YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform owned by Google. Created by three men on February 14, 2005 (making the site fifteen years old), YouTube has claimed the title of the biggest, most trafficked, and most well-known video-sharing website in the world. In its 15-year existence, it also gave way to many Internet celebrities, all with different backstories and video-creating styles. Along with famous people, YouTube has also spawned numerous memes and Internet moments, many of which define the history of the Internet and have a place in the hearts of Internet veterans everywhere.

YouTube's Golden Era
In the first few early years of YouTube, the site saw an onslaught of users all uploading new videos and viewing those videos in numbers previously unseen by the world. YouTube, as the entire Internet was a very different place, was a very different way for people to show themselves to the world. One aspect of the platform that reeled in many users was the possibility of snagging fame through one video as many did over those first years, which is what allowed some of the most respected, well-known, and nostalgic memes in the Internet's history to exist. Leeroy Jenkins, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, Hamster Dance, Sneezing Baby Panda, Nyan Cat, old YouTube Poop, and Sparta Remix are the names of just a few memes from this time period. Many Internet vets call this era of YouTube's existence its Golden Era, the greatest instance in the site's life to be around and watch its videos.

But YouTube wasn't just known for classic memes and other Internet moments — the layout, in comparison to more its more recent iterations, can also bring back some precious memories for its long-time users. Back in the 2000s, YouTube's formatting was vastly different from its modern form for multiple reasons. For one, instead of having the now widely-accepted thumb rating system, early YouTube had a five-star rating model that would let viewers choose between one and five stars for how they would rate the video they watched. A second feature no longer seen on the platform is the channel recommendation section, a small drop-down list that would show the viewer YouTubers who produced content similar in style to the current video so that viewer could expand their subscriptions through exploration of new channels until they eventually had a network of creators they personally approved and would continuously watch. Overall, YouTube vets would agree that this form of YouTube is superior to any other version rolled out in the 2010s since it was generally more well made and centered around giving the viewer more good content, not the popular channels more eyeballs.

YouTube's Great Decline
In recent years, some seasoned creators and viewers of the website have formed the opinion that YouTube's general quality in content has decreased as time went on. Instead of any individual creator with a camera being able record and introduce themselves to the online world of YouTube, the site has made fame using such methods impossible as only those with preexisting fame, professional equipment, or new ideas that have never been done before can strive on the platform. YouTube is considered to be a shell of its former self by many as its days of being a wonderland of excitement and fun for all have long been over, now with the staff behind the website favoring money generation over content quality insurance. On top of this, users would also say that the staff have thrown creators under the bus by, for example, making profiting off of animation nearly impossibleundefined. This is due to how the algorithm operating modern YouTube prefers longer videos that are higher in quantity over those like animations that take much time and effort from its creator to push out even one video for their channel. Aside from animation, other high-effort, low-quantity videos have also been suppressed by the algorithm so YouTubers with generic, easily-created videos can flourish on their home platform, a 180 from how the site used to reward creators for their work in its early days. This has led to long-time users comparing the site to a market where everyone's goal is to generate as much money as possible instead of have fun with their videos with zany ideas that would never be greenlit by any television network. The modern atmosphere of the once-great platform is now plagued by interchangeable channels with identical content that would have been trampled by the cascade of imaginative ideas that once dominated the world of YouTube.