In this monologue, Tom Guarriello addresses the YouTube community, explaining why he has not invited friends or family to join the platform. He critiques the current YouTube environment as hostile, requiring a “little crazy” mindset and thick skin, and argues that it is unsuitable for people who seek respectful, supportive interactions, especially those with disabilities. Guarriello outlines a vision for an alternative community—a space where individuals can relate to like‑minded, caring people without fear of harassment or demeaning comments. He notes that three collaborators share this vision and that, while creating such a space is challenging, it is a worthwhile pursuit. The talk ends with a reaffirmation of his commitment to this goal despite uncertainty about its feasibility.
Chapters
Well, hi, it's Tom Guarriello. I have a question for you. Who did you invite to join the YouTube community today? Your mother? Your sister? Your brother? Your minister? Your best friend? Your daughter? Who did you invite today to join the YouTube community? I didn't invite anybody. I didn't invite anybody. And I didn't invite anybody not because I don't have the highest regard for the people who are in this community. I have a great deal of regard for the people in this community. I think that you people are extraordinary. I think you're extraordinary examples of a new way of people relating to one another. But I don't believe that what has developed here On YouTube is the place that I can invite people that I care about to come and relate to others. Now, why is that? Because I don't believe that what has developed here is a place where people who are not, as I've put it to friends of mine, a little crazy— because you got to be a little crazy to be here now because of what happens here, because of the lack of enabling technology here because of the focus here, which is a great focus. YouTube is a great, great business. It's a great site. It's been world-changing. But what has developed here is not the kind of place that some of us are envisioning being able to develop. Now, at a certain point You have to decide. I had to decide. I have to decide, well, what else is possible? And when I think about what else is possible, I think that there are a lot of things that are possible. I think there are a lot of things that would enable people who are not crazy, who are not thick-skinned, who don't want to relate in a place where they're open for all kinds of, of attack and all kinds of insult and demeaning connections. Where they simply want to relate to interesting people who care about the things that they care about. Where people don't get hounded off here who are good people. Where people who have problems and disabilities don't feel like they have to endure even further degradation in order to relate to other people, where people don't have to worry about all that we've seen happen here over the past 2 years. Is that an easy thing to create? No. Is it a worthy vision to create? I think it's a very worthy vision to create. The other 3 people that I've been involved with in this project also believe that that's a worthy vision to create. You may not believe that that's what has driven our engagement in these conversations all this while, but I can tell you it is what's driven those conversations. These are the things that are at the very foundation of what we're interested in doing. And it's not some place where everybody is singing kumbaya and everything is fine. It's a place where people who want to relate to one another in different kinds of ways get a chance to do that. But people who want to be left alone and can relate relate to other people like themselves or other people who respect and regard them positively get a chance to do that as well. This is not some nirvana that we're trying to, to envision. It's a place like the real world where you don't have to deal with people you don't want to deal with, and you do get to deal with people you do want to deal with. It's a relatively simple concept, and yet we don't seem to be able to have gotten through that this is the most important thing for a community in a place like YouTube. So, you know, I don't wanna go on and on. I just wanna let you know that as far as I'm concerned, this is a worthy enough goal for me to have engaged in conversations with people who have a like vision in order to see if this can happen. Maybe it can't happen. Maybe we're kidding ourselves. It's fine, it won't be the first time that I've had a thought that didn't work. But for me, it was worth pursuing and it's still worth pursuing And I just wanted to let you know that that's the true— the, the, the driving force behind all of what I talk about. And I know the driving force of what the other 3 people that I've been talking with are also talking about. So take care, and I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
