By skyforbes 
A few months ago, I sat staring at my YouTube analytics, the way a gambler stares at a slot machine that won’t hit.
The last video I made had flopped.
I mean, single-digit click-through rate, low retention, the works.
Out of curiosity (and mild desperation), I clipped a 20-second moment from that same video, uploaded it as a Short, and went to make dinner.
By the time I came back, it had 14,000 views.
Fourteen thousand.
I didn’t know whether to celebrate or feel slightly sick.
Because that clip wasn’t even the best part of my work.
That clip was just the most scrollable.
So, maybe YouTube doesn’t want me to be a YouTuber anymore.
Maybe it wants me to be a TikToker with longer upload options.
It’s not just me.
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Creators everywhere are noticing it.
The slow tilt of YouTube’s culture toward vertical video, dopamine hits, and algorithmic roulette.