What's up with these shitty thumbnails? - Honest Answers Ep. 5

[HelplmChoking]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Linus Media Group is a Business. You are a supporter of this unethical business behavior so long as you overlook this.

Unethical? You mean like every vaguely emotive headline, book/game/food/film/anything review, meal description, or title ever? Because they all exaggerate or use stronger language to stand out. My copy of Lord of The Rings is bound in red leather, but at no point in the story do the characters spend time admiring a piece of red leather. Is that "unethical"? No, it isn't. It just looks nice and stands out.

[HelplmChoking]

1 minute ago, Dutch-stoner said:

I don't like clickbait titles and thumbnails. I even unsubbed a while ago because of this. I agree that it is being turned into infotainment with tech at it's core. But it's getting harder to take some of the tech part out of them vids.

 

When I see a clickbait title/thumbnail on one of LTT's vids, I "watch" it to give thumbs down.

 

I also go trough all my subbed chanels to look for new content. And if someone is subbed to LTT, why would they need a clickbait title/thumbnail to get them views? Be honest, and get the subs to watch the vid. Close to 4 mil subs, and after a week vids get close to 1 mil views @ best. I'd say: get rid of the clickbait tumbnails and get the titles to be somewhat funny and cover the content whitout getting into the clickbait zone. (and only use caps where needed) Get the subs to watch the content and moar subs will come.

 

 

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

No, I think producing thumbnails for the sake of clickbait because 80% of people who would have watched their videos is not good enough.

 

If someone wasn't gonna click on your video without cancerous videos then you have a problem with your content and your content is just not good enough.

 

1

The thumbnails are there to attract new viewers, people who had the video pop up in a recommended list and randomly checked it out. LMG is a business, and a business needs growth to survive. 

Someone not clicking a video because the video sucks is a terrible example, they haven't seen it yet! And they wouldn't ever see it unless it grabbed their attention. You may not like it, I may not like it, but there's a reason bright colours, strong language and excitement works in advertising, and it has nothing to do with your personal preference; it's just basic psychology. 

[AlTech]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

 

The thumbnails are there to attract new viewers, 

Thank you for reminding me of how cheap LTT is and how they hate spending money.

 

They could easily get new subscribers and viewers by promoting a Channel AD on YouTube. 

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

people who had the video pop up in a recommended list and randomly checked it out.

 

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

LMG is a business, and a business needs growth to survive. 

Yes but their method of expansion is not ethical. And technically you are wrong.

 

FOR PROFIT businesses want growth but if LMG was a Not For Profit then they'd be fine with their 80% and not 100%.

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

Someone not clicking a video because the video sucks is a terrible example, they haven't seen it yet!

 

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

And they wouldn't ever see it unless it grabbed their attention.

 

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

You may not like it, I may not like it, but there's a reason bright colours, strong language and excitement works in advertising

Bright colors in content meant to engage me does the opposite, I find it disgusting and I don't appreciate using colors or ridiculous images to get points across.

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

, and it has nothing to do with your personal preference; it's just basic psychology. 

No it does. I'm turned off by what LMG Is doing which happens to be aimed at getting more viewers.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

Its a Youtube trend handed down by some Swedish clickbait meister

I don't like the non-uniform thumbnails, but it has no bearing on the content so idgaf

LTT/LMG becoming more popular is a good thing.

The people who introduced me to LTT and LMG would never have done so if the current thumbnails were in use.

 

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

Unsub/dislike as you want, but I think doing that because of thumbnails instead of the video content is a dumb thing

I never said doing it instead of video content. I was suggesting people could do it in addition to disliking for other reasons.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

LTT/LMG becoming more popular is a good thing.

Why is it a good thing for us, the people who watch it? We consumers have our reasons to consume the content. I don't care if the content creator becomes moar popular or not. It's not like I have to board the newest hype trains 24/7...

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

The thumbnails are there to attract new viewers, people who had the video pop up in a recommended list and randomly checked it out.

Let me get an example of a channel I am following: beyond the press. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCveB47lgzZJ1WOf4XYVJNBw/featured

 

This channel has +/- 325k subs. They produce lots of content within it's genre. They create vids that don't get beyond the 100k views. But they also create vids that get half theirs subs to watch. Or get millions of people to watch. Soooo... Good content does get new viewers and subs. You don't need clickbait titles/thumbnails to get them views.

[MVPernula]

I mean.. I don't think it's clickbaiting, but rather an attractive thumbnail that fits the videos content.

Haven't ever felt "this was totally not what I expected" when clicking his thumbnails.

 

"RYZEN 5 review - AMD FANS REJOICE" - Good video about RYZEN 5, good for AMD fans.

"Smallest Desk PC Yet!! - Vector Desk mini Review" - Pretty much that, never seen a smaller desk build, and it IS from Vector?

"GTX 1080 in an Ultrawide All-In-One?!?" - Just that.

 

Basically I just don't see it as a clickbait, it contains what the thumbnails shows. GIVEN THAT; they are a company that makes shit content for fun like the iPhone blue video last week, but that's what you signed up for when subscribing.

 

It's not like they add a girl with huge tits and never show it.

[Ryujin2003]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

... snip ...

I find your title very click hairy. I had expected much more content than what you have presented. I know I cannot use the word troll here, so I'll have to find another word...

 

So you recommend fighting back by clicking the dislike button? That's very powerful and helpful... Maybe Pepsi should've ok ncluded that in their commercial.

 

I half expected some constructive way to voice your concerns, such as an online petition or something of that nature. Again, something a little more grown up.

 

It is obvious by your posts that you are upset, but it is also obvious you don't want to discuss any of this in any type of legitimate manner.  you slam pretty hard against anyone who doesn't mind the thumbnails. You don't appear to be very tolerant or open minded.

 

I'm happy for you and your not liking the "clickbait thumbnails". I don't even know how these get categorized by click bait. Even the one where Linus attempted to test the R5 by limiting the R7 was fun and interestes. But how dare they add fun, right?

 

I think Linus's response video was to the point. You're not going to change anything with posts like this.

 

Dont bother quoting or responding to me because this is all you're going to get. Save your brash spiteful responses for someone else, because this post is obviously going nowhere really fast.

[rn8686]

1 minute ago, MVPernula said:

I mean.. I don't think it's clickbaiting, but rather an attractive thumbnail that fits the videos content.

Haven't ever felt "this was totally not what I expected" when clicking his thumbnails.

 

"RYZEN 5 review - AMD FANS REJOICE" - Good video about RYZEN 5, good for AMD fans.

"Smallest Desk PC Yet!! - Vector Desk mini Review" - Pretty much that, never seen a smaller desk build, and it IS from Vector?

"GTX 1080 in an Ultrawide All-In-One?!?" - Just that.

 

Basically I just don't see it as a clickbait, it contains what the thumbnails shows. GIVEN THAT; they are a company that makes shit content for fun like the iPhone blue video last week, but that's what you signed up for when subscribing.

 

It's not like they add a girl with huge tits and never show it.

Those are fine, but some are obviously clickbait. Take Linus' own example in the video, what was originally titled "R5 and and R3 tested" (Or something to that effect), before it R5 was released suggesting they actually tested it, but only simulated it by disabling cores on R7. 

[Nomar1245]

10 hours ago, VicBar said:

Actually this is the very definition of click-bait. Say for example, you see a thumbnail that hs boobs (as linus mentioned in the video) and click on it, but the content is absolute trash.. they got the click and maybe the view mostly because of the 80085...

 

No-one says "[...] but the thumbnail was tight", but they do get completely baited and or misdirected by thumbnails.

It doesn't tend to happen as much on respectable channels but how about vine comps or funnyvids that have boobs or ass in the thumbnail but not in the actual video? Let's be honest YOU'VE CLICKED THEM!

 

That's not really what I said at all. I said who has clicked on the thumbs up, not the video. Those are completely different things. Click bait doesn't force you to give positive feedback once you've ended up in an unexpected place.

[BoredErica]

I originally came and subscribed to LTT over the WAN show. I thought Linus' background working at NCIX would sometimes give him some knowledge about how companies work on the inside. I did not come here for dank memes and fluff. Fluff to me includes things like 7 gamers 1 pc because I find the 'look at me I spent a ton of money, these things are super expensive'. I'm not saying Linus is bragging, but I'm saying the resulting content feels tripe.

Such fluff and theatrics with less attention to detail has a price. From my experience with my tech friends and the forums I go to, LTT is generally not seen as the best source for information, but rather a source of entertainment. Think about all these Youtubers that are now getting traction for being in depth. The easy example is Gamer's Nexus. If being an entertainment channel is what Linus was going for (seems likely with shows like Scrapyard Wars), then fine. He is successful so he's doing something right in some regards. Every time I see Scrapyard Wars I sort of die a little on the inside. Time can only be spent once and a lot of it is going towards a video that doesn't teach me much of anything. There are still many things out there worth investigating... many of which are smaller and more niche but come up in forums all the time.

Examples: Delidding testing in a climate controlled box with liquid metal paste instead of thermal paste instead of normal thermal grease, which would be a mistake anybody opening up their chip should know to avoid. Anandtech tests DPC latency, boot times, very basic SNR tests with RMAA. Your video on Objective amp/dac was okay but really without measuring output impedance etc it's not much to go on. Even the age old question of will X bottleneck X? The place where something is benchmarked matters... CPU bound games exist. Ram speed matter on more CPU bound situations, testing Crysis 3 doesn't do anything. Do I want higher freq or lower cas? Then there's an entire world of water cooling out there to explore... Look at the thermal benches thermalbench does, it is leaps and bounds ahead of any Youtuber but he is understaffed and underfunded. Do I need 2 pumps and for what restriction? Various ways of bending tubing. You don't have any PSU testing like Jonnyguru or Pcper or Anandtech or Tom's. What about latency, latency, latency of various things?

I don't believe editing should ever take nearly as long as the research and testing phase. The information is paramount, the delivery matters much less. I know this idea would put LTT at odds with what is profitable, perhaps successful or financially feasible. But Level1Techs are smaller than you guys and they did A DOUBLE BLIND TEST. Something which I am depressed is actually a new and novel thing in the Youtube tech world.

Every week it's an ongoing meme about how the show is terrible and not on time. I look at it from a more straight and proper perspective: Whatever it takes to make it on time, you didn't do it. Reliably being late to work often gets people fired. It turned out later to me that the WAN show is just a side-flick for LTT but still. I'm sure he has a ballin' setup but it feels like sometimes none of it works. I remember Linus talking about how he felt he could improve the WAN show and all of this ideas revolved around gear. Video quality is not that important, and it's not important at all once you hit a certain point. Spending that money's worth in time reevaluating how to make the content better would be a better idea.

There's entertainment (you are here), pretend technical (multiple channels are here), and actually technical (almost no channels are here). I did notice the strange video about Ryzen 5 perf and Paul even talked about how he felt it didn't make sense. But I'm so used to the fluff the video didn't really stand out anymore.

All of the work I do, all the of the things I know, should not be news to anyone because the experts who fiddle with tech for a living ought to know everything I know and far more. Anything short of that is depressing.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

Linus Media Group is a Business. You are a supporter of this unethical business behavior so long as you overlook this.

How is it unethical to make silly thumbnails? Misleading titles are one thing, but this is completely harmless. It may be annoying to you but it definitely isn't unethical.

 

And quite frankly after all the times I've seen you defend or promote Microsoft (and I'm not saying it was always wrong to defend them) this sounds a bit hypocritical coming from you. You can't use the "you're part of the problem" card on someone who doesn't believe there is a problem - it's not a valid counterargument. First you need to convince me what they're doing is in any way unethical, then you can say that by ignoring it I support it.

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, rn8686 said:

Those are fine, but some are obviously clickbait. Take Linus' own example in the video, what was originally titled "R5 and and R3 tested" (Or something to that effect), before it R5 was released suggesting they actually tested it, but only simulated it by disabling cores on R7. 

Which is why Linus apologised for it and changed the title. That was a mistake - however, that has nothing to do with the thumbnails and in that video the dislikes were given (rightfully) and heard. Does that deserve a full on channel boycott?

[SSL]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

bullshit still smells no matter how hard you try to polish it

 

LTT has nearly 4mil subscribers, but if you look at how many view each video has got, less than 1/3 of those subs are actually watching LTT content

 

this is a chart with the views for last 30 videos LTT published over ~1month:

 

Linus' excuse that cancerous thumbnails and shit titles helps LTT stay afloat ... I don't buy it

you create an audience and keep it engaged with quality content - clearly this isn't happening with LTT as views wieldy fluctuate and doesn't even reach the number of subs

LTT has ~1mil of dedicated viewers, even less if you factor in the fact you don't have to be a subscriber to watch LTT's content

 

I unsubbed couple of months ago and with the way Linus steers the channel, I have no interest in LTT's videos

 

According to socialblade, subs and daily views are actually increasing at a steady pace. What I don't see is any clear evidence that changing out thumbnails had any effect in either direction.

[elarei]

I just watched that Whatsupwithyourshittythumbnails-video and was a little confused. While I did notice the thumbnails look ridiculous, I can't believe the internet is filled with people who care about this enough to even click the dislike button, leave alone spread the hate in the comments section. This is one of the most amazing channels on youtube and definitely the best tech channel I've seen so far, so I can deal with a bunch of stupid thumbnails if it helps get people watch their stuff and get paid. It's not like I pay them, so I can deal with a bunch of weird thumbnails that do not appeal to the bourgeoisie.

 

Because, you know, I will still watch every single LTT video. Multiple times. Don't worry about the freaks, keep making great content.

[Sauron]

I never cared about the thumbnails, alhough I personally did like the old ones better. That doesn't turn me off from watching and enjoying a good video. I'm glad you apologised about the misleading title in the ryzen 5 video but other than that I completely understand your motives and don't mind the thumbnails at all.

[Bouzoo]

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

You are a supporter of this unethical business behavior so long as you overlook this.

I'm not going into this whole thumbnail debate, but it's more than hypocritical to call out LTT on ethics when you support far worse companies when it comes to ethics. 

[Dredgy]

3 hours ago, zMeul said:

 

how on earth does the number of subs matter if less than 1/3 of them actually watch the content? 

That is very typical of large YouTube channels. 1/3rd of subscribers watching is actually damn good - way above average for a channel that size. GMM has 10mil subscribers and 1-2m people watch each episode. Pewdiepie has 55M subscribers and recent videos rarely crack 5m views. Some are less than 2.

 

It's a bad metric to compare.

 

I watch roughly 1/10th of LTTs videos. I doubt most subscribers watch every single video - no one has time for that, but most subscribers watch some videos, and that's why it's important. YouTube gives comprehensive data and analytics, if the thumbnails affect views  - its damn easy to tell.

[Guest]

17 hours ago, LinusTech said:

Alright... it's time we addressed the thumbnails issue. No punches pulled in this episode of Honest Answers!

 

Buy "I love my job" mug on Amazon: http://geni.us/x4eh9Bw

 

 

 

 

 

I'm glad to spoke out about it. I'll stop hating now, I guess...

[Taja]

Thanks for remembering me to LIKE this video, not only to show support for LTT but also to try to put an end to this non-stopping petty complaining.

 

Even after the video that Linus explained everything (which I didnt even think was needed, but well, he respect the viewers enough to justify himself to a annoying MINORITY), even after that there are people still getting so upset? GROW UP.

 

This is the definition of "first world problems", if stuff that irrelevant means so much, maybe -just MAYBE- you lack real problems in your life. Just be grateful.

[PlayStation 2]

At least you acknowledge it and are truthful about it.

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

2 minutes ago, Taja said:

Thanks for remembering me to LIKE this video, not only to show support for LTT but also to try to put an end to this non-stopping petty complaining.

 

Even after the video that Linus explained everything (which I didnt even think was needed, but well, he respect the viewers enough to justify himself to a annoying MINORITY), even after that there are people still getting so upset? GROW UP.

 

This is the definition of "first world problems", if stuff that irrelevant means so much, maybe -just MAYBE- you lack real problems in your life. Just be grateful.

This !

[themctipers]

5 hours ago, HarmFull said:

 

It's easy to forget sometimes that we as consumers can freely enjoy the content of LMG, a company dedicated to providing us the audience with the best videos possible. LMG like any corporation needs to grow to stay relevant and growing means attracting new viewers with innovative videos, interesting titles and crazy thumbnails.

 

Don't get me wrong, personally I hate clickbaity titles or crazy thumbnails but I get why LMG is using them. As a company that needs to grow and make a profit I understand why they do this. These methods clearly work on YouTube, the platform were LMG pretty much depends on. We shouldn't blame LMG for doing what a company has to do, but we should blame YouTube for forcing it's content creators to do this. I don't see YouTube or Google change their behavior in the near future however.

 

LMG has to compete with other channels like MKBHD, JayzTwoCents, Paul's Hardware etc*. for your views and therefore they to have to act upon trends in the market (or in this case YouTube). If crazy thumbnails work they pretty much have to use them for the sake of competition.

 

* I'm not saying LMG (or I) hates MKBHD, Jayz or Paul. They are competitors but they like each other a lot. They have frequently collaborated.

 

As Linus is saying, his passion hasn't changed and I believe him completely. He still loves tech and teaching/telling us all about it. That's also why he started his own business to provide us with the best content possible. This is still the core value of the company, to provide viewers with the best tech related content possible.
 

With the start and growth of this company, his marriage and the birth of this children, his approach to making the videos has changed. This is only logical as he's now a providing father and business owner instead of the NCIX techhead he was 8 years ago.

 

People change, platforms change, companies change

 

LMG as a company has to change to compete with other YouTubers and to keep providing us with the best content possible.

 

Even if we don't like a business decision from LMG like shitty thumbnails, put yourself in their perspective and try to understand why they're doing this. Instead of letting emotions do the talking try to understand and then talk.

I'm not hating on them, I'm just pointing out what i believe looks good and what looks bad. more of a guideline then a yoo fuck u for makin shit fucking ass thumbnails

i do get why they need 'new thumbnails' to attract new viewers, i did watch the video.  

[Inkz]

As much as I do miss unboxinig videos, I do have to agree that they really lacked actual content besides reading of a spec sheet. Also did the thumbnail for this video change? I? swear it was different before. Maybe if they want more views they should do more firetruck videos (I love how that one is still on top) or make maybe a ..... #firepole???  Don't hate plz   @LinusTech 

 

I don't know why but I do love this thumbnail, it's so magical. It makes me question life.

[XHAD]

19 hours ago, themctipers said:

These are good.

 

these are not good. 

 

 

well I mean I am fine with all of those except the two AMD ryzen ones because they show content that is protrayed in the video and I think that should be the basis of what is inside the video but the titles I mean liek the LG gram okay sure it is fatter but it reallly isn't when compared to other laptops of similar sizes.