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

[FRGCWRU]

This is the first time I've ever replied to something Linus Tech Tips related. Sorry if this is kind of long and windy, but I felt the need. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who has watched everything since the very first videos including all of the Wan Shows, CSF, and Linus Cat Tips videos, and have supported every decision up until recently. This is not going to be a comment intended for hate so it would be great if it could not be deleted, but I can completely see why it could upset the people at LMG and I wouldn't be able to read it with complete objectivity either. I also know that this is only coming from me, but there might be people who feel the same way but do not know how to express it properly. I'm just trying to make LMG understand where this backlash might be coming from, honest.

 

Why I stopped viewing LTT videos is kind of obvious to me. Simply comparing a current video to one even just 8 months back there is a very stark contrast in content. Not necessarily quality, but rather a big shift. After watching a video on a specific product I often need to search for specific specs myself, sometimes even something as important as the available processors for it. Now I am not stating that this is the end of the world--far from it. I don't even care about tech that much as I've only built one PC myself and never cared much for it afterwards. I just watched the videos every day as a habit and daily entertainment, and I do not care one way or the other whether I have my old Linus Tech Tips or not. So this is not about nostalgia. I liked the content from 8 months ago after all.

 

Now please keep your torches ready... but what this is about for me however, is that the guy who I felt like I got to know (Linus) and thought was funny, seems to have shifted to something entirely different... despite how it may look on the surface. Instead of spending time informing of us of news during the WAN show important rumors and topics like HEDT Zen are glossed over for other things like extensively defending corporations and their decisions, corporate taxes, the YouTube system, what expensive parts were bought now, and complaints about how fast you get a product for review to compete with others. I still remember very vividly that Linus was heavily defending (and I agreed) the use of sponsors and mentioned something like "they're at the end of the video anyway--who cares". Now there's sponsor spots at the beginning of the video too, during them, or even entire videos for them. It shows that you're willing to compromise on previous values.

 

And yes, I fully know why there's sponsors. Please stop insinuating that everyone who mentions them doesn't know the basics of how a company works. I don't even care about the sponsors. It's not like I watch the videos anymore anyway. But stating that you absolutely "need" them is just plain wrong. There are plenty of big YT channels or other online media content creators who come by without them and have perfectly acceptable quality standards. You're not curing cancer anyway, so there's no "need" to expand. But I think what gets people (including me) more aggravated, is that it isn't just to keep the company afloat: You're spending the revenue on things that are utterly superfluous like RED cameras, expensive editing computers, servers, petabytes of data, and other ridiculously expensive gadgets to cover items at an electronic expo while claiming they're a necessity. You don't "need" these things at all. The fact that this word is used at all is appalling. Starving people in third world countries need things. If you would have asked me three years ago what Linus would do if he garnered more money I would've said that he'd spend the time each video to cover charities, or donated money to cat shelters or something. Kind of like what the Nostalgia Critic is doing. Not wave expensive things in our faces. You don't "need" to do everything other YouTube creators are doing just to compete with them. You only "need" it if you want more money. LMG wouldn't have died if the content created a year ago would still be here. Wasn't doing it the other way what got you there in first place? And no a couple of web content videos isn't changing my life, nor do I care if you'd rather cater to previous fans or people that just watch a video for the thumbnail. I couldn't care less about that.

 

What it has come (or at least seems so) to the point that it's just another case of people smelling money, and them needing more and more of it. The dumb thumbnails and "click-baity" titles aren't that bad in and of itself, but I think its grating for people because of the reasoning behind it: It's just to gain more money to spend on things that are totally redundant. And no it's not like I have to work for LMG or that they robbed me of something (another dumb argument I see often), but if I have the choice to spend ~10mins watching a video every day for my entertainment that brings the creators money, it would not be to support people who think hundreds of thousands of dollars just to create web videos that are compressed to hell and watched on non-IMAX screens is not only justified, but the people who critique it on a moral bases are "wrong" or haters. And then lie about a change in content to create more money is somehow only to put bread on the table in the morning.

 

And no I'm not angry or whatever. I think a better word would be "disappointed", I'd rather I had invested my time elsewhere as I could've supported something where money wouldn't have gone to waste.

Edited April 20, 2017 by FRGCWRU

[DoctorWho1975]

Cancerous? So thumbnail I don't like is now equal to a disease that has killed tens of millions of people.

[kaiju_wars]

Thing I think some people complain about the titles and thumbnails about (and I've experienced this first hand) is recommending the videos to someone else.

I've used LTT videos to help give information and stuff about products and other tech related things before.  Issue is, I've been receiving backlash for linking LTT videos.

I've had people tell me, "why the hell would I watch this?  It's just a bunch of pandering click bait nonsense.  Look at that thumbnail for Christ's sake."

I'm not exaggerating either, I've had it happen.  Some people are just turned off by it.

Like I've stated earlier though, I'm glad Linus is at least willing to meet us at the middle ground.  

 

But Linus, you still didn't answer the most important question.  Why are there hot dogs in the thumbnail of that one video?

[BoredErica]

1 hour ago, kaiju_wars said:

Thing I think some people complain about the titles and thumbnails about (and I've experienced this first hand) is recommending the videos to someone else.

I've used LTT videos to help give information and stuff about products and other tech related things before.  Issue is, I've been receiving backlash for linking LTT videos.

I've had people tell me, "why the hell would I watch this?  It's just a bunch of pandering click bait nonsense.  Look at that thumbnail for Christ's sake."

I'm not exaggerating either, I've had it happen.  Some people are just turned off by it.

Like I've stated earlier though, I'm glad Linus is at least willing to meet us at the middle ground.  

 

But Linus, you still didn't answer the most important question.  Why are there hot dogs in the thumbnail of that one video?

My opinion of an article, writer, publication automatically goes down if I see a clickbait title. It's obviously not the only metric I go on. If I have this bias I'm sure other people do as well.

When I write I go out of my way to make sure I don't do the same thing.

[themctipers]

2 hours ago, XHAD said:

 

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. 

the ryzen one would've been better without the 'kappa' face in the thumbnail,also the stack of AMD gpu's is pretty good if you remove Linus's face from it, and possibly get the GPUs to be bigger in the thumbnail

[DoctorWho1975]

9 hours ago, zMeul said:

then he's an outright idiot

 

 

He's doing pretty good for being an outright idiot, how is your YouTube channel doin?

[zMeul]

2 minutes ago, DoctorWho1975 said:

He's doing pretty good for being an outright idiot, how is your YouTube channel doin?

my YT channel is getting sub while I don't upload videos, ty very much for asking

 

if he's doing so OK, why he has to put videos "explaining" why he's doing what he's doing 

[DoctorWho1975]

So you got 3.9 million subscribers right?

[Mr.Meerkat]

9 hours ago, zMeul said:

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

Hey! Don't forget the 4178 Floatplane subs/gold/silver/bronze contributors...  

We're providing LMG with $10K+ per month which is enuff for Linus to probably hire 2-4 more employees...

[patrick3027]

10 hours 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

Same here. I don't care about 80% of their videos anyway. I check the new videos twice a week or something and pick the ones I think we'll be interesting.

 

EDIT: I unsubbed most of the 'big youtubers' now that I think of it. This is your average MKBHD video:

Quote

It's got a bigger screen and a solid, premium feel thanks to this glass finish. Even more screen real estate to play with.

 As with most tech reviewer he provides a retarded superficial summary of specs/promotional features and doesn't critique the actual quality of the product at all. (I haven't forgotten the LG G5 'review' Linus did without mentioning the dual camera set-up ONCE.) I feel like the bigger a channel gets, the less they are interested in going in depth about things. MKBHD used to talk about things like flashing ROMs and playing with hackintosh computers, now he's just part of the promotional campaiogn of a company. It's annoying to hear him complain about the dedicated Bixby button when you know that he knows he could remap the button with a custom ROM.

 

EDIT 2: What annoys me is people defending every bad thing a YouTuber does with "Why do complain? It's free anyway". We pay with our time, and if I have to watch though two shitty commercials before watching the video, the video better be good.

 

Anyway, even though I don't watch your content as regularly as I did when I was younger, I could clearly feel Linus (and by extension the whole LMG) are still passionate about making tech videos and I wish them the best for the future.

[GAMIE64]

I have never seen people be so petty as in this threat.

 

If the content is still good, no need to worry about the 300 pixels of JPEG or text you click to get to it.

 

On the other hand, it seems like you don't really like the LTT content anymore, @AluminiumTech. Which is all fine and dandy. But going so far as to try and boycott the people the very forum you peruse. That's ridiculous and petty. Especially if you talk about ethics. Thumbnails are thumbnails. Nothing illegal or shady is being done here. It's a proven method that works.

 

Don't enjoy it, unsub and don't look back. Not that hard.

[TubsAlwaysWins]

@AluminiumTech

Lol last time I made a post on here about this people got super pissed at me and holy shit dont even get me started in some YouTube comments

[demonix00]

 

You panned over his blog at the start, so here's his response to this video.

[Guest]

The amount of agrees with things calling bs in this thread shows a huge "Over-representation of a minority."

[suchamoneypit]

It gets them more views which make them money.

 

They are a business.

 

Get over it. If they aren't going to mislead you which LTT said they will not do, who cares. Make a minority upset vs 20% more views, its and obviously easy choice. Do I really like it myself? Not really. But I fully understand the reasoning and can't get upset over it.

[rn8686]

10 hours ago, Sauron said:

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?

Did I say it does? He didnt see any examples of clickbait, so I listed one that clearly was. 

[Jonaroo]

On 4/19/2017 at 5:32 PM, peanutsrevenge said:

The issue I'd bring up about 'just trying to expand the business', that's the same mentality as the corporations that you guys complain about all the time. 

 

I would say that the key difference is that LTT actually cares about their fan base as opposed to companies who honestly don't care about their individual customers. IMO there is nothing wrong with SLIGHTLY (keyword slightly) stylizing titles and thumbnails to generate views, it is their revenue stream after all. There's a major difference between what LTT is doing and real clickbait.

[Ertman]

There has to be a way to have your cake and eat it too. Maybe there is an underlying reason (aside from the obvious) why the clickbait thumbnails are effective that you can exploit while still being original and not just copying others.

[Walms]

6 hours ago, demonix00 said:

 

You panned over his blog at the start, so here's his response to this video.

Wow sounds like that guy basically doesn't like popular things. I find LTT entertaining, I like that they're upping the production quality. If someone wants "grity" great go watch that.  

[yathis]

It is getting too cheesy for my liking Linus. Sure you want to views, more views = more money.

What is your average age for viewership?

[The Sloth]

4 minutes ago, yathis said:

It is getting too cheesy for my liking Linus. Sure you want to views, more views = more money.

What is your average age for viewership?

 

 

[yathis]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

 

-

You are an advanced shit poster nerdslayer1

[The Sloth]

3 minutes ago, yathis said:

You are an advanced shit poster nerdslayer1

take a good look at your post history 

[yathis]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

take a good look at your post history 

Why?

 

You did, good to know I have a fan

[WindirBear]

Can you use this as a thumbnail?