It was just as easy to make a Youtube Poop as well, even before the advent of Mediaconverter. All you had to do was visit a French-Canadian video game website and download cutscenes from a crappy game from a shitty console you've never heard of. From there, the sky was the limit. Simply pull up your Windows Movie Maker and do whatever the hell you wanted.
This was back when the common misconception was that Poop was supposed to be funny. (And that notion still exists to this day.) The imagination span was limited. Everyone did the same thing and made trite unoriginal stories, involving the words "dinner," "come," "die," and the ever so popular "spaghetti."
But that wasn't enough for some. They needed something else, something that would make their Poop stand out from all the rest. Something that made them look professional and enhance the humor of their video. A censor bleep.
Censor bleeps weren't uncommon in traditional 2007 Poops. Deepercutt and WalrusGuy used them, and they brought out a lot of laughs. Even the greatest Poop ever made used a censor bleep. (I am of course talking about Mama Luigi is a Nuclear Weapon.) They were easily accessible; you just had to google the term and you'd get hundreds of sites offering downloads. At the time it seemed like a harmless tool.
I'm going to be openly honest: I never liked the censor bleep. Its effect wore out too fast on me. I can't recall any occasion that I laughed at a censor bleep in a Poop. It was more of a flaw than a blessing to me. It was too easy to use and too easy too access. It accentuated the notion that "Poop was supposed to be funny" in that it inspired a glut of what I refer to as Stock Shit, the lowest form of Poop that uses stale ideas and techniques. Now I don't use that term often. Stock Shit is reserved for the late-2007 era videos, though there are a few unfortunates that fall through the cracks. Thankfully most modern day Poops display some form of effort that elevates them well above this level.
Often times the words that were bleeped could have easily been spliced to say the word suggested by the editor. For example, at the end of He Touched Me Innapropriately, the female hedgehog says, "I only eat sh--" (the hyphens signify what was censored). Obviously FlameStormStudios was aiming for the word "shit." But really, how hard is it to find an "it" sound and plug it into the end? He had the entire episode at his disposal, and he chose to use the bleep. Now compare that to Mei's Robotnik Farts, a Poop made in the same year, where the word "shit" was spliced easily. This difference points out who is the better Pooper.
Experienced Poopers have tabooed the use of bleeps. They see the bleep for what it really is and choose instead to create the words themselves, which demonstrates an honest effort. The only one I can think of who used it on a daily basis was WalrusGuy. And he didn't use it because he thought everyone liked it, he used it because he liked it. I don't see his usage as an act of laziness since he was obviously capable of splicing the full words himself. But would he still use it if he continued his Pooping career to this day? I don't know.
Are there any modern day Poops where the censor bleep has worked? Yes, as a matter of fact, and they've both appeared in the Top Ten. KroboProductions created his own bleep in The Old Fashioned Way to Get Rid of Steve: a mouth-flapping stutter, which was both highly original and funny. So far no one has attempted to follow this example, but I believe it's best no one actually does. This is KroboProductions' joke and it shouldn't be whored out. The second example appeared in October's Top Ten: Norm Augustinus Teaches Remedial Sex Education by mYZterbattyX. That was the only time I laughed out loud at a censor bleep. But it wasn't the bleep itself that was funny, it was the setup. Norm is insulting us, thanks to some highly calibrated sentence mixing, and just as he is about to land the final blow we get it. (Arguably it wasn't a censor bleep but a color bar substitute.) Right after that comes the ear rape and complete annihilation of the video. That's a one-of-a-kind moment.
However, it's clear that the day of the censor bleep has come and gone. And it should stay gone. Bleeps are not funny and they never were funny. A Pooper who uses it leaves a mark on himself and his video. We should continue to press for sentence mixing as opposed to cheap substitutes. If you encounter someone using it, let them know it is an old joke but don't berate them about. After all, everyone has done something wrong without knowing it at some point. It should be the responsibility of the Pooper to educate the oncoming generations about the benefits of word splicing and sentence mixing in place of the bleep. They advocate this with their videos, and they should do so as well with their advice.
I don't see the future of Youtube Poop in a bleak way. I have been surprised by so many videos coming from the new generation, and I eagerly await whatever lies ahead of me. Remember to influence and defend the new, for they might possibly become the next big thing.
