Hacker News Reader

Comment by asimpletune | Hacker News Reader

Much has been made about LPL s and his astonishing skill, but I’d like to briefly mention my appreciation for LPL the showman.

I really think the style and format of his show makes it so incredibly watchable. I love his voice, the delivery, and the way he so articulately breaks down how he thinks and approaches problem solving. He really makes you feel like you could do it too.

It’s very subtle but as a showman he’s one of the alltime best on YouTube.

View on HN

And the fact that he doesn’t surround his videos with tons of cruft to make them longer.

Probably the only YouTuber that tries to sell me stuff and I totally think that is a good and natural idea.

In one of his videos he explained his process with videos. He wants to rule out the possibility of deceptive editing, so he only includes takes done in a single shot (at least for the portion where he demonstrates the technique). As a result, he keeps things short, as that reduces the chance of misspeaking and having to reshoot.

That makes me wonder if LPL had launched the channel today would the YT algorithm even allow the channel to surface in the recommendations anywhere? non-edited, succinct, no-cringe thumbnails or no click-bait title seems like top of the blacklist filter for YT.

I started watching the channel after the videos were suggested to me by the algorithm fairly recently, maybe a year ago.

Good to know, But LPL would have still had over 2 million subscribers a year ago, I'm talking about someone who starts a YT channel today and makes such videos.

> And the fact that he doesn’t surround his videos with tons of cruft to make them longer.

Unlike most full-time Youtubers, LPL does not need to pad out videos or pander to sponsors to make a living, and he doesn't need to engage in clickbaiting and SEO/algorithm manipulation to lure new viewers. This independency from anyone else is what allows him the complete artistic control to do videos the way he prefers.

Indeed, it's all about incentives. He said during the keynote that his goal is to get the word out and change locks for the better. So far he's seen more incentive to get views than making money on the channel.

This will not always be the case. Given his goals, the channel will change as his priorities shift. When he reaches his goal "everyone is aware that locks suck", his next goal is "change locks for the better". This will involve designing and selling locks and pointing viewers towards better locks in a commercial way.

> This will involve designing and selling locks and pointing viewers towards better locks in a commercial way.

Designing and selling his own locks on his own store would not be too different from his current business model of selling lockpicking tools.

Pointing viewers towards better locks on a commercial way is something I cannot ever see him doing. For one, he already points out there are some locks he cannot pick (IIRC some Abloy models). But especially: LPLs authority is directly derived from the fact he's impartial and unmotivated by financial decisions. Taking money for lock recommendations would completely compromise that impartiality. It's similar to amateur nude models on Reddit and the "OnlyFans hate" - in the eyes of many viewers, once the line between "they are doing what they do for fun" and "they are in it only for the money" blurs, the attractivity fades.

What I do can see LPL do in the future - with far better chances of profit for him - is sell consultancy services and reviews to lockmakers. That would both fit his goal of improving the lockmacking business as a whole and net him a hefty chunk of money, without compromising his outward image.

Monetization models are interesting. In most amateur's case it seems to start out as "for fun" and then flip to "for money". Instead it's simply a gradient of incentives, whether acknowledged or not.

As cryptocurrencies and other models increasingly securitize everything, I wonder what will happen to the "amateur" market. As viewers we get so much free benefit from the hard work of amateurs.

Eh locks are only as good as the doors they're attached to. Any healthy adult male (and probably determined females) can kick and shoulder through a typical door, especially on suburban houses.

Shouldering/kicking through a door is made to break the door at the hinges (unlikely), or the lock. An adult made that tries to kick through the body a door and break it open will take several minutes, at the very least.

Unless the frame is metal or otherwise reinforced, it's not overly difficult to split the frame where the lock pockets are with a couple of good "donkey kicks".

...yes, that's why I mention that the only way it works is by kicking at the lock.

You'd be surprised how quickly you can kick a door down when your psycho (ex) girlfriend deadbolts your door and says she's going to burn your house down because you are evicting her.

It is interesting (read: irritating) to me that YouTube never puts his videos in my algorithmic feed. Every other channel to which I subscribe gets woven in but I had to actually click the bell icon to get notified of new videos for his channel.

It’s probably because his videos are short so the algo doesn’t like them

Maybe, but every once in a while his videos get on trending… why can’t they just put them in my feed? I’m subscribed!

I need to stop; I’m getting angry just thinking about it.

He’s also the only YouTuber I’ve ever bought something from. He does a great job of using the things he sells in videos to demonstrate their value and he’s not overly pushy about it like many other creators. He’ll simply mention that the tool he uses is one that is available for purchase from him, no different than mentioning the names of other tools he uses. It’s an ingenious and very effective sales pitch.

In the linked video at 33:10, he said he deliberately make his videos short.

I love videos that jump right into the meat of the video, please put the fluff at the end :)

He is a real lawyer after all, I believe that these are important skills in the profession.

From years of experience of being around Lawyers, many of them seek the need to say things in the most unnecessary complex and impersonal ways. Lawyers are often terrible communicators.

They are taught to speak that way in certain circumstances. It's called "circumlocution". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumlocution

What's the function, if I may ask? Is it to be more persuasive, or not to get pinned down easily?

In some cases, the purpose is to say something in such a way that seems to have an opposite meaning to what is being said.

Here's an example, "I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor;"

He could have instead said, "I always worked for John Jacob Astor."

For many more examples of this, read "Bartleby, The Scrivener" by Herman Melville.

https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11231/pg11231.txt

I think it can help make ambiguous statements more robust and complete. "I wasn't there" instead of "I was not at the location stated at the time recorded in the complaint".

I sometimes use it if I'm discussing something with someone who likes to nitpick small details that aren't relevant to the main point of the discussion. It can help you railroad a discussion down a particular path. That makes me sound super rude but it's more of a defensive communication device in that circumstance.

> or not to get pinned down easily?

This. When dealing with legal stuff, it's very easy to commit verbal mistakes that can sink your case - in Canada, they passed the Apology Act of 2009 for that reason.

That’s an Ontario law, but it looks like several other provinces have something similar.

I've met more than a few engineers and CS people who can do similar, especially when they get angry. Lawyers are on another level though.

These are important skills for the profession, but many lawyers don’t have them. The good ones do, however.

> and the way he so articulately breaks down how he thinks and approaches problem solving

Agreed. I think this video is a nice (simple) demonstration of his style in this regard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoGCIuO2XkM

Also, he doesn’t start off being able to pick X lock in two seconds or whatever. He fiddles with things a while until it’s optimized. That is what makes it entertaining as well. You don’t have to sit through the whole process. He usually notes anything interesting that came up. Mostly you get results.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com