I would say...
Forget about adsense. Uncheck those little boxes on the manager/editor for each video that says "Monetize with Ads." Put a BTC address in each video description and/or a QR code in the intro and outro of each video. It make it easy for people to tip you if they like your video.
I would disagree with this. People are not very willing to pay for content they can get for free, especially when they can get it for free legally. Unless you are supporting some kind of good cause you are not going to get any meaningful amount of donations - I am surprised that the OP got donations from the 3 people that he received money from.
Advertising (via adsense on youtube) is how content creators can make money, there are several very popular channels whose creators make millions of dollars per year
Well we are getting a good fanbase going, we are now 5,000 views higher than yesterday, and went from 737 subscribers to 798(it takes a day or two to get a real update in sometimes on subs/views). It seems we are attracting a rabid fanbase which is a lot of fun. We are just starting out and have no idea how far we will go, but we do like creating content that people want to see. I like doing it in a funny way and my friend is a bit more serious than I am. I really wouldn't want to put anything in the intro because that probably drives people nuts to see ads come up then a QR code.
We don't have ad sense, we are part of a network that pays less than ad sense did for each 1,000 views, which is fine because they aren't ban happy like ad sense is. Ad sense is basically a horrible program that bans tons of people all the time and gives you vague reasons and you can't appeal it almost ever. I have had two accounts banned, my brother had his banned, my friend has his banned, and another friend had his banned and we didn't do anything wrong, and with no recourse to get it back I abandoned my two accounts. Some people report after years of filling out appeal forms you can get your ad sense back.
I am not sure about mental chewing gum? Haven't heard that phrase. I assume it means simple/boring/easy? The stuff we upload we spend hours finding via in game ourselves, we don't watch other channels and take their stuff because we do our own ideas, although somethings in the game Destiny that we upload do exist already and thousands of people will upload it when they figure out themselves/copy someone else. It's really hard to be the original source in a video game that millions play because everyone and their brother/mother/father uploads to youtube. There are a few things we have that I feel are more towards unique or not many vids exist of what we make. If people want to stick around and sub to us it's because we help them with something and our personality helps make them a subscriber.
I have always been about helping people, working 3 years at Staples and 3 years at Valu Homecenter(small hardware store). It is nice to put stuff out to the community and talk with people. That's probably why I love forums so much, chatting it up with different people and you never know who is gonna get in your bed. lol. but really though, I think we can take it to the next level. just as a little aside, my dad has a YT channel with his adsense still there and he is just lucky, he has 900k total views and like 10k subs, he just posts train videos lol but its cool. My brother originally had 2 million total views from a channel he made over a 3 month period based on all Skyrim when it came out andhis got banned. We didn't know about BTC/youtube networks at the time so he got mad when he could't get it back and deleted everything. At least a network is around to compensate us some, but we do it for fun and creativity. It's really hard to find something creative to do that you like doing and it also helps people, so this is really good for me
thanks for posting guys I will take into consideration what everyone has been saying and I talked to my friend last night and he sounds like he is more on board, always a challenge when it comes to people using BTC!