Why join Floatplane?

[Sprayingmango]

Just wondering, is there a reason to join Floatplane anymore? I joined last night and don't see a private forum anymore, and the videos that are on the LTT Floatplane are the same ones that are on YouTube. Just curious if I missed something? At this point I won't remain subscribed. 

[jiyeon]

Floatplane isn't about exclusivity, it's for the creators. There's LTT, Tech Deals, and Bitwit Ultra as far as I can remember.

 

Floatplane is supposed to be an alternative platform to watch videos that puts the creators on the website first, at least that's what I personally feel Floatplane is trying to achieve.

 

I subscribed for like two months and I too felt it was just "Get videos a week early and also be part of this exclusive Floatplane-only forum" but the actual website itself revolves around that you are connecting to the creator themselves as oppose to somewhere like YouTube where the creators that upload there are subject to the algorithm in a saturated market, clinging onto ad revenue and viewership.

[Sharif]

You are supposed to get videos one week in advance I believe.

Last time around there was a catch with stuff like CES content that needs to be out now hence probably why the same content

[Skiiwee29]

There is exclusivity to the videos on Floatplane. The CES videos were up usually several hours before they were posted to  YT. The normal video cycle has Floatplane exclusive videos for a week, sometimes longer depending on the content cycle and whats gotta get posted. 

[Lathlaer]

Bad moment to gauge FP's utility because for time sensitive content like CES it's not really worth it (you'll get few hours early at most).

 

FP offers you:

 

-> less clickbaity titles

-> no commercials (this is not the same as sponsored content)

-> early access to some videos (little value during CES/Computex and reviews under NDA)

-> FP exclusive (like streams or meet the staff) - if you like this sorf ot thing

 

Early access is most valuable during series like the recent Secret Shopper, Asus ROG reboot and ofc. Scrapyard Wars when you get to see next episode significantly earlier than on YT.

[Princess Luna]

Wait, there is no more FP forum? lol that feels like a downgrade.

[3 Lions]

Obviously you have to understand that it is still in early access so expect to see some glitches from time to time, as @Lathlaer said there are definite pros to having a FP account but if you do find that it isn't for you then you can cancel the plan.  

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, VegetableStu said:

I'm guessing LTTF can't host the floatplane subforums for all the future channels, but I wonder why did they nuke LTT's? (if I'm reading this right) o_o

They could have kept the forum and just linked the videos to the FP platform no reason to kill the entire forum, if Luke allowed it to happen that's one big failure from his part, then again we could be mistaken and I ain't signing to FP to check it out.

[Lathlaer]

Just out of curiosity, what was on that forum besides (I assume) videos manually pasted like in the LTT Official subforum? I guess people were discussing those vids just like in LTT Official but anything else?

 

I am subscribed to FP but I never did it via forum so no idea here

[Drak3]

There is no reason, never was really.

[Sprayingmango]

Yeah the forum is gone. I was an early Floatplane sub last year, and let it lapse. So I joined again to see what it's like now that it's on a new domain. Don't really see a point to it now. I did enjoy the exclusive streams that they used to do and the conversations on the private forum were really nice. I felt like they were almost worth more than getting the videos early. I guess CES vids couldn't really be a week early because it's more time sensitive, so that's a good point. 

 

I'm aleady a YouTube Premium / Red or whatever subscriber so I don't see extra ads, only the baked in ones. 

[Princess Luna]

3 minutes ago, Sprayingmango said:

.

I mean I was a Bronze Contributor for a long time, so I had access to the FP forum too, I never paid it for the FP videos only because I really like the forum, and the forum was the only appeal FP could have... that and the special username in blue.

 

Now that it seems all is gone that's pretty pointless in my book.

[FlightRisk]

37 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

Just out of curiosity, what was on that forum besides (I assume) videos manually pasted like in the LTT Official subforum? I guess people were discussing those vids just like in LTT Official but anything else?

 

Yeah, basically. It was also way easier to interact with LMG staff which was nice.

 

1 hour ago, Sprayingmango said:

Just wondering, is there a reason to join Floatplane anymore? I joined last night and don't see a private forum anymore, and the videos that are on the LTT Floatplane are the same ones that are on YouTube. Just curious if I missed something? At this point I won't remain subscribed. 

As a non-vessel, but early-ish Floatplane subscriber. (the website itself didn't exist yet)

 

It's main advantage would be early access, which does exist. Unfortunately for you CES is just a really bad time to be subbed as events like it get pretty much simultaneous release's. There also used to be a secret sub-forum which the videos got posted too, and honestly I found it more enjoyable to read discussions/comment compared to Floatplane directly. Little disappointed it seems to have been nuked since the migration.

You do get the occasional exclusive video, but honestly that's pretty much it IMO. There is still the ability for better quality video + downloads. I guess.

 

IMO - the only reason I'm still subbed at this point is because it is so cheap I just don't care, however once LMG bump up the sub cost I will probably bail.

 

Honestly as a Floatplane sub it has always felt almost neglected from the LTT side of things. Like when retailers send out vouchers to known customers, but not the high-spenders because they know they will spend the money anyway.

For example videos will randomly turn up quite late, or incredibly early. The the video could have horrible audio or get taken down after 30 minutes because sensitive info was left in then the video will turn up 10 hours later. Or YT will receive a different video because Floatplane complained about something.

To put it a little more succinctly. At times LTT Floatplane has felt somewhat like Beta or QC for LTT (To be clear I mean LTT, not Floatplane itself) or an afterthought during streams. When I feel like it really shouldn't be like that considering we are paying directly. I understand Floatplane is in Beta (ish), but I didn't realise LTT was.

 

EDIT: The only reason I saw this post was because I came to the forum out of habit looking to see if there are any new LTT videos(floatplane sub-forum). Went to Floatplane.com only to find I had been logged out automatically for the 1000th time

[Sprayingmango]

29 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

They could have kept the forum and just linked the videos to the FP platform no reason to kill the entire forum, if Luke allowed it to happen that's one big failure from his part, then again we could be mistaken and I ain't signing to FP to check it out.

 

There is no forum, I just checked again on Floatplane and on here. There is the ability to comment on videos but it's a mess. 

[Lathlaer]

2 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

There also used to be a secret sub-forum which the videos got posted too, and honestly I found it more enjoyable to read discussions/comment compared to Floatplane directly

 

4 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

I really like the forum, and the forum was the only appeal FP could have

 

9 minutes ago, Sprayingmango said:

and the conversations on the private forum were really nice

OMG now I'm imagining a group of people in capes meeting in a secret room with torches.

 

Be honest - was there a secret handshake? I bet there was

[FlightRisk]

2 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

OMG now I'm imagining a group of people in capes meeting in a secret room with torches.

 

Be honest - was there a secret handshake? I bet there was

Shhh, nobody tell him about the free nacho's.

[imreloadin]

There isn't a reason honestly, I originally thought it was going to be LTT's way to move from YouTube to their own platform completely and go to a paid only subscription. It might still be their endgame so I still stand by that assertion, no matter how much LTT denies it (I mean come on would they really ever admit to that ). However I don't think it'll ever leave the water, let alone fly.

 

Honestly it just shows how two-faced they are since they don't use clickbait titles on floatplane unlike on YouTube. Also as for the 1 week "exclusive" videos that's just double-dipping in my opinion. Also the whole "floatplane puts creators first" shtick is a joke as that is literally how YouTube was originally, if they ever do somehow gain any significant viewership they'll have to filed DMCA take-down requests and pull income from creators for it just like YouTube does currently. The only thing that prevents that now is their size as they're not big enough for other large creators/companies to go after.

 

Also given enough time, if they survive, I bet you'll see ads show up on there as well even though it's a paid service (just like cable) so that argument is bogus for using Floatplane. Suuure you can argue that Linus has more integrity than to cater to the need for money but that has literally been his specific reason making unpopular changes in the past (e.g. using "at the end of the day we're a company" as the reason for cranking the clickbaity titles to 11 on YouTube).

 

I've never used it and never will for that matter as the whole thing leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Here's to hoping that they give up this money-grubbing ruse and spend that time actually creating original content like they were known for in the past!

[Lathlaer]

6 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

Honestly it just shows how two-faced they are since they don't use clickbait titles on floatplane unlike on YouTube.

How are they two faced about it? Linus flat out explained why they are using those clickbaiting titles and why they will continue to do so.

 

Same thing with iPhone reviews which didn't concern Linus before but now that he realized that LTT is suffering from severe viewership decline with each ignored iPhone premiere, he decided to play ball. 

 

They are doing business on YT and need to adhere to YT rules of making business. If algorithms worked differently, there wouldn't be a need for clickbaits.

 

I am not saying I like it and everyone is entitled to their own opinion about it but calling them two-faced is factually incorrect since they have never lied about the reason for those titles.

[imreloadin]

2 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

How are they two faced about it?

The fact that they don't do it for people who pay up front for floatplane...

[Lathlaer]

 

2 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

The fact that they don't do it for people who pay up front for floatplane...

YT viewership is dependent on them playing games with the algorithm. FP viewership is not. Therefore, YT has clickbait titles and FP doesn't. Still don't know what's two-faced about it since they themselves admitted that those are necessary evil for them to continue to grow.

[Mr.Humble]

@nicklmg is it true there's no more forum? My subscription from last year is still active so I still see the forum, but is that not the case for new subscriptions? Is there a way for you to get it back by sort of integrating it backwards? It feels like there is a signifficantly better level of interaction with the team than currently works on the Floatplane site.

 

@LinusTech @AlexTheGreatish

 

As for the original question, regular content a week early, no ads, exclusive content when there's a lot of simultaneous releases, (apparently used to be) a deeper level of interaction with the LMG staff on the forum, no ads, actually visible impact of community feedback (when enough people plead long enough for Linus not to do something, he eventually gets it  ), oh, did I mention no pesky (and in a vast majority of cases topically absolutely unrelated) unskippable Google ads and integrations?

Edited January 13, 2019 by vojta.pokorny
missing a pesky comma

[imreloadin]

Just now, Lathlaer said:

 

YT viewership is dependent on them playing games with the algorithm. FP viewership is not. Therefore, YT has clickbait titles and FP doesn't. Still don't know what's two-faced about it since they themselves admitted that those are necessary evil for them to continue to grow.

I'm glad you think money is more important than integrity, most would disagree with you however.

 

3 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

clickbating their paying users is functionally like preaching to the converted ._. the clickbait's for new/noncomitted viewers

And that's why they'll never get a dime from me for Floatplane or ad revenue on YouTube

[Mr.Humble]

1 minute ago, imreloadin said:

I'm glad you think money is more important than integrity, most would disagree with you however.

LTT has never compromised their integrity for money. @LinusTech and @nicklmg mentioned on multiple occasions that they prefer to drop a sponsor / company if they maneouver them into a situation where they would have to lie to their audience about the product they're reviewing.

 

Because the integrity of a tech review channel is not determined by the titles and thumbnails of it's videos, but by the honesty of their review and recommendation.

[imreloadin]

1 minute ago, vojta.pokorny said:

LTT has never compromised their integrity for money. @LinusTech and @nicklmg mentioned on multiple occasions that they prefer to drop a sponsor / company if they maneouver them into a situation where they would have to lie to their audience about the product they're reviewing.

 

Because the integrity of a tech review channel is not determined by the titles and thumbnails of it's videos, but by the honesty of their review and recommendation.

Give them time, the money won for them with the clickbait, it'll win elsewhere as well...

[Princess Luna]

8 minutes ago, vojta.pokorny said:

.

Taggin Linus does nothing by the way, he has his notifications disabled altogether.

 

But I do want to see what the FP staff has to say about the end of special forum support.