FranLab is getting evicted

[SiliconWizard]

Unless you are a creator, you don't understand. We get so much hate, even death threats.

Yeah, I don't doubt that either. I've seen pretty distrurbing stuff and most creators seem confronted to this.

I think it's related to what I said about trolling with ChatGPT and trolling in general in the other thread. People are desperately trying to have an impact, often a negative one as it's usually much easier than trying to have a positive one. But how far it can go is absolutely mind-blowing.

There are teens committing suicide over repeated negative online comments/online harassment.

The way it shows how nasty some people can get, it's all pretty disturbing in fact. But you have to deal with it these days, unless you choose to be an 'online hermit'.

[james_s]

You have to have thick skin on the internet.

Fortunately that has always come naturally to me. Someone can say anything they want to me online and it rolls off, as long as it's not a credible physical threat with the means to carry it out it doesn't bother me at all. Trolls are gonna troll.

[magic]

Unless you are a creator, you don't understand. We get so much hate, even death threats.
I does take a special kind of person to be able to ignore this onslaught literally daily. This is why so many Youtube creater have to either quit or they take a break for "mental wellbeing".

The death threats are strange to me, I could almost understand it (not excuse it) if the content were highly controversial, but for technical stuff? That's just crazy. Must be a lot of mentally unwell people out there in the world and it only takes a few.

Of course there are crazies out there and I also suspect that any IRL threats that Dave receives are not for the technical part of his content.
It's 2023, what rock are you living under?

Then imagine that there are people whose whole nature is politicized and weaponized to an extent that it it's impossible to separate themselves from bullshit and drama if they wanted to.
That's not something that even Dave has to deal with, and as I said, things are only getting crazier with no end in sight at this point.

You have to have thick skin on the internet.

Yes, and there are distinct populations known for their infamously thin skins.
Maybe not a thread for what I think about it, but I got used to it and now I just roll my eyes at those still in denial.

I guess it's back to what I posted last year: you pay for the way this content is done, or bye.
I actually checked out that channel yesterday and saw titles like "getting tired" and "life after YouTube", well...

Being Internet Famous is maybe not the first priority of everyone.

[EEVblog]

Of course there are crazies out there and I also suspect that any IRL threats that Dave receives are not for the technical part of his content.

Simply running this forum has solicited death threats 

[magic]

Okay, but there had to be some motive, or not?

Did you ever find out? A banned user? Competition with other forums? Didn't like the opinions about his fav multimeter?

[rsjsouza]

Didn't like the opinions about his fav multimeter?

Although not worth of death threats, but there is a very high level of vitriol cast at you if you criticise an unhinged soul's favourite brand.

Again, the anonimity and impersonality of the internet.

[nctnico]

It strikes me as ludicrous how can someone fear "abuse" with comments on a platform.

Unless you are a creator, you don't understand. We get so much hate, even death threats.
I does take a special kind of person to be able to ignore this onslaught literally daily. This is why so many Youtube creater have to either quit or they take a break for "mental wellbeing".

And it is nothing new. 20+ years ago I co-owned an online business phonebook (internet yellowpages). At some point we got a death threat from a guy because we listed his company... We where thinking we where doing people a favour with free basic listings  Ofcourse we removed the listing from the database and informed the police (who where hesitant to act because they wheren't taking internet very serious back in those days).

[grumpydoc]

Well the problem is that the cheapest home you can buy anywhere in the south of England for instance would be around £200,000.  That is, in terms of a house that you could live in.  It would not be big and would probably be in a rough area, but it's a place to live.

To buy that you would need a min. downpayment of £10,000 (if you have excellent credit score to get a 95% mortgage) plus around another £5,000 for solicitors and other costs.  So say £15k plus you really should have an emergency fund on top of that. And you need an income of at least £44k at the maximum loan to salary ratio of 4.5x, but most banks like 4x, so assume £50k (~$60k). 

So the 'cheap' house now requires a salary almost twice as high as the median income in this country (~£33k).  A job a lot of people cannot expect to achieve as it requires skills they don't have and probably never will.  The ironic thing is, the mortgage over 30 years would probably cost about the same as the rent, but it's not available without meeting the downpayment or loan to salary calculations.  You can add cash to the purchase of the house, which is how a lot of people on lower incomes buy homes (usually inherited or given to them by parents) but if you're not lucky enough to have that, tough.

People get trapped renting. It's very easy to end up in this situation.   I'm sure similar calculations apply for the US.  Just think about an example $20/hour worker and think what kind of home they could buy on that wage, even if they were very frugal.  OK, engineers on top salaries are doing fine but a society is going to struggle when some of the most essential workers are struggling to pay the rent and have nowhere to call home.

Sorry - I realise there has been much conversation on the thread since this post but 100% agree, for various reasons looking for a basic 2/3 bed property in the Midlands and £200k is right on the mark, nothing cheaper unless you want a renovation project and you're on the nail with necessary financial resources and salary - which is just out of reach of anyone without a dual income. The UK property market is nearly as nuts as US healthcare (apologies to US posters, but, guys, you know I'm right on that one )

[sokoloff]

If many of the buyers for a 2/3 BR place are dual income (or single high-income), it seems unsurprising that the most desirable of such places would be bid up to the point where they were unaffordable for a typical single income.

Unless a vast surplus of desirable exists, single median income people looking to purchase a house also bid on by many families will likely have to sacrifice on some measures (location, condition, amenities, size, whatever).

[EEVblog]

Sorry - I realise there has been much conversation on the thread since this post but 100% agree, for various reasons looking for a basic 2/3 bed property in the Midlands and £200k is right on the mark, nothing cheaper unless you want a renovation project and you're on the nail with necessary financial resources and salary - which is just out of reach of anyone without a dual income. The UK property market is nearly as nuts as US healthcare (apologies to US posters, but, guys, you know I'm right on that one )

The US is a very different market, there are literally unlimited very affordable places available, even within Fran's state of Pennsylvania, and even within downtown Philly itself. You just have to be willing to live there. I've posted links to many such property listings.
Fran has said in the past that she can afford to buy a property instead of rent, the problem is that she can't get a loan. And of course, the big elephant in the room, she refuses to consider anywhere apart from certain sections of downtown philly.

Was watching "house hunters" last night for the Mrs and a couple bought a very nice double story house for $140k on a river near a beach. We remarked that there is not a single house in all of Australia for that price, at least not anything decent. America is filled with so many large cities and towns that places like this are in abundance. Hard to move if you have kids and/or tied to a job etc, but if you don't have such issues then there is an abundance of choice.

[EEVblog]

Unfortunately, it's going to be fairly easy predict when the next financial crisis will hit, just follow the Patreon graph.
https://graphtreon.com/creator/frantone

She published a sustaining income line, and it was just above 1800 Patrons.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/yet-another-franlab-crisis/msg4741943/#msg4741943
Exact income per Patron will vary, but it's getting close to the level of the last fundraising drive.

Unfortunately even viral videos don't help much in terms in income. Even a 1M view video is only going to net a few thousand dollars. So you'd need many of those a year to make a difference.

Both Fran and I are in effectively the same position, our Youtube videos are basically just a vehicle to gain viewers so that we can derive income from other sources based on that audience, that is where the bulk of our income comes from, sources other than Youtube ad revenue. Fran has only Patreon though.

[EEVblog]

Graphtreon put some recommended channel down the bottom of the page, Physics Girl was one, wow, what a boost! Went from 1k to 12k Patron in a matter of weeks.

Just checked, and this is the video, she's in a bad way 

[nctnico]

Sorry - I realise there has been much conversation on the thread since this post but 100% agree, for various reasons looking for a basic 2/3 bed property in the Midlands and £200k is right on the mark, nothing cheaper unless you want a renovation project and you're on the nail with necessary financial resources and salary - which is just out of reach of anyone without a dual income. The UK property market is nearly as nuts as US healthcare (apologies to US posters, but, guys, you know I'm right on that one )

The US is a very different market, there are literally unlimited very affordable places available, even within Fran's state of Pennsylvania, and even within downtown Philly itself. You just have to be willing to live there. I've posted links to many such property listings.
Fran has said in the past that she can afford to buy a property instead of rent, the problem is that she can't get a loan. And of course, the big elephant in the room, she refuses to consider anywhere apart from certain sections of downtown philly.

Was watching "house hunters" last night for the Mrs and a couple bought a very nice double story house for $140k on a river near a beach. We remarked that there is not a single house in all of Australia for that price, at least not anything decent. America is filled with so many large cities and towns that places like this are in abundance. Hard to move if you have kids and/or tied to a job etc, but if you don't have such issues then there is an abundance of choice.

I'm not quite sure. Recently I went to the US and visited some family members in the process. Their home was crazy expensive even for Dutch standards while it was somewhere in the mountains and not exactly in the city center. The problem with the US is that everything is much further apart as well. Walking a few blocks in a suburb means walking along large plots of land and crossing insanely wide streets that add to the distance considerably. I really had to adjust the scaling of the maps in my mind; what is a short walk in a typical European city, is twice as far where I was in the US. IOW: I think the cheap places are cheap because anywhere you want/need to go takes a lot of time to travel.

[EEVblog]

I'm not quite sure. Recently I went to the US and visited some family members in the process. Their home was crazy expensive even for Dutch standards while it was somewhere in the mountains and not exactly in the city center. The problem with the US is that everything is much further apart as well. Walking a few blocks in a suburb means walking along large plots of land and crossing insanely wide streets that add to the distance considerably. I really had to adjust the scaling of the maps in my mind; what is a short walk in a typical European city, is twice as far where I was in the US. IOW: I think the cheap places are cheap because anywhere you want/need to go takes a lot of time to travel.

Well that's always the tradeoff of course. In my case I can't/wouldn't move because I'm tied to the kids needs and also the Mrs's family is just around the corner.
Fran though has no such ties, as do many other people who have work from home or other flexible businesses.

[james_s]

I'm not quite sure. Recently I went to the US and visited some family members in the process. Their home was crazy expensive even for Dutch standards while it was somewhere in the mountains and not exactly in the city center. The problem with the US is that everything is much further apart as well. Walking a few blocks in a suburb means walking along large plots of land and crossing insanely wide streets that add to the distance considerably. I really had to adjust the scaling of the maps in my mind; what is a short walk in a typical European city, is twice as far where I was in the US. IOW: I think the cheap places are cheap because anywhere you want/need to go takes a lot of time to travel.

Where do you need to go? I go days at a time without leaving my property, especially in the winter when the weather is unpleasant. I can order almost anything I need online, I live alone so I buy a lot of my food in bulk from Costco, frozen stuff that keeps a long time. I mostly only go to the grocery store for vegetables and dairy, maybe once a week or so and usually on my way home from going somewhere else. If I want to visit a friend I need to get in my car anyway, I don't know anybody that lives closer than a few miles from me, it can be faster go go 15 miles away on the highway than 3 miles through town and highway driving is usually less stressful. I can walk to shops downtown but in practice I rarely do except to exercise. I don't want to carry home bags of groceries or whatever. I don't really buy very much in general and have little use for local shops. If there was an electronics hobby store or surplus shop nearby I would go to that but there isn't.

[tom66]

Where do you need to go? I go days at a time without leaving my property, especially in the winter when the weather is unpleasant. I can order almost anything I need online, I live alone so I buy a lot of my food in bulk from Costco, frozen stuff that keeps a long time. I mostly only go to the grocery store for vegetables and dairy, maybe once a week or so and usually on my way home from going somewhere else. If I want to visit a friend I need to get in my car anyway, I don't know anybody that lives closer than a few miles from me, it can be faster go go 15 miles away on the highway than 3 miles through town and highway driving is usually less stressful. I can walk to shops downtown but in practice I rarely do except to exercise. I don't want to carry home bags of groceries or whatever. I don't really buy very much in general and have little use for local shops. If there was an electronics hobby store or surplus shop nearby I would go to that but there isn't.

Everyone is different but I enjoy my walkable neighbourhood;
- Walk to the gym
- Walk to the swimming pool
- Go to the park to, well, walk around and look at the wildlife and get fresh air (10 minutes away from me).  If I had a dog, great place to walk it too.
- Go to the shops when I'm in need of only a few items
- Take my car to the garage, when I need a service or something I can walk back

Sometimes I take one of those rental scooters if I need to.

But almost all of my day to day needs are within 10-20 mins walk.  I do still drive to get grocery shopping etc. (because yes, carrying heavy bags home = not fun) but don't drive everywhere.

[james_s]

My neighborhood is walkable, it has sidewalks and I go for a walk almost every day just to walk. I don't really need to walk to any particular destination, there's nowhere I need to go. Brick & mortar shops are a dying concept, I order virtually everything and it gets delivered. The only thing I go out and buy regularly is groceries and when I do I almost always get more than I want to carry. The other thing I sometimes go buy is stuff like lumber and building materials, which again I don't want to carry. I've never taken a car to a mechanic in my entire life, anything it needs I can do at home without leaving my house. I see little value in being able to walk to businesses although I can actually do that pretty easily from here, there's just not really anywhere I go that I'm going to get something I want to carry home by hand. Electronics shops don't exist anymore, computer shops are all gone, there's only one electronic surplus place in the region that I'm aware of and they sell online too. I have zero interest in the beauty supply shops, wine tasting places, overpriced trendy restaurants and other stuff that makes up the majority of retail in my city, it could all burn down and I wouldn't miss it a bit. In fact I'd welcome the open space.

[sokoloff]

Similar story here, though I do not renew tires nor do any paint/bodywork at home; the equipment is just more than I want to deal with for as rare as those circumstances come up. Everything else, I do in the driveway. I'm in a city (Cambridge, MA), but in the outskirts of it (1, 2, and 3 family houses make up my section of the city; the nearest building over 5 stories is probably 3/4 mile away). I could walk to a handful of restaurants and there's a small shopping district filled with stores catering to people with some combination of way more money or way less economic sense.

[SiliconWizard]

Graphtreon put some recommended channel down the bottom of the page, Physics Girl was one, wow, what a boost! Went from 1k to 12k Patron in a matter of weeks.

Just checked, and this is the video, she's in a bad way 

I'm sorry to hear that and I sincerely hope she recovers soon.

That being said, I do find the video too dramatic and showing too much. Being ill is sad, and I really wish her well, but staging her health condition this way, not my thing.
Quite a few people have criticized Fran for exposing a bit too much of her issues and using that to raise some money, but this one looks much worse than what Fran ever did, in that regard.
And the Patreon face mask on an hospital bed? Really?

Now I appreciate Physics Girl did not do it herself, and she was probably not even in a condition that would have allowed her to decide, so someone else did it for her, and this was this person's decision.

Anyway, wish her well.

[nctnico]

I'm not quite sure. Recently I went to the US and visited some family members in the process. Their home was crazy expensive even for Dutch standards while it was somewhere in the mountains and not exactly in the city center. The problem with the US is that everything is much further apart as well. Walking a few blocks in a suburb means walking along large plots of land and crossing insanely wide streets that add to the distance considerably. I really had to adjust the scaling of the maps in my mind; what is a short walk in a typical European city, is twice as far where I was in the US. IOW: I think the cheap places are cheap because anywhere you want/need to go takes a lot of time to travel.

Where do you need to go? I go days at a time without leaving my property, especially in the winter when the weather is unpleasant. I can order almost anything I need online, I live alone so I buy a lot of my food in bulk from Costco, frozen stuff that keeps a long time. I mostly only go to the grocery store for vegetables and dairy, maybe once a week or so and usually on my way home from going somewhere else. If I want to visit a friend I need to get in my car anyway, I don't know anybody that lives closer than a few miles from me, it can be faster go go 15 miles away on the highway than 3 miles through town and highway driving is usually less stressful. I can walk to shops downtown but in practice I rarely do except to exercise. I don't want to carry home bags of groceries or whatever. I don't really buy very much in general and have little use for local shops. If there was an electronics hobby store or surplus shop nearby I would go to that but there isn't.

I typically use my bicycle for destinations for short trips (including getting groceries). Or I just go cycling for a longer trip; there is so much variation in the landscape where I live that it sometimes is hard to choose where to cycle to. Also, a bicycle is pretty handy for long stuff as well. Try transporting long pieces of wood or pipes 4 meters (12 feet) long with a normal car...

Anyway, I wanted to go for a swim near the hotel in the US and on the map it looked like a pool was a few streets away but it was almost 40 minutes to walk. In the same time & distance you can walk through a vast piece of Paris for example.

[Bud]

she refuses to consider anywhere apart from certain sections of downtown philly.

This is much worse that i thought... cant get more narrow in choice than that.

[Bud]

Where do you need to go? I go days at a time without leaving my property, especially in the winter when the weather is unpleasant. I can order almost anything I need online, I live alone ... <snip>.

That is because you do not have a wife, she would want concerts, art and cat shows, a park nearby, perhaps a good restaurant and all that. As mine said, if a women does not have a female friend to talk to, she will get sick.

[james_s]

Where do you need to go? I go days at a time without leaving my property, especially in the winter when the weather is unpleasant. I can order almost anything I need online, I live alone ... <snip>.

That is because you do not have a wife, she would want concerts, art and cat shows, a park nearby, perhaps a good restaurant and all that. As mine said, if a women does not have a female friend to talk to, she will get sick.

Quite the assumption don't you think? Not all women like the same things, there are plenty of rural women that share my intense dislike of urban things.

I have a girlfriend. Previously I had a different girlfriend for around a decade. We went out occasionally but most of our activities are at home. Not all women want to go to concerts and art shows. I like board games and puzzles, and watching movies at home. Go out to eat about once a month, a concert maybe once a year. The outings I am most interested in are camping trips which have to be some distance away since the whole point of camping is to disconnect and get out into the wilderness.

[nctnico]

Where do you need to go? I go days at a time without leaving my property, especially in the winter when the weather is unpleasant. I can order almost anything I need online, I live alone ... <snip>.

That is because you do not have a wife, she would want concerts, art and cat shows, a park nearby, perhaps a good restaurant and all that. As mine said, if a women does not have a female friend to talk to, she will get sick.

You know women can drive cars nowadays?

[EEVblog]

she refuses to consider anywhere apart from certain sections of downtown philly.

This is much worse that i thought... cant get more narrow in choice than that.

It's basically what this entire 80 page thread has been about.
She rents four properties for the business (apartment/Franlab, workshop, and two storage units), and all of them have to be in downtown Philly, absolutely no exceptions. She has said she will progressively shut down the business instead of moving anything outside of Philly.
Even friends like me have tried to convince her there are options, but she has asked me and her community to stop trying to help.
Even my suggestions of specific places I've found in downtown Philly where she could consolidate to save cost have been shot down because she knows Philly and I don't. Fair enough I guess.
I really don't want her to have to shut down Franlab 

The difference in approach with say Louis Rossmann who has moved several times and made a whole series about it, he's taken mine and other people's suggestions of places and has done tour videos and evaluates every possible option. Even I've done many videos (one just recently) evaluating various moving options. I'm always on the hunt "just in case" an exceptional deal comes along.
Fran's approach is that her current situation is already absolutely optimised and there is no other options available. If the Patreon money doesn't come in then things will get shut down, starting with the workshop, then storage, and then Franlab and she goes back a 9/5 job she doesn't want just to make ends meat.