Can I ask a serious question? What is the appeal of Ralph, he started out in the Gamergate morass, and seems to have some ideas about being a journalist. He hardly seems like a credible source on anything though? Is he an entertainer, a news-source? Is he going for serious journalism?
I'm confused. If he's going for serious journalism, most of his time seems to be beefing with people, it seems to be like a version of World Wide Wrestling; who is currently feuding with who?
What share of the market is he looking for, he obviously wants an audience, is he looking to be a clown? I'm sorry I don't understand him.
Pardon my naivete, but please help a fellow out.
He's never been what I'd call a serious journalist even when his show had appeal; for as long as I watched he was almost purely an entertainer, who would also go over the news.
Which is ironic given how dogshit boring his show is now.
Here's the thing: there was a period of time where Ralph actually had a fun show, and he's been riding that deflating clout-raft across the reservoir all the way to the water intakes for the hydroelectric turbines ever since. This was post gamergate so anything prior to what I'd call "golden age Killstream" (so the post jail to the end of stream.me days) I don't have a great perspective on, but that golden age I was there for. He flexed what skills he has back then, and he does have them, they're just never used anymore.
People rightly will argue he's not the main draw of his main events given how sloshed he'd get, but the main events were still fun back in the day and not in purely a "holy shit what dumb crap did Ralph did this time" kind of way as they now are. When he didn't have an event, Ralph relied on others to help the show not be what it is today, but he actually had energy too and that made a huge difference.
I'll forever argue that Ralph is a natural host when he tries. When he's not being a raging asshole his personality can be oddly magnetic, and the ability to talk for hours about things and not sound like a bumbling ass is something that he can do quite well...when he tries. His ability to tap into these talents has decreased with time, and the viewership reflects this. I used to tune in during the stream.me days, even post Zidan, just because if I wanted a news recap I'd rather listen to Ralph give it than a corporate talking head and who knows, maybe a screaming match would break out over some dumb internet shit.
So combine a decent host with a personality he can pretend is likable with the jackpot in viewership that came from the growing popularity of right-dissident discussion and thought and you have a decently poppin' show. That
was his and his show's appeal during the golden age.
Speaking of "poppin'" in a more literal sense, it should come as no surprise that I gave up after the pillstream, and ever since he's gotten much much worse at actually hosting while simultaneously growing his stupid wigger personality traits. In retrospect he was getting worse throughout all of stream.me, but he was much better at hiding his worst inclinations back then and he still had any energy at all so a lot of people just didn't see or didn't want to see the coming storm at the end of stream me, myself included.
Just for a bit of fun perspective, it's worth remembering that Ralph's original Kiwifarms thread on Internet Famous (at the time, now pinned at the top of this subforum) didn't used to just be a designated shitting street for ayylawgs, it used to also be a place where fans would post about the show in non-trivial numbers, at times well outnumbering Ralph's detractors. Lordy how times have changed.
