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Why am I no longer posting as many videos as before?

2025-06-02 13:51:28 UTC+0

If you have been following my YT channel for a long time, you may have noticed that the frequency of me posting videos has dropped significantly compared to, for example, 2015-2017, when you could see videos every week or every other week, and I was also relatively active on my channel blog. However, since 2018, my channel activity has decreased significantly. Why so?

 

A little history


2013-2017 was a "transition period" in MarkusTegelane's history. More precisely, the transition from the classic (a.k.a. Ert) era to the MarkusTegelane era. In 2013-2014, I had many videos that I could have posted, but since we only had one shared 3G USB modem stick in our family, posting videos frequently was simply not technically possible.

That changed in February 2015, when I first got access to a broadband connection with a WiFi router (for those who don't know, broadband is much faster than mobile internet). At the same time, I also told some of my classmates about my YouTube channel (at that time there were only 7 public videos) and this in turn created social pressure to make more videos.

Markus Maal (now MarkusTegelane) was a channel that combined my real-life persona (Markus Maal) and my virtual persona (MarkusMaal). That's why I used the slogan "Markus Maal - Connected" in my intro at the time.

You may have also noticed that my content was very experimental back then, but the process of creating videos was also very primitive. I focused on showing my creations instead of making flashy montages. The videos published at that time were often completed in less than 4 hours, including recording, editing, uploading, adding video descriptions (FYI, completing a video about Windows on an Android tablet took several days).

Of the three years, I published the fewest videos in 2015, because I also made content for the ElektrooniliseRakenduseTeadus and Eesti Valdus 2015 (Estonian Posession 2015) channels, the former videos were of slightly higher production quality, but the latter videos were also very primitive.

2016 was an interesting year, because at the beginning of this year I made videos exactly the same as in 2015, but that year ended with the renaming of the entire channel. At the beginning of the year I changed some fonts and stuff, but nothing remarkable. The videos were still made in Movie Maker.

But that changed on May 18th when I did my first live streams experimenting with a software program called OBS. I watched several rebane2001 live streams at that time and I wanted to find out how YT streaming works. I continued to do live broadcasts from time to time again due to social pressure, but it was difficult because my computer's processor was quite old. That's why you often see "technical problems" text in many live stream recordings from that time.

Despite this, I also continued to make regular videos, which were just as experimental as my previous ones. One example is the video "Mission Impossible!!!!", where I demonstrated how to walk through a furnace. I also made some videos with YT's built-in editing program, e.g. "Red Screen of Death in Windows Vista beta version" and various highlights after the "Let's do something..." live stream.


Renaming the channel


The real turning point in the content I created came after the first Markus computer entertainment video was released. An interesting fact here is that the name MarkusTegelane already existed and can be seen in some earlier videos/streams, but I didn't rename my channel yet for technical reasons (my channel was linked to a Google+ profile, which couldn't be renamed).

These new videos were first edited using Sony Vegas Pro. I had used this software a little earlier for the EV2015 videos, but "long story short", I had already deleted that channel by then due to toxic comments. I also posted videos made in Movie Maker sometimes, but their frequency of publication was noticeably lower.

But on November 6th, I finally figured out how to change the name of my channel without losing subscribers. The interesting thing is that after the renaming, I didn't make very many videos this year, only 10 videos (+1 live broadcast), but even that is more than the number of videos created in 2018.

At the beginning of the next year (2017), I was already using the new style and not a single new video was made in Movie Maker. I focused more on making Markus computer entertainment (MCE) videos, but I also posted a few other videos from time to time, e.g. information about the end of Vista support and a tutorial on rooting Google Nexus devices.

But on April Fool's Day, April 1st, I changed my channel logo. It was a joke at first, but I slowly started to like the simple logo I made and decided to turn it into the entire identity of the channel. This visual identity, nicknamed "Simple", was first used in the videos "MarkusTegelane - New intro" and "Windows XP installation timelapse". It was also the time when I made the latest MarkusTegelane channel trailer, which I still haven't updated.


I should mention here that MarkusTegelane's blog was still as active or even more active compared to previous years. I even made an Android app for the entire blog. Yes, it was just a beautiful front-end for Google Webview with MarkusTegelane iconography (which doesn't work anymore because I haven't updated it in years). The year ended with a video "tl;dw MarkusTegelane in 2017 (12 min)", which was inspired by Druaga1's tl;dw videos.

But 2018 was the first time that my channel's activity was really low. So, what happened? The answer is actually very simple and the same goes for 2019 - graduating from school, defending a creative work, entering high school, etc. In short, things happening in real life were a little more important compared to what was happening on my YT channel.

 

But why so few videos?


But the low activity continued since 2020 until now, so what happened?


Here are some reasons:


  1. Focusing on sister channels - including MarkusTegelane+, MarkusTegelane++, Markuse asjad, Press any key to continue... etc.
  2. High expectations for each next video - since I know I post little, I want each new video to be worth the wait, but this in turn increases the time it takes to edit the video.
  3. The decline of Estonian YT - You may have noticed that this year I have been more active on the Press any key to continue... (@PAKTC) channel. I have realized that a large part of Estonians who would be interested in my YT channels already know English, and the process of creating subtitles is quite a headache. This is also the reason why some once very popular Estonian content creators also make English-language alt. accounts - because there are simply more people in the world who understand English.
  4. Constantly changing editing software - I've been constantly changing my editing software over the years, which has required me to constantly get used to a new workflow. Lately, I've been sticking with DaVinci Resolve and getting used to it. But still, here's a list of all the programs I've used:
    • Movie Maker (Live Essentials 2012 and 2.x versions)
    • Sony Vegas Pro 11
    • Microsoft PowerPoint (this is not a joke, some videos on my channel are made in PowerPoint)
    • Android editing program (I don't remember what it was called)
    • YouTube video editor
    • Kdenlive
    • DaVinci Resolve
  5. Slow hardware - My computer had 4GB or less of RAM and an ATI Radeon X1300 Series GPU for a very long time, including in 2018, which reduced the frequency of video production even more. This problem was essentially eliminated in 2024 when I assembled a new computer.
  6. Time-consuming to create subtitles/alternative renderings - Since I want new videos on MarkusTegelane to be accessible to both Estonian-only and English-only speakers, I have been trying to translate new videos since 2017. However, this is very time-consuming for longer videos. This is also the reason why I did not translate all videos in 2017, otherwise I would not have had time to make new videos.
  7. Meeting subscriber expectations - I promised in the MarkusTegelane channel trailer that I would post a certain type of content, and I do not intend to change the promises made there, because that is why people subscribed to my channel. The problem is that I may not always want to make those types of videos. This doesn't mean I can't experiment with new types of content at all, but I try to avoid creating new video series (yes, I know Kasteraal a.k.a. Dewtop is technically a new video series, but it was created to replace Markus computer entertainment format). But for example, with the Press any key to continue channel, I don't make any promises about future content. The channel's slogan is simply "you never know what I'm going to upload next".

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Deleting BitChute channel

2025-05-06 10:12:27 UTC+0

I have now sent a request to delete my channel and starting from next week, you will no longer be able to watch videos, which I have posted to BitChute platform. Here's a list of reasons I decided to do this:

  1. Low activity - I posted to this platform during the 2019-2025 timeframe only about 6 videos and in total they recieved 924 views and 2 subscribers. Due to this microscopic viewership I lost motivation for posting videos.
  2. Community - this platform is infamous for spreading hate speech and conspiracy theories, which I didn't want to associate myself with.
  3. Bitrate and quality - all videos on that platform are in a lower quality compared to YouTube videos. Since my videos contain thin fonts and small text, it may be difficult to read it due to the low quality.
  4. Odysee channel - I also have a channel on the Odysee platform and due to this I see no reason why should I maintain a channel on a platform that is technically worse in every way.
  5. Synchronising YouTube videos - Again, one reason I made the LBRY/Odysee channel - to make a backup of all my YT videos on another platform. This function wasn't available on the BitChute platform in 2019 (when I made the channel). Even when it later came out, it only synced new videos and not the old ones.

If you want to watch my videos without visiting YouTube, here are a couple of options for you:

  1. Invidious - a popular third party client for watching YouTube videos (still need to visit YT to leave comments or ratings)
  2. Odysee channel - here I've cloned all my MarkusTegelane YouTube videos should something happen with YT
  3. Channel database stream function - by visiting https://localhost.markusmaal.ee/channel_db_lite, you have the ability to choose a video and click on "View/Download". This gives you the maximum quality video stream. Note: this option may not always be available.

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Deleting the X/Twitter account (for real this time)

2025-01-31 20:59:34 UTC+0

FYI for everyone - I'm very soon going to delete my channel's official X account (that's the Elon Musk's platform, which we at one point referred to as Twitter), mainly because the platform has been in a rough state for a while for non-premium users. In the future, you will only find short-form posts on the Bluesky platform.

You can follow my activities in the future on the following platforms:

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Will Windows 10 support end on 14th October 2025?

2025-01-15 16:31:42 UTC+0

If you're a long follower of my channel, you know that I have a tradition of making videos when the support for a Windows version is starting to end.

But just like previously, I will not be making an end of support video on January, but instead be waiting until only a few weeks before the actual end of support. You may be wondering - but why?

Windows 11 system requirements are riddiculously high. More precisely for new hardware, such as a TPM 2.0 security chip and new generation processors, which your computer may not have, even if it's just 5 years old. In addition, Windows 11 requires 4GB of system memory, but it's recommended to use at least 8GB instead (Windows 11 system requirements).

So, it would be a really bad decision in terms of retaining marking share to end support for the previous operating system not to mention a large amount of electronic was, which would accumulate due to this. Sure, Microsoft Lifecycle dictates that the extended support will end on this date, however historically, Microsoft has postponed this date, such was the case with XP, but then the main factor was Windows Vista's slow development and XP's market share was really high even after Vista was released. That's why the end of support was postponed by 3 years.

It's not out of the question that Microsoft might do something similar with Windows 10. In fact, they have already announced that they will offer paid support, this time even for inspaniduals with retail licenses (ESU i.e. Extended Security Updates). It's possible that they might postpone the end of support and at the same time continue offering this extended support service.

That's great, but can't you just skip the system requirement checks for Windows 11 by adding some values to system registry (tutorial)? Yes, it's possible, however it's more meant for evaluation/testing purposes and not for real everyday use plus Microsoft has said that they might stop offering updates to computers, which do not meet written Windows 11 system requirements.

This is the reason why I have never rushed with releasing an end of support video. I do plan on waiting until things are more clear and then make that video.

In terms of content, the plan is to make a more detailed video, similar to maybe my Windows XP and Vista end of support announcements. But I will be using completely different background music (i.e. it won't be Stan LePard - Velkommen or Hello Windows remix) and video style, which will be something completely unique for Windows 10. Little hint: blue eye.

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New video about destroying Windows Vista

2025-01-15 13:06:53 UTC+0

Today at 18:00 EEST, there will be a premiere on the MarkusTegelane channel, where I destroy the Windows Vista operating system. I hope you're going to like this one :)



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Transition to new CMS on MarkusTegelane website

2024-07-06 18:13:42 UTC+0

Soon MarkusTegelane website will run a new content management system, the same one that's on markusmaal.ee website, which has been written by me from scratch (apart from Markdown decoder, which is a third party library). The change affects all subsites, including MarkusTegelane+ and MarkusTegelane++ (dev) sites, where both are getting a new interface. Content management system has multiple benefits compared to previous Laserlite system, including:

However, old themes will not work on the new content management system (specifically laserlight and classic), but I try to keep it possible to allow you to use these themes, altough I probably won't really update those legacy pages anymore.

The transition won't happen immediately, because I need to determine all of the links, which need to be redirected to new URLs, so that old markustegelane.eu links don't throw a 404 after update.

Here are some screenshots of the site with new CMS:

Content management with multiple subapps


MarkusTegelane+ devUpdate page


News subpage (MarkusTegelane webapp)


MarkusTegelane+ latest videos page


 

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Reminder: legacy version of channel database will be closed on 1st April

2024-03-31 19:36:50 UTC+0

Due to security concerns, I am closing the old version of channel database. At 12:00 UTC, it will no longer be possible to use this URL to enter the channel database, instead you are going to see an error message. New version, which you will be able to access in the future, can be found here.

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New application - Channel database Lite

2024-02-29 18:33:12 UTC+0

Channel database has always been an important part of my website and now, in 2024, I have rewritten it from scratch in Yii2 framework. I have several reasons for doing this, but one important reason is that the old channel database apps were written in 2020, back when I wasn't as experienced with making PHP applications.

The consequence of this is that the code of channel database is now very unreadable and over the years, there have been a lot of bugs, which I have found in the app. Architectually the problem was that about 90% of the code was on a single file and global variables were used everywhere. The situation was a little bit better on the very first versions, but there a lot of the code was duplicated, which created a situation in which changing something in the main view didn't apply to idea box and gallery.

The situation got worse, when I discovered serious vulnerabilities in legacy non-Bootstrap versions (which is why I made them inaccessible).

Channel database Lite solves these problems through version methods. First, the project now uses MVC (model-view-controller) patter. This makes it easier to find content in the code (e.g. database communications in models, views in views directory, controllers in controllers etc.).

Second, it uses Yii2 framework. This is a PHP framework, which uses more secure defaults, includes useful helper functions and a better debugger, automates various tasks, etc.

Third, it doesn't do anything unnecessary. You can't add or modify records directly within the application, even if you are logged in. Database is managed externally in admin view on markusmaal.ee site.

It still uses Bootstrap 5 styling framework, but now it also uses custom colors, which is something that the old applications didn't do.

Almost all functions are still available, including searching videos, various filters, gallery, idea box, report viewing and downloading, sorting, archived comments and more. The exceptions are CSV export for reports and legacy browser mode. The last one I didn't bother implementing since Bootstrap 5 already doesn't support older browsers, but CSV export was removed, because there are so many implementations of it and converting JSON to desired CSV format isn't that difficult.

Last, you may ask - what happens with the old channel database versions? The last version, which was available before Lite was published, will still be available until 1st April (apart from archived comments). After 1st April, I'll remove that application from my website. Older versions, which didn't use Bootstrap styling framework are already no longer available to the public.

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