Which makes it all the more important to visit YouTube in its raw, untamed state - before its video selection is diluted by advertisers and sponsors. Actually, there's also one, no, make that three other reasons you should visit the site now; you might call them the YouTube superstars. Like most people who submit personal videos, these contributors do it for the exposure and the attention, definitely not for the money.

Until May 2006, 20-year-old Brooke Allison Brodack, a.k.a. "Brookers," was working as a hostess at the 99 Restaurant in Holden,­ Massachusetts. After hours, she made quirky videos in her bedroom and posted them on YouTube. Response was so enormous, she kept making more clips, most of them featuring her dancing to songs, making funny faces, or talking about her life. People began to post other clips inspired by Brookers. There's even a fan website devoted­ to her, www.brookerfanatics.com.

And then Carson Daly Productions called. The talk-show host was a huge admirer of Brodack's clips and sensed a market - outside of YouTube viewers - for her quirky creativity. She ended up signing an 18-month development deal, and then retired from the restaurant business.

Another popular contributor is Smosh, a T-shirt company in Carmichael, California, run by Anthony Padilla, 19, and Ian Hecox, 18. The two young men posted a cheap video they made of each other lip-synching and play-fighting to audio from the Mortal Kombat game-and-film franchise. It's completely­ stupid, but millions of viewers watched it anyway, and the Smosh boys quickly posted another clip of similar nonsense, set to the tune of the Pokémon theme song.

I don't understand the appeal of Smosh videos, and you may not, either, but clearly we just don't get it, because in 11 months, more than 21 million people have watched these two clips. The Pokémon video is the second-most-watched YouTube video ever.