‪@shadiversity‬

[@SellswordArts]

Like I said in this video, I think this whole debacle was born of a misunderstanding. I'm sad that my original videos meaning didn't get properly represented and Shad's response, and I'm concerned about how badly my clips were taken out of context. But I'm not going to ascribe to malice what was probably just a mistake. I hope Shad takes me up on the invite to do a public live stream, so we can clear up any lingering misunderstandings. NOTE: I expect this video to get attacked in downvoted by angry fans just like my other one was, but PLEASE!!! do NOT go to Shad's video and post hateful or mean comments. Please let's prove that sword community is better than that 😁

[@andrerocha4618]

See David that's the one thing I disagree with you on. Not a misunderstanding since that involves lack of intent but rather an intellectually dishonest attempt at discrediting you by willfully and knowingly taking bits of your videos out of context in such a way that it reflects poorly upon you. I didn't much care for that guy before but now what little respect I had for Shad is gone. Distasteful, dishonorable actions those were on his part. Now ignore the haters! You and Skallagrim have gotten me into fencing and to commit to my first kit! So keep up your amazing work! Also Skall is a real one, I'd love to see you two team up for some longsword content. And yeah he fences! You both keep up! Love your videos!

[@lordsergal8783]

An honorable mindset, but this isn't the first time I've heard about a character assassination post/video being aimed at other youtubers by him.

[@IcarusRuthven]

I knew Shadiversity wouldn't be happy when I saw your original video. It's the kind of thing he's argued against before; see his older videos about back scabbards. He claims more than once that if something is theoretically possible, then past generations would have been able to think of it, and *somebody* surely tried it, and maybe we don't have evidence of it for various reasons. The possibility to him is as good as certainty. If someone could have done something, then that's equivalent to being historical to him, and valid even if it's ahistorical. He digs in on his own ideas, and does a lot of ad hoc justification after the fact. It's saturated his content to the point that I avoid all of his videos these days. It's frustrating to watch that sort of intellectual dishonesty, even if he's one of the people he's being dishonest with. The sort of people attacking you in your comments are not his only fans, but it's telling when such people align so strongly with a creator, in such numbers. For instance, a lot of people are commenting here, as their first move, instead of running over to Shadiversity to leave comments on his video. Although I'm sure there will be a few that do so, I hope they actually comment on his video, and not just attack him personally as you've had to deal with.

[@pervysage5465]

I don't think Shad's wroth a benefit of a doubt.

[@thatdmguy4512]

You have my sword. When i get one and learn how to use it

[@Skallagrim]

I still don't know how anyone could feel attacked by the original video. You didn't claim that the entire sword community is only valid if everyone practices HEMA... of course not, that would be silly. People can enjoy swords as pieces of history, collector's items, epic icons of fictions, martial tools, etc. But when it comes to understanding real-world swordsmanship in particular there are several pieces of the puzzle: 1. Historical background 2. Knowledge of weapons (design & purpose) 3. Knowledge of their use (historical sources) 4. Practical application (technique drills, sparring) If we're talking about the entire sword community we're adding things like knowledge of the modern sword reproduction market, interest in swords as depicted in media, familiarity with the tropes of fictional storytelling, etc. Either way, this is not a contest of out-nerding each other. We all like what we like and have our own backgrounds. Even IF there was gatekeeping or an attack on someone's knowledge/experience/whatever (which I don't think your video was)... so what? Swords are not serious business nowadays, we don't use them to fight for our lives. It's just an opinion. Also I think it's important to keep an open mind and self-reflect. If what someone says bothers you it's an opportunity to think about a different perspective. What are the arguments they're making? Is there some valid criticism in there that could be useful for self-improvement? Here's where I think some of the confusion / disagreement comes from: In KZbin videos and on the internet overall there is plenty of ambiguity. When you see a video of someone talking about sword fighting in a fantasy context, you may think they're claiming authority on swordsmanship. Maybe they do, or maybe they are just having fun with the topic and mean for the video to be more entertaining than educational. The intention matters, but it's often not obvious from a single video. As an example, people have often referred to me as an "expert", and I've explicitly rejected that label a number of times. Sure, I have a certain amount of knowledge and experience, but "expert" suggests a very high standard that I'm not arrogant enough to claim, if that makes sense. :) But there are so many videos on my channel that most viewers wouldn't know I've said that, and they may still jump to the conclusion that I consider myself an expert. So I guess it all boils down to transparency. It's good to be aware of the limits of one's knowledge and skill, and it's good to let people know what sort of background you're approaching a topic from. You don't have to be a chef to talk about how a dish tastes to you, but if you want to talk about the art of cooking it's reasonable to expect you're pretty familiar with the process, in a hands-on kind of way.

[@АртёмДубравин-ы6у]

Well said, Skal!

[@niojandonker625]

Man wrote book

[@Uberfoxbob]

I mostly agree, and definitely respect your analysis. One point I might add is that, especially when you're not talking directly to someone, how you say what you say matters. Case in point, the title of this video is "Shadiversity 'attacked' me..." Even if it's not meant literally, it's the sort of charged language you would see in the headline of a news article that shows a bias. Not necessarily saying that it's bad, but it might be all that's needed to set the stage for how someone views the rest of the video.

[@Subutai_Khan]

@@Uberfoxbob Well Shad had it coming by claiming Sellsword attacked him and did so both in his video and his title. Despite the fact that Sellsword never mentioned Shad’s name and used no such language. I am happy to be proven wrong in the case of Shad himself but it seems like Shad and especially bad actors in his community bombarding David with slurs are the ones attacking.

[@Subutai_Khan]

Well said as always Skall.

[@zionbrink513]

Weapons aside, with pants like that how are you not in the sword community?

[@ryszakowy]

he even has more authentic pants than shadversity XD

[@ammagon4519]

Kingdom Hearts looking ah

[@MartinTraXAA]

"If you want useful opinion on a paintbrush, you ask a painter..." Became a far funnier use of analogy when I remembered Shad's embarrassing tirades about is AI "art" :V

[@MightyGachiman]

😂😂😂😂 Shad is an artist who doesn't like to draw and a writer who hates to read.

[@theoldhermit2601]

Don't forget he also thinks he's a better artist than his brother, and went as far as to berate and put him down on video. Shad is not a good person.

[@magicalawnmower4764]

shad's brother literally has an art channel (Jazza)

[@magicalawnmower4764]

@@theoldhermit2601 dawg whatttttt that's insane. How delusional do you have to be to think being an AI wannabe makes you any better than any real artist???

[@orio_edible]

@@MartinTraXAA 'I'm an artist, but I don't like to draw, now that may strike you as rather odd?' (Paraphrased) I'm a swordsman, but I don't like to fence, now that may strike you as rather odd? Same energy.

[@liorashiri6036]

You know @swllswardArt, I don't understand why by shouting "full counter" the attack of my opponent does not bounce. Did I miss something with the technique? 😂

[@SellswordArts]

😂 also I'm stealing Sellswordarts My channel is now called SwolSword Arts

[@ClownzRevenge]

Well were they casting magic? Cause it only works on magic.

[@liorashiri6036]

@@ClownzRevenge Oh... But... Estarosa... Nevermind

[@LegiamasC-OnTwitta]

@@liorashiri6036 well it depends on which Full Counter we’re referring to. Since Meli is big bro I think it’s only fair to consider his first

[@Junkzillabox]

Real montantes/zwei sparring are crazy dangerous, unless you plan fighting in like full plate or something. Seen some actual channels that do live demonstrations of actual montante techniques and seeing what they can do to other smaller swords and the velocity you can get properly using them is enlightening.

[@LordCrazyMike]

Me and a few others have been pioneering ways to do sparring with greatswords in a safe manner. Hoping that eventually we'll get things down so we can teach it as well, esp since Sigiforge and Regenyei armory have been working on safe for sparring steel versions of the Montante and Zweihander

[@cillianthestupendous6093]

even with full plate+padding, the amount of inurtia behind a (blunt)greatsword swing is enough to seriously hurt somebody. with how many techniques target the face/neck, concussions are pretty much inevitable in a sparring context. the sparring swords, even with proper protection, simply need to be softer/ have less mass.

[@astma3604]

yup, one of my mates freaked out twice while rehearsing a choreography: with a flail and with a zweihander. Would not recommend fucking around with either.

[@MartinTraXAA]

Two instructors from a group I trained with did Montante sparring, even wearing all the protective gear they had and doing it carefully they still ended up with melon-sized bruises and cracked gear. Shit is terrifying!

[@kuesdav]

@@LordCrazyMike Good Luck? And I really do mean that sincerely. There is enough mass/inertia in steel montante trainers to seriously injure you unless you dial it way back and/or you are in full plate harness. Even full typical HEMA gear isn't going to cut it unless you dial speed and strength way back beyond what you would for any long sword trainer. That said, I wish you well!

[@paulkerr7320]

As to the thing about danger of greatswords, In larp the most injuries occur from two sources:- Badly pulled blows from 2 handed weapons, and overdrawn shots from bows. The swords you were sparring with are less rigid and with softer foam than most great weapons/polearms used in UK LARP. Some of the major LARP fests in the UK run competency tests with those weapons before you are allowed to use them on the field tbecause of the danger of them. We have had broken legs, dislocated kneecaps, cracked ribs, concussions, detatched retinas and others. Two handed weapons should be treated with the greatest of respect/

[@neoaliphant]

reenactment steel weapons have even greater safety proficiency tests, but then they are used with even less autheticity than foam larp. larp weapons have got soooo much better in recent years, edge, shape, in early 90s they were pool noodles.

[@tigretam9106]

From my experience from Softcombat, wich is a similar sport to fencing but uses larp’s equipment, most injuries come from the terrain(bumping with trees or triping on holes in the dirt), ilegal tackles(mostly from shields) and 3D printed weapons, becouse most weapons in softcombat are handmade and are highly tested and verified to be extra sefe. But its cool to see somebody take part in a similar sport down here in the coments :D

[@neoaliphant]

@@tigretam9106 loads of us used hobnail boots or barefoot as slipping in smooth leather boots means you could impale yourself on someones steel. the larping i did very briefly was always at night for some reason and i had no night vision, safe enough but trip hazards....shields, now some people used these as clubs, i got a split lip as some hit me in the face with the rim/bass, an illegal move, but their argument was i should have been intimidated by it and backed away as he was a well ard viking ( and i was saxon) wven tho i had 6 inches and 50lbs on him....thats why with all the safety tests and hindrances, what ever form whetehr larp/hema/reenactment theres always compromises and what we do is not authentic to the period. while hema uses manuals for accurate moves, it doesnt cover any form before the manuals were invented. so viking era fighting isnt covered by treatises,so a lot is made up, but hema will asist, theers only so many ways to swing a sword.

[@SocraTetris]

Don't worry about Shad. He has a LONG history of purposefully mischaracterizing people to stir up drama and baiting politics. He doesn't argue in good faith, so he is not worth your time.

[@vicentevalenzuela4624]

Shad is just a reactionary drama queen at this point lol.

[@nicholasgold9021]

He's also apparently a bigot with no understanding of biology or evolution.

[@themr_wilson]

Always was, just had a cover over it

[@Jane-oz7pp]

"at this point" Man's been screeching at woke sjws ruining fantasy for almost a decade, he's always been a reactionary.

[@Raideortega]

For real, at this point this is just, "On today's episode of Shadiversity being a weirdo narcissist..."

[@DardenLaoke]

If this whole ordeal doesn't end with a collab fake war full of shenanigans like Davie504 vs 2setViolin, it will be a missed opportunity

[@rippedlimbo7884]

A collab would require shad to have a modicum of maturity and self awareness, both of which he is bereft of.

[@Diogenes_ofSinope]

Agreed but all actors must be grown ups for that to work

[@steamer2k319]

Poor violin-chan 😩.

[@loop4569]

Oh wow never expected to see this here

[@Talos_The_King]

Lol let's handle this in the traditional way. Challenge him to a duel! It's the perfect excuse haha.

[@maplesamurai]

Honestly I'd pay to watch that.

[@SellswordArts]

That would be fun! I'm down

[@ThedeadMapleoak]

I'm more on Shads side for now since he put out a lengthy video and was pretty thorough with his response. But even I would want to see a duel go down. Bonus points if he brings the Double Bladed Sword against @SellswordArts. SHOW EM HOW IT'S DONE, DAVE!!! 🤺⚔ I sincerely hope, this response clears up things.

[@SellswordArts]

I think you'll really like this video I'm about to release then 😁 it clears up a lot of misconceptions

[@HonorableAssassins]

shad's old and has some fairly serious medical problems, not sure that'd quite prove anything, but for pure entertainment value yeah id love to see it. Doubleblades only though.

[@eiskalteshandchen9036]

tbh: i would not be surprised if the real reason for "misunderstanding" was about flags in background

[@freddieadams8435]

Yeah, wouldn't put it past Mr Peach = woke because trousers.

[@MoonfaceMartin88]

Thanks for a short and to-the-point response. I stopped watching Shad some time ago when he started to get really, really full of himself. He went from being an authentic nerd with a lot of passion and some impressive wood-working skills to a wannabe expert on history and HEMA pretty much the second he had taken his third class or so. And with him, you can really see when KZbin started to become his livelihood. He tries to serve the algorithm, retain sponsors and not go back to... whatever his job was before. Partially, I can understand that. Still, he's a hack from down-under who over sells his expertise waaaaaaay too much - and he knows it.

[@ObjectHistory]

100.00% accurate summation. I also used to legitimately like him. Nothing wrong with admitted, nerdy experimenting. I do it with weapons on my channel (ones I'm not trained in). But yes, he started getting more and more arrogant, all while insisting on being treated as an expert without doing the work to become one.

[@MoonfaceMartin88]

@jamescheddar4896 Yeah, Skall was a very big inspiration to him and also Metatron. The latter has been having an even deeper fall IMHO since nowadays he seems to include a lot of ragebait social commentary into his videos and has made his views on contemporary politics a lot clearer. Edith: Okay, he is a full-on butthurt White supremacist now, great. *sigh* Where has the nerdy Italian with a passion for history and a PhD in linguistics gone? I mean, He was always pretty conservative but full-on far-right clickbait. Man... In contrast to that, Shad with his arrogance and Matt with his ads and abnoctious titles have gone pretty mild.

[@andrewgambill4391]

It’s cool to see civility in the internet but personally I think you should just settle it with a duel. You seem like a really thoughtful and respectful person. Wishing you all the best.

[@lolexguy]

SHOW TRUE HONOR! DUEL FOR THE TRURH! FIGHT LIKE REAL MEN!

[@joshuaspector8182]

That’s a lose-lose, but I’d pay to see it 😂

[@badrequest5596]

to the "what does gandalf put in his pipe" comment, being a hobbit myself i'd just say "i don't know i'm not tall enough to peek"

[@finnmarr-heenan2397]

Isn’t it called pipe weed, he learned it from the hobbits .

[@TroyTempest777]

Old Toby is always a good choice 👌

[@robertwareham8466]

I mean... that commenter does know that it was a hobbit who literally saved the entirety of Middle Earth, right? Isn't the whole point of the trilogy that the smallest person can have the most profound impact on the world?

[@badrequest5596]

@@robertwareham8466 if dbz taught me anything, dont under estimate the short guys

[@figbar7200]

yes, along with the idea that evil ultimately is its own undoing, for example gollum’s death in the book was not being pushed into the volcano, he was simply dancing around for joy of finally having the ring back and he just slipped off the edge like an idiot

[@secondphoenix7676]

It says a lot about Shad that someone says you got to actually use a weapon to fight to be able to accurately explain how that weapons works, the gets mad and makes a bad faith hour long rant. He's been going down and down ever since his AI videos and his mediocre novel and I believe he's just desperate for more views.

[@justanothercomment4701]

1:06 - 1:29 got missed by a lot of people who watched that video, based on the comments.

[@bensteinhauser784]

"To teach someone to do the thing, you have to have done the thing." Crazy that someone was so offended by the above statement that they put out a hit piece.

[@CustomizedUsername]

I’ve boxed and practiced kendo since I was eight so I understand movement. Shad has the WORST footwork I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t look like he has any fundamental training in anything he speaks about. He’s surrounded by milquetoast yes man that tell him he’s the best. Whenever he demonstrates a sword in one of his videos he crosses his feet. He’s insecure. Ignore him

[@avizuKose]

Lets be real, Shads narcissism is the reason you where attacked.

[@TwoKnowingRavens]

No. Being a pretentious twat and talking out of both sides of your mouth and being purposefully obtuse instead of direct which causes people to be judged unfairly is why he was "attacked". People who ride the fence between accusations and insinuation are true cowards and deserve a lot of criticism.

[@theoldhermit2601]

I've seen people claim sellsword was the one with an ego and not Shad, which is crazy, considering one of these two is on video putting down and berating his brother who's a professional artist, claiming he's actually the better artist; and it wasn't sellsword who did this giant example of ego stroking. I used to like Shad, it's sad to see him act like a clown non stop, between this and the AI art

[@PeregrinTintenfish]

Shad is sensitive because he gets attacked a lot. Both Sellsword and Shad are acting similarly. "This other KZbinr attacked me, so he is my response."

[@Thumbdumpandthebumpchump]

@@PeregrinTintenfish This is an admittedly clever way to obscure the reality. Neither are behaving similarly. Shad is being highly emotional, egotistical and wrong.

[@Zen-san672]

Uh... actually shad video was mainly referring to the double blade sword inaccuracy in sellsword and the fact of beign addressed about them not being competent swordsmans. I also like the part of the "attack" shad made by comparing the flexibility of real sword vs foam sword vs steel sword and after that they made new test of the double sword with steel-made and the result were the double sword (used like a polarm, as it should be) smashed the longsword Well, now I'm curious to see if this comment will be deleted...

[@milkshakellie]

shad really just took a random channel talking about a topic and took it personally. shad thinks he’s the main character of sword channels

[@Triplestorms]

Yeah I don’t know why Shad took it so personally, it must have hurt his ego because deep inside he feels more of a fantasy fighter than a real fencer

[@jimcognito4631]

The idea that shad is the MC is patently false. I’d pick Sellsword or Robinswords as MC you f I could. They have charisma and good looks.

[@ObjectHistory]

"If you don't do the art, you can't talk about how to do the art." The problem is this perfectly reasonable statement triggered Shad's insecurity. He's always been a weapons/martial arts YT creator that wants to be an authority but is unwilling to do any real work. He's never trained seriously in any weapon or art, which is fine... but don't pretend to have expert-level views then. He bills himself in a recent video as an, "experienced swordsman." He makes another video claiming to have determined what sword type is best, etc. Sorry but those are insults to the countless people who seriously train with swords, who've put in God knows how many hours of sweat into the art.

[@v.heywood]

if anyone was the Steven Seagal of "the KZbin sword world," its Shad 🤣

[@vksasdgaming9472]

You insult C-Gal. He has real skill and merits in his discipline. Shad has none.

[@Jane-oz7pp]

​@@vksasdgaming9472 no, Seagal is a complete fake and has been loathed by the combat sports community forever.

[@malahamavet]

Shad wants drama, it's not the first time he does it, and lately, he disapointed me multiple times, AI art, political stuff, his book, videos manipulating our opinions, taking things out of context, controversy whith Skallagrim and Matt Eastern... And now he took your videos out of context. I'm a follower of his for a long time But he disapointed me so many times that I don't think he misunderstood you and im glad you defended yourself whith such respect and elegance. The HEMA practitioners don't agree whith him, years ago he suggested his "style"' was better. He wants to be seen as a great writer, great artist, great swordsman and so on, even though he has a lot to learn. I consider you a member of the sword community, how could you not be? we actually need more people like you, funny, fit and respectful. So people who don't know about HEMA could watch and see a sportsman, not a nerd playing whith swords. So don't be afraid because you're doing this community a great service and even though I know you for a year or something, you're already among my favourites. Shad fell out of favour whith me, for many reasons, and for me, this is the straw that broke the camel's back. I like the sword community because it exists outside the worldly problems and stuff, so Shad constantly looking for drama is too much already. I'm unsubscribing him, not because of you, but because of his own doing. Stay strong my friend!

[@Salmacream]

I know you wrote that for the content creator. But I think you could have missed a key point from shads content. He very strickly says something along the lines of. "I don't know who he is talking about, but a lot of this lines up with my content. So I feel like I need to defend myself." Then he tried to scrabble a video together fast enough to stop some people from thinking he wasn't worth watching. I think that's fair. You will have mistakes when you panic like that. Sell sword had the right idea when he said he doesn't think its born of malice. I could totally have the same misunderstanding if I was shad. Frankly if you dont structure an argument very well, it can sound like multiple different takes. Thats the impression I got from sell swords video. He was talking about a lot of topics and trying to connect all of them together. Maybe its a real misunderstanding. Frankly one that came because they have made comment on each other previously and there was some turbulent water before this. Shad also offered to talk with Sell sword in his video, with his people. I think that was somewhere around the 3/4th mark in the video.

[@timothym9398]

​@@Salmacream the problem is we've had this exact same situation probably a dozen times before with shad and other content creators. Shad comes up with an armchair theory on something, makes content, and when someone politely gives expert opinion disagreeing with him, not even calling him out, but merely existing on the same website Shad creates a whole shit storm mess. It was what, a month or two ago Matt Easton had to cancel a collaboration with him? He's managed to anger most of the historical archery community, not by disagreement, but by asshole trolling behavior. Shad desperately seems to want to be respected, but can't seem to find it within himself to be respectable.

[@Salmacream]

@@timothym9398 I love debate, so im going to cut myself short here so I don't ruffle any feathers. I do not think shad is perfect, right in every situation, or even in this one. I just think if you look at it from his perspective it makes some sense how he reacted. That doesn't justify what he did. But it adds needed context. If what he's doing isn't entirely out of the blue. Then he looks like someone who is acting with hast. Making mistakes as they do. Not a total scumbag. I 100% believe he is just pulling the trigger on the video too fast and reacting by lashing back. It's a bit childish, but most people don't know how to debate or argue appropriately. It's not something you are taught in school really. It's an extracurricular.

[@timothym9398]

@@Salmacream I think all I'll do is rephrase again my last statement. If you want to be respected, you have to be respectable. I don't know why shad would get a free pass on that. We all deserve to be treated in accordance with our actions. Especially after we've established a consistent pattern of actions.

[@farkasmactavish]

He wants to be great at a lot of thungs without putting any work into it. We've seen his fighting style, his writing, and his AI "art". Minimal effort for trash results.

[@osirisatot19]

"Use critical thinking skills." and Shad heard that as a personal attack against him 🤣

[@M4st3r0fN0n3]

I used to watch Shad's videos, but after the 12th rage/rant video about how pop culture is ruining something or other, i bailed. That was several years ago. I couldnt stand the constant shouting about everything. That and the fact that he inserts himself into any conversation that even remotely relates to medieval history.

[@jamesmorton6942]

Can't wait for shad's 2 hour response to this

[@Rindsgulasch]

Funny thing is, I didn't even catch the drama with shad and other channels until his response to sellsword. Shads video seemed very ragebaity. Shad mentioned that others have cut ties with him and that's when I looked into it. So, Shads response is why I ultimately blocked his channel.

[@risky_busine55]

I'll be honest this doesn't surprise me, shad seems like a fundamentally insecure individual and looking at how he talks about art and tries to pass himself off as an artist despite being an ai promoter with basic Photoshop skills even though his brother is a genuinely fantastic and successful artist it really seems like his lashing out is coming from a place of insecurity. I don't want to ascribe intention to him, but after how he's responded to legitimate criticism from the art community i can't help but think his defensiveness is similarly motivated

[@Sajuuk]

@@risky_busine55 There's nothing wrong with being an AI art generator "promoter" so long as one doesn't claim to be an "artist" like Shad does. Reading comments sections of any AI art generator shows those who use them are more interested in how to combine various models and Loras with specific prompts. to achieve certain effects or results. It's a hobby which becomes quite technical at times, certainly not a group of people who try pass themselves off as artists. And it's a tool which actual artists and graphic designers and concept artists use to augment their skills and remove drudgery. Just saying.

[@mudcrab3420]

You waited about 2 and a bit days and Shad came in at 45 minutes. I haven't actually watched it yet, but based on Shad's very deep and consistent body of work I am going to guess he will wuffle his opening argument about five times without actually advancing a point, show some examples that support his argument (with the actual context being extremely open to debate) say something about 'community', claim that he at no point attempted to do something he clearly did, mention his extremely supportive community, mention is religion, twice, possibly something about the long and hard work he has put into helping promote the Sword Community, name drop Brandon Sanderson, name drop Lindy Burg (sp?) despite the fact that Lindy is an entertainer who likes history and is actually very cringe as an actual historian, mention his religion and sum up about how he is deeply hurt and absolutely the victim. Why do I say this? Because this is his form. The variation to this is when he hasn't fully been exposed and he plays the 'We opened up some discussion and that is a good thing' card. Sorry Shad but you pick very low hanging fruit, say some slightly foolish and easily disproved things and then you are corrected by other people. It is TECHNICALLY opening discussion in the same way that being told the Italian carriers were not involved in the battle of Midway is opening discussion. Sorry kids, but Shad is at best a harmless bogan with a few fragile ego issues and at worse a Victorian. The middle he is a bogan with a fragile ego who gives sword fighting advice that is actually dangerous and a Victorian.

[@Sajuuk]

@@mudcrab3420 Lol 😂👍

[@devinmillican2873]

I don't judge the validity of an argument based on the "expertise" of the person making the argument. I judge the validity of an argument based on the argument they're making.

[@grudgemindless652]

I discovered Shad a while back when his channel just started to take off (30-40k subs if I remember correctly one of his videos about katanas) and I was actually a large fan of his content for a long time. But I must say the quality of his videos diminished greatly. I find it somewhat ironic that about a year, year, and a half, I wrote an almost verbatim comment under someone's other video who Shad thought besmirched his holy name. There I stopped watching altogether, now every time he is on my side feed is about some ridiculous thing he said and drama. As a lapsed fan I won't lie, I miss old Shad, and from time to time watch few from nostalgia but now most he does is mindless drivel he thinks will draw views.

[@timpeterjensen2364]

I watched Shad years ago (3-4) then i corrected something wrong they said about democratic socialism (him and his brother) amd the instantly became very rude and aggresive, when i posted proof of my correction they became even more rude and demeaning, so stopped following, but also suddenly through other channels i had been following or found later, found out they were very biazed and dishonest.

[@julians5268]

I have a similar story with Shad, following his channel since around 40k subs and I used to enjoy his videos, even now many of those old videos are interesting. But his content quality started to decline over time and he often talks about how the algorithm is against him but I get recommended his videos all the time. The topics are things I'm interested in and I click on the videos only to lose interest very quickly. To me, most of the quality of his recent videos has come from Tyranth and Shad himself drags down their quality with long winded nonsense, repeated circular statements, and fixating and arguing over semantics and moot points. The sad thing is that just like his book, his content has the potential to be good if he could only get over his ego and learn to take critical feedback in an appropriate manner.

[@rustyshackleford9945]

I have to say that after seeing his response before I watched your video, I was dumbfounded by his reaction to it. Then I saw this video. David, I'm a very new subscriber. It's amazing that you dignified that gross misrepresentation with a response, and come off as so affable and level-headed in both videos. Great show, man.

[@SellswordArts]

Thank you, I appreciate that. I hope that this all fades away quickly. I have cool swords stuff to get back to, I know that's what you guys want to see 😁

[@Juggtacula]

@Sellsword Arts Legitimate question, misunderstandings aside, I don't believe you talked about the double-bladed sword comparison. You'll notice in Shad's video(the original dual blade and the response that prompted this video) that the weapon they crafted/use has a much longer shaft/handle, while yours was roughly the size of a normal longsword. Do you think you'd see the same positive results they did if you extended the handle length and used it like a polearm instead of a sword like they did?

[@superkamehameha1744]

@@troloosauhund8747 hi sell, you'll never be a good KZbinr ever. You're a whiny stuck up know it all narcissist.

[@SellswordArts]

First of all, I want to state the reason we didn't address any of his points about the double-bladed sword is, I simply don't care. Shad is allowed to disagree with me on a test, Just like I should be allowed to disagree with him without him launching a personal attack against me. The only thing I felt the need to respond to was his accusations, and his editing that cut my message out of context and misrepresented me. As for the double-blooded sword test We talked about this in our original video. Exting the handle wouldn't do a whole lot. The issue is, this is a bad sword and a bad pole arm. The swords advantage is the fact that it's versatile and maneuverable. It can move all over the body and it's very light and quick. The pole arms advantage is that it is long, and usually has a good amount of impact. It's fairly a long, and usually has a good amount of impact. It's versatile, but not necessarily maneuverable. The double-bladed sword it takes away the advantages from both sides while adding the disadvantages of both sides. A sword must maintain edge alignment, isn't very heavy, and has very little range. A pole arm isn't very maneuverable, and is considerably slower to swing (thrusting with a spears still very fast) We are going to do the experiment again with a longer handle, and with a bunch more fencers

[@superkamehameha1744]

@@SellswordArts cry harder

[@SellswordArts]

@@superkamehameha1744 yep, this is the level of comment I've come to expect from Shadiversity fans 😂

[@superkamehameha1744]

@@SellswordArts says the guy who does exactly what he warns the audience to never watch. Stfu

[@natp8387]

Shad just throws a tantrum at anyone better than him at anything. Look at him flip out about his brother being a better artist. He used to be a good amateur source but now he's just a ball of ego. If you are a fencer, you know more than historians at how this works because you do it. Fact. You can talk about a gun but if you don't shoot, you are less knowledgeable.

[@VIRTUEL]

great response man. really is how any youtube "beef' should be handled honestly. no villification or attack on character, just an invitation to a civil discussion.

[@bumblefritz]

I nearly Shad my pants when I heard about this.

[@SellswordArts]

🤣🤣🤣

[@seancain2216]

Bro, it bums me out. I've been following Shad for at least 5 years. But his attitude and reactions have pushed me away. Thanks for being a positive influence for practical sword use.

[@MysticPaladin]

I used to like Shad's hypothetical fantasy armaments and his examining of castles, but his attitude about HEMA and his opinions on pop culture rub me the wrong way. I think Historical Fencing needs some reference to the manuals, or it's just Olympic fencing with heavier swords. Not that that's bad, but using that as a reflection of how swords were used historically can be misleading.

[@saxavarius]

@@MysticPaladin Shad's best videos are when he sits down with an expert on a topic and does a kind of interview about that. His earlier work on pop culture weapons and armor were good too

[@heavens_best1905]

Yeah, i used to be a fan of him a few years ago but ever since he began associating with people like sargon of akkad i was put off

[@AttentiveDragon]

I unsubscribed from Shad awhile back when it became clear what sort of person he was willing to be with respect to other folks, including his fellow content creators. The influx of hate comments (and the content therein) by the community he’s cultivated only confirmed for me that was the correct decision. His response was completely unsurprising, but I’m also glad to see your short, to the point response that’s as careful to stay out of the drama as possible. I doubt any further response on his end will be as magnanimous.

[@ledemondoughnut]

I only unsubbed from Shad after this drama. For a while now it's felt to me like he's getting himself into drama more than necessary but I wasn't really able to say he wasn't in his rights to defend himself, even if it did seem like he was going way too far. However after this time when David clearly wasn't targeting him (or anyone) and he makes an hour long video in response, where he uses clearly out of context clips and tries to discredit David beyond reason, he just feels way too disingenuous for me to be okay with his content. I don't even know how the original video could be so grievously misinterpreted to the extend that Shad went to but needless to say, I've gotten much too tired of his victim complex to put up with it.

[@ledemondoughnut]

@@Hell-ThePerfectionist This isn't a new or recent thing from me, it's just the last straw. I don't mind his normal content so much (but forgive me for thinking that his older work was better). The problem for me is that every time he defends himself against anyone for any reason, not only does he go too far but he also obviously and intentionally misconstrues the original post far beyond the scope. This is not the first time he's made what I would consider a disproportionate response and it's clearly a pattern of behavior. To answer your question "What is up with the recent hate boner?" I'd say it's because people (like me) have had minor misgivings that have been building up little by little over time which haven't been addressed, and Shad's behavior in this particular instance has gone significantly farther beyond the line that most people would have set in their mind. Shad's regular content *is* quite innocuous, and there's not much to say negatively in regards to him about it, but when he deviates from it and it often reflects upon him negatively, eventually people will be fed up with it and just let out their frustrations. Just to be clear, I have nothing against him politically and my opinions on Shad's behavior are not based on how he presents himself politically. I'm just coming from the standpoint of someone watching a content creator they used to like make reaching statements that feel intentionally manipulative and malicious, and do so as a pattern of behavior.

[@maaderllin]

@@Hell-ThePerfectionist Shad has been doing stuff like that for a long time though. He recieves every disagreement like a personnal attack. I unsubscribed from his channel when he got his beef with the archery community, in which he made a video in which he litterally called an archer youtuber an idiot in his thumbnail, when the youtuber, Nu-Sensei, had been nothing but polite. I realized that Shad's "politeness" only goes so far as to get him in good terms with people who can boost his reach. If he can't get clout from you in a positive way, then he'll fall back to insults at the slightest disagreement. He is litterally incapable of recieving criticism and have been a laughing stock in the HEMA community for quite a while because of this, considering that he cut ties with every australian HEMA club because they didn't recieve him as the "expert" he believes he is.

[@maaderllin]

​@@Hell-ThePerfectionist From my memory: Nu-Sensei apologized because he misunderstood Shad's point, but still disagreed on the form Shad was proposing, as it posed risks of injury (Shad pretended that it didn't as he was able to pull of the form in his backyard, but the point of risks of injury is that sometimes, doing something over and over will eventually lead to injury). Shad insulted Nu-Sensei before that. Of course, he always end-up "settling the matter", but it is telling that Shad always end up caught in this kind of drama, and people like this who are unable to handle criticism really shouldn't be taken seriously. He threw a fit at the HEMA clubs of his area for a similar situation: They were criticizing his footwork, and argued that if he was occasionnaly scoring points in sparring by doing the footwork he did, then it must work. But seasoned HEMA practicioners know that if you want to lunge, you must have the right footwork because eventually you might injure yourself seriously. I have a small HEMA club and we are self-taught. I would never assume to know better than more experienced practicioners than me, except if I had good evidence that their interpretation of a source isn't a consensus (And I'd do research on that). Shad, on the other hand, cut ties with the HEMA clubs in his area, did videos calling HEMA elitists, and surrounded himself with new LARP players to whom he "teaches" sword fighting and bases all his understanding upon backyard testing with his "trainees". I love LARP, but that's not a substitude for HEMA. In his older video about "steel swords dated in a way that was confirming his Mormon faith", he was widely criticized and did a very long video in which he did the classic "I was wrong but actually I'm still technically right" non-apology video that so many narcissistic people do. When Matt Easton did a very professional message about him stopping associating with Shad because of how their beliefs contradicted their work (Matt Easton works in associations that promote inclusion in HEMA communities), Shad threw a hissy fit like the major entitled narcissist he is and sent his army of cult-followers harrass Matt Easton. He did the same over mere comments made by Skallagrim on Twitter which weren't even tagging him in the first place. (Comments by Skallagrim in which he was saying that he stopped watching his content because of the click-baity style he had taken). There is also that video of a convention in which him, his brothers and other people are playing a role-playing game and he HAS to belittle his brother (Jazza)'s artistic abilities to make himself look better (If I am at "1" then you must be at "1" too). The smile he has when his brother just caves in, I've seen that in narcissistic people when they take pleasure into demeaning others around them. And then there's all the criticism around his AWFUL book, to which he replied with a "Actually my book is good, look at all the good comments" made by his cult-follower audience. Of course, he always "ends up settling the matter". Because he has to keep that facade of intellectually honest, polite interlocutor. But when you understand patterns of behavior, you end up understanding that Shad is, in fact, a bad person. Now, if you still find his content entertaining, go for it. If you think that he has good factual quality though, that might be more of a problem. He often extrapolates from his backyard experiment and takes shortcuts in reasoning that are extremely bad for any educational content, so nothing he says should be taken seriously. The problem with Shad is that he can't tolerate criticism, he can't tolerate the fact that people advice other people to not take his stuff seriously, and feels entitled to the attention and collaboration of everyone around him. The "hate" surrounding him is not hate. It's a warning. A very necessary one at that.

[@maaderllin]

@@Hell-ThePerfectionist " I don't believe this situation should be the straw that broke the camel's back" And it doesn't need to be the case for you either. To me, the camel's back was broken in 2020 when I started noticing all the errors in his videos (He's really just knowledgeable on a surface level) because he tried to go outside of his focus on fantasy, and noticing that he had the behavior of a narcissist. You can still find his content enjoyable and entertaining. I'm not the f-ing thought police hahahaha I'm just using my very good memory to keep track of all the little stuff I've seen him that made me go "Uh oh" and warning people, because many of his followers have a tendancy to form a parasocial cult-like mentality. And a narcissist with a cult of followers, that's never a good thing hahaha

[@meewarwoowoo]

I've never encountered David before tonight but having seen Shad's response to him, David is now my favourite swordsman ever. Better than Darth Vader.

[@gaelforcewind2351]

At this point Shad's like half a step away from going full-on andrew tate mode. He's gonna bleed normal followers and attract all the worst parts of the internet in a hateful feedback loop. I was a longtime fan of his, and imo, he's a lost cause already

[@staceygram5555]

What's the worst thing Andrew Tate has said in the past 3 years?

[@MAGEs-of-Anarchy]

@@staceygram5555don’t open that can of worms. Please. This will turn into a warzone if you do.

[@Xaa25]

Shadiversity is full of cringe , on ai, on his book

[@paulkerr7320]

@@staceygram5555 Not so much he's spent most of it on remand fro trafficking and sexual assault

[@stabbykinz1446]

I feel for ya. Take what I say with a grain of salt, but from what I heard, Shad was already kinda right-leaning as a homeowner living in Australia until the political shifts in the Down Under caused his more recent radicalization as a Christian conservatism. Guy got MAD chuffed over his niece enjoying Princess Peach from the new Mario Bros Movie, after he'd already blown up over seeing her in the trailer with her motor outfit...which I believe was already taken from or inspired by the later Mario Kart games. He finds the strangest things to be indignant over, and honestly seems hellbent of being a victim or just being miserable over people enjoying innocuous things. Like I honestly don't get it, and what really sucks? I used to like his content, too. But now he's just bitter about everything that doesn't fall in line his Christian fundamentalism, and will smear anyone he even thinks slighted him. I personally haven't seen his response on AI or the criticism of his book...I don't think I need to. His character is well past the point of grace, for me.

[@markgarr7836]

Why did Shad willingly identify himself as an armchair warrior 💀 He could have at least pretended the video wasn't about him...

[@Langharig_Tuig]

Because its an upgrade from the wallmart cop cosplayer that he actually is

[@Metalwork1000]

Everyone is a armchair warriors Noone really sword fight anymore ......and this is coming from someone with 32 years in swordsmanship 😅😅😅😅😅😅yall are all being ridiculous 🙄

[@Langharig_Tuig]

@@Metalwork1000 You know who is being ridiculous? Haha

[@Metalwork1000]

@@Langharig_Tuig yeah I do

[@theevol29]

​@user-ln6sx9nt7e That is hilarious. There are thousands of fencers and weapons martial artists to this day. Some with unbroken links to the far distant past.

[@IsaacOravetz]

My dude I've followed you for years now and you've never offended me,your content is smart,funny and best of all correct. The approach you take towards teaching is totally appropriate for all because you care and really enjoy sharing your knowledge. Blessings young man and thank you 🤘🙂✌️💖

[@Karhedron]

I'm late to this party, but just seems ANOTHER controversy Shad is getting himself into. I'm beginning to suspect he feels controversial videos get more attention and views, but in general he seems to be slipping deeper and deeper into a worrying mindset that everyone is against him - perpetual victimhood, that permeates his content and often distracts from any reasonable points he might actually be making...

[@Auriorium]

This is a beef that shouldn't have happen. But its the internet and people get the wrong message all the time.

[@richardmarin2538]

To me it goes beyond it being the internet. Shad is a deeply insecure man with borderline incel views. This one is on him more so than it is on the medium where it happened.

[@Specter_1125]

@@richardmarin2538yeah, this is the the third time something like this happened with Shad where he drums up more drama than necessary. And at least two of the times, Shad isn’t mentioned directly at all.

[@DaddyHensei]

It's just Shad and his thin skin, guy started taking every little thing as a personal attack.

[@timothym9398]

@@DaddyHensei the worst part of it to me is that Shad has no actual credentials at all to be an authority on any of this stuff, and people with credentials have repeatedly been willing to welcome him in to the fold and work with him, until shad insists on acting like an ass every time. It's like he's being welcomed to sit at the table at a 5 star restaurant with world experts and he keeps refusing to observe basic table manners.

[@Auriorium]

​@@richardmarin2538 I kind of doubt that, I have seen insecure man in my life and he looks just like a man with a brand of tism. I have one and probably you. I had good interactions with him, his community on the other hand, lets not start the debate about how archers carried arrows, there is a lot of people who think that being an archer is performing parkour while shooting.

[@TheAkANIMAL907]

I found your channel by leaving a bunch of other big name KZbin channels, in search for someone with a better understanding of how swords operate within the context of fencing. You and Matt Easton are the two I watch now, I’ve never thought you made any point in bad faith, or misrepresented things. Generalizations sometimes? Sure, but that’s pretty normal, and it’s easy to understand within the context you clearly outline. Just wanted to put a positive comment out here in hopes of crowding out the bad ones. You are a tremendous content creator and educator, thank you. After Shads opinions on some politics and his use of the R slur in one of his videos I really don’t take anything he says as valuable. Personally, not trying to generate hate on him

[@SellswordArts]

Thanks for the support! I realize that I'm not perfect and sometimes I'm going to have a take that's wrong, or do an experiment incorrectly, or say something that isn't correct. I'm always trying to keep an open mind consider new things, part of that is understanding that I'm not perfect. However I felt the need to make this response because I felt that my original meaning was misunderstood, and my videos were taken out of context. So I just wanted to clarify. As for more people you can watch, check out the original video because I have a list full of awesome sword KZbinrs you can watch who actually fence!

[@speakwithanimals]

shad is such a washed up right wing troll these days, it's disgusting. he's really not worth your time, but this was a great response. keep doing what you do, man

[@sulkingsalamander6181]

Shad has always been slimy, cherry picking other people to make hit pieces for extra views because his normal content tends to devolve into incoherent rants that have little to nothing to do with the context of his videos. I pray his misguided follows will take a stance of chivalry and cease their buffonery.

[@theoldhermit2601]

His views of dwindled for years because of the hit pieces and rambling rants you described; but classic Shad, he refuses to take accountability for his own channel, and now is playing the victim.

[@Archeruss]

Honestly, Shad always struck me as a bit too full of himself, insisting he's the be-all-end-all for pop-culture and HEMA while endlessly promoting his micro-fiction and books. A borderline rabid fanbase of redditors don't help his case either.

[@sleepless9957]

The contents of his book neither lmao. He is awful and absolutly not a part of the Hema community.

[@Archeruss]

@@sleepless9957 Never read them myself, but I can tell you that after seeing their author's decline from a quirky if a little high-strung commentator on medieval curiosities to someone who acts as if they invented the concept of the sword itself, I don't intend to either.

[@sleepless9957]

@@Archeruss When I tell you not to I mean it. The book is utterly disgusting with plotpoints presented in a way that should honestly be illegal or at the very least put this man on a list. Theres a good 3 part video series about it, breaking down all the flaws and adressing the massive issues the book has. However, not knowing is maybe just as good.

[@dustinakadustin]

Well he is Australian, we're all a bit full of ourselves.

[@Archeruss]

@@sleepless9957 You were absolutely right, I've just seen the three part review of his book and I have to say I'm beyond disgusted at what essentially amounts to a dangerously infantile, manchild self-insert, sexually-deviant power fantasy. Just another day on KZbin I suppose.

[@nicholaswoollhead6830]

Oh my god it was a great video, but at the end when you showed the additional context of you literally expalining how foam swords really cant represent steel sword handling, that took it over the top. This is one of the greatest video responses debunking a bad faith argument Ive seen imsince the 2012 era of video responses. Amazing Also, thanks to Westside Tyler for putting me on to this controversy.

[@Deliriumend]

I'm absolutely shocked that Shad is making disingenuous arguments for clout. Shocked I tell you! Wait, no, what's the opposite of shocked?

[@TheOnlyToblin]

Well, Shad seems to have made it his life goal to become an enemy to literally everyone. He's a proud knowitall who has lost all of his sense and any humility he ever possessed, if any. I used to watch Shad but after him displaying his epic level YIKES opinions on his other channel, his response to his mediocre (and very problematic) novel and finally his stubborn simping for AI art, I kinda lost all will to hear anything he has to say further. Him becoming insanely full of himself and painting literally everyone, who isn't licking his boots, as an enemy and using personal attacks to talk about them... Well, that was already too far for me to stomach. The rest was just icing on the cake. I honestly think you shouldn't bother with Shad. He used to be a good creator with a decent humility, but in line with his rising popularity and ailing health, he has become an absolute child.

[@brettjohnson536]

This isn't new. Shad has a history of being dramatic, missrepresenting what people say and playing victim whenever he gets called out. Not to mention that other channel... hahaha. I watched his video before watching this and honestly I didn't even want to give him the views

[@filipferencak2717]

@@brettjohnson536 Typical of a religious fundamentalist zealot.

[@Parker8752]

Honestly, given that Shad's other channel is devoted to bitching and moaning about the "woke agenda" in modern media, I'd ignore him.

[@milliman4]

You have a passion about this hobby Shad wished he still had. Keep it up!

[@biobomb93]

When you showed your video taken out of context just to make a point about foam swords i unsuscribed from shad: i have different political views from him but i do not care, and i like his rambling and will to argue about stuff, but that was disingenuous.

[@Yaumite]

Same

[@charliedavis3931]

Good on you for saying you'll have a conversation with him. I really respect that about you it's one reason why I've always watched your content.

[@kdolo1887]

Yes, It's nice that a True Swordsmanshipper to parlay with one so low as a simple Armchair Warrior. How gracious of him!

[@charliedavis3931]

@@kdolo1887 They are both armchair warriors. They're about as much warriors as someone who plays Warhammer is a general. They both dress and play fight with shiny toys.

[@kdolo1887]

@@charliedavis3931 no, see in the first video he made it clear that he is a True Swordsmanship, and other people are just Armchair Warriors

[@Daneuwill]

@@kdolo1887 way to echo his sentiment, why don’t you have thought for your own? just because he has an opinion doesn’t mean he knows what he is talking about. Either you are trolling or you don’t understand how silly that really is.

[@kdolo1887]

@@wetnapkin2731 lol holy shit what a comment. How many kills do you have as a Navy SEAL?

[@julianwilliams9088]

7:48 “You’re a joke because because you’ve never been in a real sword fight with your life on the line” what as a-posed to all the guys that have real sword fights these days?!

[@jeff3221]

I respect your civility in approaching this matter. You've built up a fantastic channel, and it is quite saddening to see Shad respond in the way he did. However, it is not unexpected. I have seen how he has handled the debate of AI art and I say this without the slightest bias; it is reasonable to assume malicious intent with how he clipped your videos. Shad is a vindictive and petty man, judging by what he has voluntarily put forth onto the internet. If he was one to get angered easily and lash out but then apologize, I wouldn't be so harsh. But he stands by what he says, no matter how abrasive or petty it is. He will not back down or admit fault, so I think it would be in your best interest to avoid dealing with him, if at all possible. That's my 2 cents! I wish you well 🫡

[@evarhart]

Don’t worry about Shad. He cultivated a community of hate filled people and has a blatant disregard for how his actions may harm others. I really hope you don’t have any grief over such a guy. You’re too awesome to be bogged down by that!

[@antonincooper346]

I love Shad´s content and I don´t think I´m particularly hate-filled.

[@Djanck000]

@@antonincooper346 You're truly a rare example, then. Shad's community (specially the more recent followers) is by far the most toxic in this whole "side" of the platform.

[@joranfokker7477]

​@@Djanck000I also like to think I am not hate filled

[@imlostplshelp9037]

@@Djanck000 I also like to think of myself as not hate filled.

[@emilbroseliger8506]

I do believe there is too sides of the argument. Some things are in favour of Shad, others of David, and others seems to be a misunderstanding. No need to be biased.

[@robinrichardson5243]

David, I can honestly say that your videos are some of the most refreshingly sincere & enjoyable I've had the pleasure of watching. I've been involved in martial arts for nearly 30 yrs & learned long ago there's always going to be some self-proclaimed "expert" looking to stir things up to distract from their own shortcomings; it's easier to tear others down than it is to do the work of letting yourself grow.

[@pixelwyrmrenditions]

You're not the first one to be clipped out of context by shad. I've watched a lot of his response videos to other creators and more often than not, he does in fact clip them out of context which presents them in a bad light. This is made more prominent when you watch the entirety of the original videos he responds to. You many not be able to say that it was out of malice, but I can tell you for a fact that it probably is. I have never seen shad respond well to things that slight his ego in videos.

[@ianwilson9011]

Hey man as someone who has been in the community for about 5 years - I want to say you are a very welcome addition and provide some solid information. Hope to see you out and about.

[@BaneOfSuperstition]

I rarely comment, and realize that I'm late to the party, but i admire your candor and transparency. Having seen videos on both sides it seems to me that not only were your comments misunderstood, it does seem that perhaps your words were deliberately taken out of context. This has led me to remove certain creators from my subscriptions, as i abhor dishonesty and drama. Thank you for putting out honest and informative content in addition to the fun and hilarious stuff.

[@EnwardSnowman]

I admire sellout sword arts for his lack of sleeves and narcissistic posturing He's totally not a short man slinging stones at strangers through the safety of the internet

[@AlkisGD]

If the public stream happens, I sincerely hope you guys end up talking about that double sword Shad made and what is or isn't wrong with it. It would also be great if Shad addressed the radicalization of his audience over time, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I used to watch him back in the day, before he started hanging out with Nerdrotic, The Critical Drinker, etc. and I don't recall the comments being so ... alt right back then.

[@pavelstaravoitau7106]

The shadiversity facebook group has always been fashy. Thankfully it seems to be dying out.

[@maxxam4665]

Of his audience? Have you seen Knights Watch? That's on him.

[@AlkisGD]

@@maxxam4665 - I've only skimmed through a single episode in which he said some infuriatingly homophobic things about his parenting style, but that could be his religion speaking. Calling people degenerates for having cool tats is straight up Stormfront rhetoric. If that's the audience he wants, he should have the guts to admit it.

[@flailingsamurai9785]

This is not the first time this has happened; Shad is pretty infamous for attacking people and misrepresenting facts. Someone might claim outright lying by selectively choosing facts, spinning words and organising hate storms. Don't give up, nor back down. You were right on the money.

[@kevingibbard240]

Very late to the party here. From the looks of this it seems that this is one giant case of dunning-keuger effect. As someone who has done 10+ years of HEMA i completely agree that if you never fence with steel you won't understand the art. I've done a lot of foam too, and it aint the same. A lot of shads viewers are uncomfortable with the idea that some peoples opinion's are completely uninformed and some people are experts. They really don't know how much they don't know. On the bright side, you got some engagement out of it.

[@galaxy6251]

You can always learn via proxy and research any subject. If you, with all your expertise, gave me a personally written book about everything you know and all of the knowledge you know about fencing, and I studied it, and even watched you fence myself, I could entirely then give valuable information and tactics to another person about fencing without having ever fenced myself. We as humans do this a lot

[@skycastrum5803]

The misunderstood comments: 1.) If you don't do the art you cannot talk about how to do the art. 2.) But today I want to talk about what makes good sword content and who you should and shouldn't listen to and why. The context: 1.) You should still enjoy and consume pop-culture sword content 2.) Who's opinion should you listen to with regard to using a sword I think this video helped alot. However, I'd still say you're making a mistake by framing the misunderstanding as primarily a misinterpretation by Shad. His interpretation is very easy to make. That said, before watching this I found your replies in the comment section to be dishonest. It seemed like you had intentionally aimed to be provocative and then claimed to have not sought this drama out. Now, at worst I think you possibly do not want to admit that you phrased something in a way easily misunderstood.

[@gringles]

This is a good angle to view things from, well said.

[@VelaiciaCreator]

Shad is a drama monkey, you could be talking about someone completely unrelated and he'll get offended and immediately drag your name through gravel in response. Matt Easton recently(ish) made a cordial facebook post about suspending future collaborations with an unnamed party in the context of a large group collaboration... and Shad posted openly about Matt right afterward. I'll let you make up your mind about that, but there is precedence here.

[@Aqsticgod]

you cant be serious, this dude was pretty clear the first time around and now that hes been called out publicly hes backtracking and making it seem like hes a victim of a misunderstanding? nah brah, to me its obvious this dude is on a high horse ride.

[@skycastrum5803]

@Aqsticgod Taking this at face value is more productive. It’s conceivable to me that either Sellsword is backpedaling or that he meant something different than what was understood. So, I choose the charitable approach. More likely to bear better results. Besides, often times pinning people on the less charitable interpretation runs fairly close to accusations of thought crime.

[@oberust8274]

I find it disappointing how when i looked through the comments section on Shad's newest video they make deliberately incorrect comparisons such as comparing learning about swords to making a guess as to what happens when you drop a rock on the floor. Shad himself is no help to this either as he makes himself a victim and rather than saying yes to the Livestream he resorts to saying its your fault he wont do it as he cannot be sure if you will be truthful. He has shown himself to be untrustworthy and even seeming to promote obviously malicious comments, in my opinion i dont think it is worth it to make responses to his videos and rather instead ignore him as to not waste your own time on a pointless debate. You should never debate with someone who does not have an open mind.

[@6th_Army]

So I've noticed allot of comment are missing. When I watched this video the first time before Shad responded there was over 2.5k comments. But now there's barely 2k comments. There are at least 2 comments that had over 1k likes that I can't find anymore. I only returned here because Shad said Sellsword is deleting comments. And I can clearly see that it is true. Even my own comment about the "can't explain X without doing X" argument being one of the stupidest arguments anyone could ever make was deleted.

[@theevol29]

He directly stated he was deleting comments. This is a suprise to no one.

[@saoirse_randomnumbers]

Shad could stand to be a bit more humble about his supposed authority on his own opinions on swords and god so much more

[@kahzu04]

After shads horrible response to his books criticism, the AI stuff and now this, I think im done watching him. :/

[@cavalieroutdoors6036]

I seem to have completely missed him responding to criticism on his book, and I glossed over the AI stuff because it genuinely doesn't matter what anyone thinks about it - the tools are here, and they're not going anywhere. Kinda makes me think I should double back and see why everyone's in a tiff over related videos he made.

[@citter96]

I stopped watching shad a long time ago for this exact reason. He thinks of himself as the king of fencing yt and an expert on the subject but I got tired of seeing him time and time again saying bullcrap about the most basic principles of martial arts in general and presenting these wrong opinions as facts. But seeing this, a guy that dresses like a mediaeval fair actor dissing on other creators just because he felt addressed by your videos and even clipping your content in bad faith is ridiculous. The same as those guys that get into your profile to dig out dirt because a fight on twitter about an anime character. That being said, i saw skal pinned here and im glad that someone with a similar style to shad but with real knowledge got your back. He's great and humble about it

[@ellentheeducator]

It is also important to remember that Shadiversity is, at minimum, friendly to the alt-right.

[@celticknights]

@@ellentheeducator I don't really see how one's political beliefs play into this.

[@quinlankane9683]

When Shad says you attacked the sword community, he's not saying that you're not apart of said sword community as much as he thinks he IS the sword community. Far too vain that one, beef with him isn't worth it and you're ability to tackle this issue in a calm, mature, and understanding manner is inspiring.

[@davidleblanc7563]

Shad has never been anything more then an Australian version of Nick Frosts character off Hot Fuzz minus the LE backround and firearms. Every vid i see with Shad in it, i just zone Shads cringey ass out, not like he has anything of value to say in the first place

[@akademiacybersowa]

Looking at Shad's content he doesn't seem to be expert in martial arts of any kind. His content seems to be more of a hobbyist that just want to share his opinion. Which is fine as long as he and his community don't step beyond that. Since I started practicing swordfight regularly couple years ago, I pretty much stopped watching Shad's content as it's clear that he plays with swords, not study swordfighting. So his beef might have come from this fact and be simply a reflection that he's not as knowledgable on the topic as he want to believe.

[@samh.4934]

The types of comments criticizing you for supporting the LGBT community really show where certain peoples' priorities lie. It's shameful behavior. Wishing you and your team the best, David! ❤️

[@UlfStormrider]

You know I personally believe that a person's sexual preferences do not have any say over how good they are at anything. I'm new to hema and I've been beaten by people of every walk of life but Im learning from them and I don't look down on anybody for their presence nor should anyone else. Hate of that kind has no place in hema or in our world in general

[@SarastistheSerpent]

@@UlfStormriderwell put

[@drokangel]

It has been my experience that Shadversity is clickbait for haters and meant to be anger inducing, and after having watched a couple of his videos I will not give the channel another watch. Thank you for doing a response here so that I can give you the algorhythm attention you deserve.

[@hujan1744]

Seems Shad has a history of editing clips to make himself look better while calling others dishonest liars, whitch is anoying considering his big fanbase and it's something that could cause serious harm to people.

[@grantguilbeau6371]

I can't believe that Shad made a video that was one hour and five minutes long because he felt like maybe he was getting attacked. That alone made me lose a lot of respect for him. Anyone who's made videos before knows that to get that much footage, you have to film so much more than that, because you end up cutting a large part of the footage out. So who knows how much energy was spent on a video trying to attack you that will ultimately benefit you. I think this is will just end up showing everyone that Chad, or Shad is wildly insecure about his own capabilities. I'm trying not to be too negative towards the guy, because I am totally subscribed to both of you, but I also really want to see a duel between you two. I think that would be a crazy move that would bring some more excitement to the fencing world!

[@Nerukenshi1233]

Ok, cool, i somehow missed one of your most popular videos where you answered why you dont talk about kendo. I hear you, but i think youre selling your sword short when you say you dont have a useful opinion on Kendo. You likely have kendoka near you, and could use a shinai or carbon blades to have a dialogue, and having that dialogue on the channel WOULD be so damn cool. Seki Sensei, for example, shared his impressions on the longsword after watching your videos with a translator and trying out some thing you talked about and then trying to apply his knowledge of historical japanese swordsmanship. One thing he showed is that, after adjusting his grip to be horizontal, (bc of watching you) he could use the typical Chudan stance with deadly effectiveness, and the crossguard made him smile when he started experimenting with it. Your lack of knowledge isnt with the katana itself, its with Kendo, which you openly say, but i dont think that disqualifies you from having an opinion, or from learning some things from kendoka near you that could benefit the HEMA community. I make long comments in youtube videos, but I'm not involved in HEMA or content creation (yet). My reasons for loving kendo are more spiritual and sporty, but I think there are a ton of people in Texas (idk where you are, im in Houston) who would love to collaborate. The Olympic fencing community has creators who have done this, but fencing in Olympic style is really not as interesting to me as HEMA, and the disconnect between the fencers and the Kendoka tend to be one of intensity and treating the art like combat. I think a dialogue with your style would be wonderful.

[@Nerukenshi1233]

Just some examples, in houston, there is at least one kendo club with at least a dozen members in every major metro area. In houston there are at least four that i know of, and dallas has a huge one that usually hosts our events. AUSKF is a big organization, and pretty much everywhere in the states, there is somewhere you can go. They also manage Iaido as well, which doesnt incorporate competitive combat, but does go more into the two parts of swordfighting kendo neglects, being use of metal blades and drawing and stowing the blade in a combat setting.

[@SellswordArts]

Hey, thanks for your comment! Let me respond to a few of your points. I actually am interested in kendo, unfortunately there is nowhere to train near where I live. I checked. I do find myself in Dallas quite often, but I'm usually only there for one day to visit my hema school, and I couldn't afford a longer stay or really tuition at a local training facility. I am currently also cross training in Olympic fencing, and I have done some FMA previously, though I don't have a consistent place to practice that at the moment. Yes, I would love to do videos where I talk to people who are knowledgeable about it, however I just simply don't have the resources near me at the moment. Hopefully in time that will change. But, since I currently don't have that knowledge base, I think it's best if I stay in my lane and talk about the things that I know the most about. Sometimes I will give broad opinions on swords just based on biomechanics, but I always try and caveat that with my lack of specific understanding in that weapon. Thanks again for your comment!

[@BlissfullyTired20]

I find it rather embarrassing how many of Shad's community feel the need to be so overtly hateful of groups of people that they differ from. Genuinely, throwing strays at the LGBT community for pretty much nothing is just, immature. Besides that I don't think, much more focus needs to be put on shad, over the years I've personally become much less interested in his content. Just by virtue of his seeming inability to take any form of criticism, without immediately responding in a long winded and disheartened manner. He's done so with his book, he's done so with the whole "AI art" debacle, and now is doing so with something you would think he would be interested in reaching out and trying to hold up an actual dialogue over which is swords. The guy ha s certainly gone down hill over the years, but at least we have some new blood that are willing to be more open, and honest with their content. Last little aside, it's a little creepy that some of those commenters were so hell bent on saying "unless you killed someone then your opinion is invalid." Why such a fascination with killing, just an odd little through-line that I noticed with some of them. I'mma get off my soapbox now, because I doubt I'm adding anything to this discussion that hasn't already been said. (also @SellswordArts If you see this an updated buyers guide would be neat, if you have time to get around to it. Love your content and always love coming back here.)

[@aetriandimitri190]

His ai art video feels like it's just a reply saying he's not a real artist, and him crying and trying to show he is a real artist and he's a master at ai art. Ignore the numerous typos, not knowing how prompts work with adding the same word over and over, the "perfect" at that only an eye of a master could create having two suns and a drastically oversized head while he mentions like 12 times that he has perfect anatomy sense

[@AJsWritingAndFighting]

Shad is ignore-worthy for many, many reasons. Keep doing your thing.

[@thesaucyapple5496]

Getting pretty tired of Shads crap. This is not the first time he randomly had an issue with someone else’s channel

[@tubesism]

I'm like 2 mins in. I can see how your comments would make shad feel insecure since he's kind of a fucking fraud. Like lets be real, by the points presented, you shouldn't watch/listen to shad.

[@hilasup]

I feel like he didn't do any favors to himself in that vid, he picked the blame from what was clearly a misunderstanding, talked about how other creators didn't like his content and instantly puts everyone that follows him on the same misinterpretation like if we couldn't think for ourselves.

[@samuelbishop3316]

It's pretty clear what David meant. He talks about not listening to creators who "aren't trustworthy" on the grounds that they don't fence. Anyone is going to interpret that as not watching their content. Fencing isn't the only school of swordsmanship. At first this point alone doesn't bother me because it's an opinion. However when he started deleting comments simply for disagreeing with him from a different perspective David has lost me altogether.

[@DrWolves]

What, David? That makes zero sense... Please, just concede, David. You should either apologise for being too vague and not being clear in your "intended" message. You are really getting into semantics in your explanation, such as the difference you meant between "listening" and "watching" to other content creators. The reasonable person will take both these things as the same thing. You can't assume that your viewers are going to understand your weird nuanced angle, because any reasonable person will understand these statements in the same way that Shad has taken them. At the end of the day, have some humility and say sorry for not being clear. It's on you.

[@theevol29]

He was perfectly clear. If you have no experience in a topic, you can not speak as an authority on that topic. If you have some experience, you should only speak as an authority to the experience you have.

[@rouhee]

Shadiversity is an endless resource of insecurity. I mean, if he didn't even confront you about this, no body would even think that you targeted him on your previous video.

[@BFedie518]

You know you're dealing with classy people when they start slinging around transphobia. Nothing is lost from deleting those hate comments.

[@monotech20.14]

Shad is a whiner. We know he's one of the anti "woke" "anti sjw" grifters on KZbin. Sellsword is not the first person Shad has attacked when he received the slightest amount of criticism. Shad should still to actual larping, calling himself an artist while using AI , being jealous of his brother and crying about "woke" Hollywood.

[@PhantomGato-v-]

I need a bit of context for this, please

[@BFedie518]

@@PhantomGato-v- A few of the hate comments he shows at the end are transphobic.

[@PhantomGato-v-]

@@BFedie518 ah. Classic case of the comments. Well, thought I missed a part about Shad being openly transphobic or smth, good to know THAT isn't the case.

[@BFedie518]

​@@PhantomGato-v-Oh he is. He's tweeted about it before. You'll have to find it yourself though. My comments aren't going through.

[@soythelubu5389]

As someone who used to watch shad some long time ago; i think he change his direction at some point and is weird specially how he presents topics reminds me too much of the news; a very exagerated way and less interesting to me. I much prefer to watch your videos rather than the ones shad does. P.d. to any shad fans: Im not saying shad videos are worthless, i just dont like them.

[@beatdeath9962]

I think the issue comes from your original video in your phrasing, which is often the main way misunderstanding occur. Knowing how to speak with words that keep things open and feeling less locked down, is a skill and its a skill that makes misunderstandings happen less. Your phrasing in the original video feels very closed off and gatekeepy (especially in a community with a lot of elitist who like to gatekeep), it doesn't feel inviting and open, which can cause listeners to get a bad taste in their mouth and many such things. Shad took the video similar to many people in that your phrasing and examples were poorly chosen in that original video, now that many people are hearing your true intentions with your words it's easier to see them with the phrasing of your original video, but it doesn't mean there was a really easy misunderstanding that so many people shared. I hope you 2 get together and clear it up, and I hope you learn maybe some additional points to add to show clearly the intentions in your words, the tone of your video was very serious which didn't help with the misunderstanding your intentions. I'm not trying to attack you, I'm just trying to point out where alot of that common misunderstanding came from, and hoping that learning from it can help in future similar videos.

[@beatdeath9962]

Replying, cause I just realized, to say I didn't add where Shad failed in his video at the same time, because this video does it well enough, both videos have faults we are all human and we need to learn from those mistakes and learn to clearly show the intentions in what we feel on something, we as humans are emotional creatures so its often hard to clearly convey that feeling perfectly.

[@PieMan8522]

Im confused on why people think it's bad to listem to educated people, since when was it elitist to say that you should learm from people who know what they're doing?

[@markbaker4425]

Cause shad knows nothing about history or fighting. So his only defence is "waaaah people know more than me"

[@samuelbishop3316]

​@@markbaker4425But he does know about fighting. Just not about fencing. There's more than one school Afterall.

[@markbaker4425]

@@samuelbishop3316 he doesnt though hes just an obese mormon larper.

[@NagaSlate]

I have great respect for you wanting to keep everything polite and friendly, and I'm sorry to detract a bit from that but as somebody who watched him for quite a while before realizing he really wasn't as good at the things he claimed to be good at and shifted to watching content like yours, I feel the need to point out that Shad Brooks has run up to the problem in that he has a very narrow understanding of the majority of topics he speaks authoritatively on and is ultimately boring and un-curious as a person, and as HEMA has grown and "sword youtube" has gotten more and more figures that noticeably know far more than he does on the things he's built his brand around, he's being replaced as an authority on the subject. As such, he's decided to do what all failing content creators desperate to maintain their position do - Became a politically charged reactionary that tries to start drama and fights with people he feels slighted by. Your video was purely about "if you want to learn about actual, practical sword fighting based on historical manuals and the real-life sport, make sure you watch people who actually do those things instead of watching breakdowns of fantasy media and people who can't demonstrate any meaningful knowledge on the topic". Which is true for literally everything. If you want to learn about how to build an engine, you go to a mechanic who builds and repairs engines. You don't go to a guy who judges engines in anime and doesn't actually know anything about engines besides the fact that they have pistons and make cars go. If you want to know about how to shoot a gun, you go to somebody who actually knows how to use a gun, you don't go to somebody who judges Destiny 2 fantasy guns but has never fired on in their lives. Anybody who thinks you were in any way incorrect in your assessment or that you're "gatekeeping" by telling people "if you want to learn about how to actually fight with swords, watch people who know how to actually fight with swords" is just a dweeb unworthy of consideration or respect. Keep making content, keep doing what you do, you're what Shad can only dream of being. And sorry you have to put up with a swarm of parasocial warriors rushing to attack you to defend Mr Backscabbard lmao

[@the_cringe_nerd]

I still originay feel that your original video wasn't directed to Shad or many other sword youtubers but rather the many people who just sit on their arses and not doing proper testing or trying things out yet critiz and give incorrect information and claim its correct without validating.

[@shiniya]

for the longest time i watched Shad. I stopped because of multiple reasons, but how he is eager to consider everything an "attack" was one of them. Shad tends to be very biased and to like to make something into a drama. So while this may be a very nice and measured response, from what I saw from Shad's behavior so far, he is not going to let this beef go. If this one is considered done, he will find something else later. There is a reason why less and less creators want to have something to do with him.

[@Bunuffin]

Shad is a buffoon... He is a narcissist, I for example am an artist, I paint, he uses AI generation because he can't be bothered to learn the skill (and because he is jealous of his brother Jazza), the funny thing is that he keeps on bragging how good his anatomy and artistic eye is even tho his actual skill is that of a beginner at best, has no fundamentals nor understandings (I say that not to brag since we all were there at some point but he is just overstepping)... I kinda expect him to do the same in anything he does... So yeah, nothing new here, I empathize with you because you had to deal with him

[@yaleksander42]

David, you're a saint. Shad and his fanbase can be... A lot. And you still managed to come up with the perfect response, polite but firm. Tbh I wasn't even thinking of Shad when you make that first video, but if the shoe fits...

[@timothym9398]

Honestly, Shad seems like the kind of person who wanted to be a bully in the real world, but got shut down so he became one in cyberspace.

[@kamikazebanzai0347]

I was subscribed to shadiversity, and enjoyed his content. But after seeing this whole thing go down, I felt utterly disappointed and promptly unsubscribed. Suffice to say I at least now have a new medieval themed content creator to watch and enjoy.

[@viralvideo171]

Woah you cant play with nerf guns and claim to be a gun expert? 🤯

[@evildude109]

Honestly at this point, if Shad is upset about something you did then you're probably doing it right.

[@-doctorwjo]

I would love to watch you and shadiversity spar with a Longsword and the Double Bladed sword. It would be interesting. And both of you could come out with some interesting insights in the dynamics of such a sparring. Love both of your contents. I don't think any of you were doing this out of malice. Never ascribe something to malice when it can be attributed to a mistake or misunderstanding. Good Luck! :D

[@bryku]

Out of all of these comments... this is the only correct answer.

[@johntheknight3062]

Imagine if this David actually contacted Shad beforehand and made a colab with him in a good faith instead just straight up attacking him.

[@lustrazor44]

@@johntheknight3062David didn’t attack him. You’re all making this up in your heads because you have a victim complex.

[@KP_Uravity]

Shad won't spar with him, be has claimed to have severely declined health. No reason to not believe him on that

[@johntheknight3062]

@@lustrazor44 True. He talked anonymously and then let his mob of fans to do all the dirty work for him. He deleted comments criticizing him but never comments straight up insulting Shad. Funny isn't it? And even if he didn't mean Shad, his entire video was super arrogant and full of his own ego. David has 1.2 million subs and averrage of 10 000 views on video. Sometimes even as low as 3000. Who has the victim complex now?

[@mysticmarbles]

Shad is a professional victim at this point. He was going to do this no matter how you worded it. He's intellectually dishonest as he often is. David: uses a foam sword and explains why it's not ideal but how it's necessary for large great swords sparring. Shad: LOOK HE USED A FOAM SWORD WHAT A HYPOCRITE