Sciencemadness Discussion Board - ChemPlayer the story and the end for now

ChemPlayer the story and the end for now

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chemplayer... - 23-6-2016 at 08:53

In December 2014 a recently acquired friend and I were walking around a very unusual part of a very unusual city and discovered a shop selling hundreds of jars of strange chemicals and lots of interesting glassware. At the time we were both somehow struck by this sight, but didn't think much of it.

A few weeks later we were coming to terms with our life situation; both posted into living in an unusual place with some part time contract work which would conveniently support our low cost living expenses, but which would also give us lots of time to kill. We had a crazy idea; let's go back and buy some things, and start teaching ourselves how to do experiments in the spare kitchen. We were both feeling intrigued, so why the hell not? Let's PLAY!

We'd both had chemistry sets as kids and loved them. One of us defected and became an IT and design guru. The other one of us (me, who does most of the talking and is the chem-techy one) went into something health and medicine related.

We started off small, a few bits of glassware which didn't fit together, some test tubes (which we rarely used), some beakers, flasks, a liebig condenser (which did miraculously fit with our other glass). Sodium hydroxide, acids, ethanol, dichloromethane, salts like potassium iodide and ferrocyanide, a rare find of some sodium metal... and so on.

We learned about glass joints, joint grease, pH paper, aquarium pumps, silicone rubber tubes, moles, molarity, gases, liquids etc...

The main point though was that our first few experiments failed horribly. We realised that practical chemistry is an art form par excellence. Chemicals feel your respect and timidity. Like the east-side punk-haired but cute redhead bargirl who can intuitively detect your advances, with the out-of-the-blue snapppy sassy "back in your shoes buddy" attitude back. We learned that chemicals are strange creatures, not just in their appearance, colour and properties, but that their willingness to participate in a reaction depended largely on their own respect for you and whether they felt like it that day. "What do you mean you didn't clean and dry the flask for me? F*** YOU!"

And learn it we tried. First time picking up a DIY chemistry set in decades. Lots of basic reactions, no idea what the products were, no real way to check and purify, no real way to understand what was going on. Many things didn't even react, even when we were following the procedures in the books exactly. Even if we got a product, what is it? How can we tell?

Over time though we persevered and started to understand a little bit, and in return receive respect back from mother nature. Our 5 times previously attempted (and failed) mononitrotoluene reaction now worked perfectly every time. Occasionally if we were too lazy and didn't leave it in the ice for the full 40 minutes after the reaction it would come back and heat back up spontaneously to 60 degrees and create a cloudy product; almost just as a little indication to let us know that it was now willing to work with us, but that the relationship dynamic hadn't changed; she was still the boss.

Given that neither of us are professional chemists by trade or training, we saw this as an inevitable but familiar little game that would continue. The chemicals played 'hard to get'. We tried to seduce them. We gave our best behaviour; the chemicals tricked us up and failed. We gave them respect but cooly, played coy, oozed nonchalence and tried not to expose our anxiety, and occasionally we ended up on dates; the reactions worked!

Soon everything that was coming out of book instructions we followed worked. Even the fabled hyrazine from bleach reaction. That took us 8 attempts before we found the process in the video. Hydrazine is a prima-donna! She will suss you out the second you add that first drop of urea solution into the beaker; at that exact moment she's eyed you up and down and worked out whether she'll tease you before forming crystals, delay formation until in the fridge, or just whether she'll decompose right there and then in a tantrum with a nitrogen foam geyser. Sometimes though she's an unpredictably good girl and crystallises even before you've finished your sulfuric acid addition; if she's tired and doesn't want any more bullshit, and if she totally trusts you.

Then 3 months into our project we wanted to get more ideas of what to do. So we started watching YouTube and low and behold, lots of amazing crazy videos out there of people performing chemistry. UC235 was our first discovery; the real experimenter, better equipment than us, interesting and complex reactions, but admirably still the 'alpha-chemist' - we could see more than anything that the atoms and molecules respected this individual. We tried his reactions and they failed to start with. The chemicals laughed in our face! Then we discovered NurdRage and were blown away by the variety and breadth and how long he's been going; respect the time commitment! Of course, time in the market corresponds to 'clicks' in the market. He will do well. Then we found others like Doug's Lab whom we loved because of the great explanations, and also the very human side of his character and presentation. Nile Red has the best lighting and smoothest production, and we've been continually inspired by that.

So we thought, why not give it a go. Let's document our journey through this adventure in the same way that they have. A camera, tripod, cheap LED lighting (with remote control) were arranged and we created our first video ensuring we were working only with the chemical stars with whom we had the best relationships and least politics. Nitration of toluene was born as our first video. Our editing skills were still infantile at best but it made it up - our first YouTube video in May 2015.

But that said, Blender gave us our intro sequence after 3 days of playing around with it. A midi-enabled Roland JV80 powered by an old school Amiga500 running NoiseTracker with 8 bit samples gave us the opening sequence tune. Lightworks gave us our first strung together video with 'Lisa' providing the voiceover.

With 10 or so videos out within a few months we had 100 subscribers! We thought this wasn't bad. Fellow nurds rejoice!

But then came our first HR issue. Lisa was from the Beaudrillard school of thinking; she wanted to rebel against such unreality and simulacrum. She didn't like our satirical humour. She left and we hired her friend - Lisa B, a slightly more dry and cynical and suitable character. Where Lisa would have stormed out, Lisa B just accetuated her dry and satirical side. It worked well.

We bought ground glass adapters, a proper aquarium pump for distillation water, tubes, a vacuum pump, and lots of other little things. We now had a lab to be reckoned with!

So we set to work. The rest of course is history apart from our occasional adventure into food or soap-making or biodiesel, or some other random topic. Anhydrous aluminium chloride was a revelation and the thing which opened up so many different doors for us. Likewise, having relatively pure alkali cyanide also meant we could make mandelic acid, malonic acid, and other 'unreachable' compounds. Again, with the same disrespect/respect earn it and slowly get there process.

It was very great fun, but more importantly educational. Having peered over so many papers and documents trying to work them out and find out if my substrate X will react, I certainly picked up a lot of knowledge and understanding of reaction pathways, what the patterns of conditions which allow / prevent certain reactions are, etc. An abstract and very differently structured body of knowledge to what I'd previous been exposed to. But visualisation is everything; if your mind tends to work and remember in pictures, and if you can visualise molecules, you will be fine. Synthetic chemists must be strongly visual, but with enough emotional intelligence to understand the world of themselves, their helpers, the chemicals, and the reactions all fitting together. Respect is results.

So we kept on making videos. We always had three policies for the videos. First, make them clear so that anyone watching could replicate if they wanted by seeing what everything looked like exactly close up in detail; this also led to our flashing text - all reagents, solvents, agents, etc. are specified with unambiguous purity or concentration detail.

Secondly, that we would not for the sake of it attempt to make anything which could detonate or explode. Others claim to be experts, we're not. We don't want to kill ourselves. In our strange secret island enclave, explosives are considered more illicit than many class 1 presursors for instance. No point in taking any risks.

Thirdly, that we would not make anything 'harmful'. Drugs! Everyone wants drugs! This is what we soon learned - man you should see our inbox! We also realised that we lived in a world where legislations contradict safety rules, where safety rules contradict practical and empirical considerations, and where classifications link back to politics, appearance, and even demographics with no regard for safety. So we decided on our own independent assessment - directly illegal class A substances are out of bounds. Analogues which from our research we believe to be physiologically ineffective we could try to produce. After all, the fun in making the reaction work is still there! We'd never eat anything that came out of one of our flasks!

So we did barbituric acid, chelidamic acid, piperidine, an analogue of cathinone using piperidine, an inactive isomer of quaalude, hydantoin, and even good old chlorbutol. To this day we've never eaten any of them! We purchased PCl3 in a large glass bottle using cash in hand and no questions asked. That was an interesting walk home to the secret island base with a carrier bag containing 500ml of PCl3 in.

We then shifted and wanted to do lots of 'classic' reactions which were mentioned out there but which very few practical details were available. So came our 'experimental' channel trying out weird and wonderful ways to make different things. Acetyl chloride from acetonitrile perhaps?

Then food - how to make cake, how cake is chemistry, tiramisu, soap making, bio-diesel, and how to cook steak - chemistry shows you the perfect way...

Finally Zira came on board as our narrator and has grown secret admirers steadily.

But now to the crunch.

We've done ~160 videos, with some yet to be released, and we have a long list of future idea ones, but there's a catch. The transient conditions which brought us together in this place with the right time are now dissolving. One of us needs to move 8000km away, and the other about 12000km away. Jobs are what they are and so this is our economic reality. Time is shortly to run out for the ChemPlayer project.

As of August 2016 we will bid you farewell. Our equipment will be safely stored and protected. We will depart around the world again, and as and when the opportunity to revive comes up we will do so. Maybe 6 months, maybe 6 years. But we have agreed that we will be back for ChemPlayer Season 2 one day. We've had too much fun and learnt too much not to try this again. The patterns and knowledge that we've learned are also surprisingly applicable to a lot of other fields, even to our normal day jobs. Chemistry is truly not a bad subject to get you thinking about the real world after all.

Many people have donated to us using Patreon and for this we are incredibly humbled and grateful. As a result you will have all received the ChemPlayer index for the first 100 videos; we will now expand this to all videos in the sequence as a reference, and you will all be first on the mailing list! We will also explain in an up and coming video what we're doing with the Patreon money (if the US let us have it via our array of offshore banking obfuscation) - we think you will be impressed and happy with our plan. Watch out for that.

We started this project with nothing. We now feel like we've got a little way towards somewhere. But the truth is that anyone could do this, with the right time, place, and dedication,

ChemPlayer plans to return.
Stay tuned.

j_sum1 - 23-6-2016 at 09:53

Sniff.

It is lovely to get a bit more of the back story, but I really cannot comprehend that you are departing - even if it is temporary. I don't think you can comprehend how valuable (and entertaining) your videos have been.
Please at least make an appearance on SM from time to time.

NEMO-Chemistry - 23-6-2016 at 10:37

I am a noob and your video's have made chemistry accessible for me. I am slowly following some of them and teaching myself chemistry (with help here also).

Thank you for doing the video's and thank you for not concentrating on bangs and things to ingest, some of us are not interested in this type of thing.

Money wise what ever you were donated you earnt, it's a shame your having a break but you do what you gotta do.

So from me a simple thank you, you have helped a youngster become interested in science.

aga - 23-6-2016 at 11:50

It's Internet Dude ! Worldwide !

You ain't going nowhere.

I tried leaving once. Lasted a few milliseconds.

Welcome to the Hotel California.

"you can check out any time you like but you can never leave"

The Volatile Chemist - 23-6-2016 at 11:55

Wow. Quite a good bit of work you've done, good luck in your new life. Hoping to see more eventually though, as you had a wonderful first run!
Cheers!

highpower48 - 23-6-2016 at 12:49

Loved your videos. Will miss them......

ficolas - 23-6-2016 at 13:06

The way you talk about chemistry... It makes me want to learn it so much more.
I would have never guessed any of you didnt have prior experience...
I cannot say im your oldest fan or the bigfest fan, but its really sad you are stopping chemistry, and your videos.

myristicinaldehyde - 23-6-2016 at 14:01

RIP in spaghetti, never forghetti.

We shall joyously await your Second Coming.

chemplayer... - 23-6-2016 at 16:46

Aga, ever the philosopher is correct. It's a small world these days. We will be around and scheming for 'season 2'.

Velzee - 23-6-2016 at 18:34

Quote: Originally posted by chemplayer...

Aga, ever the philosopher is correct. It's a small world these days. We will be around and scheming for 'season 2'.

Your name shall forever remain an awesome legend. You are essentially the Alexander Hamilton of the current online home chemistry era. Maybe they'll even start to place your name on future glassware. We all await your Second Coming, that's for sure.

AHHHHHH NOOOOOOO

DoctorOfPhilosophy - 23-6-2016 at 18:50

It can't be, I just found out about your channel a month ago and I've watched almost every video. I even did you methyl iodide synthesis. Then I was checking every day to see if you uploaded something new. Why must it be this way

chemplayer... - 24-6-2016 at 10:16

You are all bringing tears to our eyes

But be happy. Know that we are moving onto other things. Our disappearance is just an illusion as we move out your sphere of visibility, but be reassured that we'll be applying the same CP philosophy wherever we are...

TinSandwich - 24-6-2016 at 12:29

Wow. I don't have much to say other than thank you. For all you have done to inspire and help new chemists.

I was always blown away from the relaxed atmosphere you were able to create in your videos (something you kind of have in common with explosions&fire), and by how different and in-depth they were. I am quite speechless and can't think of a good way to thank you for all your work, so I'll cut it short and say that you will be missed.

One question before you leave this comunity: where did you learn all this chemistry? Some of that organic chemistry seemed pretty advanced, I always tought you were university students, but now you're telling me that you are just some guys who found a shop and started playing with chemicals?

A small sidenote: watching your videos I started to wonder who the mysterious chemist behind this was: I always tought you were either chinese or french, and up until now I also tought that you were from some sort of university lab, (even though you did mention you were in a kitchen). I just tought you might find my small fan-theory interesting.

semesa - 24-6-2016 at 15:01

I'm posting to echo the general sentiment of those replying. You did great work and your efforts really did have an impact on (at least my own) practical academic progression. I started following you not long after you first began releasing videos and have watched through the majority of them in that time. The thing that made your content stand out most was how much new(i.e. not reactions that had already been published by other youtubers) and synthetically useful content you released.

As much as I enjoy nurdrage, extractions&ire, dougs lab, etc. I reckon you've been far and away the best content producer on youtube for chemistry over the last 2 years.

aga - 24-6-2016 at 15:39

It's simple : you are Wanted, therefore cannot just Go.

skip - 24-6-2016 at 19:03

oh the drama, but like you're utuber. thanks

Tdep - 25-6-2016 at 01:54

What a sad day. You have most certainly raised the bar in Youtube chemistry. You're also shown how popular more 'pure' chemistry videos can be. No explosions or long running synthetic targets, yet the chemistry alone (as well as the wit that always leaked through the voice over) was interesting enough to bring thousands of subscribers. I feel you'll have a knock on effect, with less kewl channels and more interesting organic chemistry channels being formed.

Really enjoyed having you guys around, hope you have a presence online still, handing out wisdom both here and a voice of authority in the youtube comment section.

If you're packing up, i'd love for you to post in the Tour My Lab thread. I'd love to see what you guys worked with. I think I remember you saying you worked on just a very small section of bench. I'm sure i'm not the only one who'd appreciate seeing some shots that are more zoomed out than usual.

All the best for the future, I shall always be waiting for the second coming!

NedsHead - 25-6-2016 at 02:18

Really sad news, your videos have been outstanding, You'll leave a void in the YouTube and SM chemistry community that can't be filled. All the best for the future chemplayer

chemplayer... - 25-6-2016 at 03:14

Thanks Tom. As of this point you are the only person in the world with possession of official CP merchandise!

We'll be around...

Tdep - 25-6-2016 at 03:38

I shall treasure the merchandise well.
Or split it up and sell it on eBay for a extreme premium, I haven't decided yet

R4v3n - 25-6-2016 at 14:40

Welp, I only discovered your channel a few months ago, but it was amazing. I find it sad that you will be unable to continue for now, but one can hope that 6 months is a closer estimate than 6 years. I hope you have good jobs, and that you succeed. Until your rebirth, we await. crying into our glassware.

Hobbes - 6-7-2016 at 06:35

This is my very first post (after lurking for months), and it turns out to be a sad one

You guys have been an absolute inspiration to a complete beginner. Whilst I understand only too well how "life gets in the way", it is still a Very Sad Day.

You set a new standard for YT videos: clear, concise, no "wool" or blather, I can't praise them enough. And they are funny too !

I second aga: you cannot leave!

vmelkon - 7-7-2016 at 10:33

Love will bring us together.

APO - 9-7-2016 at 23:31

I sincerely will miss your videos for the hiatus. Luckily I haven't watched all of them, so I have the rest to look forward too.

It always amazed me how you answered so many questions I wondered about casually, but couldn't test myself.

CRUSTY - 15-7-2016 at 08:20

NOOOO...

I think I speak for all you subscribers in saying that you have been a great source of inspiration for many. You were one of those, among others, who really got me into chemistry, organic chem in particular. So with that, I thank you for your incredible contributions.

You will be missed, but never forgotten. Thank you so much!

[Edited on 15-7-2016 by CRUSTY]

Vanta - 15-7-2016 at 10:30

Thanks for everything Chemplayer!
I thoroughly enjoyed your video's.

Subscribed I will be till the day youtube kills itself.

Also, I'm quite surprised you're not a professional chemist.
Or at least, have had 'proper' chemical education.
Not that raw real world experience isn't as good, might even be better.

CRUSTY - 16-7-2016 at 07:44

Oh, chemplayer, to add to my previous comment, could we maybe hear about the creation of your original soundtracks you showed in a couple of your videos?

Loptr - 16-7-2016 at 19:27

You once said you wanted to open-source the project. It would be interesting if ChemPlayer became the Dread Pirate Roberts, and whoever is able to carry the flag, takes it over from the previous one and carries it until they are no longer able to do so, and so forth.

That might still be a possibility, although I would hate to see the ChemPlayer-branded diluted.

So you are coming to the USA? Did I read that correctly?

I have been archiving your videos for the fear this day would come. I think SM needs to have section for your videos, and ones that others have created. I noticed we now have an actual Media Wiki installation, so that's a start.

[Edited on 17-7-2016 by Loptr]

chemplayer... - 17-7-2016 at 07:47

Yes we thought about making it open-source, but then the problem becomes a quality one (although we had no real interest in making money out of the thing so the brand is inconsequential).

So instead we wrote a few posts in some other threads on here which go into quite a lot of detail about how we film, how the editing process is made efficient, etc. so we can pass on some tips we've learned.

BUT all that said, we got into this by being inspired by other people's videos, and if people had a few 'short cut' media files such as intro, music etc. to help them along the road then it's possible that there would be more videos out there.

So if we can find a suitable hosting space (~400Mb total space, mostly for intro sequence) we will be happy to make the following available as a template which we'll call 'Open Chem':

1. The 'Chem Player theme' intro / end theme music.
2. The 'Jazz Interlude' music.
3. A version of the Blender intro sequence (as a series of still images designed for 25fps) with a small new 'Open Chem' logo.
4. A quick style guide (fonts, sizes, timing of captions etc.), just for guidance in case you want to use it.
5. The end screen picture (with the molecules and a blue background).
6. TTS software and voices used so you can achieve the same effect as we have (optionally, if you want).

All other music, logos, content etc. in existing videos would stay as our copyrighted material, but the above items would be available for distributed use by anyone else who wants to use them in their own videos. Just be polite and have a quick text appear somewhere for 2 seconds to mention that the 'Open Chem' template is originally by ChemPlayer, but that's it.

The only covenant would be that finished videos using the materials should be for educational use, not for profit (and no horrible adverts), and should be related to amateur science. No restrictions on subject matter though; the template is agnostic of your own channel.

Any thoughts appreciated. If people like this then we can make it happen.

arkoma - 17-7-2016 at 10:11

Y'all are awesome. In the vein of The Curious--"Gee, we hear you can do this, let's try"

Loptr - 17-7-2016 at 18:24

I like the idea of "Open Chem". Pick up a template and produce your own feature experiment.

Those video templates can be hosted on Google Drive for now, if you wanted. It has more than enough space to host it, and you just have to set it as accessible to the public and provide a link.

j_sum1 - 17-7-2016 at 19:32

I am a bit divided on this idea. But mostly I think I disfavour it.

Firstly, I do not think the brand is inconsequential. There are a large number of things that chemplayer does that really cannot be replicated by someone else. The choice of experiments, the dry humour, the style, lighting, the way the videos are sequenced, the wildlife crawling through the field of view and the prophylactic chianti to mitigate against the dangers of the Maillard reaction.

Of course, if it is "Open Chem" then that is a new brand. (I prefer the title, "Chemplayer Open Source".) It is a new vehicle and a new way of doing things based on what works best from Chemplayer videos and what of that is transferrable. (Which is not all of it.)

The real issue I see is one of quality and dilution. I really would not like to see a kind of Khan Academy of chemistry experimentation. If it is really successful and there are a lot of contributors then you have a bit of infoglut with lots of overlap and variable quality and overall a less useful (or entertaining) resource.

I think if (when) I decide to produce videos of my own, I would like to pursue my own vision for what they might become and not be trying to conform to someone else's standard (albeit an excellent one). I really like the communal thing that we have where there are a few outstanding chemistry youtubers who all pinch ideas off each other and all produce in their own way according to their own style. There is a reason why we nearly all have bookmarked NileRed, Nurdrage, Doug's Lab and Chemplayer. I don't see there is much to be gained by these other three posting using Chemplayer's brand. And even less to be gained by a noob like me attempting to emulate the great.

I would love to see a chemplayer "How to make a good chemistry video" tutorial posted on YT. I know of several posts here that give some good pointers but having them on the channel would be just great!

My $0.02

Loptr - 17-7-2016 at 19:40

The idea of producing a video sounds daunting to me, and is probably the reason the ability for reuse sounds enticing.

Texium - 18-7-2016 at 07:03

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

I think if (when) I decide to produce videos of my own, I would like to pursue my own vision for what they might become and not be trying to conform to someone else's standard (albeit an excellent one). I really like the communal thing that we have where there are a few outstanding chemistry youtubers who all pinch ideas off each other and all produce in their own way according to their own style. There is a reason why we nearly all have bookmarked NileRed, Nurdrage, Doug's Lab and Chemplayer. I don't see there is much to be gained by these other three posting using Chemplayer's brand. And even less to be gained by a noob like me attempting to emulate the great.

I totally agree with j_sum here. I also have a desire to make videos, and was struggling with getting off the ground, yet I still don't want to use OpenChem because I am a perfectionist and feel the need for my videos to be entirely my own work. That may also mean that I never end up publishing my videos, but that's just the way my mind works. It's either 100% mine and meets my quality standards, or it doesn't go up. I feel like I won't get any recognition for my original work if I don't have my own original brand.

I know that a lot of people aren't like that though, so I still think that OpenChem is a great idea, it just isn't something that I'll use myself.

chemplayer... - 19-7-2016 at 05:35

j_sum1 and zts16: really appreciate the thoughts, and totally agree; we would have been exactly the same starting out. I do remember the 3 days sitting in front of the screen tearing my hair out trying to work out how Blender works with minimal documentation. That was honestly a harder mental cliff to climb than scouring all the documentation on 'thermodynamic vs. kinetic control of enolate reactions' and that was bad enough! We'd have never published anything with a template, but we might have tried it out, gained confidence and learned something, played around with some of the ideas in it, and especially read any 'how to' tips if they were available. A template doesn't have to be for life; Christmas alone is enough.

So we're working on a template and how-to guide at the moment hosted on Google Drive. Just the graphics to do, but that's just a case of relearning how Blender works! Oh God...

What we'll probably do is publish it first to a few select people and see what they think. It it is remotely useful then we'll publish it generally to everyone as part of our 'final videos'.

All video filming completed now, but lots of material to 'work up', and some packing to do... oh, and a long-haul plane-journey with Blender on a laptop and hopefully some alcohol...

CRUSTY - 19-7-2016 at 12:55

Quote: Originally posted by zts16

I also have a desire to make videos, and was struggling with getting off the ground, yet I still don't want to use OpenChem because I am a perfectionist and feel the need for my videos to be entirely my own work.

I think this is a great point. We all want our own brand and our own style to be reflected in our work and contributions, as a sort of mark for us to be recognized or remembered by. I could see the "Open Chem" template being something that stays solely as a template in that it could provide the structure of the videos (ie. sequence, organization, general appearance, etc), but each user would provide their own style. This would allow for the efficient delivery of information the way chemplayer managed to do, while still allowing each user to be able to differentiate themselves from the rest.

I feel like Open Chem would be an excellent way to take the initial edge off of video making that a lot of us get stuck behind, since it's so hard to initiate.

The Volatile Chemist - 22-7-2016 at 12:03

I agree with the more recent posts, that if I ever made a channel, I would want it to be mine and not too reminiscent of someone else's. And I'd rather not see others use it. It seems, too, that it will degrade the 'legacy' of the original content, too.

Loptr - 22-7-2016 at 18:02

I guess I am thinking of it from a perspective of producing education-oriented content, and not just what's cool or a whim, but a more coherent collectively contributed media stream.

Sort of like what open courseware is doing, but produced by the amateur. Something that gives the overall content a direction.

chemplayer... - 27-7-2016 at 19:30

We've created 'OpenChem' and we'll do a quick video to explain and we'll also make a post here in a new thread to explain what it is.

It's basically just some media materials that you can then make it whatever you want it to be!

mr.crow - 27-7-2016 at 20:38

I saw your final video today and it made me sad

. Ok I admit the salmon one was slightly arousing but the lack of "stay tuned" at the end left me empty inside.

I used to always look forward to the next one coming out. You guys made consistently high quality experiments and educational videos. I think it has elevated the chemistry hobby to new levels. Thank you for everything

The Volatile Chemist - 15-8-2016 at 13:24

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

I saw your final video today and it made me sad

Second that. I just watched the Salmon video today, not planning on watching the open-chem one. Hope there is a part two...

chemplayer... - 29-3-2018 at 17:49

If you follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChemPlayer1) then you will have seen that finally (predictably) YT is giving us a bit of trouble at the moment and it looks like they're out to cull content from their site.

So we're doing an experiment with BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/chemplayer/

We did 'part 1.5' over the last year and there will be a bit of a break now as the focus is on other projects, but still planning for a future return at some point. If YT does indeed kill the channel (looks likely) then we'll keep you posted here on SM and on Twitter as to the plan. We have a complete archive of all videos, comments, messages etc.

j_sum1 - 29-3-2018 at 18:23

Sad to hear.
Have any videps been taken down yet?
Is everything properly archived?

Thanks for letting us know. Yours is an extremely valuable resource. Might be time to systematically watch through the channel again.

XeonTheMGPony - 29-3-2018 at 19:09

Doing that now, the regressives have taken over google it is all going down the drain sadly, so backing up some vids now and from now on will be dling all good science chem vids

Magpie - 29-3-2018 at 22:02

I’m sorry to hear of your problems with the pricks running YT.

Could you please describe your efforts making P. I spent considerable time trying to make a facile and economical method for doing this, with limited success.

mr.crow - 30-3-2018 at 05:33

RANT:

Fuck Youtube

Oh yeah they also killed keepvid. https://www.keepdownloading.com and https://www.vdyoutube.com/ still work for downloading videos

Bitchute's front page is filled with conspiracy theories, white supremacists and right-wing american retards. Maybe we don't deserve an open platform and the Internet golden age is over.

XeonTheMGPony - 30-3-2018 at 05:41

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

RANT:

Fuck Youtube

Oh yeah they also killed keepvid. https://www.keepdownloading.com and https://www.vdyoutube.com/ still work for downloading videos

Bitchute's front page is filled with conspiracy theories, white supremacists and right-wing american retards. Maybe we don't deserve an open platform and the Internet golden age is over.

But it is the regressive left doing the damage they are the ones who want free speech removed, that all so means the removal of sharing of ideas, just like youtube is doing.

Very sad that delusional idiologs can't grasp how that cuts both ways, but what can you expect from neocommies.

Radium212 - 30-3-2018 at 09:23

The amateur chemistry side of YouTube will be just a little darker. So long, chemplayer, and thanks for all the fish.

sodium_stearate - 30-3-2018 at 09:53

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

But it is the regressive left doing the damage

Well said!

[Edited on 30-3-2018 by sodium_stearate]

JJay - 30-3-2018 at 11:53

Chem Player is easily the best chemistry channel on YouTube. Considering the scale of the demonstrations and the presence of disclaimers, it is surprising that YouTube would say that it is against community standards. Their rules as stated (that chemistry demonstrations are not to be reproducible) are anti-science.

DavidJR - 2-4-2018 at 13:58

I really hope chemplayer doesn't disappear from youtube, that would be a real shame. I have backed up the entire channel and a number of other chemistry etc related channels which are at risk. If anyone else wants to do the same then youtube-dl works very well.

madcedar - 2-4-2018 at 16:53

Quote: Originally posted by chemplayer...

So we're doing an experiment with BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/chemplayer/

Good idea, BitChute is peer to peer and places little emphasis on political correctness. It would be nice if you could transfer all your videos over to BitChute.

[Edited on 3-4-2018 by madcedar]

fusso - 14-4-2018 at 11:23

An unusual part of an unusual city with an unusual chem supplier? wow I wanna go there and have a look. Where is it?

[Edited on 15/4/18 by fukko]

[Edited on 15/4/18 by fukko]

fusso - 14-4-2018 at 18:43

btw why not try mastodon? it's also a possible alternative platform. Its also open source! You can also upload vids there.
A lot of my FB friends has opened acs and some are also considering.

VSEPR_VOID - 16-4-2018 at 07:09

For a minute this thread had me going then I checked and found that the date was from 2016. Close call, I though Chem Player was leaving (again)

chemplayer... - 20-4-2018 at 19:58

To clarify; we took a break in mid-2006 as we ended up becoming split up geographically. One of us then continued with sporadic videos during 2017, but now back on a video break again (planning some more later in the year but still no plans for a full 'series 2' until time allows, as it's all systems-go on other projects at the moment).

Issue at the moment is that we're on 2 strikes (with 3 videos seemingly taken down) so at a guess it will only take one more before YT can pull the plug on the channel. With the issues that other channels have had (e.g. E&F) and from what we understand about what YT are up to, it feels likely that they'll continue this culling of material on the platform so it's probably a matter of time. We hope not but let's see. As and when time allows it there will be a steady stream of videos transferred over to BitChute as a backup. Stay tuned...

Tdep - 26-4-2018 at 03:44

Breaking news: it happened.
We can pack up the internet now, we have seen the best and now it's only downhill from here

JJay - 26-4-2018 at 03:56

Chem Player was the best chemistry channel on YouTube. They will be missed.

j_sum1 - 26-4-2018 at 04:10

shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitsh itshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit shitshitshitshitshit

And yet the king of random remains.
There is no justice.

Loptr - 26-4-2018 at 04:24

Are there any community video portal software packages? We might try setting something up.

[Edited on 26-4-2018 by Loptr]

Diachrynic - 26-4-2018 at 07:08

God damn it.

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

And yet the king of random remains.
There is no justice.

I seriously don't know what in the world is going with YouTube anymore.

Who's Next? Nurdrage? Cody? NileRed?

This makes me sad.

Velzee - 26-4-2018 at 07:25

I have backed up most of CP's videos in an archive. I will link to it when I can.

mr.crow - 26-4-2018 at 16:42

Yes it finally happened.

Fuck youtube and their shit community.

Use an ad blocker:

uBlock Origin Chrome
uBlock Origin Firefox
uBlock Origin Firefox Android
Host file, no software needed

Very sad.

CaptainMolo - 26-4-2018 at 18:12

I'm sorry to see this happen to ChemPlayer. I couldn't believe it was real until I saw it. Honestly YouTube is killing their own platform.

I keep seeing this over and over and I'm getting really sick of their crap. Logan Paul get's a slap on the wrist for literally using human remains in his video as a prop, and ChemPlayer get's taken down for doing legitimate science... Sickening.

Nobody should have to worry that their hard work will be stripped from the site for such inane reasons.

XeonTheMGPony - 26-4-2018 at 18:58

you tube may as well just shut down at this rate.

jamit - 26-4-2018 at 23:19

Really sad and angry to see chem player chemistry videos taken down. If anyone has them downloaded I would love to get my hands on them.

Also is there another platform for sharing videos other than YouTube?

j_sum1 - 27-4-2018 at 00:39

Velzee has a zipfile with most of them ready for download. Look for his thread in whimsy.

CaptainMolo - 27-4-2018 at 07:03

Am sad. I can't view the whimsy board. It's probably because I have so few posts on this site. I wanted to download the videos. Does anyone have an alternative link?

crystal grower - 27-4-2018 at 09:21

Quote: Originally posted by CaptainMolo

Am sad. I can't view the whimsy board. It's probably because I have so few posts on this site. I wanted to download the videos. Does anyone have an alternative link?

You have to ask Admin for permission to whimsy.

CaptainMolo - 27-4-2018 at 11:45

Quote: Originally posted by crystal grower

Quote: Originally posted by CaptainMolo

Am sad. I can't view the whimsy board. It's probably because I have so few posts on this site. I wanted to download the videos. Does anyone have an alternative link?

You have to ask Admin for permission to whimsy.

Oh okay, is there a standard board or specific person I should ask to do so? (Still kind of new here, sorry for the probably obvious questions)

j_sum1 - 27-4-2018 at 13:27

In this case you could just u2u velzee and ask for the link.
Instructions for getting whimsy access are on the front page.

j_sum1 - 27-4-2018 at 14:23

Apologies for dominating this thread. the whole situation pisses me off.

Chemplayer goes, but this trash remains.

And of course I am divided on whether to report it because (a) the drug synth information is already out there and (b) it will merely reinforce the YT policy of shutting down chem.

aga - 27-4-2018 at 14:44

YouTube is what it is.

If you do not like how they hand out some $ for videos that you upload, just claim your $ back

It's free $ if you play by their ever-changing rules.

If not, they will immediately refund the $ you paid them, in full.

(the missing part is all your time and effort, but they are Sales guys)

j_sum1 - 27-4-2018 at 16:01

I think you deliberately miss the point, aga.
No one is complaining about youtube's business model. It is rather generous as far as these things go. Part of their model is to host large numbers of videos for free, at a loss to them, for users who choose not to monetise. They do that at their discretion and can cease whenever they choose.

The thing that burns is that yt's algorithims and policies disproportionally target chemistry. Ostensibly this is to keep the public safe from drugs and explosives. However, in practice, the amateur chemistry is censured and the drug kooks remain. And as for protecting the public and community guidelines, the situation is laughable. There is bucketloads of dangerous stupidity plastered all over yt. I don't know how often I have seen someone gruesomely maimed or killed in the middle of a dashcam or failarmy compilation.

The setup is inequitible. Yt does not recognise or acknowledge a valuable knowledge or education resource (despite their continual promotion of education). And the appeals process is so limited as to be nearly worthless.

The way to make yt work is to monetise the hell out of it, form a team to produce videos on a quick turnaround, and fill everything with flashy lowest-denomenator clickbait. (Go Grant Thompson!) But none of that compensates for the loss of a repository of awesome experimentation and the positive effect that had on a significant sector of science enthusiasts.

Vosoryx - 27-4-2018 at 17:39

This pisses me off.
To chemplayer, I would like to offer my incredible thanks. Your videos, as incredibly entertaining as they have been, have given me great knowledge. I enjoyed each and every one of them, and my only regret in this regard is that I didn't get to see them all.
To everyone who backed their videos up, I would just like to say thanks. (Especially Velzee!) I will be getting a copy of them once the traffic dies down.
I hope that the same doesn't happen to other channels, but I know it soon will.
Best of luck to all future and current science content creators... you'll need it in this upcoming era of anti-science that the world seems to be moving towards.

Texium - 27-4-2018 at 21:30

If you'd read the last 20 posts in this thread you'd have seen that we are well aware of ChemPlayer's tragic demise, and that Velzee has already uploaded a nearly complete archive of their videos, available to download until they can become uploaded more permanently on another site.

HeYBrO - 27-4-2018 at 21:44

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

Apologies for dominating this thread. the whole situation pisses me off.

Chemplayer goes, but this trash remains.

And of course I am divided on whether to report it because (a) the drug synth information is already out there and (b) it will merely reinforce the YT policy of shutting down chem.

The worrying thing is that i think that was a nilered video.... (I haven't actually watched it though)

j_sum1 - 27-4-2018 at 21:50

No. The channel name is Walter White. (rolleyes) He does use a NileRed-ish black background.
It was one of a few meth synths that came up when I was searching to see if anyone had duplicated and reposted chemplayer videos. (There are a couple.)
The association between amateur chem and methamphetamines is quite clearly present in YT's categorisation of videos. If that association was somehow severed we would be a whole lot better off. (Thanks Walter White for using a style so similar to Nile.)

Vosoryx - 27-4-2018 at 21:53

Yeah, that walter white one is infuriating. It looks exactly like nilered's - that could be some serious negative associations.

Edit:
Just watched parts of the video. From what little I know about org. chem, it seems to all be scientifically correct... How sad.
11 months...

[Edited on 28-4-2018 by Vosoryx]

[Edited on 28-4-2018 by Vosoryx]

HeYBrO - 27-4-2018 at 21:58

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

No. The channel name is Walter White. (rolleyes) He does use a NileRed-ish black background.
It was one of a few meth synths that came up when I was searching to see if anyone had duplicated and reposted chemplayer videos. (There are a couple.)
The association between amateur chem and methamphetamines is quite clearly present in YT's categorisation of videos. If that association was somehow severed we would be a whole lot better off. (Thanks Walter White for using a style so similar to Nile.)

i clicked on it. its a nile red video- look at the phosphorus container in his methyl iodide video and that one- they're the same. Plus, listen to the voice

[Edited on 28-4-2018 by HeYBrO]

CobaltChloride - 27-4-2018 at 22:03

That video is NileRed's. He removed it a while ago and it seems that this Walter white just re-uploaded it. He said that he removed it because he was afraid he'll get a strike for it.

j_sum1 - 27-4-2018 at 22:14

Dang, HeYBrO. You may well be right now that I have clicked on it. If it is Nile then I am disappointed.

So how is it that something with "methamphetamine synthesis" in the title sticks around for a year when thunderf00t's "naked electrons" gets flagged and taken down twice in one week?

phlogiston - 28-4-2018 at 05:06

I would not think it impossible that "naked electrons" got flagged for nudity.

NedsHead - 28-4-2018 at 06:10

I think you're all being a bit too hard on poor NileRed, did any of you actually watch the linked video? it's in no way a tutorial on how to cook meth or an encouragement to cook meth, he simply explores the chemistry in the same way all his other videos do.

I personally think he did a good of remaining unbiased and focusing purely on the science of such a taboo subject.

The guy clearly gets off on chemistry, not meth

Vosoryx - 28-4-2018 at 10:23

Yes, it was. When i first saw it i was in a public place and had to mute the audio. I saw that the science was correct, but it wasn't a tutorial, it was focused on the science.

I jumped to unjust conclusions.

CaptainMolo - 29-4-2018 at 14:59

Quote: Originally posted by Vosoryx

This pisses me off.
To chemplayer, I would like to offer my incredible thanks. Your videos, as incredibly entertaining as they have been, have given me great knowledge. I enjoyed each and every one of them, and my only regret in this regard is that I didn't get to see them all.
To everyone who backed their videos up, I would just like to say thanks. (Especially Velzee!) I will be getting a copy of them once the traffic dies down.
I hope that the same doesn't happen to other channels, but I know it soon will.
Best of luck to all future and current science content creators... you'll need it in this upcoming era of anti-science that the world seems to be moving towards.

Well said Vosoryx! I'm really worried for NurdRage and NileRed. I didn't think this would happen to a creator like ChemPlayer. I expected this nonsense to happen to people doing explosives and questionably legal activities, but ChemPlayer's videos were so polished and professional. I honestly had ZERO idea that they didn't start out as professional chemists. The authority of their knowledge base belied their years of experience.

I keep wishing I'll find out that they were able to appeal it somehow, but I'm unsure if that's possible since it's past the 3 strikes now and they've actually been taken down. I've already started looking into alternatives, like MINDS, but I recently found out that there's a 15 minute video limit. Plus uploading has been super slow and unreliable so far, so I don't expect that to catch on unless it gets significantly better in terms of performance.

ChemPlayer mentioned BitChute as something they were experimenting with. Has anyone had any experience with them? Any good as a platform?

Videos Archived

gravityzero - 29-4-2018 at 15:22

Community,

I often make archives of content I feel might disappear.
I have on hand 182 videos of Chemplayer in 720p @ 30fps.
The Folder is 16.4GBs in size. If anyone needs my help with this let me know.

I normally backup in 720p due to the amount of storage space videos require.
I also other channels archived in 720p or the best that was available.
Most of the other channels are still online, but I like to play it safe.

Chemplayer - 720p
Doug's Lab - 720p
LaFFle - 720p
MYST32 - 480
Nile Red - 720p
Nurd Rage - 720p
NUX - 720p
TDC - 720p
UC235 - 480p

If a moderator needs my assistance in getting this files out, please send a U2U.
Not sure the best way to go about it, but I'm here to help the community.

j_sum1 - 29-4-2018 at 15:42

This is awesome, gravityzero.
What is the best way for users to access this resource?

If you could U2U me a list of the chemplayer videos you have then I could do a comparison with the ones Velzee has made available and put together a list of the 24 vids that he does not have.

Clarification

gravityzero - 29-4-2018 at 15:51

I want to clarify the statement I made earlier.
I have an offline backup of this material.

I do not have links to this material for download.
I do not have online space to provide that amount of data.

I am willing to upload, and take the time to upload, the entire archive.
The moderators or the community will need to devise a storage location.
Provide me access in a U2U and I will upload the content.

Alternatively, if someone can suggest another method of delivery, please suggest.
Thanks for undestanding.

Rest in Peace ChemPlayer

FlaskBreaker - 29-4-2018 at 20:04

One of my chemistry channels (and I'm sure your's too), ChemPlayer, has been terminated from YouTube. Hours of humorous, educational, and interesting content has been lost. I made this discovery when I was going through my subscription feed. This devastating loss has me wondering: Are other channels such as Doug's Lab next?

I hope someone managed to fill an external hard drive full of their videos, because this content is way too valuable to simply go away.

I wish YouTube would realize that the chemistry community is here to have fun, learn, and teach others; not make bombs.

Rest in peace ChemPlayer. I hope someday you return again.

RogueRose - 29-4-2018 at 20:09

Got em all!!

Do you know why they pulled them down? Are any other channels in jeopardy? If so, LMK which ones so I can rip them.

[Edited on 4-30-2018 by RogueRose]

j_sum1 - 29-4-2018 at 21:27

There is an active thread discussing Chemplayer's disappearance. I will merge the two together.

On the matter of preserving channels, there are some efforts going on here

chemplayer... - 2-5-2018 at 01:07

Thanks everyone for your kind support. We view this as a minor setback but the economics of the internet are now resulting in a huge wave of centralisation, and with that the inevitable metamorphosis of 'YouTube' into 'TheirTube'. You can say you were there. The icing on the cake was the cute way in which YT finally shut us down; not just the YT channel termination but a complete Google account and email lock-out and a demand for a phone number in order to 're-authenticate' with no other way to login and no way to appeal. So that's it - fin.

We'll continue to upload the old videos to BitChute (https://www.bitchute.com/channel/chemplayer/). The quality at BC is not ideal so we'll look carefully for a longer-term solution. No rush. You know you can find us around here at SM from time to time and on Twitter as well (https://twitter.com/ChemPlayer1) and we'll post if there are any updates to the situation. We'll continue to watch our favourite Chem YT channels but we'll be commenting under a different username now. Good luck to all you other YT'ers - we hope you don't have to lower your souls in order to continue on the platform.

In the meantime anyone wanting to host / distribute / archive any of our old videos has our permission; knowledge must be free and public. We ourselves have a full secure archive of all materials, videos and source footage, and one day have an ambition to remaster everything in beautiful high quality 1080p. Maybe we'll even get a narrator... or maybe not. Trolling the 'hate the robot' comments during a morning coffee was one of the highlights.

We also have a backup of all YT statistics, comments, messages, subscribers list, etc. as well for our own memories and info. For the moment other projects are taking all our time and priority but I (as there is now only one of us active) plan to continue with occasional videos later in the year. A bit of the income from our other projects has already been invested in some fun new equipment put away ready for the future, so stay tuned.

damanifesto - 2-5-2018 at 07:58

Chemplayer, are the files from the google drive account (now restricted) posted anywhere else that we may access them?

BaFuxa - 3-5-2018 at 11:18

Just found out about Chemplayer's termination. I am so angry as I wanted to watch a video for a synthesis I had planned. I hope it gets resolved with youtube. given the current environment I think it would be nice to have a science madness video archive or even a section of the site dedicated to videos. Youtube is getting very PC these days and anything not picket-fence is at risk. If they do not want us then we can always have our own independent country nothing is stopping us. I know I would financially contribute to make it happen, videos are invaluable.

Texium - 3-5-2018 at 11:51

Well you're in luck, it's already happened: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=82...

Eventually the site should get migrated to sciencemadness.org

Vomaturge - 3-5-2018 at 19:17

It's really too bad that YouTube deleted Chemplayer's account. I'm thankful that people are saving the content from this excellent chemistry channel.

It seems that YouTube has became even more restrictive of content (especially science) over the last 6-12 months.

I also suspect that YT has a way of playing favorites, letting some channels (e.g. King of Random) post "inappropriate content" because they have so many views. If a channel is a major source of ad revenue for YouTube, then I think they let them get away with more.

But I also think there is an element of chance to getting videos "flagged." Suppose 10 people with the same number of views, same "don't do this yourself" disclaimers, etc. all made videos on for example, making gunpowder. Some would get their videos taken down sooner then others, and some would not have them taken down at all. I don't think making a worse video (e.g. a video on drugs, making an actual bomb, etc) will get them to delete it that much faster. If it's against the rules even a bit, they will block it as soon as they can. Who they block first seems sort of random. So, another possible way to get around the regulations is just to make a new channel, with a slightly different name and upload your videos again! They might eventually take it down again, but even with their tighter current enforcement, it might (or might not) be for a long time. YouTube doesn't have a way to find and remove every video with illegal drugs, nudity, violence, dangerous stupid stunts, weapons, or science education, which seem to all be "against the community guidelines." Next time YouTube deletes a channel, perhaps it will be something else, like the "Walter White" one that re-uploaded that NileRed video. Though it may not be permanent, It might be worth putting the ChemPlayer content back on YouTube!

chemplayer... - 4-5-2018 at 01:37

We may do an experiment just to test this but it is known that YT does have a way of digitally fingerprinting every video (and audio) in order to help them manage copyright conflicts. We suspect that they would probably use the same technology to identify 'reposts' for blocked channels. No time right now to test this out though.

BitChute upload is coming along steadily though, and the ScienceMadness open-source driven channel is extremely promising. So no problems, the show goes on.

Tdep - 4-5-2018 at 02:24

Yes, I believe that technology exists and is used by YouTube, but it only applies to videos that have been directly removed by a strike, and is then reuploaded on the same channel. I have reuploaded videos that were removed by strikes on the old channel onto my new 'slightly rebranded' channel without issue.

But it is YouTube we are talking about, they could change their mind in the next 10 minutes and I'm gone again.

Assured Fish - 4-5-2018 at 14:07

Wait, i see people have collected all the videos of the larger more mainstream chemistry channel but has anyone backed up explosions&fire's videos.
Given the nature of his videos and our paranoid witch burning societal ideology, these videos are at risk of also being purged from the interweb.

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