I have had a long history of making videos. It may not seem like it because all of these things are effectively "lost media" now (not even I have them anymore) but I have actually made videos since I was around 12. I started on YouTube, back when it was actually pretty nice. Not as nice as it was a few years prior (this was circa 2013) but still before the kind of platform it became post-Trump. I juggled around other platforms such as VidLii, BitView, Odysee and Vlare (and I even made videos soley on these platforms before) but it seems that Rumble has rose from the ashes of all of these things and has the most money behind it. I know that people often conflate money with corporate interests but money being behind your platform is a good thing, particularly because money is what gives you the kind of leverage you need to fight a tech giant like Google/YouTube. This is also why you will not see me bashing "big corporate" distributions like RHEL or SUSE, even if I don't really agree with the companies behind them or components they use such as systemd. Without money being a player in Linux, it may have never gotten to where it is now and at the end of the day it's still free software that beats Windows into the ground.
Anyway, this is not about corporations, politics, or even freedom, although it indirectly affects all of those things. For the first time in many years there is a platform thats not YouTube with a hefty amount of users; 67 million in September 2024, not even counting what it probably has now. Ever since leaving my job to go back to college, I have had a creative itch which I cannot scratch. I've had Rumble, but not really bothered making any videos. That may change very soon, as I feel like it's worth sharing Linux and PCLinuxOS in particular. So far, my Rumble has just been a dumping ground for random gameplay clips of mine. I may start sharing more of my interests there soon. I'm not being paid by Rumble to say this, but if you are like me and want to stay off Google services to not feed into the Google monopoly, then Rumble is a pretty good place to be. It feels like how YouTube used to be a long time ago, a place for everybody, even the small amateur channel, to engage with a wide audience.