Youtube "how to" videos are mostly useless

[coppice]

Have a look at Arthur C Clarke's "The City and the Stars" (1956)

If only we could build those machines that keep everything in pristine condition, matching exactly what the CAD database says things should be like?

[p.larner]

the ones that piss me off are cretins fron the aisian sub continent who are mute and say you can use
table  salt etc to solder aluminium for example,ushuly with cringeworthy names like inventor kr!.

[vk6zgo]

Sounds like you want a private tutor, not a college course.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that my undergraduate engineering degree was essential. There is no possibility that it could have been replaced with book learning or watching YouTube videos (even if YouTube had existed back then).

Precisely.

 "Push this button to floggle the spatchcock and make it yellow" should not form a central part of university education. It should be left to on-the-job training.

The "floggling of the spatchcock" should not be the "be all & end all" of "on the job training" either, as the occasion may arise when someone is required to floggle a goose instead, & the lack of basic theory of floggling stops them, whereas a bit more depth in learning for even us non-EE plebs would make us more adaptable.

[Gyro]

the ones that piss me off are cretins fron the aisian sub continent who are mute and say you can use
table  salt etc to solder aluminium for example,ushuly with cringeworthy names like inventor kr!.

At least they have an excuse for their lack of mastery of the English language.

[armandine2]

 I have come to the realization if not always acceptance that there is much less out there than you think there is

the upside of this, is, if making content is your thing you shouldn't worry about not having anything new to present.

[tggzzz]

Sounds like you want a private tutor, not a college course.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that my undergraduate engineering degree was essential. There is no possibility that it could have been replaced with book learning or watching YouTube videos (even if YouTube had existed back then).

Precisely.

 "Push this button to floggle the spatchcock and make it yellow" should not form a central part of university education. It should be left to on-the-job training.

The "floggling of the spatchcock" should not be the "be all & end all" of "on the job training" either, as the occasion may arise when someone is required to floggle a goose instead, & the lack of basic theory of floggling stops them, whereas a bit more depth in learning for even us non-EE plebs would make us more adaptable.

Agreed

But is good to have an out-of-harms-way place that the second-rate teachers can inhabit.

[tggzzz]

the ones that piss me off are cretins fron the aisian sub continent who are mute and say you can use
table  salt etc to solder aluminium for example,ushuly with cringeworthy names like inventor kr!.

The ones that piss me off are the ones that are too lazy to employ their native language to communicate.

I suppose that's the written equivalent of the yoootooob "creators" that rudely[1] produce unedited longwinded incoherent "content" full of ums/ahs etc etc.

[1] they consider their time more valuable and important than the audiences' time. That's rude, full stop.

[tggzzz]

the ones that piss me off are cretins fron the aisian sub continent who are mute and say you can use
table  salt etc to solder aluminium for example,ushuly with cringeworthy names like inventor kr!.

At least they have an excuse for their lack of mastery of the English language.

Spot on

That's the 3rd (4th?) post today where he can't be bothered to make it easy for readers.

[tggzzz]

I have come to the realization if not always acceptance that there is much less out there than you think there is

the upside of this, is, if making content is your thing you shouldn't worry about not having anything new to present.

I disagree. That's no better than dropping litter.

I wish the youtube litterers would remember the old adage: "is it better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than open it and be shown to be a fool".

[armandine2]

Disagree away  , you appear to be in a fortunate position, but I'm surprised that you don't have so much new to say. 

[coppice]

I have come to the realization if not always acceptance that there is much less out there than you think there is

the upside of this, is, if making content is your thing you shouldn't worry about not having anything new to present.

I disagree. That's no better than dropping litter.

I wish the youtube litterers would remember the old adage: "is it better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than open it and be shown to be a fool".

So, which is worse? YouTube videos or those pesky kids on your lawn?

[tggzzz]

Disagree away  , you appear to be in a fortunate position, but I'm surprised that you don't have so much new to say. 

I don't know what you mean by that.

If you said something original, I wouldn't have to repeat the points.

[tggzzz]

I have come to the realization if not always acceptance that there is much less out there than you think there is

the upside of this, is, if making content is your thing you shouldn't worry about not having anything new to present.

I disagree. That's no better than dropping litter.

I wish the youtube litterers would remember the old adage: "is it better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than open it and be shown to be a fool".

So, which is worse? YouTube videos or those pesky kids on your lawn?

Yes.

 

[pdenisowski]

yoootooob "creators" that rudely[1] produce unedited longwinded incoherent "content" full of ums/ahs etc etc.

[1] they consider their time more valuable and important than the audiences' time. That's rude, full stop.

This is one reason why I script all of my videos - not a single “uhm” or “ah” in any of them

[Mechatrommer]

rude or not, they have the right to upload any content as long as youtube allows it. just as i have the right to ignore them. youtube is not yours and there is no rule mandating your content must satisfy others. likes count and subscribers however will follow natural evolution law imho. full stop.

[tggzzz]

rude or not, they have the right to upload any content as long as youtube allows it. just as i have the right to ignore them. youtube is not yours and there is no rule mandating your content must satisfy others. likes count and subscribers however will follow natural evolution law imho. full stop.

Strawman arguments.

[Mechatrommer]

rude or not, they have the right to upload any content as long as youtube allows it. just as i have the right to ignore them. youtube is not yours and there is no rule mandating your content must satisfy others. likes count and subscribers however will follow natural evolution law imho. full stop.

Strawman arguments.

read this so you dont fall into the fallacy yourself... https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9288567?hl=en more specifically this.. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6345162 btw you keep imposing archaic speed reading textbook youself. give me writing pdf or book on replacing IC on a samsung galaxy A7 for example... easily said than done. your advice is only valid before the internet.

[Nominal Animal]

your advice is only valid before the internet.

You do know the internet predates Youtube by decades?

rude or not, they have the right to upload any content as long as youtube allows it.

And we have the exact same right to complain about the masses of garbage put out, making it difficult to find the useful videos.  Full stop.

[Mechatrommer]

your advice is only valid before the internet.

You do know the internet predates Youtube by decades?

but videos exist even before the internet. i dont have time entertaining nitpicks, you should know what i meant.

And we have the exact same right to complain about the masses of garbage put out, making it difficult to find the useful videos.  Full stop.

just as we have the same right to differ. about masses of garbage, i agree. about difficult to find usefull one, i guess its PEBCAK... btw i already taught "quick browsing" way the youtube... if anybody want to update to the new way of "speed reading"...

[soldar]

This is one reason why I script all of my videos - not a single “uhm” or “ah” in any of them

A prepared script helps with not having to improvise and think as you go along. It focuses, it keeps the narration in line. Very few people can improvise well. But also good editing can remove the silences, uhms, coughs and other unwanted moments.

One example of good editing is Steve Lehto. You will never see him cough or clear his throat as he removes those things. On the other hand, the guy is long winded and can improvise as long as need be without a script but very few people can do that well. Now that I think about it ... he's a lawyer and I suppose droning off to judge and jury is a necessary skill.

[soldar]

rude or not, they have the right to upload any content as long as youtube allows it. just as i have the right to ignore them. youtube is not yours and there is no rule mandating your content must satisfy others. likes count and subscribers however will follow natural evolution law imho. full stop.

Man, you sound like you are a bit cranky today. Is everything OK? 

Nobody is questioning the "right" of anyone to upload anything. I do not question "the right" of people to be rude, or have bad manners, or not use proper hygiene, or dress inappropriately or use bad grammar or bad punctuation or bad capitalization and spelling. I recognize the right of the people to do those things while, at the same time, I wish they didn't do them. 

And it is my right to express my wish that people be a bit more civilized and a bit less stupid. And I wish there were fewer videos but of better quality. That's all. I am not proposing we outlaw stupidity, bad quality or bad manners.

It is my contention that videos which purport they are going to teach you how to build (say) a piece of furniture and then all you see is some guy working in his workshop, those videos are a waste of time and telling me to skip them is stupid because I have to open them and watch enough of it to realize it is a waste of time.

[pdenisowski]

This is one reason why I script all of my videos - not a single “uhm” or “ah” in any of them

A prepared script helps with not having to improvise and think as you go along. It focuses, it keeps the narration in line. Very few people can improvise well. But also good editing can remove the silences, uhms, coughs and other unwanted moments.

Absolutely.  Even though I taught classes for years and have given hundreds of in-person presentations, I don't ever try to "wing it" when I record videos.

My usual method is to record the whole thing straight through, backing up a sentence or two every time I make a mistake (and I make lots of mistakes).  I then go back and cut out the "bad parts".  No fancy editing skills necessary - just select the parts that I messed up and hit "delete"

[Nominal Animal]

i dont have time entertaining nitpicks, you should know what i meant.

And that is at the root of the entire problem.  Instead of constructing your argument logically, you spew something out, and expect readers/listeners/watchers to know what you meant, instead of read/hear/see what you said.  This is wrong.

about difficult to find usefull one, i guess its PEBCAK

No.  I can read and integrate what I read quite fast, and I habitually watch Youtube at 1.25× or 1.5× speed, depending on how clear the accent is.

When you use the poor search engine Youtube implements nowadays –– it isn't precise at all, and prefers its own algorithms over exact word matches ––, after winnowing the search terms down, you typically get about a dozen results.  If only one of these is useful –– and that is commonly the case, except when the same video has been reuploaded by many people in the hopes of monetizing others' work ––, statistically you end up watching the beginning or spots of at least half of the videos.  This takes dozens of seconds per video.

I can read and understand and integrate the abstract of a peer-reviewed article in less than a minute, and estimate the usefulness of a "how-to" page or blog within seconds; let's say less than ten seconds per page.

"Difficult" here means "it takes more time than it needs to, and is thus wasteful and inefficient".  Because I cannot implement my own Youtube search engine (their TOS forbids such, even if it were technically possible, which it isn't), I cannot affect the search situation at all.  The increased amounts of garbage videos means the density of useful videos to garbage videos is steadily decreasing, and thus finding useful videos will require more and more effort, for a shrinking yield.

You know this is happening to yourself too, because when you look at Youtube search results, you will look at the author and view count of each suggested video, simply because most videos are not worth watching, even though Youtube claims they match your search results.

The solution to this problem is telling humans and authors how to do better.  It is not being "the boss of them", it is the internet-age equivalent of not littering.

[tggzzz]

rude or not, they have the right to upload any content as long as youtube allows it. just as i have the right to ignore them. youtube is not yours and there is no rule mandating your content must satisfy others. likes count and subscribers however will follow natural evolution law imho. full stop.

Strawman arguments.

read this so you dont fall into the fallacy yourself... https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9288567?hl=en more specifically this.. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6345162 btw you keep imposing archaic speed reading textbook youself. give me writing pdf or book on replacing IC on a samsung galaxy A7 for example... easily said than done. your advice is only valid before the internet.

That's even less coherent than normal.

Can you explain what you mean by "your advice is only valid before the internet"?

[Mechatrommer]

Can you explain what you mean by "your advice is only valid before the internet"?

when books and printed materials are the only source of references. granted at the beginning of internet there were only texts exist, but the trend is shifting... until the age of youtube. if you want to limit your choice to printed materials only, then thats your choice, and anybody on your side. we taught kids to take advantages of any type of materials in front of them. but for proper education, yes its still books with established knowledges in it... better for kids to watch sort of education materials in youtube than playing some "claim your chicks" game in the phone. its inevitable. duh why i have to typing all this? maybe because i dont have better things to do than postings in GC