DarksydePhil / TheyCallMeDSP / Phil Burnell - General Discussion

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My reckless speculation is not an IRS audit. He claims to have a good accountant and no accountant worth their salt would take crazy deductions like the entire house. Now his accountant could be turbo tax and they'll let you claim the moon as a deduction.

My speculation is a condo association assessment. He's brought up the condo association in his mentioning of "board meetings" as well as saying that he "had" to powerwash his driveway. Its possible the assessment is to seal the driveways, which is an expensive assessment. Could be a repaving of the driveways which is even more expensive.
This could also be the "notice" he mentioned. Assessments are given notice and you're given a small amount of time to come up with the cash for the assessment. If he does not pay the assessment, he can lose his house. Expensive assessments are a common reason other than forclosure for condo owners like Phil to lose their homes.
It would fill the bill of "nothing he could do" and "not his fault". He's been living in this condo for quite some time and no mention of an assessment previously which is unusual for a condo to go so long without even a minor assessment.

But would he really freak out about that so much that he wouldn't bring it up in a typical begging stream? I mean he had no problem talking about his condo's backed up shitter bill. I think something like would be another pain in his ass that he would bitch about and do the typical song and dance. This just seemed different. And he literally has nobody else to talk to about this stuff. The vlog almost seemed like a means to vent above anything else.
 
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View attachment 282744

Drgnkiller tweeted this out. It's VERY similar to Phil, but who knows for sure.
99% sure that is Onision and not Phil. In the video linked a page back he mentioned taxaudit.com and that amount of money.

Also I doubt Phil ever had many business lunches with other youtubers.

Either way I'm glad, both of them are scum of the earth.
 
Time for a wall-o-text to talk about major moments that hurt DSP's YouTube views and/or ad revenue. Did the 2015 false copyright strikes hurt DSP? Of course. But without his YouTube search tanking as his followup reaction to delete the videos, would he be sitting fine just now? I doubt it.
20170919 Socialblade monthly views graph with drop points and some high points noted.png

Let's look at these key points:
  • 1) False copyright strikes, August 2015. That shows as -1.37mn views, it's ~2.6mn views when you add back the deleted views. Leaks show this was by 'detractors'.
  • 2) Kicked out of grandfathered in views contract to ad revenue, December 2015. This seems to have been caused by YouTube Red's launch & was not caused by 'detractors'.
  • 3) Views algorithm changes lower views, Summer 2016. DSP seemed paranoid about this, but as the months carried on other YouTubers like h3h3 spotted this too, not caused by 'detractors'.
  • 4) DSP's personal Machinima adpocalypse, February 2017. This was very strange, not helped by DSP ignoring his own YouTube income stats until late in the month. This eventually resulted in him 'mutually agreeing' to leave Machinima, moving to Curse & then the actual adpocalypse hit in March. Not caused by 'detractors', unless his initial problems with Machinima in February are ever discovered to have been malicious.
Those 3 major points after the strikes are why I feel DSPGaming was doomed to lowered income no matter what, just not to the same level. Yet DSP expected DSPGaming to rise or at least maintain his 2013/14 levels to pay off these debts.
I also marked 2 high points that stand out despite what seems to be a downward trend even before the August 2015 copyright strikes.
  • A) March 2013. My best guess is this spike is a followup from the RP Colonel Drowning video & TIHYDP MGS2 hitting during February 2013. I had a quick look at Wikipedia's 2013 in video gaming article to see what games may have helped: Tomb Raider, God of War Ascension, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Lego City Undercover, Gears of War Judgment, & BioShock Infinite. This is the last time DSPGaming broke 6 million views (in fact 7.11mn).
  • B) March 2014. This seems pretty simple: Dark Souls 2. SebastapolQueen's TIHYDPs for Dark Souls & Demon's Souls were popular of course. This is the last time DSPGaming got over 4 million views.
I was watching along by 'detractor' content only by early 2014. I remember facepalming hard when DSP announced he was going to move during 2014. Even just knowing his DSPGaming views in 2013 & early 2014 I knew this was a bad idea, and didn't see how DSPGaming would rise back up to afford the extra costs from the move, furnishing the house, affording this mortgage... and I hadn't even considered him STILL having to pay for the condo lease.

Another point: DSP has flipflopped between whether the 'hate bandwagon' from early 2013 caused his viewership drop, or a summer 2012 YouTube search algorithm change that favoured longer videos & engagement time. The difference between 'Hardcore Gaming Season' 2011 & 2012 is very clear.

A last fun moment: Can you spot the 'Hardcore Gaming Season' after 2012? It should be the 3-4 months before January each year... at best there's November & December 2013, November 2015 but NOT December 2016: both November & December 2016 had extra views added to them by publicing some 3DS playthroughs:
DSPGaming Monthly Views 201611.png

DSPGaming Monthly Views 201612.png
 
My reckless speculation is not an IRS audit. He claims to have a good accountant and no accountant worth their salt would take crazy deductions like the entire house. Now his accountant could be turbo tax and they'll let you claim the moon as a deduction.

My speculation is a condo association assessment. He's brought up the condo association in his mentioning of "board meetings" as well as saying that he "had" to powerwash his driveway. Its possible the assessment is to seal the driveways, which is an expensive assessment. Could be a repaving of the driveways which is even more expensive.
This could also be the "notice" he mentioned. Assessments are given notice and you're given a small amount of time to come up with the cash for the assessment. If he does not pay the assessment, he can lose his house. Expensive assessments are a common reason other than forclosure for condo owners like Phil to lose their homes.
It would fill the bill of "nothing he could do" and "not his fault". He's been living in this condo for quite some time and no mention of an assessment previously which is unusual for a condo to go so long without even a minor assessment.

Very good point. I live in a condo and we get those every so often, maybe once every two years? Typically you can pay for an assessment all at once or a few hundred dollars a month over time.

That couple hundred dollars a month is something that Phil cannot spare. I do not know about Washington or Connecticut, but in Massachusetts, under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 183A (which governs condo associations), an association can foreclose on a unit that isn't paying fees due to the association in a timely manner. I'm sure Washington and Connecticut have similar statues.

Basically, he loses the house if the association hounds him for cash and he doesn't exactly have it. The association can foreclose on the unit and sell it to someone else.
 
Very good point. I live in a condo and we get those every so often, maybe once every two years? Typically you can pay for an assessment all at once or a few hundred dollars a month over time.

That couple hundred dollars a month is something that Phil cannot spare. I do not know about Washington or Connecticut, but in Massachusetts, under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 183A (which governs condo associations), an association can foreclose on a unit that isn't paying fees due to the association in a timely manner. I'm sure Washington and Connecticut have similar statues.

Basically, he loses the house if the association hounds him for cash and he doesn't exactly have it. The association can foreclose on the unit and sell it to someone else.

Wow this is shaping up to almost be as exciting that one time yesterday when Phil's computer screen broke and he had to switch it with the unused TV in his bedroom! Wowweeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
 
Lol what if the vlog was after BSV sent him an email saying he wouldn't donate as much as he did before. Now THAT'S a financial emergency.

An entire vlog low-key calling out to vidar and KG to donate more because he needs them. I'd donate to $1 to phils patreon to see that! But if he does such a thing it'd probably just be a twitlonger or something.
 
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Wow this is shaping up to almost be as exciting that one time yesterday when Phil's computer screen broke and he had to switch it with the unused TV in his bedroom! Wowweeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Or, perhaps he really need to buy a new monitor and this "emergency" is just a convenient justification. With Phil everything is possible.
 
Very good point. I live in a condo and we get those every so often, maybe once every two years? Typically you can pay for an assessment all at once or a few hundred dollars a month over time.
That couple hundred dollars a month is something that Phil cannot spare. I do not know about Washington or Connecticut, but in Massachusetts, under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 183A (which governs condo associations), an association can foreclose on a unit that isn't paying fees due to the association in a timely manner. I'm sure Washington and Connecticut have similar statues.
Basically, he loses the house if the association hounds him for cash and he doesn't exactly have it. The association can foreclose on the unit and sell it to someone else.
Unlikely that it's a dilemma as feeble as needing a few hundred more per month. Phil has on numerous occasions called such an amount "barely anything."
He has repeatedly put out EMERGENCY videos during which he shamelessly begs for any spare shekels people can give, but this was different. It's as if he realizes that even the usual $2,000 influx of emergency pity funds won't make a difference.
Something has put the fear of God into him. It's gotta be the IRS.
 
Also, I would like to add that if the big issue is a condo/townhouse association assessment, Phil will most likely need to pay off the assessment as part of any selling agreement, or the buyer may ask Phil to knock down the price some to account for the unpaid assessment that the buyer will have to assume.

I'm thinking the assessment is probably related to his condo in CT. Townhouse associations typically don't have too much in terms of special assessments because the physical plant is usually not shared. Condos usually have assessments in order to fix big ticket items (like new roof, elevator repairs, etc.)

And I've noticed that the units in the association of the condo that he has in CT has declined way more in value than similar associations in the area (CT real estate isn't worth as much these days because of the declining population) - I believe that the decline in value is likely related to a severe deficiency in the physical plant and that the association has finally decided that it is time to ask everyone for money so that it can all get fixed. It's probably tens of thousands of dollars per unit if it's especially severe. He owes more on the mortgage than his condo is worth. This might be pretty bad.
 
Might be horribly wrong, I know shit about the IRS or Youtube stuff, but if Onision is getting in trouble with the IRS supposedly, its possible that they are also going after Phil as well? I mean, if one gets caught, I'm sure there's many more where that comes from.

I was thinking this as well. Maybe with the recent shenanigans with youtube and the ADL going after channels and the crackdown on advertisers the IRS has also began to audit all these youtubers who have been making shit loads of money for years without recourse. I'm probably wrong but it wouldn't surprise me if we are seeing an overall crackdown on youtube as a money-making enterprise.
 
An entire vlog low-key calling out to vidar and KG to donate more because he needs them. I'd donate to $1 to phils patreon to see that! But if he does such a thing it'd probably just be a twitlonger or something.
Wonder if he ever sends private emails/messages to his biggest supporters if they miss a few streams or are not donating as much money. We know he sends messages to patrons when their pledge does not clear so it would not be that big of a stretch to think he "checks in" on his hardcore pay pigs.
 
But would he really freak out about that so much that he wouldn't bring it up in a typical begging stream? I mean he had no problem talking about his condo's backed up shitter bill. I think something like would be another pain in his ass that he would bitch about and do the typical song and dance. This just seemed different. And he literally has nobody else to talk to about this stuff. The vlog almost seemed like a means to vent above anything else.


These assessments are more dire however. Dont pay the assessment, lose your house. Its not like required maintenance to your house like busted plumbing that you could live with leaky pipes (probably dont want to but leaking pipes wont cause you to lose your house). The assessments are normally very expensive (several thousand dollars) and if you dont pay the assessment you lose your entire house, any equity in it, all gone.

To me if he's been audited by the IRS, his normal cocky self would say "I dont have anything to be afraid of, I have a dean of a college as my personal accountant, i have all of my records and receipts, I'm golden!"

To me this looked like sheer fear. Now we all know Phil's a great actor in looking pathetic to the camera so it could be a great act. But this look of fear seemed more real to me. Look at his eyes in the video. Darting around wildly like some trapped animal. His normal begging videos have him looking off to the side, at the camera, to the recording program, back to camera, off to the side. This is frantic looking to me.

The assessment also makes sense to me (granted, assessments are the reason I will not buy a condo because they can hit you without warning so I will admit to an assessment bias) because of him suddenly powerwashing the driveway, mentioning "board meetings" when asked about his neighbors. If it was foreclosure, he wouldnt get a "notice" by surprise. He'd know he was behind in his mortgage payments.
 
The assessment also makes sense to me (granted, assessments are the reason I will not buy a condo because they can hit you without warning so I will admit to an assessment bias) because of him suddenly powerwashing the driveway, mentioning "board meetings" when asked about his neighbors. If it was foreclosure, he wouldnt get a "notice" by surprise. He'd know he was behind in his mortgage payments.

To be fair, special assessments are a part of life for any condo owner. Even if you live in your own single freestanding house, you will need to maintain the physical plant... granted, you can do it on your time unlike a condo but eventually everything needs to get fixed.
 
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