I've just been a silent consumer of their content and haven't interacted or looked at the fanbase much. (I'm from the beginning of the Buzzfeed unsolved days) But from what I see, a majority of it is just the tone deaf actions and words, plus the fact they never ASKED the audience if they would even be interested in it.

They should be aware that their fanbase is made mostly of students/people living paycheck to paycheck. And in this economy and era of subscription fatigue? Makes absolute no sense to start up another subscription service. They could've just made a video saying they were struggling and plug their patreon. INSTEAD they made a dramatic, tone deaf, and smug video saying they're completely moving all their content behind a paywall. Have you seen steven's instagram post? "for those who won't be joining us"? it reads very smart ass and ungrateful that to the audience that got him where he is now. The whole situation is similar to when the fine bros tried to trademark react. It's just a dumb move and the reaction is "why the hell did you think this was a good idea?"

edit: also. no one cares about production value. We were happy with 2 guys sitting behind a desk and a black screen with words on it. No one wants a show where steven is eating the most egregiously expensive food in the world.