General > General Technical Chat
Youtube "how to" videos are mostly useless
soldar:
--- Quote from: Buriedcode on March 22, 2024, 07:55:44 pm --- it seems the OP was complaining that they spent lots of their time wathcing them - then complaining that they weren't what he wanted. Surely the simple answer is.. don't watch them?
--- End quote ---
How you get that interpretation is beyond me. You might want to try reading the OP again. Others seem to have no problem understanding what I mean to say.
IanB:
--- Quote from: Buriedcode on March 22, 2024, 07:55:44 pm ---So you found out that youtube reviews aren't particularly reliable. Surely its been that way for the past 5 years? My point was, youtube has never really been a reliable source of "good" information, and I'm surprised people are only now coming to realise this.
--- End quote ---
I think this is not true, but the good information may need some searching.
You can tell if a review is worthwhile by watching it, but this takes some discernment. It is not that hard to see if someone properly understands the product and is evaluating it critically, and is not just describing it.
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: IanB on March 22, 2024, 09:32:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: Buriedcode on March 22, 2024, 07:55:44 pm ---So you found out that youtube reviews aren't particularly reliable. Surely its been that way for the past 5 years? My point was, youtube has never really been a reliable source of "good" information, and I'm surprised people are only now coming to realise this.
--- End quote ---
I think this is not true, but the good information may need some searching.
You can tell if a review is worthwhile by watching it, but this takes some discernment. It is not that hard to see if someone properly understands the product and is evaluating it critically, and is not just describing it.
--- End quote ---
I have sufficient discernment to evaluate 10 sources.
I don't have time to evaluate 10 videos, but text takes much less time to evaluate.
Hence I don't watch random videos, only those recommended by other people with sufficient discernment.
CatalinaWOW:
--- Quote from: IanB on March 22, 2024, 09:32:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: Buriedcode on March 22, 2024, 07:55:44 pm ---So you found out that youtube reviews aren't particularly reliable. Surely its been that way for the past 5 years? My point was, youtube has never really been a reliable source of "good" information, and I'm surprised people are only now coming to realise this.
--- End quote ---
I think this is not true, but the good information may need some searching.
You can tell if a review is worthwhile by watching it, but this takes some discernment. It is not that hard to see if someone properly understands the product and is evaluating it critically, and is not just describing it.
--- End quote ---
In the days before internet when you considered doing or purchasing something you either looked in a printed resource or went to a local expert. The printed resources were (depending on your location) hard to access in both time and money, but quick to evaluate. For this reason meta evaluations were common. That is you developed trusted sources and didn't often chase other sources.
Local experts basically were either people who sold the service or product your were interested in, or someone who owned or had done what you were investigating. When buying a product these sources sometimes gave you nothing worthwhile. The most common and slightly better situation was to be able to see all that came in the packaging, and maybe to handle and operate the product. Less frequently, but not uncommon you could find people who owned or used the product and could tell you if they were happy, perhaps throwing in a couple specific raves or gripes. And rarely you got someone truly expert with the product who could succinctly identify all the strengths and weaknesses of the product and offer comparisons with other similar products, perhaps including a recommendation based on expected usage.
YouTube (and the internet in general) provides analogues for all of these situations. The descriptive YouTube unboxing video is very much like seeing the floor display at a store staffed by clerks who know nothing about the product (except perhaps which one is being flogged by the sales manager). The strategies for dealing with the problems are also very similar. You don't return to retail stores that aren't helpful, and the same for YouTube channels.
For those of us not living in a megalopolis with free access to a major university library and a huge variety of retail outlets the advantages of the internet versions easily outweigh the disadvantages which are mostly low entry barriers resulting in lots of low quality content and the data which is the most ephemeral in human history. Those with better access to the traditional sources may easily find the opposite to be true. Unfortunately the loss of the hinterlands market has drastically hurt the viability of the traditional resources so they are going away for everyone.
IanB:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on March 22, 2024, 09:57:56 pm ---I have sufficient discernment to evaluate 10 sources.
I don't have time to evaluate 10 videos, but text takes much less time to evaluate.
Hence I don't watch random videos, only those recommended by other people with sufficient discernment.
--- End quote ---
I can appreciate that, though I have developed a tendency to jump through a video to the middle or the end to start making an evaluation. I can quickly reject videos if I don't see any meat several minutes in.
By the way, an amusing case of honest and critical reviews is Matthias Wandel reviewing a Vevor metal lathe. He said it had poor tolerances, mechanical problems, poor finish and inaccurate documentation. He asked Vevor if they were going to be upset with his review? They said, "No, not at all, keep being honest. We are selling at a price point, and all of the imperfections you report are to be expected at this price. We are not pretending anything different."
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version