What Ethan is getting at, is that once upon a time, people actually put time and effort to comment on each others videos. No matter whether it was a beginner level 1 minute training video, or a Legend - Quatro Styles 10 minute production the majority of comments consisted of at least a few sentences explaining the stuff that was a pleasure to watch but also mentioning things that need improvement.
Relating this topic to myself, I used to get 3-4 pages of comments on every single video I made. The difference in skill level I had then compared to the level I have acquired now is absolutely huge, yet my latest video struggled to get 2 pages if I remember correctly.
Its obviously not all about comments, but over the last few months/year the whole freestyle community seems to have completely lost the fun spark it used to have. The entire mentality of new freestylers has shifted dramatically from making really nice videos with well planned out combos, to just trying to throw as many amatw/matw nt in as possible at the complete sacrifice of style. As well as this, freestyles seems to have been squeezed into a tiny box and gives new freestylers the message that hardcore>everything. Because of this, very few are prepared to learn the basics anymore and will do anything to skip the cue. I will often see patw in a video alongside a 10 trick atw htw combo done with horrific style, which imo, is pointless.
I think one of the biggest factors which has resulted in the current state Ethan is talking about, is the introduction of ignorant beginners who are not prepared to shut the fuck up talking nonsense on the internet and train. When I first started, I looked up to people like Palle, Rocco, FX and had full respect for them as freestylers. I remember Rocco and Palle in particular were always willing to reply to any questions I had no matter how retarded and I would always take on board everything that was said. Where as these days, it seems people aren't prepared to listen to advice and have absolutely no respect for those who have been in the game a lot longer than themselves.
Sorry for all the ranting in this post but I had to let it all out!
Peeeeazzz
