LTT's Youtube channel died when it turned into clickbait junk!

[DVDfever]

I subscribed a while back, but then the titles turned into clickbait junk, not even mentioning the name of the product that they're allegedly reviewing, and becoming the equivalent of an internet post that states: "You won't believe what they said next!"

 

And a bit later, I noticed they actively addressed this, and actually included it again. But then a few months later... it was back to the old ways. They think they're too big to fail, and so they're back to crappy titles like "Why is EVERYONE buying this Mic??"

 

Which mic? Put it in the title. Don't just have a beard grinning at me.

 

Every company falls at some point, and the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Even before recent events which I won't mention here, I've far more enjoyed reviews and coverage from the likes of Gamers Nexus. They actually treat their viewers like adults.

 

 

[Middcore]

Clickbait is documented proven to work. 

[bhop_monster_jam]

any askers

[Blademaster91]

19 minutes ago, DVDfever said:

I subscribed a while back, but then the titles turned into clickbait junk, not even mentioning the name of the product that they're allegedly reviewing, and becoming the equivalent of an internet post that states: "You won't believe what they said next!"

 

And a bit later, I noticed they actively addressed this, and actually included it again. But then a few months later... it was back to the old ways. They think they're too big to fail, and so they're back to crappy titles like "Why is EVERYONE buying this Mic??"

 

Which mic? Put it in the title. Don't just have a beard grinning at me.

 

Every company falls at some point, and the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Even before recent events which I won't mention here, I've far more enjoyed reviews and coverage from the likes of Gamers Nexus. They actually treat their viewers like adults.

 

 

I agree, clickbait to the degree LMG/LTT does it with the flashy thumbnails and misleading titles just causes me to not be interested, if I don't know what the heck the video is about in the title, I don't even bother clicking on it.

Also regarding the mic video, someone pointed out in the LTT forum topic thread LTT couldn't even spell frequency right, how am I supposed to trust them for a mic review if they couldn't get spelling right and their whole editing team didn't bother to check for errors.

I don't want LTT to fall, I want them to do better, and IMO they need to be held to a higher standard as they have massive influence over the tech community.

As for GN, I like their videos, appreciate them for their in depth testing and transparency in reviews, and I agree I like how GN treats their audience like mature adults that can think for themselves.

 

Also for  "but clickbait works" well that doesn't make it ok to make the thumbnails and titles exaggerated to the point where you don't know what the video is or if its just a sponsored ad.

[AngryPandaPC]

The YouTube audience is the one ultimately responsible for the clickbait nature of YouTube.

 

I can't think of any other channel at LTT's level that doesn't employ the method. I can't think of any channels in the tech space that don't do it either to some degree. I don't understand why LTT is seen as any sort of exceptional example.

[Cosmic Emotion]

I stopped watching after the Linux Challenge. A connoisseur could see Linus was insanely biased against Linux. A real shame.

[Sasha2D]

Everybody does it, its how you get views, its how you make money, it's how you afford a huge house with a pool in a city where one bedroom condos cost a half million dollars. 

[shoutingsteve]

I'm am on this forum to chat with other users about tech.  LTT hosts this for us, for free, without limits.  I don't really watch the official videos, but if I see one that has smokeshow James in it, I might click it.  But, if I have to put up with a few click bait titles to enjoy a free chatroom with all the rest of you guys, I'm willing to do that.

[illuanonx]

25 minutes ago, Cosmic Emotion said:

I stopped watching after the Linux Challenge. A connoisseur could see Linus was insanely biased against Linux. A real shame.

Same here (when I created my account).

 

And often Linus "dropping" acting, is to easy to spot

[MrSuperb]

It so funny how people are creating accounts in a community of a company they despises, just to tell everyone how they don’t like it for x months/years/never.

 

Communities / social media is just full of people with pitchforks ready to throw shit all around them.

 

Why are you not in the GamerNexus Forum and tell them how much you love their work instead? Are positive vibes so outdated?

[Cosmic Emotion]

Just now, MrSuperb said:

It so funny how people are creating accounts in a community of a company they despises, just to tell everyone how they don’t like it for x months/years/never.

 

Communities / social media is just full of people with pitchforks ready to throw shit all around them.

 

Why are you not in the GamerNexus Forum and tell them how much you love their work instead? Are positive vibes so outdated?

I never had a problem with LMG in general. Linus and some other people are isolated cases, but unfortunately they have reached the company and content to this situation.

[illuanonx]

2 minutes ago, MrSuperb said:

It so funny how people are creating accounts in a community of a company they despises, just to tell everyone how they don’t like it for x months/years/never.

 

Communities / social media is just full of people with pitchforks ready to throw shit all around them.

 

Why are you not in the GamerNexus Forum and tell them how much you love their work instead? Are positive vibes so outdated?

The account was made to point out the mistakes in the video. And there was many But Linus didn't care. It made him money.

[Sasha2D]

Its so funny how many people are wanting this as a red vs blue, black vs white debate.

I'm not so much of a fan of any YouTube channel to make over 5k posts on their website and play defense for them while they are under fire for grave mistakes even though that is to be expected of a $100 Million dollar company with 100 employees. 

[MrSuperb]

4 minutes ago, Sasha2D said:

play defense for them while they are under fire for grave mistakes even though that is to be expected of a $100 Million dollar company with 100 employees. 

As I said, some people are only here for the drama. What is you goal other then telling them, that they are wrong? What would you want them to do or change? 
 

100 mio for a company is not tiny, but far from big. I have seen companies from 0 to being sold for 100 mio in less then a year.

[Sasha2D]

100 mio is more mio then you will ever see in your entire life.

[Erioch]

It's intentional.  Linus said it works so get used to it.

[SansVarnic]

The clickbait titles were a necessary evil LMG went with and there was big discussion about the whys by linus and luke a while back when they did it.

 

There really is no need to re-hash this issue that was debated a few years ago. 

[Thaldor]

5 hours ago, Blademaster91 said:

Also regarding the mic video, someone pointed out in the LTT forum topic thread LTT couldn't even spell frequency right, how am I supposed to trust them for a mic review if they couldn't get spelling right and their whole editing team didn't bother to check for errors.

Don't forget there's more "industry standard" way to show the pickup pattern called... *drum roll*... Polar graph! Of course it doesn't give you frequency response around the mic as LTT showed, because that is kind of a silly thing to be worried about and test because optimally you use the mic as it is meant to be used and the point of pickup pattern is to limit the amount of surrounding noises the mic captures so you want to test how well the mic dampens the noise coming from unwanted directions. But I guess it's more important to show how your voice sounds around the mic than how the mic blocks unwanted noise.

 

And the video just proved my age old reason why I loose my interest when I see clickbait. "wHy EVeRyOnE is ByUiNG ThIS miC?" "Because it has unicorn vomit amount of RGB, comes with the most questionable accessories to make it look like Rode mics (which also aren't that good, at least the cheap ones everyone use) and it's dirt cheap", watched the video and didn't get disappointed anymore.

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

It's a loaded topic, LMG isn't dead at all.

 

LMG is a growing company whose growth outpaced the company's output quality. The fix only requires the executive to reprioritize, something that is made easy by not having shareholders to satisfy and by having liquidity and cash flow. LMG has the talent, the money, the equipment, industry connections and the clients. Right now is running low on good will and trust, both things that can be built with time. It'll take maybe even less than a year to fix the bulk of the issues.

I'm very confident this controversy is an hiccup and everyone will be better off for it, leaving a more solid company, happier employes and happier consumers.

 

It's a lot different from Artisian, where the core of the issue was that incompetent management made them run out of money. It wasn't a botched giveaway and tone deaf response that sunk them.

 

Who knows, maybe a year from now we'll see a remake of the Billet review on LTT channel on their latest prototype just like they redid the Verge review, as a signal that they can leave all of it behind.

[Majestic12]

13 hours ago, Middcore said:

Clickbait is documented proven to work. 

Yeah he said it many times on the WAN show that he hates it but because it doubles the viewing numbers he had to fold and allow it.

 

Also, would adding the name of a product make that big a difference? If I'm not into a particular subject matter I just don't watch the vid and if I am, the product name doesn't really make a big difference.

 

And people need to realize that LMG isn't GN. GN takes itself too seriously, is very dry and full of statistics and technical details. If you're into that, that's great, but that's not "being treated like an adult", it's treating your viewers like they already have a load of technical knowledge and LMG is clearly aimed at a bigger market of general tech enthusiasts who may not have this extensive knowledge that is needed to understand all these technical details that GN displays. They're two very different channels.

Linus did want to get closer to GN with the Lab but from what I recall he didn't want videos to get bogged down in benchmarks & statistics the way GN does it so they'll always be catering to two different audiences.

[Rex Hite]

The notion that GN, "Gamers Nexus", treats its audience like adults, says so much. And it's not good.

[Rex Hite]

On the subject of clickbait, I support the cynicism behind doing it. In our age of identity, an audience needs to know not only who they are but why they are.

[Rex Hite]

I found LTT a few years ago searching for information about what a Threadripper was. I volunteer at an organisation that refurbishes computers and workstations and distributes them to the disadvantaged. I only do some basic grunt work but I was out of touch with newer stuff at the time so LTT was just one of many resources that educated me. Very useful. Linus was an engaging presenter.

 

That being said, as I occasionally visited the channel the toy-centric content went from having no appeal for me, to becoming disturbing.

 

And then the shortage hit and the divide between miners and gamers became a thing. A marketable thing for LTT, to be sure. And then the V.A.G. programme highlighted for me the asinine infantile nature of it all. People who want to move cartoons around on a screen were upset at miners deluding themselves that they were getting value from hoarding and running vast arrays of gaming cards. If they were moving cartoons on a screen, that would have been ok, I guess. And I I'm left wondering who is the more deluded and wasteful. And there was so much umbrage and entitlement to it all, which LTT cheerfully fed. That was even too cynical for me.

 

And then the high wattage video cards hit and instead of a reckoning over whether this is a good thing (it objectively isn't), the presenters show these items with massive smiles on their face and promote the desirability (for those who can afford them) and anything less is some kind of a compromise. Using 400 watts to move a cartoon around is better than using 200 watts, apparently.

 

So, LTT is just a small node in the toxic consumerist cancer where hot air is figuratively and literally the end product.

[Potatoes2241]

I kind of hope that the latest debacle will affect the clickbait situation as well. Clickbait was cited as something that is crucial for their content to succeed in current environment for this type of content buuut if the content is changing in terms of quality I hope clickbait will go away as well. There are plenty of channels in tech field with no clickbait and they have tons of subs and views still. And for people who have no click discipline and help proliferate this BS - I wish a nasty nosebleed upon you.

 

But actually the clickbait situation does not feel as bad lately compared to how it was about a year ago, I give them that. Still looks lame but not as annoying and infuriating.

[Basti0815]

LTT is the only tech channel I watch at all. Because it's entertaining. I never watch product tests on YouTube anyway, I want detailed text. I just can't stand all the drivel on the test youtubers when I can read a text in a fraction of the time.