LTT Troubles

[JefferyD90]

So, I have bitten my tongue for quite a long time now and I think its time I just go ahead and let you know how I feel about a lot of the recent videos.

First and foremost, you have had a huge impact on my life in the tech world.  Maybe not so much as getting me interested in new things, as much as showing me that nerdism (not to be confused with nudism) is as cool as you make it.  So with that said I wont quit watching/supporting/whatever LTT, ever.  As a matter of fact, I would probably be one of the people that is FLAMING MAD at even suggesting such things that I am getting ready to suggest.  I do this in intentions that you read, understand, and make better content and maybe branch out into a new segment(s).

 

 

#1:  I am kinda sick of seeing nothing but things I already know are going to be good.  I want to see more stuff like the really sucky video card that you showed and said basically: "Hey, dont buy this unless you are being held at gunpoint."  So many people go out and buy what you suggest (like the newest video cards or what-have-you) but so many people get burnt by going out and buying something stupid and silly, like silly notebook coolers or something else.

 

I hope you see the point that I am making here that we not only need to be told what to buy, but also what not to buy.

 

Now I also understand that its hard to approach someone asking them to send you something so you can tell your viewers that its not that great and they should avoid it.  It would spell inpending doom for your relationship with that company.  And you really couldnt even go out and buy it and say bad thigns, cause it would feel like you went behind their back and everything.  So I understand why its hard to do, I just want it done anyways!  *stern-faced*

 

 

#2:  Please dont get the Microsoft syndrome and start doing more and more and more and more until you forget where you came from.  You guys have a lot of really great ideas, with podcast, daily videos, and all of this other goody-goody stuff (which I am squelling like a little girl for), but I dont want it to get away from the real LTT.  I remember when the LTT episodes use to be about how to configure the hardware that we have, like the video about wireless vs wired vs powerline (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sue1Zvmh8JA) that really helped me make a decision on buying something.  Not just a video about how this new networking card is cool.  Give us some of the real world test of old!

 

The real reason why I brought this up (more so than anything) is that when you started doing the WAN Show live call in, it was awful.  I mean down right A-W-F-U-L...  I know you guys did your best, but sitting there for 15 minutes just waisting time talking about whatever you can while slicks not even worried about  anything other than getting it working, and just doing everything its getting kinda overwhelming and I just simply dont know how you guys are going to be able to keep on going.  (I mean just look at Slicks face when you said CES was only 3 weeks away, the poor thing hasnt slept in like 2 weeks).

 

Maybe once a month or two just have a "retro week" where you do a WAN show with no call ins, and you do some special "does it really matter" project, and whatever you feel like doing not just whatever everyone wants you to do.  (A pretty good recent one was the ghetto shield)

 

 

#3:  This is the REALLY big reason why I wrote this right now, and I know you (and everyone else) are probably going to flame really hard at first, but think about it.  I think you gave the Nexus 5 too big of a pass and you have finally started showing some favortism in your review.  You spent about 4 minutes of the 12 critizing the phone for some sort of problem, but you basically waved it off like it was no big deal.  The buttons are too easy to press and I change the volume when I dont want to, but maybe you wont have that problem OR the keyboard sucks, but you can just change this and its better.  Do you realize that you changed the product so you could say its good?  Imagine this on a video card:  Yea the card runs hot, so we just put a water cooler on it and it solved it.  And I wouldn't make a big deal about it, if it wasn't 1/3 of the video.  I mean that says that 33% of the phone has issues in Linus' eyes. This is a HUGE deal to me, I think the integerty of that review was by far the worst of anything on LTT, so bad that I think you owe your fan base a apology.

 

And I am even going to drag this on a bit further.  I remember when you did the HTC 8x review, you did it over 30 days with 4 installments, I loved the way you did it and you gave a very honest review.  You went in with no former knowledge and did it the way 99% of people do it, just on the fly, you learned things (like how to press the letters to quick scroll down a list, or about using the tiles, and the people tile).  And in the end, you didnt not give a passing review on the product.  I think it was one of your BEST reviewed products to date.  Then about a month later you did a HTC One review.  Where you didnt hold the same standards.  You admittly, had a lot of help from Slick learning your way around Android, you used a lot of 3rd party apps to do some of the simple things (I know thats what android is about and all, but still kinda unfair as it doesnt represent the phone) but you changed it all to your liking and ended up giving it a passing grade.  I just didnt like how it happened.

 

I think maybe what you should have done with the Nexus 5 review is left it exactly the way it comes, given a review on it and said "Hey, I dont give it a thumbs up stock but watch this second video where I go in and install this and change that, and I really do like it".  That way you can give a review of a product as Google intended it, then went on to explain what you did to make a "non useable keyboard" better, and how to do this and that and "wow its so much better because its on a customizable Android OS, yay Android!"

 

This is really the end of my little rant, and like I said I am NOT going to quit watching and this is me being critical and I hope that my issues, examples, and solutions will be considered to some degree.  Regardless thanks a bunch for what you do!  Thanks!

[FlakeyBanana]

remember nobody's forcing you to watch, if you don't like it leave

[JefferyD90]

remember nobody's forcing you to watch, if you don't like it leave

Please read before replying...  I specifically said "and like I said I am NOT going to quit watching and this is me being critical".  This is to make the shows better, not to flame and be pissed off.

[Tuckfam]

remember nobody's forcing you to watch, if you don't like it leave

He's not saying he doesn't like it, he's just giving some mild critique. No need to be an arse.

[Giggitygoebbels]

If you know Linus is not bothered to review a product,it is not going to be much good anyway.So what is the point of ranting and possibly making unnecessary conflict with other companies?

Also nobody will sponsor a product for Linus to scold and say how bad it is.

They did not do enough testing?Slick sacrifices his sleep to put the benchmarks there for you to look at,and you still say they did not do comparisons?

Furthermore,the no big deal is necessary,because some people do not like pressing the buttons accidentally and might want to avoid it,but others who really want it and see it as not much of a problem,Linus Clarified for them that those features are fine as long as you are not too picky.

[FlakeyBanana]

Please read before replying...  I specifically said "and like I said I am NOT going to quit watching and this is me being critical".  This is to make the shows better, not to flame and be pissed off.

i did read that.

 

But can you expect Linus to be able to cater to his entire fan base ? there will always be a split who enjoy the content and those who don't

[sonarctica]

i did read that.

 

But can you expect Linus to be able to cater to his entire fan base ? there will always be a split who enjoy the content and those who don't

Constructive criticism is always appreciated though, just like the OP is doing here with his post. I'm sure many others agree with the points he make.

[JefferyD90]

If you know Linus is not bothered to review a product,it is not going to be much good anyway.So what is the point of ranting and possibly making unnecessary conflict with other companies?

Also nobody will sponsor a product for Linus to scold and say how bad it is.

They did not do enough testing?Slick sacrifices his sleep to put the benchmarks there for you to look at,and you still say they did not do comparisons?

I totally agree to you, its hard for them to get their hands on "bad product" as I CLEARLY outlined.  I didn't say anywhere they didn't do enough testing, quite the opposite actually.  I devoted a whole section on them doing too much, I even mentioned how Slick doesn't get any sleep.

[JefferyD90]

And I want to make it PERFECTLY CLEAR this is very constructive.  I give problems, examples, and ways that I would solve the issue at hand.  Im not saying my own resolutions don't come at some kind of cost.  Maybe they aren't even possible.

[Giggitygoebbels]

I totally agree to you, its hard for them to get their hands on "bad product" as I CLEARLY outlined. I didn't say anywhere they didn't do enough testing, quite the opposite actually. I devoted a whole section on them doing too much, I even mentioned how Slick doesn't get any sleep.

Erm,my post have been updated to reflect my comment about the #3 section.So yeah.

I remember when the LTT episodes use to be about how to configure the hardware that we have, like the video about wireless vs wired vs powerline (

) that really helped me make a decision on buying something. Not just a video about how this new networking card is cool. Give us some of the real world test of old!

please clarify.

[CwGoh]

I think this is a pretty akin argument with my affection towards the older videos. I really prefer the ghetto videos compared to the current content, but Linus makes a living off making videos now, so we cannot expect the same content anymore.

 

@LinusTech and @Slick, I would like to see come commentary from the guys themselves.

[FlakeyBanana]

here let me fix that for you @Linus

 

 

LOL seems you cant tag him

[Yoinkerman]

It feels like to me that we've been slowly sliding down the hill into cynical industry veterans.

 

#1 I don't agree with.  There are seldom products that are flat out terrible.  Showing how a certain product can be useful to certain people is a good thing.  I do agree with the more "regular" products.  Not everyone is going out and buying flagship products.  They go to look at mustangs and come home with focuses.

 

#2 Yeah it seems like they're trying to expand very very quickly but there are only so many man hours in a day and they may be suffering from man hour shortage.

 

#3 Completely agree, Linus seems to sometimes dip into cynical industry vet mode, and a lot of us viewers are not.  We may be really tech savvy or whatever, but sometimes the videos seem like issues are given more light than maybe they should because grizzled industry vet has seen everything.  

 

#3 pt 2.  The new product reviews they haven't really done before like bluetooth speakers and whatnot don't seem to suffer from this.  Perhaps Linus needs to hand off some of the older stuff to slick to get a reprieve?

[JefferyD90]

Erm,my post have been updated to reflect my comment about the #3 section.So yeah.

please clarify.

Well, if you followed LTT from 3-4 years ago there was a lot of videos, like the one that I linked you, that show us what really matters.  The difference between a 780 and a 780Ti isn't really that big of a deal, Linus has said it himself several times.  But the difference between all these different technologies like Gsync and Mantle (hint hint for a video idea) is a much better subject to do a video on.  Another good example is the video they did on HDD vs SSD where they had like a WD Blue, Black, Raptor, and a SSD compared against each other and loaded Crysis up.  These are videos that let us see "Hey a SSD is really worth it" and "Hey wireless AC really will fix all my networking problems"  (hint hint at another video idea Wireless G vs N vs AC).

[JefferyD90]

It feels like to me that we've been slowly sliding down the hill into cynical industry veterans.

 

#1 I don't agree with.  There are seldom products that are flat out terrible.  Showing how a certain product can be useful to certain people is a good thing.  I do agree with the more "regular" products.  Not everyone is going out and buying flagship products.  They go to look at mustangs and come home with focuses.

 

#2 Yeah it seems like they're trying to expand very very quickly but there are only so many man hours in a day and they may be suffering from man hour shortage.

 

#3 Completely agree, Linus seems to sometimes dip into cynical industry vet mode, and a lot of us viewers are not.  We may be really tech savvy or whatever, but sometimes the videos seem like issues are given more light than maybe they should because grizzled industry vet has seen everything.  

 

#3 pt 2.  The new product reviews they haven't really done before like bluetooth speakers and whatnot don't seem to suffer from this.  Perhaps Linus needs to hand off some of the older stuff to slick to get a reprieve?

I just feel like (especially with Android phones lately) he has a awful lot of bad things to say about them, and still ends up defending them.  And I don't know if Slick needs anymore work, he really does look dead-beat lately... lol  (I think I am going to call social services on Linus to make sure he doesn't have him shackled in a basement somewhere)

[Yoinkerman]

I had a work phone that took pocket pictures all the time because the camera button(that you can't remap) was a super easy to mush button.  Every day I wanted to hurl it against the wall.

 

You're right, he does seem to harp on little things a fair amount, and giving admittedly "little" things so much screen time makes them seem a lot bigger than maybe they really are.

[JefferyD90]

I had a work phone that took pocket pictures all the time because the camera button(that you can't remap) was a super easy to mush button.  Every day I wanted to hurl it against the wall.

 

You're right, he does seem to harp on little things a fair amount, and giving admittedly "little" things so much screen time makes them seem a lot bigger than maybe they really are.

This is exactly what I was coming at.

[Dudenstein]

I only watch the videos that interest me and those are still the computer hardware videos. The thing that I skip are a lot of the things where he gets more spread thin on like his phone, tablet, console videos as I visit tested to see those types of videos because I value their take on that subject matter over Linus's. Not saying Linus doesn't have good points but he covers more of the things I already know about them and another source has information that I may not be aware of.

[Harvey]

 

This is the REALLY big reason why I wrote this right now, and I know you (and everyone else) are probably going to flame really hard at first, but think about it.  I think you gave the Nexus 5 too big of a pass and you have finally started showing some favortism in your review.  You spent about 4 minutes of the 12 critizing the phone for some sort of problem, but you basically waved it off like it was no big deal.  

 

 

I respect your opinion but I don't agree. He pointed out everything he didn't like. Pointed out the things he did like, things you could change easily and left the decision up to you... How is that going too easy. 

 

For me apart from the concern about the stability of kitkat nothing bothered me. As someone thats not a heavy phone user, is still using a iphone 3GS because I'm not really into phones so I take whatever isn't complete shit / works. For the price the Nexus 5 feels like a good fit for me and I don't think that linus pulled any punches. He shit on the bad things while realising most of it should be easily fixed in software updates (something that should cause the viewer to hold off on buying and research after some time) and that some of what he didn't like wouldn't bother some people (like me).

 

Lots of people seem to think unless you completely tear the product apart for its failings the review isn't helpful. Well you can point out problems without being a dick, maintaining a good working relationship with vendors and providing value to your viewers. Theres a line there that linus walks just fine and keeps people happy. Last WAN show he pointed out someone in chat telling people not to deal with hotspot shield because its hard to cancel a subscription. I laughed pretty hard at him pointing out a complaint about a sponsor. I think it speaks to his character, I don't know many people who would've done that. They would've ignored the specific complaint, and said they have great support on our forums so if you DO have a problem they'll help you sort it out and left it at that. He drew attention to a possible problem during an advertisement lol.

 

The fact you know the phone isn't for you, and linus didn't tell EVERYONE to stay far away from it  isn't evidence of "favortism" its evidence of a balanced unbiased review.

[JefferyD90]

 

 

 

 

I respect your opinion but I don't agree. He pointed out everything he didn't like. Pointed out the things he did like, things you could change easily and left the decision up to you... How is that going too easy. 

 

For me apart from the concern about the stability of kitkat nothing bothered me. As someone thats not a heavy phone user, is still using a iphone 3GS because I'm not really into phones so I take whatever isn't complete shit / works. For the price the Nexus 5 feels like a good fit for me and I don't think that linus pulled any punches. He shit on the bad things while realising most of it should be easily fixed in software updates (something that should cause the viewer to hold off on buying and research after some time) and that some of what he didn't like wouldn't bother some people (like me).

 

Lots of people seem to think unless you completely tear the product apart for its failings the review isn't helpful. Well you can point out problems without being a dick, maintaining a good working relationship with vendors and providing value to your viewers. Theres a line there that linus walks just fine and keeps people happy. Last WAN show he pointed out someone in chat telling people not to deal with hotspot shield because its hard to cancel a subscription. I laughed pretty hard at him pointing out a complaint about a sponsor. I think it speaks to his character, I don't know many people who would've done that. They would've ignored the specific complaint, and said they have great support on our forums so if you DO have a problem they'll help you sort it out and left it at that. He drew attention to a possible problem during an advertisement lol.

 

The fact you know the phone isn't for you, and linus didn't tell EVERYONE to stay far away from it  isn't evidence of "favortism" its evidence of a balanced unbiased review.

 

I am not saying he is biased and or paid.  I am just saying that it feels like, especially lately, he hasn't been as critical and "precise" has he has in the past about products.  It seems like no matter what its a good product, and that simply can not be the case.