What Happens When Creators Stop Believing in Alternatives?

Welcome to Issue #1

If I'm being honest, hitting "send" on this first newsletter feels terrifying.

Not because I don't have things to say—I've been blogging at Josh Bailey Creates about community platforms, creator analytics, and the messy reality of building something sustainable outside the algorithm. But a newsletter feels different. More direct. More personal.

Beyond the Algorithm exists because I'm tired of optimizing for systems that don't care about us. This is my space to share what I'm actually learning as an independent creator—the experiments that fail, the platforms that disappoint, the small wins that keep me going.

You'll find insights from my ongoing projects (currently deep in NodeBB and Discourse community building), honest takes on creator culture, and the tools and strategies I'm testing in real-time. No guru promises. No overnight success blueprints. Just the real work of building something that matters.

Thanks for being here from the start.

— Josh

The Alternative Platform Graveyard: Why Creators Are Losing Faith in Challenging the Duopoly

In a previous blog post, I wrote about how we're losing more places that were viable alternatives to platforms like YouTube and Twitch. The recent closure of Moonbeam and, coming up in a few weeks, Guilded will be joining the ranks of alternative platforms that we will lose. But beyond the immediate loss of these services lies a more insidious problem: we're witnessing the slow death of creator confidence in alternatives altogether.

The Pattern That Kills Trust

Every shuttered platform tells the same story. Creators invest time learning new interfaces, building communities from scratch, and establishing streaming schedules, only to watch their efforts evaporate when the plug gets pulled. Moonbeam's closure and Guilded's upcoming shutdown aren't isolated incidents; they're the latest casualties in a graveyard that includes Mixer, Bebo, Caffeine, and countless others who promised a better deal, more creator control, or fairer revenue splits.

The result? A creator community that's increasingly skeptical of any platform that isn't Twitch or YouTube.

The Emotional Toll of Platform Abandonment

Put yourself in a creator's shoes. You've spent months, maybe even years, cultivating an audience on an alternative platform. You've convinced your followers to create new accounts, download new apps, and change their viewing habits. You've defended your decision to friends, family, and skeptics who questioned why you weren't "just streaming on Twitch."

Then the announcement comes. Thirty days. Sixty if you're lucky. Start backing up your content and saying goodbye to your community.

This cycle doesn't just waste time. It erodes trust. Each closure reinforces a painful lesson: the only "safe" choices are the incumbent giants, no matter how problematic their policies, revenue splits, or algorithm changes might be.

Why New Platforms Can't Break Through

The psychology here creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. When creators refuse to invest in alternatives because they fear abandonment, those platforms struggle to achieve the critical mass needed for sustainability. Without creators, there's no content. Without content, there's no audience. Without an audience, there's no revenue. Without revenue, there's no platform.

Meanwhile, Twitch and YouTube offer something that startups can't: longevity. Despite all their flaws, inconsistent enforcement, and creator-unfriendly revenue models, they're "too big to fail" in the minds of most creators. That perceived stability, even amid controversy and dissatisfaction, trumps the promise of better terms elsewhere.

The Duopoly Strengthens With Every Alternative That Falls

Every platform closure hands more power to YouTube and Twitch. Creators who might have split their time between platforms now consolidate. Audiences who fragmented across services return to the familiar. The leverage that competition provides (the ability to negotiate better terms or threaten to leave) vanishes.

We're left with a streaming landscape where two platforms set all the rules, and creators have little choice but to accept whatever terms are offered. Want better revenue splits? Too bad. Disagree with content moderation decisions? Nowhere else to go. Frustrated by algorithmic changes that tank your visibility? Adapt or fade away.

Breaking the Cycle Requires Rethinking Alternatives

If we want a healthier streaming ecosystem, we need to confront an uncomfortable truth: the current model for alternative platforms isn't working. Venture-backed startups that need explosive growth and rapid returns will continue to fail. They can't out-muscle the giants in marketing spend, and they can't sustain long enough to build creator trust.

The future might lie in federated or decentralized models: platforms that can't simply "shut down" because they're not controlled by a single entity. It might lie in creator-owned cooperatives that prioritize sustainability over hockey-stick growth. Or it might require a fundamental shift in how we think about platform loyalty altogether.

What's certain is this: until creators feel confident that their investment in an alternative won't disappear overnight, the Twitch-YouTube duopoly will only strengthen. And every time another Moonbeam or Guilded closes its doors, that confidence erodes a little more.

The choice creators face isn't really a choice at all, and that should concern all of us.

What are your thoughts? Have you hesitated to try a new streaming platform because you worried it wouldn't last? Let me know in the comments.

Join the Conversation

This week marks an exciting milestone: the official launch of the JBCreates Community Forums at forum.joshbaileycreates.com.

For too long, these newsletters have been a one-way conversation. You read, I write, and our interaction ends there. But some of the best ideas, most nuanced discussions, and strongest connections happen when we can actually talk with each other, not just at each other.

That's why I've created this space for us.

Whether you want to dive deeper into this week's discussion about the alternative platform graveyard, share your own experiences with streaming services that shut down, debate the future of creator-owned platforms, or start completely new conversations about the creator economy, the forums are now open and waiting for your voice.

Here's what you can do right now:

Head over to the forums and introduce yourself in the General category. What brought you here? What topics are you most passionate about? What do you hope to get out of this community?

Jump into the discussion thread for this week's article. Did my take on the Twitch-YouTube duopoly resonate with you? Do you disagree? Have you been burned by a platform closure? Let's talk about it.

Explore the categories and see what interests you. From platform deep dives to blog post discussions, there's room for all kinds of conversations about content creation, streaming, and building sustainable creative careers.

This community is only as strong as the people in it. That means you. Your experiences matter. Your perspective adds value. Your questions spark new thinking.

I've spent years writing about these issues, but I don't have all the answers. I suspect the best insights will come from the collective wisdom of creators, streamers, and digital professionals who are living these challenges every day. So let's figure this out together.

See you in the forums,

Josh

P.S. If you're reading this and haven't joined the community yet, what are you waiting for? The welcome mat is out, and the conversation has already started. Don't be a lurker. Jump in.