Deleting YouTube, Rebuilding Autonomy Realms Infrastructure

Coos Lake trail, Oregon Coast. Midday Tuesday hike across from rswfire's residence. Physical movemen

01KFCB6Z006QQTXTFHRFBVR4T9

January 20, 2026

22:14

Author

rswfire

Status

PUBLISHED

Type

TRANSMISSION (CAPTURE)

Temperature

0.60

Density

0.80

[0:00] so it's noon on Tuesday here I'm hiking this little Coos Lake trail across from

[0:07] where I live a couple miles and probably a mile and a quarter or something like

[0:12] that past where the fork is now I'm heading to the south camp just so I'll

[0:18] get on this camera and talk for a minute I'm gonna turn it around that way you

[0:23] can show the trail that I'm hiking so earlier today I nuked my YouTube

[0:32] channels I deleted all of my videos nearly 900 of them and I was able to do

[0:39] that because I downloaded them all first and I put them in an s3 bucket

[0:46] at Hetzner that's my host my ISP a lot cheaper than Amazon Web Services and I

[0:54] already updated my pages to instead of showing the YouTube videos embedded in

[1:01] the signal pages it shows directly from those buckets and I updated the Oregon

[1:08] State Park archive there's like five or six videos on there to do the same thing

[1:14] just embed it from my bucket so I didn't need YouTube anymore I'm I guess

[1:31] my feelings about it are complicated I don't regret it even a little bit I

[1:35] tried it it didn't work out but I learned a lot from that experience I

[1:43] learned how few people could actually connect with me as a real human being

[1:49] most people just saw performance they just saw a caricature or whatever they

[1:53] saw but most people projected is what they did and a few people met me as a

[1:59] person and most of them probably projected also but to a lesser extent I

[2:08] felt I felt unmet on there and so there was you know keeping that channel made

[2:15] no sense to me but I kept it because that was how I got transcripts from my

[2:21] videos that I'd create yeah because there was always a hope that maybe I

[2:27] would find some aligned viewers I never expected to grow to be any significant

[2:34] you know number of viewers but just an aligned community and one never

[2:41] manifested I felt like partly the platform partly the people made it

[2:54] impossible for me to build what I tried to build there over two years but it's

[3:01] fair to say that I gave up on that idea well over a year ago when I first turned

[3:05] comments off on there I never re-enabled them every time I tried you know I would

[3:11] test it for like a day it just never worked so and then I built sanctum the

[3:21] first version of that nobody signed on like it just was like I was posting and

[3:34] to avoid there nobody was actually paying attention to you except for me

[3:39] and that's okay I guess so I built my own platform my own technology autonomy

[3:45] realms to host my videos and unflatten them because on YouTube you can't even

[3:53] like a video I made a year ago the odds of you ever discovering or finding that

[3:57] are basically nil at least on my platform I can create features that you

[4:04] know show related things or you know just different ways especially with AI

[4:07] stuff I do ways of surfacing that stuff because to me it's still relevant I made

[4:14] them for a reason it does require I guess that there are some people out

[4:25] there who actually want to see my journey who want to witness it and see

[4:31] those videos or if I'm truly just making them for myself I think I reached the

[4:42] point where I was comfortable with the idea that they're just for me then I'll

[4:47] keep doing it and then I'll put most of them behind sanctum the current version

[4:51] of it but we're gonna get to that I'm gonna talk about some things that I'm

[4:54] doing with autonomy realms in a minute so so even though I nuked my youtube

[5:03] channel this video you know I'll be able to upload it to my realm I don't

[5:09] actually have a feature for that yet I'll have to create it but it shouldn't

[5:12] be too difficult oh hold on a second okay I didn't detect a human so anyways

[5:33] it won't take much effort for me to upload you know this video once I'm

[5:38] ready but I also need to make a pipeline for processing transcripts and all that

[5:42] because I don't have YouTube anymore so it might be a little bit of time before

[5:46] I actually am able to upload this one maybe a couple days or something we'll

[5:50] see because of a decision I made that's another thing I want to talk about so

[5:57] I'm not happy with the way that I structured autonomy itself so I made two

[6:05] different repositories one is the open source project and then there's the

[6:16] closed source realms you know repository so and they both need they're both really

[6:23] super related and they're not they're bifurcated not by well I would consider

[6:28] to be logical which would be back in front end but by open versus closed

[6:33] source I just don't think that's serving me so I decided I'm gonna close source

[6:38] it for now I'm gonna make one repository and I don't want to use next JS because

[6:44] I don't really like TypeScript I don't like the design pattern I don't like the

[6:50] way that next JS routes are done I don't I don't like any of it I was learning it

[6:55] with AI but I just don't feel like it's the right framework for me I've always

[7:01] been a back-end developer a PHP programmer Laravel even some Perl you

[7:09] know a little bit of Perl just what you know that's relevant not because of AI

[7:14] but anyways I'm always been a back-end programmer I really should be using

[7:18] tools that I've used my whole career so I'm gonna close source and make a new

[7:23] repo I'm gonna build it in Laravel and Livewire with AI kept recommending a

[7:32] tool and I checked it out today what was it called I don't know I'll have it up

[7:47] on my screen when I get back I guess but it's some kind of tool that's used for

[7:52] reactive websites basically you know dynamic website to whatever spots you

[7:58] know single page apps I think so anyways I'm gonna go that route which means

[8:04] starting over and I did a whole lot of work right at the start of the year I

[8:08] think I started like on New Year's Eve and worked for like 10 11 12 13 14 days

[8:12] you know and then I took a break and then when I went back to it I was like

[8:24] you know every single like I'm doing it with AI which is awesome I'm using it

[8:30] through you know normal chat interface not like one of their coding programs I

[8:34] know those are getting more popular but I don't have the right account with

[8:39] Claude to where I feel like I could handle doing that you know Claude code

[8:43] because I can't afford that yet so I've just been doing it to chat and I'm gonna

[8:50] give it context and have it you know build features or refactor a code base

[8:58] that you know I have to share with it by pasting in files and it's not a great

[9:06] it's not a great process but it worked I mean I built what I have but I could

[9:11] rebuild this in there about a knife-wiring so that's what I'm gonna do

[9:17] it's decided I'm you know I I hate that I feel like I wasted some time because I

[9:30] don't have a lot of time anymore like I just feel the pressure of my situation I

[9:35] have no way to pay my internet I don't have a great deal of food I don't have

[9:42] anyone I can really ask for help anymore and just I know I don't have a YouTube

[9:49] channel because I nuked it on purpose I just I'm feeling very isolated and at

[9:56] the same time I'm wanting to isolate I came out to this trail after being on a

[10:02] beach because there are people on the beach and I just wanted to be alone so

[10:08] and this is one of my longest trails that I hike and I've been hiking so much

[10:17] I'm in the top 2% of Samsung health the step counter for all age groups top 2 to

[10:23] 3% it's ridiculous my legs are just absolutely over this but I just have to

[10:29] get out of that little tiny RV and I just wanted to be by myself and trying

[10:36] to find a space for that it's getting hard just having someone in my line of

[10:42] sight it's uncomfortable when I feel like this so you know eventually I'll be

[10:56] able to upload this as a signal into the new autonomy realms and it's gonna

[11:05] go under different visibility rules by default they'll be synced them but if

[11:09] the AI thinks it should be private it'll do that or if you know it just obviously

[11:14] was was created with a public audience in mind it'll do that and then I'll

[11:19] build features that you know like pipelines that automatically upload you

[11:24] know the video to other platforms like YouTube if it's public and try to build

[11:30] the service around that but I need time and you know I need to survive between

[11:36] then and now between now and then and it's it's feeling very challenging for

[11:43] me I need to find some work I need money somehow just like every path I try is

[11:52] blocked and I'm just barely scraping by and I just need that to change now

[12:03] trying so hard

[12:06] I do like it out here this is one of my favorite trails there's some really cute

[12:24] campsites all the way back near the lake especially the one on the south side I

[12:29] love this one I always go to this one first you have the cutest little a

[12:34] frames for outhouses back here they're just adorable little structures I ever

[12:41] get lands I would build one of those that's another thing I feel like I'm

[12:49] really struggling to live in that RV now after a year and a half two years you

[12:55] know and it's just such a small space it's very hard to live in sometimes and

[13:01] feels like containment and that's why I'm always out that's why I like as much

[13:07] as I do partly and I want a cabin I just want to be in a cabin close to the ocean

[13:14] it can be inland you know adjacent to the forest something like this and just

[13:22] something that's mine that's even possible because it feels like the world

[13:26] is on the verge of cascade failure I just it's hard for me to because I don't

[13:48] know the timeline I don't know how much time I have I don't know what to do with

[13:52] the time I have it's very difficult thing to hold I think I remember this

[14:08] tree being down I'm not sure it's a little bit for just a little it's easy to get

[14:16] on here oh I love the Oregon coast man I do love it out here there's nothing I

[14:24] love more than being outside I was thinking about that earlier like I

[14:29] literally just being outside makes me happy being out in the woods being by

[14:34] myself all my life I fucking love the moments like this I came well-prepared

[14:52] I got my backpack got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in there extra pop I

[14:57] really should be drinking water at this point in my life I even brought my

[15:07] journal that I'd been writing about autonomy in all right so we're at the

[15:11] fork where if you go right then you'll go down to the south camp that's where

[15:16] I'm going first but if you were to go left then you would just keep taking the

[15:19] trail we're a long loop trail and it would take you to the other camp the

[15:24] north camp this one takes you back to one little campsite only way to get to

[15:32] it's like back here or come on a boat tiny little spot to tie it up on the lake

[15:42] next to the campsite these trees I knew about so yeah I guess you could say I'm

[15:55] processing a lot and I'm just trying to figure out a solution that works you

[16:06] know where my life just fucking works for me at the same time there's a lot of

[16:13] work to do on autonomy that's for sure it's an important project it is hard to

[16:22] describe for people it's more than just videos it is a system for a whole for a

[16:32] lot of things I don't know if I'm ready to talk about this

[16:44] how do you sell something that you can't even talk about that's really

[16:48] problematic I know how to build things on top of it that people would want even

[16:54] though it's not the core of what it is like you can treat it like an archive

[16:58] for YouTube videos you could treat it that way if you wanted to you could you

[17:04] know build websites around it kind of like a content management system almost

[17:08] you know using documents and videos

[17:15] it's a sovereign realm for your stuff you set the visibility you can even

[17:23] monetize it or just you know gatekeep it using subscriptions I think once

[17:33] people see it in action some people will be like damn I really need that I want

[17:39] that I think it could grow into something it's you know things are

[17:47] built on top of it you could even have a kind of social network on top of it you

[17:53] know if you think back to like live journal days or something like this

[18:01] there's somehow people just got captured by the platforms and all the other

[18:10] things stopped being interesting to people you know and I don't know if that

[18:20] changes or not I know I don't like it I literally got rid of all my social media

[18:28] accounts I think Twitter is the only one I still have it's cuz I haven't logged

[18:31] into it

[18:40] yeah Facebook but no friends on it cuz I'd leave it to everybody but I still

[18:45] have the account because of their marketplace trying to sell the last few

[18:49] items I can but and that hasn't really been going well I just can't seem to

[18:55] make any of the money I need to anymore just fucking bizarre for someone like me

[19:01] the world just feels broken I've just been sitting with that and trying to

[19:12] process it you know just God do I hold a lot people have no fucking idea so I

[19:26] guess I'll take you down to the lake and then I'll end this video I want to turn

[19:31] my music on or something maybe eat the sandwich should be close I think I might

[19:43] be able to get some sun yeah we're close

[19:48] I don't know what that is

[20:06] I don't know if they're hunting ducks or what

[20:18] we're not very good at it though are they they have to keep shooting like

[20:27] that cuz right now you've already scared everything away so what's the fucking

[20:31] point I literally think this every time I say

[20:35] this is someone here's the cute little apron I was talking about took a little

[20:44] distance from the from the campsite so there it is I just love that thing

[20:53] I definitely want to go camping here sometime maybe. I thought about it. I thought about doing that with Wendy but it kind of feels like we're both

[21:11] moving on to other things. This configuration is... I don't know. Guess we'll see.

[21:29] We're gonna get some sun back here. Oh nice. Came at the right time, right hour.

[21:41] Hey, just us. This is the campsite. Back there's where you put your tent. Here's the lake.

[21:52] Place to tie up a boat. Got some sun over here. This is a nice little spot. Good spot for some solitude.

Energetic Signature resolute with undertow

Field State transitional

Orientation toward sovereign infrastructure; away from platform capture

Summary

rswfire deleted nearly 900 YouTube videos after downloading them to a Hetzner S3 bucket, then updated his signal pages and Oregon State Park archive to embed directly from his own infrastructure instead of YouTube. He reflects on the platform's failure to build aligned community—most viewers projected onto him rather than meeting him as a person. He decided to close-source Autonomy Realms, consolidate its bifurcated repository structure, and rebuild the system in Laravel and Livewire instead of Next.js, a process he began around New Year's and will restart. During a solo hike on the Coos Lake trail near his RV, he processes multiple pressures: financial precarity with no clear income path, internet and food insecurity, isolation both sought and experienced, physical strain from constant hiking (top 2-3% on Samsung Health), and dissatisfaction with RV living after 1.5-2 years. He expresses uncertainty about timeline and resource allocation given potential systemic collapse. He describes Autonomy Realms as more than a video archive—a sovereign realm system with visibility controls, monetization options, and potential for social features—but struggles to articulate its value to others. He notes he retains only Twitter and Facebook accounts (the latter for marketplace sales, which are failing). The hike itself provides solitude and relief from confinement; he visits favorite campsites and observes wildlife.

Signal Analysis

Substrate

rswfire is building a closed technical system (Autonomy Realms) to reclaim data sovereignty and control distribution mechanisms after rejecting YouTube's architecture. The substrate is infrastructural autonomy—moving from external platform dependency to owned hosting, owned code, owned visibility rules. This is not retreat; it is repositioning from broadcast to sovereign realm.

Dominant Language

sovereignty platform capture infrastructure closed source precarity isolation autonomy unmet projection

Entities

◉

beings

Wendy

relational entity; potential camping companion; relationship in transition/dissolution

◉

places

Coos Lake

hiking destination; location of south and north camps; primary refuge and processing space

Oregon Coast

geographic anchor; residence location; ecological grounding; source of solitude and embodied satisfaction

◉

systems

YouTube

rejected platform; 900+ videos deleted; source of unmet community and projection

Autonomy Realms

sovereign infrastructure project being rebuilt; primary technical focus; closed source

Hetzner

ISP and hosting provider; cheaper alternative to AWS; hosts S3 bucket for video storage

Sanctum

prior platform attempt; failed adoption; precursor to Autonomy Realms

Laravel

backend framework chosen for Autonomy Realms rebuild; aligns with rswfire's historical expertise

Livewire

reactive web framework being adopted for Autonomy Realms

Next.js

rejected framework; TypeScript-based; misaligned with rswfire's development philosophy

Claude

AI assistant used for development; chat interface (not Claude Code due to cost); provides context and code generation

primary residence for 1.5-2 years; experienced as containment; driver of trail-seeking behavior

Oregon State Park archive

5-6 videos migrated from YouTube to bucket hosting

Samsung Health

step counter; tracks rswfire in top 2-3% for age group; metric of embodied output

Actions

Performed

• deleted 900+ YouTube videos
• downloaded all videos to local storage
• migrated videos to Hetzner S3 bucket
• updated signal pages to embed from bucket instead of YouTube
• updated Oregon State Park archive video embedding
• turned comments off on YouTube (prior)
• tested comments re-enabling (prior, failed)
• built first version of Sanctum (prior, no adoption)
• hiked Coos Lake trail
• voice documented transmission

Referenced

• attempted YouTube community building over 2 years
• created ~900 videos
• worked on Autonomy Realms from New Year's Eve through ~Jan 14
• structured Autonomy as bifurcated open/closed repositories
• learned Next.js with AI assistance
• attempted Sanctum adoption (failed)
• lived in RV for 1.5-2 years
• maintained social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube)
• tried Facebook Marketplace sales
• hiked extensively (top 2-3% step count)

Planned

• close source Autonomy Realms
• consolidate into single repository
• rebuild in Laravel and Livewire
• implement video upload pipeline
• build transcript processing pipeline
• implement AI-based visibility rules for signals
• build cross-platform distribution (YouTube re-upload for public signals)
• create related content surfacing features
• monetize or gatekeep via subscriptions
• find income/work
• secure food and internet
• acquire cabin near ocean/forest
• camp at Coos Lake south campsite

Symbolic Elements

trail lake cabin RV (containment) ocean repository (bifurcated then unified) bucket (data storage) threshold

Ontological States

•
sovereign (refusing platform mediation)
•
transitional (between YouTube and Autonomy Realms)
•
embedded (grounded in Oregon Coast ecology)
•
coherent (unified technical and existential project)

Subsystems

•
infrastructural (primary: platform rebuild, data migration, hosting architecture)
•
technical (secondary: Laravel/Livewire rewrite, AI-assisted development, pipeline construction)
•
financial (constraint boundary: precarity, no income pathway, survival pressure)
•
somatic (embodied signal: hiking, physical isolation, legs in top 2-3% activity)
•
cognitive (pattern recognition: institutional dysfunction, platform mechanics, system design)
•
relational (functional contrast: isolation chosen vs. isolation imposed by circumstance)
•
temporal (pressure: timeline uncertainty, cascade failure anticipation, urgency without clarity)
•
ecological (grounding: forest, coast, water, place-specificity)

Signal Reflection

No reflections available

Reflections provide narrative insights into signals

Transmission Details

Transcript Method

whisper

Language: english

Video Quality

1920 × 1080 @ 30fps

Duration