[POLL] Do you watch LTT's content?

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

It's a sellout thing because it deviated from the original point of the channel for the sake of profit.

When was the "original point of the channel" ever not making a profit doing something Linus enjoys? The channel was born as a promotion platform for NCIX and it became its own thing when Linus decided to try and make a living off it. At no point LTT was just a passion project. Their current audience clearly likes the content and they've done nothing I'd consider immoral for the sake of more profits; I don't call that shilling, I call that running a normal entertainment business.

[solonovamax]

20 hours ago, valdyrgramr said:

Not as much as I use to.  He went from GN level tech tuber to clickbait for kids.  They also stated that they won't stop doing that because it gets them more views which = more money.

20 hours ago, drinklime said:

His old videos were much much better. Money seems to have blinded Linus. He has lost his way.

20 hours ago, Geography said:

I wouldn't say that it seems to have blinded Linus. I would say that it has blinded Linus.

Do remember, that what they are doing here is not only a business, but also a job that they must do daily. Linus obviously likes doing videos in the current way he is doing it, and that is why he is doing it. One way that a YouTube channel can really die, is when a creator is no longer interested in what he is producing. As LTT has grown, so have his interests, which in turn can be seen by the content he is producing.

[Sauron]

3 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Wasn't the original point of the channel to help explain HW and pretty much do what tech jesus does?  It feels more like he's trying to be pewdiepie now for views.

No, as I said the channel was born to promote NCIX and the products they carried.

That's not to say he hasn't been partially motivated by helping people and his personal enjoyment of what he does, but first and foremost this is a business.

[dizmo]

I watch the odd video here and there, but overall I don't really find much of the content that interesting. I really love the ScrapYard Wars, and content like that, but it's extremely costly and timely to produce so I totally get why we don't see more of it. I agree that their titles are getting significantly worse, to the point they're not even totally relevant to the video. That's disappointing. I've found myself watching a bit and then just disregarding the rest, and I'll likely think twice before watching videos in the future. However, they're still garnering more views, and really, that's all that matters from a business standpoint; I'm simply not the target market. I imagine it's more relevant to kids.

 

I think a lot of people take the "core audience" as the most important, and that's simply not true. The masses are more important, as they're providing most of the revenue. Your core audience can change over time. I also think most people take "core" and associate it with "original", which is simply incorrect.

 

I get more information from other YouTubers. That's why we have choice. You don't like it, watch something else. The views will show when corrections are needed.

If none happen? Well, it just wasn't your cup of tea.

 

20 hours ago, MrFixitBlankFace said:

This guy does that:

 

I hate his videos. I've tried to watch them. I just don't like the way he presents himself.

20 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

Computer cases. I meant computer cases lol.

 

Who changes phones often enough that they need to watch phone case reviews? Phones be expensive as hell. I had to stick with Boost Mobile (ugh) to be able to afford the S8. Straight Talk wanted $80 a month for the same phone.

Haha, I get a new phone every year. I watch phone case reviews to see what cases I'm going to consider getting...though, to be honest, I usually go with the same companies time and time again. I'd be interested to try the new dBrand cases, though. They don't seem to be as shitty as the first iteration...I'll wait to see...a review or three

18 hours ago, JohnG6908 said:

People have got to be dicks.... Gets so old!

If you don't have anything nice to say why not just STFU for ONCE in your life!

So we should only say nice things? The world doesn't function properly like that. If people can't handle the truth, which isn't always nice,

A thick skin will get you a lot farther in this world than being a weak pansy.

6 hours ago, JohnG6908 said:

The bitching and whining gets so old. If you don't like it, don't watch it! NEXT. Bunch of fing babies I swear...

Same could be said for what you're posting, no? Trying to provide constructive criticism isn't a bad thing.

If you don't like the content of this thread...don't open it. There's an entire forum for you to browse.

5 hours ago, GeoSquigg said:

LTT videos while not super informative anymore, I watch them for rig ideas and to see what hardware can do with different ideas. Love the fact that he takes hardware and shows a balls to the wall idea and the (sometimes lol) relates it back to how an average user might be able to use it. ie virtualization for a gaming/nas box and then the 8 gamers 1 cpu, 6 work stations 1 cpu. 

 

Jayz2cents .. content consisted of "will my custom loop cool better with horse piss instead of water" and "today ill overclock the 2080ti's slightly faster than yesterday .. again." Also seems like he tries to tho his lambo in whenever possible. I get that he's a car guy, I myself am too (catch me on the wrangler and GM Preformance forums ) but he's trying to flex to hard.

 

For unboxings and reviews I stick with the HardwareCanucks and some Bitwit. Although these two can be too focused on how to make the rig appear supper highend and expensive for the cheapest.

 

And the gamers nexus .. holy balls the sleep factor. He's incredibly informative but some of the stuff is like, who besides board manufactures would need to know this?? and then the monotone voice. Case reviews and tech specs/comparisons are top notch tho! Especcialy when looking past more than just current and 1 maybe 2 generations older. Also comparing aircooling performance of a high end case that was beat by a low end case instead of only comparing in class.

 

edit: to be clear i voted yes i watch his videos but slowly leaning away. Main things I watch for tech is UFD Hot News, Tech Quickie, HardwareCanucks case unboxings, GN reviews (for the specs then shut off for the board design lol) and LTT main videos unless the title sounds repetitive.

Totally agree. I think people miss the fact that you can derive ideas from what he does, you don't have to copy it exactly.

 

Jayz2cents doesn't have a lambo...the ones that you see are usually just ad spots for Fractal Design. IIRC he has a Corvette...or Camaro...or something like that. Personally, I think it's great that he's trying to branch out into other areas, as type casting yourself is a very dangerous thing to do.

 

Gamer's Nexus is excellent for information, and he has resulted in a lot of people getting more interested in the engineering side of hardware. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't legit fallen asleep during his videos, but some people want that level of information. I love it for case reviews, where you can see airflow as well as temperatures etc with different fan configs...very few people offer the level of detail and quality his reviews do.

5 hours ago, Blademaster91 said:

I do miss the unboxings and in depth review videos, I watch GamersNexus,BitWit,Paul's Hardware, and HardwareCanucks for case and hardware reviews.

But how often do most people need to change their computer case? Unless you sell your whole PC when you're building a new one,are a PC system builder, or have to buy the latest thing with RGB, i think a computer case can last a while.

People build new computers constantly. Why would you think people are soley upgrading?

Plus the companies send them samples to review. It's a way to get their advertising out there. Gotta pay the bills somehow.

25 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Prove me wrong.... While some of those videos may indeed be interesting (keyboard macros), they are thinly veiled advertisements.... at best. It just so happened that the last week had some "special" videos that weren't advertisements, like the "We've come so far" and "the $100,000 PC", and that the WAN show waters it down a lot. Hence the 20/42 advertisement quota. And I was even generous on some of the videos. Ultimate sleeper build? Definitely an ad for the hardline products.... just look at all the closeups. What is the point of building "yet another" "ultimate PC" if not for showing off the latest and greatest parts? 

 

Out of the videos that are left.... I count... geeze...maybe 3 videos that are interesting. (I'm counting the 2 nvidia mining cards as one video). I don't even know what the "Fool me once" video was about. You can see I didn't click on it. 

Seriously.... "Dark mode your life" really? We're teaching people how to apply app skins.... that we've been able to do on windows for like 20 years? We took apart an 8k camera? OK? Great. That's relevant to probably 0.1% of us who A. are interested in vidography and B. can afford an 8k camera. WAN show is just... boring. If I want my tech news I'll go for a more condensed video somewhere else without all the bullshit. Can we fix the 10,000 CPU was just idiotic. The "fastest xbox" of all time? Yeah that's all well and good until you realize that most xbox games are going to be locked to a framerate anyway. The "home gaming" setup? Oh wow they installed a TV and a soundbar. Didn't realize we were on a home improvement channel now. 

You can't really impose your idea of what's interesting on the rest of the community. Look at the level of views, and you'll see that your opinion is clearly in the minority. His videos aren't really advertisements. A lot of them actually point out considerable downsides to the products in questions. That's far from an ad. Yes, he does builds showing off extremely high end hardware. So, how do you expect him to build anything if he's not going to use some brand of parts? Just rip the labels off everything? That'd just lead to people asking what parts were used over and over again.

 

Not everyone knows how to apply dark mode to things. Not everyone has been around tech for 20 years, or is even 20 years old. A lot of Linus's viewers are much younger. So yes, it's still entirely relevant. That's like saying cars have been around for 100 years, why don't these 15 year olds have expert driving skills? There are oddities, like taking apart the 8k camera, but it's likely just trying to find ideas for content people might find interesting. Putting out 365 videos a year, it's pretty easy to run a little light in the idea department.

 

You do realize that the Xbox was basically a PC inside an Xbox chassis, right? It's not an actual XBox...

[MrFixitBlankFace]

7 minutes ago, dizmo said:

20 hours ago, MrFixitBlankFace said:

This guy does that:





 

I hate his videos. I've tried to watch them. I just don't like the way he presents himself.

Perhaps you mean this one.

 

 

 

 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Yeah, it's not informative anymore (for me) but it's fun, GamersNexus, Lvl1Techs for real info

[MrFixitBlankFace]

Perhaps you mean this one:

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o6T9mUq9Vgo

[solonovamax]

21 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Oh, he can do that, but when he turned into pewdiepie with click bait titles a lot of his older audience stopped watching and went to GN instead.

On the other hand, lots of other, newer, users came to his channel and brought it up.

Also, I do not consider what he is doing to be click bait, as his titles aren't misleading. Although, they do not encompass the video entirely, it isn't tricking people.

[KE2012]

1 hour ago, corrado33 said:

Yes but there are fewer of us (people who actually like tech) than the people who will just click a clickbaity video and watch linus be silly. Therefore they pander to the younger viewers who want silly time and flashy stuff.

 

Yes, very true. I just hope if Youtube changes its algorithms (Which I hope it does to stop the clickbait pandemic) it doesn't come back to bite him in the ass.  

[Fasauceome]

37 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Wow going through how to install a TV and soundbar is SUPER.... SUPER EXCITING. I didn't know that I had to connect the soundbar to the "audio out" port of the TV.... NO WAY! And Wow, watching them put together ANOTHER PC that 95% of us can't afford is SUPER.... SUPER EXCITING. Except THIS time they put it in an old case. Man that was just riveting content. 

Yeah so you're burned out on LTT content, your fault not theirs. Brag about it to someone else.

 

38 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Companies send their product to LMG BECAUSE they are so big, and they know that IF linus chooses to review it, it gets their product out there. It gives them exposure. So when linus makes a video that has nothing special... like an average monitor, or average razer laptop, what other reason is there other than advertising? I can understand for extremely shitty or extraordinarily GOOD products, for if the product is average.... the only reason to make it is to advertise.

 

As for this...

 

Quote

not advertise themselves as a service to push your product.

I will gladly direct you to all of LMG's direct "sponsored" videos (other than the normal honey, vpn stuff) if you'd like.

So Linus takes products he wants to review, and you're just gonna pin that on Linus doing it because it's a big name product? Linus reviews laptops because he uses a friggin laptop every single day. The differences in usability and features are interesting to him, and he wants to evaluate these products and put his opinions out there.

 

So then let's say all the videos of sponsored reviews are the real commercials. Sure as hell removes a lot of red circles from your little diagram from earlier. They're pretty few and far between, and Linus has addressed this before, he's not accepting payment to give a product a better review, his paid sponsorships do not change his opinions on a product and he has made that abundantly clear before.

[Sauron]

10 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

I am not disagreeing that it is a business, but that wasn't the argument.  When a band, for example, changes their ways to make more money for the sole sake of money that's called selling out.

I'd rather say that when they do something they don't like or know is wrong, that would be "selling out". I don't see that conflict here, at all.

11 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Linus himself stated he hates clickbait, but is using clickbait for profit.

I disagree it's clickbait, that was in my first answer to you in this thread.

12 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

When you let money change you it is pretty much selling out.

Nonsense, change is not inherently bad, even if it's money driven.

13 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

He can do it all he wants, but he lost the respect of a lot of people who use to watch him a lot because now it feels like we're watching Pewdiepie.

I don't think you know what PDP is actually like. LTT isn't even remotely similar. The content itself still has the same "Linus" style as the older videos, even though the production quality has increased and their focus has changed. It's fine if you don't like their content anymore but saying they're sellouts is unwarranted and undeserved.

[Crunchy Dragon]

20 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

I meant computer cases. Personally I prefered Linus' old computer case unboxings/reviews over Hardware Canucks.

Linus's case reviews weren't bad.

 

One of the things I like about HardwareCanucks is that he doesn't write a review for a case before building a system in it.

[Sauron]

2 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

I'm talking about more of the irony of this.

 

I'm 99.9999999999999999% sure this was meant as a self aware joke. I mean come on, it was posted two months ago...

 

5 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Clickbait doesn't have to trick people it can be stupid things like, "We never thought!"  Or, "How could they let us do!"  Instead of straightforward titles like, "GTX 1080 Review Here!"  Or, "Red Camera Teardown"

No, clickbait is when you add rainbow unicorns to the thumbnail and perform a voodoo rite of propitiation in a night of full moon.

 

See, I can have my own personal definition for words too!

/s

 

If that is clickbait, everything is clickbait. No video title or thumbnail is intended to make you NOT want to click the video. What headlines can be considered "stupid" is entirely subjective.

Quote

Also this is a sponsored video, it's clearly written in the first line of the description as it should be.

[r2724r16]

Update: I was just scrolling theough Linus' YT page and found a video with the title "Why would you even...?". This is one of the worst titles I've ever seen. It doesn't even mention the name of the product the review is about (the RTX 2060) and I decided to conduct a small test. I searched "RTX 2060 review" in YT on my iPad, and guess what I saw:

 

None of the first four videos includes Linus' video (his video was the fifth video that showed up). Sure Linus, you don't wanna write the full name of the product in the title, but at least a part of it (maybe write Nvidia somewhere in the title) so people can find your review.

[Firewrath9]

2 hours ago, Cyberman3245 said:

I don't think he needed to do that...all components are off the shelf and i'm sure you can find many reviews of an 8700 w/ a h100i in a micro atx cassis, as well as temps for the 2080.

 

show me a review of a 8700 in a matx chassis w/ a h100i, becuase i cant seem to find any.

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

"

(on the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page." Is the definition of clickbait.  Literally what that that video's title is doing plus the image.

Then every link is clickbait, no exceptions.

[Mr.Muffins]

I don't know much about the "advertising" part, but I do sense that "clickbait" is the modern norm of YT nowadays. Also, I don't feel the need to buy something when watching LTT videos.

 

Aside from the ad fight, I enjoy some of LTT's videos. I only watch his videos just for the entertainment rather than the information he gives. The WAN show was a great idea at the beginning, interesting topics, good information that I actually wanted to know. And now, it's not like it was. I will consider that they change the concept of the WAN show; make it more interactive for the viewers, gather ideas on how to improve LLT shows, chat about the next upcoming tech, etc. rather than to look for random information on the internet that, for some people, don't really care.

 

[corrado33]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

I think a lot of people take the "core audience" as the most important, and that's simply not true. The masses are more important, as they're providing most of the revenue. Your core audience can change over time. I also think most people take "core" and associate it with "original", which is simply incorrect.

*Cough cough cough cough*

 

"Selling out" is a common idiomatic pejorative expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money.^[1] In terms of music or art, selling out is associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream or commercial audience.

 

*Cough cough cough cough*

 

Money vs. authenticity.... money vs. truthfulness..... money vs channel integrity. Looks like money won! And don't give me the "linus has to support his family." He was doing that just fine when LTT was like 8 people. He chose to hire a shit ton of people to produce more (and shittier) content. They've gone full sell out. No one trusts their reviews anymore, at least no one that also watches GN or Jayz. 

 

Their original core audience was techies. The audience they tailor to now is kids/non techies, because there are more of them on youtube than techies. 

 

Prime examples: Gaming bedroom Setup. Will techies find this interesting? No. It's something we've done a million times before. Will kids find this interesting? Heck yeah. Hot tub gaming setup.... will techies find this interesting? No... it's just a tv near a hot tub. Will kids find this interesting? Definitely. 

[Fasauceome]

19 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Gaming bedroom Setup. Will techies find this interesting? No.

 

19 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Hot tub gaming setup.... will techies find this interesting? No

Wrong, you don't find it interesting, I was plenty entertained by it. Stop insisting that your own personal tastes are dominant in the overall judgement of quality of the LTT channel.

[Blademaster91]

50 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Um no.  What it is saying is that when you do shit like this it is clickbait,
 

 

The above is simply to grab your attention.  Yes, they might have added more info in the description, but that would make 2/3s of this formula clickbait rather you like it or not.

When your sole purpose is to inform then you are not clickbait.   Wanna see what 0 clickbait looks like?


^This is information, not attention seeking.  What Steve does is not clickbait.  The title is telling me that he is going to tear down a Radeon VII and that they're using a graphite thermal pad.  The picture gives me an idea of what is going on, and the description adds information.  That is not clickbait.

Except that video is more of an ad for a cloud gaming service. The "THE GAMING PC DAYS ARE NUMBERED" title is slightly clickbait but it does relate to the video topic, a cloud gaming setup that could be a replacement for some people.

And that is just how the youtube thing works, i'm ok with clickbait to an extent, except for when it goes too far like the mentioned RTX2060 video, there isn't any point of doing that crap if you can't find the video by searching for RTX 2060.

if GamersNexus (Steve) did some of the more exciting titles and thumbnails like JayzTwoCents and BitWit do, Steve's videos would be getting more views.

[LinusTech]

There seems to be some confusion here.

 

Sponsored content is clearly labeled as such and I don't really know how to make it more clear. There should be no debate as to whether the "bedroom gaming" or "PCs days are numbered" videos were sponsored. They were and it was clearly disclosed. 

 

As for the rest of them, if it's not disclosed, it's not sponsored. Often manufacturers send us stuff but other times they don't. It doesn't affect our evaluation of the product. 

 

No hard-line tubing manufacturers sponsored our sleeper other than to send over a few bucks worth of tubing. We did glam footage of it because it looks cool lol. 

 

Hope this is more clear. 

 

I don't mind personal critique, and this thread can remain open as long as everyone refrains from personal attacks against other members.

 

Just make sure you keep that in mind. 

[corrado33]

27 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

 

Wrong, you don't find it interesting, I was plenty entertained by it. Stop insisting that your own personal tastes are dominant in the overall judgement of quality of the LTT channel.

You REALLY enjoyed watching someone install a TV? Man do I have a youtube channel for you!

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW0Ko1FisB8OpqBm7gpJiHw

 

They even covered this topic!

 

Nobody who isn't a fanboy would enjoy watching linus and friends install a tv. It's boring, low effort content. Not to mention that in what... 3 weeks they have 2 videos that are "We install a gaming setup WHERE?" Is this a new series? Next linus and friends install a gaming setup IN YOUR SHOWER! Then IN YOUR FRIDGE!

[Sakkura]

I pretty much stopped recently, when they decided to fuck up the aspect ratio. Content quality has been on a long, slow decline anyway (the increasing production values don't really compensate for that).

[drinklime]

Linus the message is clear, we don't want clickbat we want informative videos. Please take this into consideration especially given the fact that you ADMIT the Samsung Bedroom TV was sponsored, yet you chose a VESA mount and decided not to use it despite the fact that it is the proper way to install a flat screen TV at a raised height, this ensures safety and security. A curved back is very common on today's TV's and therefore it was an important aspect that you skipped entirely. I have posted instructions and they are available in the Home Theatre Section of the web site.

[GabrielFerrazTPU]

Honestly i watch most of the videos in the weekend, but honestly the only channel i'm not following any content for a while was tech linked, not because i wasn't liked but because every weekend i have soo much content to watch that i barely remember to watch them haha. I also love the "channel super fun" it's hilarious.