Is EEVBlog worth it

[Circlotron]

The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless. Rather read credible books on engineering or study at an accredited university than reading the junk "advice" on this blog.

Actually I think EEVBlog has the lowest signal-to-noise ratio of any large internet forum I'm aware of.  I've gotten plenty of helpful advice here, and perhaps given a bit too.

The lowest signal-to-noise ratio?
I think you need to post a question for helpful advice on S/N ratio. LOL 
No malice intended BTW.

[Cerebus]

All jokes aside, I'm still straddling the idea of leaving behind the comments when the bulk of y/t is being mirrored elsewhere. More annoying is the "I'll leave links in the description". I wish they would put it in the lower third.

I both agree and disagree with you there. If I've downloaded the video with youtube-dl then, yes, it's incredibly frustrating if I want to actually get the link to have to go back and find it. On the other hand, you can't cut and paste links from the video so having it in the 'text bit' below is useful. The obvious answer is do both.

[Psi]

Ah... the old Engineer vs Scientist debate.
I think I can sum up which is the better side to be on using the following scenario.

If you had to fill the earth with only Engineers or only Scientists which would be better?
I think we all know the answer and why.
Practically wins out over theory every time.
(Though I do agree that the male to female ratio would be much worse for Engineers vs Scientists. but that is only a short term issue.)

[EEVblog]

The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless. Rather read credible books on engineering or study at an accredited university than reading the junk "advice" on this blog.

Actually I think EEVBlog has the lowest signal-to-noise ratio of any large internet forum I'm aware of.  I've gotten plenty of helpful advice here, and perhaps given a bit too.

The lowest signal-to-noise ratio?
I think you need to post a question for helpful advice on S/N ratio. LOL 
No malice intended BTW.

I was waiting for some to say that, I didn't want to be THAT GUY 

[rsjsouza]

Dave sells video views, simple as that.  If he steps them up to the level of PhDs, the audience shrinks to the point that there is no money in making videos.  The videos need to be of value to beginners.

True, but it's not as simple as that.
Views are nice, but it's not about the money. Almost none of my videos make it worth the time to actually make them in the first place.

Ditto. I am pretty sure this is the same scenario for a bunch of bloggers. The folks that have successful channels assembled an entire operation around it - youtube being a promotion channel.

OP appears to be typical academic wingnut. How about you show us how to youtube? You know, build an audience not just profess to a captive one.
I'll bet something said on Dave's twitter caused some triggering.

I think it's simply:

This is the running joke between me and my wife, whenever I am typing on the internet.

About the EEVblog forum, it's good, I'll rate it as 3 (from 1 to 5), the main problem is the super-long threads with more than 20, 50, 100 pages that you have to read to try to understand that issue, but this is a problem related to the Blog Format, not Dave.

That's just the (unfortunate?) fact of every forum, they are discussion forums. The only way to get around that is to currate info Wikipedia style. But they are two entirely different thing with different goals.

Yes, I also thought about the Wiki format, but actually, there are other options, something like Stackoverflow, still a discussion forum, but the most relevant posts appear first, and rated.

Stackexchange is useful for "which button do I use to floggle the widgeon in ObscureApp v1.3.2?" type questions. Or where a technician wants to copy and paste code into their application, without understanding it.

Stackexchange fails dismally where subtle points can and should be debated to and fro.

Indeed. Stackexchange and stackoverflow are poor examples to compare with what is done here.

[eti]

OP appears to be typical academic wingnut. How about you show us how to youtube? You know, build an audience not just profess to a captive one.
I'll bet something said on Dave's twitter caused some triggering.

I think it's simply:

Yes Dave, spot on! Perish the thought that a total stranger whom one has never met, doesn't like one's views, and we feel compelled to call them out on it  - I value your work and effort hugely mate, please don't let the vocal 0.001% drown out the others who love your work.

A single bean I could not care about whether someone feels I am right or wrong - there's no crime in thinking - I just leave em to it.

[Circlotron]

If you had to fill the earth with only Engineers or only Scientists which would be better?
<snip>
(Though I do agree that the male to female ratio would be much worse for Engineers vs Scientists. but that is only a short term issue.)

Short term issue? I dunno about that.
https://dilbert.com/strip/1994-01-09

[xrunner]

The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless.

Really? Ridiculous?

There are many many repair threads that have been posted over the years (of which I've contributed quite a few). Some of the information and advice is very valuable to others trying to fix the same test equipment. I've gone back and looked at some of my test equipment repair/restoration threads and the number of picture views since I last posted in the thread really amaze me. Someone out there is looking at the information on this forum and hopefully is using it to their advantage.

Also some of the information as to how to restore and fix older equipment is very hard to find anywhere else.

So I don't know what bug got up your arse but I don't think you have a clue as to what this forum is really all about.

[VK3DRB]

A couple of sayings of mine in quotes...

1. EEVBLOG is not a waste of time at all.
      Reminds me of... "You don't like what is on TV? Change the channel and stop whinging."

2. EEVBLOG caters to WIDE range of interest in electronics where everyone learns something (except maybe you).
       Reminds me of... "If you learn more and more about less and less, eventually you will know everything about nothing."

3. EEVBLOG is created by someone who is passionate about electronics.
       Reminds me of.... "One volunteer is worth ten conscripts."

To most us us, EEVBLOG is a winner, winner, chicken dinner .

[VK3DRB]

...The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless. Rather read credible books on engineering or study at an accredited university than reading the junk "advice" on this blog...

The EEVBLOG is not a book and I am sure Dave never intended it to be. I recently did some programming for BLE to do message handling. I started with a terrific book which I downloaded for free from author's website. So the author could receive due credit, I just bought the hard copy book https://www.amazon.com/Intro-Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Easiest/dp/1790198151. It was worth every cent because I could not be bothered nor had the time to read the entire BLE spec from Bluetooth.org; and it gave me enough understanding to the point where I could develop code to could transfer messages between an ESP32 and a Raspberry PI.

So "rather read credible books", could be "in addition to EEVBLOG's resources, read credible books". Also consider other users' experiences or what is in the EEVBLOG videos, won't necessarily be found in any book or university course.

[Trader]

Just for "thinking outside the box"...

Dave's channel has 824k subscribers, average 41k views per day.

ElectroBOOM has 4.81M subs, average 250k views per day.

There are 100+ channels about electronics with 100k+ subs, I guess at least 1M people are interested in this topic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/ = 335k
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/ = 250k
https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricalEngineering/ = 150k
https://www.electronicspoint.com/forums/ = 54K
EEVblog = 51k

Maybe the OP has something to be considered, not only the (biased) eevblog members.

ops, sorry, I forgot how EE people use to be.

[james_s]

The "advice" dispensed by the members of this blog is useless. Rather read credible books on engineering or study at an accredited university than reading the junk "advice" on this blog.

Actually I think EEVBlog has the lowest signal-to-noise ratio of any large internet forum I'm aware of.  I've gotten plenty of helpful advice here, and perhaps given a bit too.

Agreed, I don't think I've seen a more helpful, on topic, civilized, low noise forum than this one.

Wouldn't that be a *high* signal to noise ratio? Or is my brain just broken today?

*Edit: Just realized I'd skipped a page and someone already pointed this out.

[james_s]

Really? Ridiculous?

There are many many repair threads that have been posted over the years (of which I've contributed quite a few). Some of the information and advice is very valuable to others trying to fix the same test equipment. I've gone back and looked at some of my test equipment repair/restoration threads and the number of picture views since I last posted in the thread really amaze me. Someone out there is looking at the information on this forum and hopefully is using it to their advantage.

Also some of the information as to how to restore and fix older equipment is very hard to find anywhere else.

I've certainly found it useful. More than once I've posted a thread like "Hey what is this part" after coming up empty in my search, and gotten a reply within 5 minutes pointing me to exactly what I needed.

[eti]

With all respect to Electroboom, I find the whole “BANG! Ouch!” thing rather tedious and obvious. He’s a nice chappy, but I’m surprised Dave hasn’t soared into subs figures that high yet; to me this speaks of a generation which value being entertained more than being educated. No offence is intended to E/boom, he’s a great and knowledgeable engineer, and he’s playing to his crowd, it just ain’t my scene is all.

[james_s]

I never liked Electroboom either. Nothing against the guy on a personal level but in his videos he acts like an idiot, even if it is just an act. It just doesn't resonate with me at all.

[eti]

I never liked Electroboom either. Nothing against the guy on a personal level but in his videos he acts like an idiot, even if it is just an act. It just doesn't resonate with me at all.

It’s a comedy act but seems to lack in new laugh gags. He’s a nice chap, I don’t dislike him, it’s a style that the masses flock to.

[Cerebus]

Wouldn't that be a *high* signal to noise ratio? Or is my brain just broken today?

*Edit: Just realized I'd skipped a page and someone already pointed this out.

No, it's not you. As soon as the word "ratio" enters a conversation someone will get it back arsewards and before you know what's happened nobody is making sense. e.g. If I put the car into a 'high' gear it uses a 'low' ratio; discuss car gearing with someone for ten minutes and 'high' and 'low' get conflated and everything goes to pot.

[rstofer]

If the OP really decides to leave, I might actually miss him. I went through his posting history and it looked like there could be some things for me worth learning.

I did the same thing and I found most of the OP's replies to be right on point and well thought out.

The LED thing won't go away, I fear.

[EEVblog]

I never liked Electroboom either. Nothing against the guy on a personal level but in his videos he acts like an idiot, even if it is just an act. It just doesn't resonate with me at all.

It’s a comedy act but seems to lack in new laugh gags. He’s a nice chap, I don’t dislike him, it’s a style that the masses flock to.

If you want to see Electroboom outside of his natural habitat:

[EEVblog]

With all respect to Electroboom, I find the whole “BANG! Ouch!” thing rather tedious and obvious. He’s a nice chappy, but I’m surprised Dave hasn’t soared into subs figures that high yet

The reason is the focussed nature of the content, or lack of focus in my case.
Electroboom and other channels like Great Scott for example have highly polished scripted content, and, more importantly, they give you the same thing every time to watch one of their videos.
If it's Great Scott you know you are going to get a high polished build video that took him a week to build and script and film, and the dialog style and explainations will be the same with the hand drawings with the voice overlay etc in a 7-10 min format. It's a very consistent content formula, and viewers generally like that.
This means those channels will always get a much higher subscriber to view ratio than mine.

I built my channel on a hugely eclectic mix of content and styles. I have literally dozens of different types of videos I do, of varying length and styles, almost certainly unmatched in diversity to any other channel.
This mean that only a small fraction of my audience will watch every video. Some videos will do well and have mass appeal, and others will not.
And because my videos are way longer, they tend to not get shared with Joe Average, so I get stuck in the world of my existing subscribers and those who find me through search.

I've never scripted a video, and most take less than a day to think up, shoot, edit and upload. Spit and polish be damned.
My style of lengthy tangent based off the cuff video style will never appeal to the mass audience.

[EEVblog]

Just for "thinking outside the box"...

Dave's channel has 824k subscribers, average 41k views per day.

ElectroBOOM has 4.81M subs, average 250k views per day.

There are 100+ channels about electronics with 100k+ subs, I guess at least 1M people are interested in this topic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/ = 335k
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/ = 250k
https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricalEngineering/ = 150k
https://www.electronicspoint.com/forums/ = 54K
EEVblog = 51k

Maybe the OP has something to be considered, not only the (biased) eevblog members.

ops, sorry, I forgot how EE people use to be.

I'm not sure I get what your actual point is here? 

[EEVblog]

I've certainly found it useful. More than once I've posted a thread like "Hey what is this part" after coming up empty in my search, and gotten a reply within 5 minutes pointing me to exactly what I needed.

Same here, countless times. Almost always without fail, someone here knows the answer or can point you in the right direction 

[eti]

With all respect to Electroboom, I find the whole “BANG! Ouch!” thing rather tedious and obvious. He’s a nice chappy, but I’m surprised Dave hasn’t soared into subs figures that high yet

The reason is the focussed nature of the content, or lack of focus in my case.
Electroboom and other channels like Great Scott for example have highly polished scripted content, and, more importantly, they give you the same thing every time to watch one of their videos.
If it's Great Scott you know you are going to get a high polished build video that took him a week to build and script and film, and the dialog style and explainations will be the same with the hand drawings with the voice overlay etc in a 7-10 min format. It's a very consistent content formula, and viewers generally like that.
This means those channels will always get a much higher subscriber to view ratio than mine.

I built my channel on a hugely eclectic mix of content and styles. I have literally dozens of different types of videos I do, of varying length and styles, almost certainly unmatched in diversity to any other channel.
This mean that only a small fraction of my audience will watch every video. Some videos will do well and have mass appeal, and others will not.
And because my videos are way longer, they tend to not get shared with Joe Average, so I get stuck in the world of my existing subscribers and those who find me through search.

I've never scripted a video, and most take less than a day to think up, shoot, edit and upload. Spit and polish be damned.
My style of lengthy tangent based off the cuff video style will never appeal to the mass audience.

I gravitate toward people who don’t put on a “persona”; I just want to see the real person, and I wouldn’t care if your videos were four or more hours long mate - you know your stuff, and even if you don’t, you’re still extremely interesting and funny -  and at least you slip up - people who never slip up are often afraid of being genuine. I like the “unpolished” editing - people who over-edit are often hiding things, and I can’t trust that.

I like Big Clive for the same reason - he’s not interested in being flashy, he’s interested in showing you the thing, and that’s ALL. I love how he only uses a phone - that’s all he needs.

Far too much trash wrapped in flashy, slick wrappers from people who don’t have half the knowledge they proclaim to, on YouTube. I’d watch you even if you were at 360p and back in your garage, dear Dave, because you’re the reason I watch you, not the pixels. ♥️👋

[mag_therm]

I added a reply to dtmouton's post on EEVBlog #1329

[Trader]

I'm not sure I get what your actual point is here? 

"nobody owns the truth", there are so many people out of this place that, maybe, the OP has some point to be considered, but whatever...