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by tptacek 1774 days ago
I don't know anything about your intentions, but this whole thread is a good illustration of, again, something YC tells people all the time: start by making something that a few people love, rather than something that everyone will like a little bit, or, worse, just not object to.
1 comments
dcow 1774 days ago
Well I don't disagree there. Maybe I've just spoken sloppily. I wish BlackOak success in their mission. And I hope at some point I can be part of their vision for audience. Everything else I've said can simply be considered feedback, which I think the founder solicited in the OP.
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tptacek 1774 days ago
You easily can be part of their envisioned audience. You just have to be interested in video content that is unapologetically centered in Black culture, and that isn't burning any of its narrative fuel trying to make that cultural background feel familiar or especially palatable to other cultures. I think that sounds pretty neat, if they can pull it off with good content.
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dcow 1773 days ago
> You just have to be interested in video content that is unapologetically centered in Black culture, and that isn't burning any of its narrative fuel trying to make that cultural background feel familiar or especially palatable to other cultures.

Yes, I am. I’m not asking for content that caters to me. You don’t have to white wash your content in order to be inclusive. You don’t have to burn any narrative fuel on fragile whites. That would be awful.

I’m asking to be invited to participate. Not on my terms.. on theirs. For me it’s a subtle but significant and important difference.

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tptacek 1773 days ago
They should ignore you for now. They're not going to build a business on getting fussy message board nerds to watch Black content. No part of their message should have anything to do with making you feel more welcome, or really feel anything at all.
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dcow 1773 days ago
Then we shall see if they find success. We clearly have different hypotheses in how they should approach their messaging. That’s fine.

Take a look at https://allblk.tv/. Inclusively, yet unapologetically, black. It’s not that hard and really we’re not just talking about appeasing message board nerds here. If that was the case they really shouldn't listen to anybody on this forum, now should they?

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