Bad practices, Unreliability and other reasons why ypou should NOT get the Floatplane club.

[Corrupt_Liberty]

Some people aren't going to be happy no matter what.  Every time they talk about Floatplane Club it is described as a work in progress.  Hell, Linus has even expressly said that the other forum subscriber tiers are basically pointless. The OP isn't stupid he just wants to bitch about something.  He'd probably still be on here complaining if Linus himself delivered the videos personally in 8k with full surround sound, a steak dinner and a blowjob. 

[givingtnt]

3 hours ago, Corrupt_Liberty said:

Some people aren't going to be happy no matter what.  Every time they talk about Floatplane Club it is described as a work in progress.  Hell, Linus has even expressly said that the other forum subscriber tiers are basically pointless. The OP isn't stupid he just wants to bitch about something.  He'd probably still be on here complaining if Linus himself delivered the videos personally in 8k with full surround sound, a steak dinner and a blowjob. 

wtf is wrong with you ?

 

also I preffer a good ol' hand finish

[LogicalDrm]

15 hours ago, givingtnt said:

more regular releases,

15 hours ago, givingtnt said:

basically treat it as a youtube release and not like a "alpha test" of the video and to see how it goes and whats to fix.

 

This was already a thing with Vessel. At least the fixes for YT part. I didn't like it then and don't like it now. One of my favorite CSF videos is missing few jokes because of those cuts.

 

As for regular releases, the style of LTT has been 1 video per day. There has yet to be day in FPC era when they miss upload. They might not be at 12am every day, but they have slipped with that on YT also.

 

5 hours ago, LAwLz said:

• Not a lot of content being early-access.

 

That part is said outright in service manifesto. If they feel the need for it (mainly new product launched and event coverage), simultaneous release is done. I guess is sad that there have been lots of new releases and events lately. Like the 3 of the last 7 (WAN Show not included) on YT. In fact, there are still 5 FPC videos yet to be released in YT. Including pt. 3 of server upgrade vlog which was uploaded 10 days ago.

 

In all I must wonder why having to pay for getting something gets people so  furious. You (I think @LAwLz was first) bring up term "paywall". I still don't see any wall. Maybe more like a river. You can see whats on the other side, but to get better look, you need to pay for ferry. Nothing inside FPC stays there forever.

[Slick]

I'll never kill a post for attacking us - and I don't even really want to get involved..

 

But just saying - the text in quotes below is right on the item that you have to buy to have access to FPC.

We promise downloads, we hope the streaming player will work.

On WAN - Linus goes to play a video, I cringe because I worry that it wont work.. I'm not hiding my worry.. It's a legitimate concern.

 

We have hired a full time programmer and are very actively working on FPC to try to improve the experiance.

 

I'm sorry we uploaded the wrong video - I'm sorry it took a while to fix. I don't really have much else to say about that.

 

"

The "Floatplane Pilot" forum membership is $2.99/month or $29.99/year and the plan is as follows:

- DRM-Free downloads for members at 360p and 720p
- Ad free service - No pre-roll ads to suck up your bandwidth
- Exclusive member-only comments section through the LinusTechTips.com forum
- Early access - For now it'll be similar to the Vessel experience (1 week), but the window COULD change, and I can almost guarantee there will be more simultaneous releases for time-sensitive projects than before.

Beyond the initial offering, though we can't promise ALL of these will be available at the same membership level (High bitrate 4K video downloads that would CRUSH our current hosting setup come to mind), here are some things we are considering implementing LOVE to implement in the future:

- A streaming video player
- A sexier watch page & comments section
- Realtime chat to make it fun to grab a bag of popcorn and chat with other floatplane club members while viewing the latest releases
- 1080p and 4k videos

Linus & Team

"

[LAwLz]

10 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

In all I must wonder why having to pay for getting something gets people so furious. You (I think @LAwLz was first) bring up term "paywall". I still don't see any wall. Maybe more like a river. You can see whats on the other side, but to get better look, you need to pay for ferry. Nothing inside FPC stays there forever.

Since you don't seem to understand, let me explain it to you.

 

1) I don't see anyone getting mad over paying. I see at least one person getting mad for paying and then getting what is, in his eyes, a bad experience and he was expecting better. It's not the payment that is making anyone mad (he clearly paid for it already so that part he accepts). It's paying and then getting a sub-par experience (in his opinion).

Once you start paying for something, your expectations inevitably goes up.

 

2) Read my posts where I used the term "paywall" again. I have used it twice in this thread, and both times I have been referring to the floatplane pilot exclusive forum section.

The first time was when someone said that they are very transparent about their business, and then linked to a post which only people who have paid for floatplane can view.

The second time was when someone said criticism should only be posted in the floatplane club exclusive section of the forum, where "normal" members can't read them.

 

3) Paywall is a well established term that suits this very well. There is no need to try and dress it up in a fancy new term like "payriver". While the videos will end up getting posted sooner or later, the content of the floatplane subforum will most likely not (and I am not saying there is anything wrong with that either).

 

 

 

Anyway, I don't get why people get so defensive over this. I thought my first post summed it up pretty well. Think of it as a donation with some extra benefits. LMG probably don't like that idea, because they seem to want to make FPC into a legitimate service, but for the moment I think that's the healthiest attitude to have towards it. If the thought that you're helping LMG out monetary isn't enough of a reward in and of itself, then it's probably best to not get FPC right now. Wait for it to mature.

 

There is no need to get so overly defensive on behalf of LMG. OP made a thread where he gave constructive criticism and while his tone and writing might not have been the best, just attacking him by saying he is bitching, calling him poor and telling him to get a job, and all the other attacks people are throwing his way are even less helpful and constructive than OP.

[LogicalDrm]

3 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Anyway, I don't get why people get so defensive over this. I thought my first post summed it up pretty well. Think of it as a donation with some extra benefits. LMG probably don't like that idea, because they seem to want to make FPC into a legitimate service, but for the moment I think that's the healthiest attitude to have towards it. If the thought that you're helping LMG out monetary isn't enough of a reward in and of itself, then it's probably best to not get FPC right now. Wait for it to mature.

 

There is no need to get so overly defensive on behalf of LMG. OP made a thread where he gave constructive criticism and while his tone and writing might not have been the best, just attacking him by saying he is bitching, calling him poor and telling him to get a job, and all the other attacks people are throwing his way are even less helpful and constructive than OP.

On these two point I do agree. I'm not LMG fanboy, not by far. I have got my share of defenders when I have criticized either WAN Show audio (before it became meme) and Brandon's skills with camera. I did support LMG's decision to go with paid early access content aka Vessel, but did also criticize Vessels 3s ads and other cons (which didn't go away in 1 year trial time). With same mindset I do defend this decision, while I'm critical about current status. Like I said previously, I give it year and see how it goes.

 

All criticism is good and will eventually lead to changes. I'm sure @nicklmg or @LinusTech are already writing official response to criticism given by @givingtnt. Due to this thread being created on weekend, it hasn't received any official responses yet. 

 

Spoiler

I'm having tough time typing "criticism" correctly today.

 

[LinusTech]

All I can really say is "we're working on it".

 

The Nintendo Switch video was a total flub on my part. I was trying to be kewl and release the following day's video early to make up for the weird scheduling changes that we were forced to make due to the embargo lift times for a couple of simultaneous releases earlier in the week and I accidentally hit the wrong file for upload, set it live, and went to bed because I was really really really tired.

 

On YouTube's CMS that never could have happened because it has automatic thumbnail previews of the file, but there are a hundred little workflow things like that that are different and that need to be fixed by changing our habits, or our systems, or both - all of which takes time.

 

We are working to do a better job of polishing the Floatplane releases to the same level as the YT releases. We know we miss things from time to time, but this last couple months has been very very difficult. It's not the problem of anyone reading this post (unless I decide to re-read it) but training three new people while boosting my own output so Luke has time to work on development of Floatplane Club has not been easy. I am doing my best. The good news is the new guys are getting up to speed, giving us a LOT more eyeballs on finished videos than we've ever had before. Stay tuned. LMG is investing a HUGE amount of time and money into this problem. It WILL improve.

 

With that said, I'd like to address one claim in particular - that we aren't delivering the same quantity of videos (daily uploads). This is BULLSHIT. LTT uploads a video per day come hell or high water and has for 5+ years now. Sometimes  scheduling and time zones might make it look like we've missed an upload - ie a 6am embargo release might have to come early on a Tuesday, followed by a late night release Wednesday night that could trickle into Thursday morning with like 46 hours in between - but that will be accounted for with a quicker release afterward. If we weren't maintaining our release schedule you'd get an apology from me about it, but that hasn't happened.

 

For every day on your calendar there is an LTT video or more.

[givingtnt]

40 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

With that said, I'd like to address one claim in particular - that we aren't delivering the same quantity of videos (daily uploads).

im sorry if thats what you understood from my comments. its not what I ment.
I ment mostly about videos hitting youtube before fpc. not that you guys release stuff on youtube and not on fpc.

@Slick thats for you too. and all other people working at lmg or people who read the thread...
I want to apologise, I didn't edit my op,I stand by what I said fully. And re-reading it now, I do fell like I was way overboard and too rude.  I should have approched it a different way.

[pyromaniac]

@givingtnt just don't be a dick mate.

[LinusTech]

40 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

im sorry if thats what you understood from my comments. its not what I ment.
I ment mostly about videos hitting youtube before fpc. not that you guys release stuff on youtube and not on fpc.

@Slick thats for you too. and all other people working at lmg or people who read the thread...
I want to apologise, I didn't edit my op,I stand by what I said fully. And re-reading it now, I do fell like I was way overboard and too rude.  I should have approched it a different way.

Np.

 

Takes a big man to back down when you feel like you might have overreacted.

 

But if it helps at all, we DO understand we have a lot of room to improve, and we do take user feedback very seriously

 

Right now Floatplane is a work in progress. We can't share the full scope of the project at this time (to avoid over-promising only to fall short) but suffice to say we are really really excited about it, and our goals is for it to be MUCH more than just a video streaming backend to deliver LMG videos through the forum.

[Tieox]

Will FPC have you and Slick fighting each other with lightsabers while sat racing on DX Racer chairs in RGB tuxedos?

[Bsmith]

51 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

Np.

 

Takes a big man to back down when you feel like you might have overreacted.

 

But if it helps at all, we DO understand we have a lot of room to improve, and we do take user feedback very seriously

 

Right now Floatplane is a work in progress. We can't share the full scope of the project at this time (to avoid over-promising only to fall short) but suffice to say we are really really excited about it, and our goals is for it to be MUCH more than just a video streaming backend to deliver LMG videos through the forum.

 

you should share it with other (tech)youtubers, might go big

[givingtnt]

1 hour ago, Bsmith said:

 

you should share it with other (tech)youtubers, might go big

Advanced Tech Club ?


lol ATC #keeptheoldnamerelevent

[LinusTech]

1 hour ago, Bsmith said:

 

you should share it with other (tech)youtubers, might go big

Can neither confirm nor deny.

[Misanthrope]

Personally I just wish they did this before Vessel I'd be more mature by now. 

[SansVarnic]

On 3/4/2017 at 9:28 AM, givingtnt said:

<snip>

There will always be somebody, somewhere to complain about something. 

 

OP needs to take a breath. We are talking about a company that is starting something from scratch ... [lets let that soak in for a moment] ...   ...   ...   obviously this will take sometime to accomplish. LMG is not YouTube or Vessel. This is still new to them. 

[LinusTech]

11 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Personally I just wish they did this before Vessel I'd be more mature by now. 

Honestly we thought at that point we WERE doing a good job of protecting ourselves from the risks of having all of our eggs in one basket..

 

Unfortunately one of our baskets took a giant crap on all of our eggs that were in it with no warning, so we had to pivot.

 

Business is never simple.. If what one company did was easy, everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be profitable anymore because there'd be so many players.

 

So it's a constantly-evolving process

[Mira Yurizaki]

5 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

Business is never simple.. If what one company did was easy, everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be profitable anymore because there'd be so many players.

An engineering colleague of mine continued to quip "If it were easy, we'd all be wearing paper hats."

[Misanthrope]

1 hour ago, LinusTech said:

Honestly we thought at that point we WERE doing a good job of protecting ourselves from the risks of having all of our eggs in one basket..

 

Unfortunately one of our baskets took a giant crap on all of our eggs that were in it with no warning, so we had to pivot.

 

Business is never simple.. If what one company did was easy, everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be profitable anymore because there'd be so many players.

 

So it's a constantly-evolving process

I can understand that hindsight is 20/20, cheers.

[CBojorges]

I remember them saying that float plane club is a way to give something back to those who contributed to the forum. You know, for those who used to give money to the forum and only received a badge in return. 

 

If you think of it as a paid service, Ive only seen them advertise the service on the Wan show, in which they clearly say there are many things which need to be ironed and that it's a work in progress. 

[SansVarnic]

1 hour ago, LinusTech said:

Honestly we thought at that point we WERE doing a good job of protecting ourselves from the risks of having all of our eggs in one basket..

 

Unfortunately one of our baskets took a giant crap on all of our eggs that were in it with no warning, so we had to pivot.

 

Business is never simple.. If what one company did was easy, everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be profitable anymore because there'd be so many players.

 

So it's a constantly-evolving process

From my own experiences having assisted in starting a new company several years ago you have to do what you can do in order to make what you have work.  Putting your eggs in one basket is an unfortunate truth in startup companies as you grow other avenues become available and even in this instance making the choice to do the Floatplane from scratch is a large undertaking, I applaud your efforts thus far and take highly of your steadfastness in your resolve to see your company through.

21 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

I can understand that hindsight is 20/20, cheers.

In business sometimes all you have is hindsight.

[mrzoltowski]

2 hours ago, LinusTech said:

Honestly we thought at that point we WERE doing a good job of protecting ourselves from the risks of having all of our eggs in one basket..

 

Unfortunately one of our baskets took a giant crap on all of our eggs that were in it with no warning, so we had to pivot.

 

Business is never simple.. If what one company did was easy, everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be profitable anymore because there'd be so many players.

 

So it's a constantly-evolving process

On a slightly different note, away from this drama.

Found your channel 6 weeks ago. Completely hooked. Have motivated me to build a PC! (Used to many years ago, then I got old and lazy). This time with an adults budget  (Doesn't hurt that @Slick is a bit of much welcomed eye candy ... well that got weird) 

So building a machine with RGB EVERYWHERE! .. using your sponsors and affiliates as I trust yours and your teams judgement.

And here is the bit, when I found out I could contribute a bit to your endeavour I jumped at the chance, I don't care about the videos being early access or any perks, the fact that I can help you out a bit to continue to make great content and inspire a new generation of PC builders and enthusiasts I applaud you sir. EDIT: I am a little bit tired of the self entitled everything should be free, youtube generation. Free music! Free content, free everything, free chat. Support your favourite content creators, they are not asking for a lot. Event my little brother 16 (I am 34) has taken interest in your channel. 

So thanks and please continue doing what you do!

PS. We both DEMAND more Scrapyard Wars!

Edited March 7, 2017 by mrzoltowski

[LinusTech]

9 minutes ago, mrzoltowski said:

On a slightly different note, away from this drama.

Found your channel 6 weeks ago. Completely hooked. Have motivated me to build a PC! (Used to many years ago, then I got old and lazy). This time with an adults budget  (Doesn't hurt that @Slick is a bit of much welcomed eye candy ... well that got weird) 

So building a machine with RGB EVERYWHERE! .. using your sponsors and affiliates as I trust yours and your teams judgement.

And here is the bit, when I found out I could contribute a bit to your endeavour I jumped at the chance, I don't care about the videos being early access or any perks, the fact that I can help you out a bit to continue to make great content and inspire a new generation of PC builders and enthusiasts I applaud you sir. EDIT: I am a little bit tired of the self entitled everything should be free, youtube generation. Free music! Free content, free everything, free chat. Support your favourite content creators, they are not asking for a lot. Event my little brother 16 (I am 34) has taken interest in your channel. 

So thanks and please continue doing what you do!

PS. We both DEMAND more Scrapyard Wars!

Thanks for the positive words.

 

And yes, more Scrapyard Wars is coming.. We have tenatatively locked in sponsors for 2 seasons this year. There'll be more details on WAN Show this week (I think) but we're looking at another team battle, and one with a significant logistical challenge..

 

Neither of them will take place on home turf here in Vancouver if all goes according to plan

[mrzoltowski]

2 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

Thanks for the positive words.

 

And yes, more Scrapyard Wars is coming.. We have tenatatively locked in sponsors for 2 seasons this year. There'll be more details on WAN Show this week (I think) but we're looking at another team battle, and one with a significant logistical challenge..

 

Neither of them will take place on home turf here in Vancouver if all goes according to plan

Fabulous.

A) Surreal that someone that has become your hero has actually replied (fangirling here)

B) I am so ready for SW

and Ba? ) The WAN show is my new wind down from a days work show in bed.

Cheers 

[TrigrH]

12 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

Thanks for the positive words.

 

And yes, more Scrapyard Wars is coming.. We have tenatatively locked in sponsors for 2 seasons this year. There'll be more details on WAN Show this week (I think) but we're looking at another team battle, and one with a significant logistical challenge..

 

Neither of them will take place on home turf here in Vancouver if all goes according to plan

Well I know Bryan from Tech (Yes) City is keen for the challenge?