind that longer vid. madness...and money being always the point of all of it most of the time...interesting!

 

[AMGS3]

Sometimes I wonder about people who choose to share their lives on YouTube travel & vanlife channels. Do they ever get concerned about sharing what the outside of their right looks like? Not people who live in nondescript white vans, but people who live in rigs that are readily recognizable from the outside. Something where if you were familiar with the channel and saw it parked in a lot or going down the road, you'd instantly know who it was and what the inside of the rig looked like, too, because there's a 'tour my house' video for that.

A few years ago I was driving behind an RV in a fairly popular summer tourist destination in MN. They had a big poster sized sticker on the back that said "Follow us on YouTube" with the name of their channel. I don't recall the name of the channel, but it had the word 'family' in it. What struck me about it was it didn't seem safe at all. Like to some people (certainly not most, but some), that would be an invite to stalk them.

If your home on wheels is super unique looking, it wouldn't be that hard to pick up uninvited attention just driving around.

~angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[ByeBye]

A big part of the reason for me going mobile is to escape 'pop culture' influence and I think a lot of YT'ers strive to cultivate a cult of personality. Public figures have always paid a price for their celebrity status. No different here.

I have not a single problem with anyone else doing it but I have less than no interest in any of it. I've got my own reality show going, just for me.

 

[QinReno]

I guess I'm the only person around here who has watched Carolyn's video and enjoyed them. I do have to say that I've totally avoided her most recent ones since Capone dying. I don't do drama, but it's part of her life story, so. ... whatdayagonnado. A couple of comments.

1. I watch about 4 youtubers regularly, but run the videos at 1.5X-2X speedup, and fast forward thru the slow bits.

2. In the past, I saw Carolyn not as a drama queen, but as a brave solo women taking responsibility for her life and having a good time doing it. I enjoy her from a "travelogue" perspective, going to places I'll never get to.

3. If she makes money at it, fine with me. "Most" of us have had to scrabble out a living all of our lives, and not been given jack sh!!t in the process. "Most" of us have to support our selves. 

4. Actually, the youtuber way for me is a horrid all-consuming existence, but that's their choice. Everyone is free to make their own choices.

5. Dogs are my favorite animals, surpassing even humans, LOL. Friendship and companionship are good, but you know they're gonna die, and you have to accept that as part of the process, and not give up when it happens.

6. I've also made this comment several times, and not even one dog owner has ever responded. Personally, I think anyone who is heavily connected with dogs should have "at least" 2 of them - one older and one younger. One will pass, but the other will still live, and you won't be alone.

So I'm a cruel basterd, there are no guaran-damn-tees in life. When I was in to see my doctor yesterday, he didn't quite say it that way, but he implied it.

 

[Matildas mate]

I've also made this comment several times, and not even one dog owner has ever responded. Personally, I think anyone who is heavily connected with dogs should have "at least" 2 of them - one older and one younger. One will pass, but the other will still live, and you won't be alone.

Matilda (an Australian Shepherd mix) has been with me for about 5 years now and i am considering in a year or so getting a second, younger dog. Not only to ease the pain of eventually losing Matilda but so that the younger dog may hopefully learn from her. The past two years of being separated from a human family has instilled in me a great respect and gratitude for the companionship of a dog.

 

[QinReno]

The other thing is, and I cannot guarantee it, but dogs seem like companions of their own kind to play with when the human is too pooped to pop. RV-Sue's two little monsters are good example of this. She always seems to have two. My neighbors all have dogs, and as soon as one of them sees another dog, they seem to forget there is even a human in the area.
- http://rvsueandcrew.net/

 

[Dingfelder]

I guess I'm the only person around here who has watched Carolyn's video and enjoyed them. 

I did.  I'm sure lots of us did.  But I liked the videos that were about something else besides Carolyn herself.  The world is too full of fascinating, even astonishing people, places, and history for me to be drawn in by someone narrating their haphazard thoughts or randomly poking around.

6. I've also made this comment several times, and not even one dog owner has ever responded. Personally, I think anyone who is heavily connected with dogs should have "at least" 2 of them - one older and one younger. One will pass, but the other will still live, and you won't be alone.

 It's almost impossible for a dog alone to not spend most of its life in a very unnatural way, so I say that a lot too.  

Dogs are social animals that we expect to get along with both people and other animals, and have some level of self-control and ability to adapt.  Most of that can't be taught very well, if at all, by people.  Dogs teach each other ... which requires at least one other dog.  They are also genetically programmed to be in a pack 24/7, so a dog being left home alone all day is in a position dramatically different from what he or she has been built for by nature.  That's one reason why they may go nuts and/or tear up your house or try so desperately to escape your yard while you're gone.  So dogs live best if they have a doggy friend living with them.

Dogs that don't have that will be untutored in how to deal with other animals, be it understanding the difference between play and attack or even that there is such a thing as play and what it is and how it is done; between another dog being a threat and simply being in the vicinity, and how to calibrate aggression and deal with boundaries.

Most dogs, I believe, are under-socialized.  It takes an enormous amount of stimuli to make all but quite inactive dogs eventually able to handle new situations with aplomb.  It's often easy to spot the under-socialized dog even when it's quiet, with its hyper-vigilance, nervousness, aggression, sometimes even trembling or cowering.  Or, too often, aggression or simple inability to control its curiosity, sniffing another dog too aggressively, or clumsiness, shoving about and knocking into other dogs carelessly in a way that may get them growled at or even bitten.  It may whine or yowl from either fear or inability to control its desire to lunge forward and engage, even in a friendly way.

Unfortunately, it's very hard to find a course in "remedial dog."  And many if not most owners would deny one was needed.

 

[QinReno]

......... They are also genetically programmed to be in a pack 24/7, so a dog being left home alone all day is in a position dramatically different from what he or she has been built for by nature.  
....
Unfortunately, it's very hard to find a course in "remedial dog."  And many if not most owners would deny one was needed.

What's even worse is that, practically every dog in the neighborhood here is a "rescue" dog, and they are alone most of the day when their owners are at work. 

The poor dog downstairs is afraid of everything, and her owner being a 20-something young girl is out 16 or more hours of every day, and the poor dog is totally nuts. Some smart people are just not very bright. There should be a course in "remedial human".