A Hoaxer’s Analysis of Apollo

[BDL]

I've never paid attention to YouTube hoax claimants and I don't plan to start.  They're the only group I have ever felt honest categorically dismissing.

Fair enough. YouTube is a breeding ground for these HBs and I find that part of YouTube toxic.

[JayUtah]

Fair enough. YouTube is a breeding ground for these HBs and I find that part of YouTube toxic.

"Wretched hive of scum and villainy" comes to mind, but I know several of the other regulars here have been active and successful on YouTube for years.  Clearly it works for them.  Let me be more forthcoming:  the tenor of offerings at YouTube, especially where they concern me personally, have been extremely base and needlessly personalized.  It's as if they need to attack my character, appearance, manner, and so forth in a way I honestly haven't seen since fifth grade.  I simply will not dignify such childishness with my attention.  I know Phil Plait feels mostly the same way, because we've talked about it.  There are swathes of YouTube based on little more than calling me, him, and others names and slinging all manner of slander and filth.  "Toxic" is the right word.

[onebigmonkey]

Fair enough. YouTube is a breeding ground for these HBs and I find that part of YouTube toxic.

"Wretched hive of scum and villainy" comes to mind, but I know several of the other regulars here have been active and successful on YouTube for years.  Clearly it works for them.  Let me be more forthcoming:  the tenor of offerings at YouTube, especially where they concern me personally, have been extremely base and needlessly personalized.  It's as if they need to attack my character, appearance, manner, and so forth in a way I honestly haven't seen since fifth grade.  I simply will not dignify such childishness with my attention.  I know Phil Plait feels mostly the same way, because we've talked about it.  There are swathes of YouTube based on little more than calling me, him, and others names and slinging all manner of slander and filth.  "Toxic" is the right word.

Pretty much my experience of it too. I think they like it that way - there's complete editorial control, no difficult setup or configuration to do as you'd have with a message board, no need to come up with reams of written content like a web site, and no hosting costs. Not only that they can even earn money if they know what they're doing with the monetisation part and can hoover in enough like minded suckers.

Expattaffy is fond of demanding that people make a video so he can go and vandalise it in the comments section or hijack the content under 'fair use' to ruin it on his own channel. It's typical of low attention span conspiratard laziness and in his case the height of egocentric cult of self - the embodiment of Rik Mayall's line from the Young Ones: "Everybody shut up and pay attention to me...".

[molesworth]

"Wretched hive of scum and villainy" comes to mind...

I thought that particular epithet was reserved for the GLP forums    (and of course, Mos Eisley).

Certainly, there's a lot of really atrocious content on YouTube, but there's also a lot of really interesting, informative, entertaining stuff as well.  If you pick carefully, and as always, apply some critical thought, you'll find a lot of good things to watch.

[smartcooky]

I know Phil Plait feels mostly the same way, because we've talked about it.  There are swathes of YouTube based on little more than calling me, him, and others names and slinging all manner of slander and filth.  "Toxic" is the right word.

In some ways this almost is a good thing. If they fell they have to resort to insulting you, its because they know they've got nothing. As a friend of mine once said...

"If I'm going to be somebody's boogeyman no matter what I do, then all I need to do is be the best person I can be, and wear people's hatred as a badge of honour"

[JayUtah]

Certainly, there's a lot of really atrocious content on YouTube, but there's also a lot of really interesting, informative, entertaining stuff as well.

I'm a voracious consumer of YouTube content, especially resurrected documentaries.  I'm just not a participant in YouTube debate or culture.

[Glom]

“Jet Wintzer” is not his real name I just found out.
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2015/01/leo-donofrio-natural-born-conspiracy-theorist/
Apparently his real name is “Leo Donofrio.”
He’s made quite the name for himself with conspiracies I guess.

"Donofrio". I thought that name sounded familiar. He's one of the main proponents of the Obama Birther Conspiracy. Expecting intellectual honesty from him is a lost cause.

Isn't he the one from Full Metal Jacket?

[nomuse]

Hard to resist an inappropriate quip about Full Canvas Jacket.

[AtomicDog]

“Jet Wintzer” is not his real name I just found out.
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2015/01/leo-donofrio-natural-born-conspiracy-theorist/
Apparently his real name is “Leo Donofrio.”
He’s made quite the name for himself with conspiracies I guess.

"Donofrio". I thought that name sounded familiar. He's one of the main proponents of the Obama Birther Conspiracy. Expecting intellectual honesty from him is a lost cause.

Isn't he the one from Full Metal Jacket?

"What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?"

It fits.

[ka9q]

Certainly, there's a lot of really atrocious content on YouTube, but there's also a lot of really interesting, informative, entertaining stuff as well.  If you pick carefully, and as always, apply some critical thought, you'll find a lot of good things to watch.

Absolutely. Theodore Sturgeon must have had a time machine when he said "90% of everything is crap". He must have traveled forward in time and watched Youtube. (My corollary: "Sturgeon was an irrepressible optimist.")

But those few gems make it all worthwhile.

Some of my favorite channels include anything by Brady Haran (periodic videos, sixty symbols, numberphile, nottinghamscience, computerphile, etc). Smarter Every Day; TheRoyalInstitution; and Scott Manley. Scott is one of the very few Youtube space fans who really seems to know his stuff.

And in the non-technical areas, there's College Humor. Like all humor it can be very uneven, but they have some absolute gems like "Why Every New Macbook Needs A Different Goddamn Charger" and their "If Google Were a Guy" series. Hysterically funny.

Oh, and this one:

[twik]

“Jet Wintzer” is not his real name I just found out.
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2015/01/leo-donofrio-natural-born-conspiracy-theorist/
Apparently his real name is “Leo Donofrio.”
He’s made quite the name for himself with conspiracies I guess.

"Donofrio". I thought that name sounded familiar. He's one of the main proponents of the Obama Birther Conspiracy. Expecting intellectual honesty from him is a lost cause.

Isn't he the one from Full Metal Jacket?

No, that's Vincent D'Onofrio.

The apostrophe makes all the difference.

[smartcooky]

“Jet Wintzer” is not his real name I just found out.
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2015/01/leo-donofrio-natural-born-conspiracy-theorist/
Apparently his real name is “Leo Donofrio.”
He’s made quite the name for himself with conspiracies I guess.

"Donofrio". I thought that name sounded familiar. He's one of the main proponents of the Obama Birther Conspiracy. Expecting intellectual honesty from him is a lost cause.

Isn't he the one from Full Metal Jacket?

No, that's Vincent D'Onofrio.

The apostrophe makes all the difference.

... a brilliant and totally underrated actor.

His portrayal of the mildly autistic Detective Robert Goren in Criminal Intent was outstanding... and who could forget his Alien Cockroach character in MiB?

[Glom]

Certainly, there's a lot of really atrocious content on YouTube, but there's also a lot of really interesting, informative, entertaining stuff as well.  If you pick carefully, and as always, apply some critical thought, you'll find a lot of good things to watch.

Absolutely. Theodore Sturgeon must have had a time machine when he said "90% of everything is crap". He must have traveled forward in time and watched Youtube. (My corollary: "Sturgeon was an irrepressible optimist.")

But those few gems make it all worthwhile.

Some of my favorite channels include anything by Brady Haran (periodic videos, sixty symbols, numberphile, nottinghamscience, computerphile, etc). Smarter Every Day; TheRoyalInstitution; and Scott Manley. Scott is one of the very few Youtube space fans who really seems to know his stuff.

And in the non-technical areas, there's College Humor. Like all humor it can be very uneven, but they have some absolute gems like "Why Every New Macbook Needs A Different Goddamn Charger" and their "If Google Were a Guy" series. Hysterically funny.

Oh, and this one:

There's also the ambitious The Great War, which is nearly finishing its project. There's Ben Eater who has the most brilliant tutorial on building a simple computer. Mentour Pilot is great for all things 737. Crash Course has some good stuff. I loved their history stuff. The science stuff tends to be a bit basic, but Hank Green's environment series was actually revision material for my masters module in sustainable development.

On light entertainment, there's of course RedLetterMedia. I love a good episode of Best of the Worst. Lindsay Ellis has some intelligent video essays on the field. The Unusual Suspect is good when he does actual reviews. There's some wonderful music channels like Insaneintherain which does jazz covers of video game stuff. Lot of talent there. And some lovely compilations of Legend of Zelda music that is great to have on at work if I think I can spare the data.

[nomuse]

A second vote for the amazing Carlos.