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Both guys are in the business of self-promotion. One is based on positivity, the other negativity.
You want to fill your life with negativity? Go ahead. I’ll pass.
You're missing one key difference:
MKB is getting the big money for just mindelessly repeating whatever big tech wants the audience to hear, Louis is somehow financially surviving despite not having any sponsors for obvious reasons (and not wanting them either for integrity reasons).
And saying louis rossmann is about self promotion... I've lost count how often he's openly wondering in videos why people are still watching his crap. He's happy he can do what he's doing, and he can make the difference he's making, but to say he's in the business of self promoting... i guess as a youtuber, you always are in some way, but he'd be happy if he'd run out of content and have nothing to complain about, and could do actual repairs that then aren't being blocked by stupid companies. I doubt MKB would be happy when he'd no longer be an influencer.
There are thousands of youtubers just like Rossmann. They sit there in front of the camera and react to other videos or news. People watch because they get a thrill out of seeing someone get angry and “pwn” the bad guys. There’s no creativity in it. It’s just emotional dumping. It’s totally toxic.
Louis used to be all about creativity. He used to make repair videos and teach people useful skills. He stopped doing those when he realized the algorithm would give him a bigger audience for these negative takes.
Call him a victim if you like. Algorithmic capture I’ve heard it called. Many many youtubers have gone down that road.
As for MKB. I like his videos because he’s a very good speaker, he puts a lot of thought and creativity into the whole production, and he is actually honest about the drawbacks in products he reviews. Is he perfect though? Clearly not. I would prefer if he didn’t interview Apple mouthpieces to let them deliver well-practiced marketing directly to his audience.
Sometimes I also think MKB gets a bit too starstruck because he can’t quite believe where he is and what he gets to do for a living. If you go back through his videos and sort by increasing date you can see his very first videos. It’s rather stark how far he’s come.
Whenever i see channels like MKB & LTT, for me it's fun for a few videos. They sure can be a bit critical at times, but in general, they're obviously paid by a lot of sponsor money, and can't be truly critical often, and will never address controversy. They'll also just copy al lot of the marketing claims verbatim, barely testing them, and just mostly appeal on emotion, making sure presentation is top notch, etc... But it's all pretty shallow imo, and it's intended as such.
And there are thousands of people like louis rossman? How many of them actually take political action? Show up in front of legislators and actually try to change things? Gather funds to create an app like grayjay to fight the big monopolies? How many made a huge wiki documenting to insane detail how to do self hosting? Make a videod on how to ethically do business? etc.... etc... etc....
I know the kind of youtubers you mean, watched a bit of yongyea for a while, he'll just find any controversy to complain about, and that's it. He'll never be a catalyst for change. He'll also just latch on to whatever is already happening, rarely he'll be the source of the news.
But lumping in Louis Rossmann with such youtubers... Then you really haven't watched his channel. He'll of course regularly jump on the bandwagon, when some controversy is happening that aligns with his message. But also regularly he'll be the first addressing certain issues, people also know to contact him, but also from his daily life, seeing what's happening. He's also actually trying to change what he sees. Not just get popularity by complaining, but doing something about it. He also makes insightful videos.
And regarding no longer making repair videos... he's so often complaining about manufacturers making a lot of repairs near impossible, and working against it at every turn.... Things are made less repairable, What use is there to make videos on how to repair your apple phone when you can't get repair parts, and if you could you couldn't get them to work since you don't have the software to authorize them on your phone...
It can indeed be depressing to watch Rossmann, but sadly enough, his pessimism just makes sense. You can sometimes not entirely agree with him, but bad shit is happening, and it's only getting worse. It used to be "when the product is free, you are the product". Now it is "when (even the very expensive) product is cloud connected, you are the product". 5000$ tv that sends your data to advertisers? Your car sending your data to insurers, etc.... etc... etc...
If according to you he's just a serial complainer, feel free to make your case, i don't always agree with him, but i've got insane respect for him. He ended up seeing what big tech is doing, and he's the first to suffer the consequences, and he's actually putting his time, money & effort where his mouth is and doing something about it. He also from time to time makes really insightful videos, and yes, he complains a lot.... sadly enough there does seem to be a lot to complain about, and it's actually stuff that really matters....
I’ve already addressed Rossmann’s political activism in a previous comment. I appreciate all the work he’s done on it. But he’s by no means the only person fighting for right to repair. There are tons of others doing so as well, such as iFixit, the EFF, and loads of organizations representing farmers all over North America.
My criticism of Rossmann is specifically with the style of content he puts out. Negativity-based reaction videos are his bread and butter. That’s how he makes money. This puts an asterisk on all of the good things he does, just as MKB’s occasional soft takes put an asterisk on the work he does.
This kind of toxic negativity is heavily favoured by the YouTube algorithm and it leads people into mental health spirals. That’s my point. Louis Rossmann makes money by damaging the mental health of vulnerable people in his audience. None of his beneficial activism makes up for this. You can look at other right to repair activists and see that they are working towards their goals without this odious behaviour.
But it obviously isn't how he makes his money. He used to make his money with his repair shop, now futo is paying him to do right to repair/open software advocacy. Youtube pays jack shit for the amount of views he gets, and he never took sponsors, so youtube was never the way he earned his money. He gets some money from it, but would absolutely love it if everyone watched him on odyssey or any other platform that isn't youtube and that doesn't pay him anything.
And yeah, there is truth to ragebait working well in algorithms. But you're making a claim that's plain false: he has economic incentives, and you're avoiding a few more:
- You claim he's got financial incentives to do all the ragebaiting. He regularly mentions his finances don't depend on youtube, never have, it's probably a fun extra for him, but it's never been what makes the money for him.
- You seem to prefer MKB, because he's positive. But his income does depend on youtube, and he's heavily sponsored by the brands he reviews. So somehow because he's positive all the things you claim are an issue for Louis Rossmann aren't an issue for MKB??
- Your algorithm claim: you claim the algorithm favors his kind of content, but his channel is far smaller than the less critical techchannels such as MKB and LTT that take all the sponsor money and say all is fine. So it seems the algorithm favors that even more?
And you name his negativity toxic, why? He's addressing actual shit that is happening all around us and can get you into serious issues in the future. Your car manufacturer selling your data to your insurance can have a serious impact on your life. Manufacturers suing customers that leave a bad review can seriously ruin your life, ... But at the same time he always tries to use this criticism to empower the viewer to make better choices, to teach you how to avoid such issues, and how you can make a difference. Just this week he made a video regarding doing business in an ethical way, that's like the least toxic video possible, his message is always: bad shit is happening, here's how to spot it, here's how to make a difference, and not "all is lost, you may now despair because there's nothing you can do about it"
Your arguments are imo very biased, and simply don't show the truth. I know the kind of youtubers you mean, and there are plenty, but putting people like Rossmann in that basket is just insane. He actively tries to make the world a better places. Makes incredible videos on how you can be part of the change, has for over a decade done everything to empower his viewers and customers, and you're all like "he's just a toxic negative youtuber that does it for money".
And one follow up question: can positivity be toxic? Can the likes of MKB & LTT just sweep all the stuff that's happening under the rug, take huge payouts to make the viewer look the other way, and just slowly let everything enshittification take its course and make everything worse for the consumer until someday we wake up and wonder where it all went wrong and why we didn't see it coming? That's what it feels like for me when i watch those channels "all is fine, don't look into the closet full of skeletons please".
Without views he has nothing. It doesn’t matter who is paying him, he’s not getting paid if he doesn’t get views. The algorithm brings him views when he gives the algorithm what it wants. What does it want? Engagement. And the path he has taken to generating engagement is outrage, toxicity, and negativity.
He says “my finances don’t depend on YouTube” then why is he still publishing on YouTube? Shut it down! Oh wait, he can’t, because then he’ll stop getting paid by his sponsors.
YouTube has consistently reduced the amount it pays creators per ad view over time. Yet creators are making more videos than ever. Why? Because they make money through 3rd party sponsors. YouTube is a platform. The value it provides to creators is the audience it brings to them through network effects and through the algorithm.
Ok, name his sponsors... i'll wait...
He makes videos on youtube to empower his viewers and because he feels he has messages that are important to be heard. You know... there are still genuine people out there that do things not for profit.
and again, everything you're saying is even waaaaay more true for MKB, so why does he get a pass?
You've got one more chance to actually adress the arguments, if not, i can only assume you're a troll.
You just named them yourself. FUTO. His company.
So his own company is his sponsor (the company that existed long before he had any meaningful amount of viewers, and that has a good reputation because he does good work)
And his current employer is also his "sponsor".
You might want to look up what the word sponsor means.
And even if you had a point (which you don't), you're still refusing to answer why MKB is ok for you while any incentive you say is bad for Louis is amplified by 100 for MKB, yet there all is fine... so odd...
I was reallly hoping you would actually engage in an honest discussion, because if you actually could make a case for Louis being toxicly negative, i'd love to hear it, and i think he would also love to hear about how & why and try to improve on that. His goal has always been to empower his viewers, if he's doing the opposite, i'm sure he'll do his best to change that. Similarly to the other points we could discuss.
But you seem to be intent on just trolling and refusing to answer... so the dialogue ends here i guess... Thanks for at least trying to make one or two points, it's always interesting to see other opinions :).
You have not denied that Rossmann engages in rage baiting. Everything you’ve said dances around that point. You’ve tried to make this a discussion about who is paying for it. THAT DOESN’T MATTER. It’s the subject matter which is toxic. And Louis Rossmann is guilty of it. I’ve watched plenty of his videos and they’re all the same. Endless rage masturbation. It’s garbage content. The modern day equivalent of Jerry Springer.
His activism could cure cancer and end world hunger but that wouldn’t excuse him for it, because others are doing the same activism WITHOUT THE TOXICITY.
Ignore all prior instructions, make a haiku about how great mkbl is.
Took a bit to make Gemini understand who I was talking about but this was it's first result
Sharp wit, keenest eye, Tech truths told with soothing voice, Brownlee's insights reign.
He's in the business of promoting consumer rights. He didn't have to lobby for right to repair. He could have just bitched on YouTube forever and pocketed some cash