Yes, you read that right
It's June. it's also Friday, so hello everyone and welcome to Friday!
Now I'm sure many of you are confused, and that's, okay I'm here to explain
the first thing i want to say is that
this is in no way shape or form a trick or a joke it is actually June 1st
Today is being recorded on June 1st.
Welcome to the "Timeline Split."
now that is probably a scary term that you are not sure
what it could mean but I promise you
I think it means the best outcome for the channel, and more importantly the best outcome for me
I'm gonna get into that in a second. First, let me explain exactly what it means:
starting today
Vlogs are going to be current. i'm going to be releasing current-day vlogs, present day vlogs
Every day at 3 p.m. Eastern
so
Whatever day it is at 3 p.m. Eastern
you're, gonna get the previous day's video.
boom, bam, done.
and i'm calling this the "New" timeline so the new timeline is going to be current day
"But, Stephen, what happens to all of the other vlogs?
Because you're, still missing you know 4ish months of vlogs from January to May,
What about those, what happens to those?"
i'm calling that the "Old" timeline and i will be releasing videos
From the old timeline but only, ONLY if the new
Timeline is current
so if everything is caught up on the new timeline?
cool, there's a good, chance that you will, also get something from the old timeline
But if it's not, i will not be working on the old timeline
Basically i want to ensure that the new timeline,
and staying current with the vlog remains the highest priority
as many of you know, i've been behind on the vlog for a long, long, long time, and i'm trying to...
alleviate that, the best i can
and i feel like this is probably the best way to do it. So, the plan is:
You get new vlogs at 3 p.m., And
If i have old vlogs ready I will, release those at like 3:15 or maybe even 3:30 in addition to it
If I don't have them ready, then I won't but I'm going to work first and foremost on the new stuff
and then i'll be working on the old stuff
now this is not a new idea, this has been
Something i've thought about for many, many, many months and i have the patrons to thank for the support but
Also for communicating with me, and getting - giving me feedback, about how
We can, change things, and adjust things, and all the little intricate details that go into making this work
Coincidentally, it's also the first of the month so,
I will just go ahead and say a special thank you to our patrons. the names of the producers are scrolling across the screen now
These fine folks, as well as many of our other patrons helped make all of this that i'm talking about today a reality;
We sincerely appreciate it.
So, let's continue talking about what all of this means.
We've already talked about the timelines, there's gonna be a new timeline and an old timeline
I'm only going to be working on the old timeline if I have time
and the new timeline is, you know, set,
as long as it's current i'll be working on some of the old stuff
if it's not, I won't, but,
You, have other questions because there's other factors that come into play. For example, what happens to mail?
Mail is going to be released in order
and basically how it'll work, is whenever we get to the 15th of a month,
it doesn't matter which vlog-month we're in,
but the 15th of a month
You'll get the next mail video that is supposed to come out.
So for instance, if the next 15th of the month that comes out is June 15th then you will get
January's mail and
if then the next month that came out was February 15th you, would then get February's mail
You're basically going to be getting the mail in order no matter what
It just comes out, every time there is a
15th vlog of the month
I will go ahead and put a little note here that
I'm most concerned with the vlogs, and making sure the vlogs stay current,
making sure the vlog - the older vlogs are coming out, so because of that
Umm...mail might be a little, weird,
In 2018 like it may not always come out with the 15th vlog of the month
It might be another day or two later. like if we haven't had a chance to
Create that mail video
I'm not going to withhold vlogs over it, is basically what i'm saying.
I'm going to continue things flowing the best that i can
But, obviously we're going to continue to do mail every month like we have historically
there is going to be a big change, however,
In Q&A's and you guys probably already noticed this because whenever
January started there wasn't a Q&A. I saw a lot of comments about this like, "Where's the Q&A? What's going on?!"
Yes, we are changing that.
We're changing that for two main reasons: for one, it would get confusing with the timeline it actually
be kind of impossible with two timelines
But the other thing, is that, we kind of need to take
a little break from doing some of this additional content to make sure that we can
continue to work on the vlogs and keep them up to date.
One of the big passion things behind this is treating the vlog
Like an important part of our lives, which obviously it is right, but, StephenPlays has always historically
Been, you know, top dog, like,
we are paying more attention to that, making sure that that's on a schedule, making sure everything's fine
This is my chance to try, and put StephenVlog at more of an even playing field
Making sure that i can try and release stuff every single day, at least to the best of my abilities
Going back to the Q&As, though we're going to be doing seasonal Q&As this year, basically it just means
that we're gonna go from doing 12 this year to 4
and for some of you that will be a little discouraging because you very much like The Q&As, I do too
But, it makes it a little easier on us. So, sometime soon you're, gonna be getting a spring Q&A
and then sometime after that, you'll be getting the summer Q&A, then later in the year you'll get a fall and a winter Q&A.
There's just, gonna be four this, year and there's another reason that
Is not a big deal but that is something that's even further, down the road
there's a cool idea
that i can't talk about right now, but it will probably
mean needing less Q&As if that makes any sense
Umm...So, yeah that's that's, basically the plan is vlogs are current, again, at 3 p.m. Eastern
You, get the previous day's vlog if i have stuff ready
Then i will work on you know the older vlogs and release those too and then eventually there will not be an old timeline
Eventually, we will release all the way through January, February, March, April and May
and may 31st will be the end of the old timeline
And when it's done then it's it just, *poof* it's gone it's all out.
It doesn't matter and the thing is you're probably saying, "won't this be a little confusing?
and you're right
It will be a little confusing, but it will only be confusing until the old timeline is done
At some far-off point in the future when, someone new discovers Stephenvlog and decides that they want to take the journey they
Won't have anything out of order they'll be watching stuff in order in fact they'll get to this specific
vlog day, when they watch, and they'll be really confused about what's happening
umm...but, it's fine you know it'll be fine in the future and for right now to be a little confusing but people will adjust
there are dates in the titles
So you'll know, whether it's something from awhile ago, or if it's something current
umm...the other, question i'm sure that you're gonna, ask because i had many patrons, ask, is "what happens if this new timeline gets behind too?"
and i can answer that. The answer is:
Work on it.
Fix it.
the-the good news, right? Is that the new line is starting from zero.
it's starting with, you know it's not behind and if it gets behind by three days
then we'll fix it because it's behind by three days, and it's not behind by four months.
it's a completely different thought process and i think that's gonna help a lot
So, um that's-that's, gonna be my goal: is to keep up with it even if it does fall behind, by a few
days, I'm going to work hard
and get it caught up, and then, once that is fully caught up I'll start working on the old stuff
Now, here's the big thing you might be saying "Stephen, what - why do this?
why, does it matter?"
And there's a few reasons for one, uh...it affects the channel in big ways, right?
Whenever you are not releasing current stuff as a vlogging channel,
it affects your growth
It's kind of been a devastating hit in the last, like almost two years for Stephenvlog's growth
It has - we haven't really considerably grown in any measurable way
And i really do contribute a lot of that to the fact that
We have not been current
so, that's a part of it
another part of it is when things are current you can, more easily
talk about, well, current things. nobody wants to hear me talk about E3
When it's several months old
one of the advantages of starting in June is because, we'll be able to talk about E3,
and it'll be current, you'll get our current ideas on stuff, that's awesome.
Another little extra, is that we can, use the vlog to promote Mal's newest paintings.
She's gonna have new paintings coming out, we'll be able to show. Them and say "Hey, if you haven't seen this,
Check it out it's for sale you can buy it."
But, none of those things are the main reason I'm doing this the main reason i'm doing this is:
for me.
umm...People don't realize - and it's because I don't, I don't talk about it, a lot.
umm...You know, I-I stay focused on work, I try to you know,
continue pushing through
umm...Having the vlog behind, affects me
In very, big, deep, serious not good,
depression filled ways
and it's something that is weighed on my, my chest for like two years.
The last time the vlog, was caught up was a long time ago.
And having it constantly behind, I know has like become a running joke, but it's a running joke that is
affecting me, badly.
I'm someone who you know, does my absolute best to keep on top of everything that I'm doing
and because of a wide variety of issues
It's been very hard to keep up with the vlog in the past
Now, over the years, I've been fortunate enough to see different things that have gone wrong things that I've-I've chosen to
Do that i'm like, "okay, that was dumb. shouldn't have done that."
Little things that have added on to time that have
pushed the vlog further back.
So fortunately i'm getting better at that. The downside, is I'm still four months behind
and I'm using this as basically a "do or die" scenario where i can make myself feel better.
umm...Because being behind sucks, and I think being current is going to basically help my mental health
That's - that's what this is all about, I think that this is going to be a huge positive move for my mental health.
Because it weighs on you in ways that even I don't,
You know, fully understand it's a very subconscious feeling of thinking
that, you know things are behind
and there's so much work to do and i've got four months worth of stuff to try and fix so...
there's underlying, issues that need to be solved and I've worked over the years to solve some of them
umm...Clearly, like one of the big issues, is that when we go on trips
Sometimes, we're gone for a long time, I can't you know always edit
while we're gone or we're working on something else while we're gone
and that's actually one of the reasons that i chose to do this timeline split
here, in June.
I didn't do it in April, because we were gone, I didn't do it in May, because we were gone
But June is the perfect time
because, we are going to be around for a while, we're not going anywhere until August, and in August, we're only
gonna be gone for just a handful of days, at most
so this is the perfect time,
this is the time where i can - I can split the timeline, I can keep up with it.
And I'm really crossing my fingers that
not only will it make you guys enjoy the vlog more, because you'll get to see what actually just happened right?
But, it'll make me feel better.
umm...You know I-I work hard, i don't have to tell you guys that, you-you know
umm...but I also,
you know i have limits, and I think that
having the vlog behind for this long has really
shown me, where that-that limit is
and I am trying to make the best choice for me and my
Mental health
and I think this is it.
So, I hope you guys understand.
I hope that you support me in this endeavor. The only thing that's really going to change.
umm...Is that you'll get less of the old timeline,
right?
Because I'm going to be putting effort into making sure that the current, new timeline is
updated
umm...but, I think it'll be for the best
I really, do
So, thanks for watching
One final thing, is you're probably saying,
"Stephen that's great and all but, why are we getting this a few days late?"
There's a reason for that, actually! There is!
This vlog was ready, I swear to god, this vlog was ready for you,
but with the way that Patreon does their lists of supporters
they don't actually give that to me until a few days later, which unfortunately, means unless I change the format
The first of the vlog - like the first day of the month, every month,
will just be like two or three days late.
It's unfortunate, I just don't have, any way of working with that.
i don't get my producers list to show on video until a few days into the-into the month
so, that's, why you're, getting this late
I'm not starting - I'm not starting this off on the wrong foot,
I had the video ready, I just had to wait until I got that
Producers list so i could put it into the video
now, you understand.
It also means that you'll be getting other vlogs with this one, so, they'll-they'll be coming out
All right, that's it,
that's everything.
Thanks for watching, thanks for understanding.
I know that there's so many of you guys,
Thousands of you guys, that have really watched and supported and stayed with us, even, though
things have been behind, and I really do feel from reading your comments, that you truly enjoy what you're watching
which is great, because i truly enjoy what I'm making.
I am just ready to,
I'm ready to remove some of that weight off of my chest and I think that this will do it
Thanks for watching.
And as always...
oh, my, god this feels good to say...
Let's meet back tomorrow.
Shall we?