Yammie Noob is a popular motorcycle vlogger, he has over a million subscribers on YouTube. He faced harsh criticism for his firing of an employee who goes by the name Spite, on YouTube. Spite was instrumental in growing the Yammie Noob channel, and was very popular among Yammie Noob fans.
Many motovloggers and YouTube viewers have made Yammie Noob out to be the villain. From my perspective, there is no bad guy here. Yammie Noob made mistakes, but before that, he also did a world of good. People tend to overlook that part.
A couple days ago a buddy asked me how the YouMotorcycle motorcycle channel is going on YouTube. He had left motorcycle riding this year and wanted to know what was new. Specifically, he said he saw a lot of people he used to watch giving Yammie Noob a hard time for firing Spite from his channel and wanted to know his opinion.
Here is why I don’t think Yam’s the good guy, or the bad guy, but if he was the bad guy, I’d love to be his next victim. And, that, kind of sounds like some sort of weird kink so, let’s just pretend I didn’t say that, I’ll give a super quick background story for context, and then tell you why I think Spite got a great deal. So, try not to rage quit on this video and just hear me out.
A quick summary of how we got here:
Yammie Noob is a popular motorcycle vlogger with over a million subscribers. Yammie Noob has turned his channel into a full on business with a retail outlet, raffled motorcycle giveaways, and more. One of the fundamental people in growing his channel was a guy who goes by the name Spite. Spite became very popular among Yam’s fans, until one day Yammie Noob made a bad guy move.
Bad guy Yam fired Spite, but it was all very weird. Rather than simply let his audience know that Spite was let go, Yammie Noob recorded what seemed like a bit of an exit interview video with Spite, and uploaded it to YouTube. In the video, Spite looked noticeably uncomfortable, and the video was taken down from the Yammie Noob channel within the week.
Firing Spite, and uploading the exit interview video, ended up being a really bad look for Yammie Noob. People didn’t respond well to it. For Spite, it became a blessing, as it gained him a ton of sympathy from the Yammie Noob audience.
The Yammie Noob and Spite exit interview created a lot of resentment for Yammie Noob and a lot of sympathy for Spite.
Before anyone thinks I’m an emotionless robot, I just want to point out that I’ve been let go of by employers, twice, including from my very first grown-up job, which was in the motorcycle industry. I know from experience how much it sucks to lose your job. I know how awkward exit interviews can be. I can’t even imagine if I ever had one of mine being recorded to be uploaded, how weird that would feel. That must suck.
Because of this, a lot of people say Spite got shafted. Personally, I envy Spite. There’s a side to this story that motovloggers don’t seem to want to talk about, so I will. I think Spite got the opportunity of a lifetime. Here’s why:
I know how much work, a lot of motovloggers put into their channels. To trial and error. To posting what they spent hours on and think “this is my best video ever” and it only gets 21 views. It sucks.
How often does someone say to you, “Come work for me. I’m one of the most successful people at what I do, and I’ll show you how I run my business. I’ll teach you all of the strategies and tactics I use. I’ll pay you as you learn how to do this dream job. I’ll work with you one on one. Before I let you go, I’ll ask my million subscribers to subscribe to your channel.”
That sounds amazing. Are we really, as a community, going to get up on our moral superiority high horses and pretend that a lot of us motovloggers wouldn’t sign up for this deal? Give me a break!
As someone who’s been let go, I know how much it sucks, but I am super envious of the deal the Spite got. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. In the aftermath of the firing, Spite’s channel exploded from several thousand subscribers to over 50,000 subscribers in a matter of days. It’s hard for me to feel too bad for him when I WISH I had his opportunity. I also know a lot of motovloggers wished they had his opportunity too, they just won’t stick their necks out to say so.
A few months later, Spite is at over 100,000 subscribers. Those are the kind of numbers that mean you don’t have to have a job, or a boss, ever again. As long as you put out good content, you basically have guaranteed income for life.
If you want to know how much YouTube motorcycle channels make, I have a video on how much money I made on YouTube in 2021 where I went from 2,500 subscribers to 5,000 subscribers, and next week I’ll be putting out my How much my channel made in 2022 video where I went from 5,000 subscribers to 10,000 subscribers. Check out YouMotorcycle on YouTube.
Did Spite really get shafted, or did he get paid training from one of the best in his domain, and is now in a position where he never has to have another boss ever again?
Could Yam have handled things better? Yup.
Was this a very bad look for Yam? Yup.
Do I feel bad for Spite losing his job? Well, actually, no.
I feel bad Spite had his exit interview broadcasted on YouTube like that. But I kind of feel happy for Spite that he lost his job because I think he had a great opportunity and he’s in a fantastic position in life now. Had Spite just quit, he wouldn’t be where he is now. He’s in the position he’s in because tens of thousands of people recognized his quality and wanted to help him and encourage him when they knew he was going through a hardship.
But Spite’s part is only the other half of the story. What happened to Yammie Noob?
A lot of people “rage quit” and unsubscribed from the Yammie Noob channel after the debacle with Spite. Yammie Noob’s views went down dramatically. Lines were drawn in the sand and many Yammie Noob defectors declared victory.
The truth is a bit more nuanced and a little less black and white. Motorcycle contenton YouTube is very seasonal. In the fall and winter, views always go down, meaning that it’s only natural Yammie Noob’s views trailed off precisely when he let Spite go. Coming into Spring 2023, the Yammie Noob channel views are already in line with where the were the same time last year, meaning that there has been no significant growth, but nothing to indicate view shrinkage either.
Yammie Noob’s position is extremely rare.
As of July 2022, there are only 113,900,000 YouTube channels in the world.
Only 2,000,000 of those channels have over 10,000 subscribers. That’s about 1.7%. That’s where I am with my tiny little channel that makes videos that help motorcyclists.
Only 32,000 of those channels have over a million subscribers. Of those 32,000, the majority belong to private corporations or music artists and their record labels.
Private individuals with YouTube channels in the one million subscriber range represent a percentage of a percentage of a percentage.
Large creator channels that aren’t backed by large corporations are very rare
How many of us can imagine ourselves in a position like that? How man of us can honestly say if we found ourselves in that position we would do everything perfectly and never make any mistakes? We live in glass houses and we’re throwing stones when we get on our high horses and condemn Yammie Noob.
I don’t know the right way to handle letting go of an employee who was one of the faces of a million subscriber YouTube channel. I’m pretty sure what Yammie Noob did wasn’t the right way to do things, but I also need to recognize he probably knows more right ways to build a YouTube channel than I do, and that’s why he’s had the level of success he has, and I’ve only had my limited success. I’m a business owner too, and I’ve made mistakes. We all do. I’ve even made content about the mistakes I made with my motorcycle business. I’m very open and honest about this stuff. But in that same spirit of honesty, let’s be real: no one taught Yam to do this, and no one paid him to learn how to do it. He had to figure it out the hard way, like many of us motovloggers do. But not all of us.
Spite got a pretty sweet deal
Spite got paid to learn the answers. That’s a pretty sweet deal!We shouldn’t discredit what Spite must have felt at the time, but we also shouldn’t feel too bad for him either. We should be happy for his success. He didn’t get the short end of the stick, he got the opportunity of a lifetime!
When stuff like this happens in life, you can focus on the bad, or you can focus on the good, but where your thoughts go your energy follows, I hope Spite is and has been too busy being focused on the positive to give any thought to the negative.
What are your thoughts on this? Did Spite get screwed or did he win the lottery? Is Yammie Noob the evil dark lord so many motovloggers made him out to be, or just a guy trying to figure things out along the way? I’d love to hear what you think. Please leave me a comment and let me know.
