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Comment by rjbwork | Hacker News Reader

Lehto's Law did a video on this recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zewe9DWLEG8

I listen to his shows when I'm driving, but just be advised he is long-winded – repeating himself many times about the same thing.

>I listen to his shows when I'm driving, but just be advised he is long-winded – repeating himself many times about the same thing.

I think you've identified why I don't particularly like his videos. His takes are usually interesting and they are usually interesting cases, but he spends 10 minutes talking about something that is worth 2 minutes at best.

10 minutes is about what the YT algorithm requires.

It really sucks that the way to make money through youtube is to constantly adjust your videos to whatever pays best according to the algorithm that shifts and changes.

speed 2x to the rescue!

I've seen that with some videos (and understand it to be the case with the algorithm).

There are a number of channels that I have put in the "don't recommend from these channels" because it's two minutes of content five times over (I'd rather watch a 2 minute short form on the mater). It's content that I'm potentially interested in... but that particular format irks me.

It's a channel operator's decision to chase the algorithm instead of doing something that makes sense. The algorithm also likes people watching your videos, generally.

The issue is that your videos don't get surfaced unless you chase the algorithm. Hence thumbnails having faces on them all the time, also something the algorithm "likes".

Many creators have complained about the 'requirements' but if they don't do it, they don't get views.

They get views. They may not get as many views. Again, it's up to you if you want to defend crappy content in the name of a whatever% revenue increase. But as someone who's been making content for 12+ years and not chasing the algorithm, I can assure you, I absolutely get less views than people who do that, but I absolutely do still get views.

And ask yourself as a consumer of the videos-- what are you getting out of it? Literally just stop watching (and defending) videos with inflated runtimes; they do nothing but waste your time. Creators and/or the market will adjust or die out (or if enough others continue watching them, then they can keep doing their dumb thing while you seek out and support people doing it better, so everybody wins).

Most mainstream documentaries are full of fluff. You can generally read the transcript of a half hour programme in a couple of minutes.

I thought Charlie Brooker might have a useful segment on it, but all I could find were the not-quite-on-point, but nevertheless excellent two related segments below: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aHun58mz3vI

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