Maybe it’s time for SDF to get a YouTube channel

These are exciting times for Chinese military watchers. SDF is probably the only goto English language forum for Chinese military news. Remember when it would take months maybe years before someone in Western military news circles would acknowledge something that was already reported here? Now this site is the first portal for more “professional” sources to go to and get the latest news of Chinese military goings-on.

I’ve been watching YouTube military channels and if you notice the pattern is a lot of them are just repeating what the few first channels report and then maybe add an editorial and for Chinese military news it’s probably first from SDF. I know this site was once up for sale. If it was because it wasn’t making enough money for the kind of work involved, this could solve the problem.

Look at a site like ain’t-it-cool news. A simple fanboy discussion forum on the goings-on of the entertainment industry which grew into being the site every Hollywood agent was told to read in the morning before they got to work. People copied their format creating a slew of similar sites but then YouTube came along and those that didn’t get with the program and got a YouTube channel of their own died off including ain’t-it-cool news.

Look at what’s happening now where Chinese military developments has everyone military in the world talking. How many Westerners are going to bother to learn Chinese? You think stick-up-the-ass CDF is going to do it? That site is for the select few and not open so their mentality don’t have what it takes.

Isn't Eurasia Naval News in SDF? I always forget which member it is here.

AssassinsMace said:

These are exciting times for Chinese military watchers. SDF is probably the only goto English language forum for Chinese military news. Remember when it would take months maybe years before someone in Western military news circles would acknowledge something that was already reported here? Now this site is the first portal for more “professional” sources to go to and get the latest news of Chinese military goings-on.

I’ve been watching YouTube military channels and if you notice the pattern is a lot of them are just repeating what the few first channels report and then maybe add an editorial and for Chinese military news it’s probably first from SDF. I know this site was once up for sale. If it was because it wasn’t making enough money for the kind of work involved, this could solve the problem.

Look at a site like ain’t-it-cool news. A simple fanboy discussion forum on the goings-on of the entertainment industry which grew into being the site every Hollywood agent was told to read in the morning before they got to work. People copied their format creating a slew of similar sites but then YouTube came along and those that didn’t get with the program and got a YouTube channel of their own died off including ain’t-it-cool news.

Look at what’s happening now where Chinese military developments has everyone military in the world talking. How many Westerners are going to bother to learn Chinese? You think stick-up-the-ass CDF is going to do it? That site is for the select few and not open so their mentality don’t have what it takes.

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Its a good idea, something I've thought about as well but who will run it? There is so much happening, collecting and covering all that takes a lot of time and effort.

Webmaster said:

Its a good idea, something I've thought about as well but who will run it? There is so much happening, collecting and covering all that takes a lot of time and effort.

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Maybe have a shared account with the mods only and have you guys peer-review the video before it gets uploaded? I only trust the mods not to crash the channel into the ground. Since it's mods only, there would be some quality control. If that's too much to ask for, there are a few long time standing members here who can volunteer to make the videos.

AssassinsMace said:

These are exciting times for Chinese military watchers. SDF is probably the only goto English language forum for Chinese military news. Remember when it would take months maybe years before someone in Western military news circles would acknowledge something that was already reported here? Now this site is the first portal for more “professional” sources to go to and get the latest news of Chinese military goings-on.

I’ve been watching YouTube military channels and if you notice the pattern is a lot of them are just repeating what the few first channels report and then maybe add an editorial and for Chinese military news it’s probably first from SDF. I know this site was once up for sale. If it was because it wasn’t making enough money for the kind of work involved, this could solve the problem.

Look at a site like ain’t-it-cool news. A simple fanboy discussion forum on the goings-on of the entertainment industry which grew into being the site every Hollywood agent was told to read in the morning before they got to work. People copied their format creating a slew of similar sites but then YouTube came along and those that didn’t get with the program and got a YouTube channel of their own died off including ain’t-it-cool news.

Look at what’s happening now where Chinese military developments has everyone military in the world talking. How many Westerners are going to bother to learn Chinese? You think stick-up-the-ass CDF is going to do it? That site is for the select few and not open so their mentality don’t have what it takes.

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There are already some Youtube channels by people who focus on PLA military developments.


I generally am opposed to the idea.

Unless you make an account like Cabbage who produced great QBZ-191 videos that were extensively researched, delivered without clickbait, and most importantly made without being too great in frequency, the problem with Youtube channels is they all inevitably descend into clickbait content mills.

Use of inaccurate or exaggerated screencaps as preview images, unnecessarily "exciting" titles, and presenting information in a way that is a bit too "confident" than is deserved... those are all unattractive traits.


The more confident and "exposed" one is, the more vulnerable you are to having your arguments criticized for being incorrect due to making overreach. For PLA watching, the credibility of PLA watching lies in the ability to not overexpose the methodology and to not be overly "up to date" in conveying rumours (especially at early stages).


If anything, the ability to make PLA watching more subdued, less exciting, less "emotional" and less clickbait worthy, should be the goal.
The more caveats the better.
The more uncertainty, the better as well.

Maybe some sort of quarterly report on PLA OSINT would be nice. The niche is definitely there to provide a more credible overview of PLA happenings that does not cast much judgement/commentary on geopolitical implications but focus on delivered capabilities.

Concurring with Tankphobia, a few page long written annual report would be more productive than any youtube channel. I believe its easier to refer to people to read a report than go watch 15 different youtube videos. Easier to vet, easier to avoid sensationalism, easier to avoid "chasing the algorithm" so to speak, more accessible.

But I also see the counterpoint to this, professionals are professionals for a reason. It would seem too formal, and in the end, this is just a enthusiast forum!

I’d be interested. I think there is a way to have both. There are “serious” YT channels that don’t get into the kinds of clickbaity stuff Blitzo’s describing.

There is also a lot of content to cover to avoid making clickbait “filler” videos. In fact, this would make it even less sensational and more subdued if there were videos with only bland and technical coverage of things like patents and research papers (like Wang Haifeng’s), or on PLA doctrine (e.g. “dogfighting is stupid”).

There’s also a tiny part of me that says why can’t it be a little exciting too. We’re carrying too much baggage from “darker times” in PLA watching. We should be doing less handwringing and advancing or emboldening our mindset, just like the PLA is advancing. Look at J-36 and J-XDS, so many things were telegraphed to us over the years via studies, papers, banners, aircraft silhouettes etc., we even refused to believe pictures of J-XDS for a full week.

The PLA was given the mission of becoming a “world class” military. China’s tech advancements are not just vapourware. Perhaps it’s time to be unapologetic and take the lead in crafting the narrative, rather than being meek and trying to conform to (or not overly upset) whatever narrative has been predetermined and forced on the PLA/us. Even if that means blazing a path that sometimes is only 90% or 95% accurate (errors happen, and it would still be light years better than anything else out there).

If you want to make money from YouTube, they want regularly postings of new videos not something like quarterly.

Yeah it’s a lot of work but everyone else is taking credit making money when they use what’s first reported in English on SDF. Most of them are anti-China biased and they use stuff they get from here so people click onto their channels to make money and it’s only fitting that they would to the least have to click onto and subscribe to an SDF channel to return the favor to get that information. SDF is the only site that translates Chinese military news into basically English. A lot of clicks just because of that since China being a rising challenge to the West. CDF’s exclusivity mentality is why they can’t do it.

How can SDF go about this? Well it can just post news at minimum. To go further if it grows it can conduct interviews via the internet with SDF personalities discussing what’s going on or with others from maybe China or with Western pundits and experts that everyone may know about. Then SDF may have channels to talk about non military subjects discussed in the Member’s Club Room regarding how it affects China.

Of course you’ll need the right personalities to be the face(s) of SDF YouTube channel. That’s the tricky part . You either find someone you know who can handle it or hire someone with the chops to host. Look at these “independent “ gaming channels on YouTube who make enough money to hire lawyers…? SDF may not get their subscriber numbers because it’s still a niche audience but you have to start from somewhere and like I said Chinese military news is notable now and there’s no one else doing it in English. Yeah there are others on YouTube but the accent and looking like a stereotypical foreign nerd is a problem.

kwaigonegin said:

Isn't Eurasia Naval News in SDF? I always forget which member it is here.

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Yes, he's in here and a lot of his info can be found here and on the PLA watching Twitter space.

Re SDF YouTube, I think you guys are significantly underestimating the amount of work that would go into something like this. Start with a report like mentioned, or maybe organize a podcast would be the way to go for now imo.

Effectively presenting the rumour based discussions and speculations here to a (much) wider audience also requires caution. It's really easy for interpretations to go the wrong way, in both directions of "PLA good/bad".