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Comment by nordsieck | Hacker News Reader

> How can people bring themselves to care about what some shrill rando thinks they should buy or not buy?

The answer is pretty simple - they give you a reason for you to care.

Quick example:

Project Farm[1] on Youtube does product reviews. Maybe they're not the best reviews - I don't really know. They seem at least alright.

But they're constructed in such a way as to be transparent, objective, and easy to understand.

Which is why the channel has a lot of subscribers.

Now, depending on the person, "a reason for you to care" will be different. But that's part of the reason why there's so many different influencers in each area - different influencers appeal to different people.

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1. https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectFarm

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Project Farm is different because he focuses on reviews, and pays for all products himself to prevent bias. That's very different from makeup gurus, investment channels, vlog celebrities, etc.

Most people aren't really aware or care that they're sponsored though. They want reviews and recommendations, so they follow people that recommend things.

I love project farm. Love how much rigor he puts into experiment design but still makes it obvious and appreciable to the layman observer.

For example, when he tests tape, he does not put the tape down by hand. Instead he uses a roller with a fixed weight to push the tape down so that all tapes for sure have the same pressure applied

Project Farm is awesome, but some of the tests he engineers aren't really suited for the tools he's testing.

But if you aren't heavily involved with said type of tools, you'd never know so you can continue to enjoy the entertainment.

Torque Test Channel does something similar, but they're usually just testing the numbers provided by the manufacturers, and then intentionally going off the rails to break the tools.

The dude tests basically anything and everything, and gives them generally pretty reasonable goes at a proper test. Sure, it's far off from an industry standard in a lot of cases, but unlike the industry (generally) he does side by side comparisons.

Some of his tests are like comparing RAM by temperature. They just make no sense.

I've learned from watching vintage computer repair videos on youtube that touching chips on a running system and looking for a hot one is a common troubleshooting technique.

Fun fact if you take a board out of a Burroughs B6700/B6800 that you think is bad (has a bad chip) if you drop it flat on the floor, chips side up from 36" (about belt height) 9 times out of 10 the lid on the bad chip will fly off. Turns out the heat from a failing chip heats enough to release the glue.

YMMV on fixing a now 50 year old computer.

I generally like most of his stuff, but definitely agree.

The last one I watched was about rain repellents like rainx. I'd expect to test longevity over time, under sunlight, maybe simulating rainy days.

Instead the tests had various harsh chemicals applied in succession, and a sponge friction test for some reason.

That guy is not an influencer. An influencer is an attractive, young, wealthy person who endorses a product by producing "content" about using/consuming it in their extremely expensive apartment/house or on an extremely expensive trip. They sell stuff by being hot, which is nothing new. The difference is that the companies who make the stuff don't have to pay an ad agency, they just pay a person with a lot of instagram followers to post about it.

Thanks for posting that channel though, I decided I liked that guy within 5 seconds.

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