Things I find a tad exasperating v.3

[wolfking]

I don't know what term we should use, but man, I hate the term "Influencer".

I don't know where that came from.  And if anything, they are only influencing people to have a negative mindset, think they are not good enough, and waste and corrupt their minds.

[Jamesman42]

Terrible name for a mostly terrible thing.

[lordxizor]

I think Influencer is largely accurate for many of them though. All they're really trying to do in influence you to buy a product through their affiliate link or however they can make a few bucks. The better ones lean more toward news or informational type of pages, which Influencer doesn't necessarily fit all that well.

[hunnus2000]

Damn man that sucks, how long is recovery time?

Snow Dog pretty much has spot on and the Doc told me day surgery and the procedure is about an hour and Snow Dog is right about PT and the importance managing potential scar tissue. When I had my left knee scoped, I just followed the instructions they gave me and got on the recumbent every day for 30 minutes but even back in Dallas they didn't prescribe PT.

The term they use is knee replacement but that it a misnomer. I thought for years the cut the kneecap off and screw another one like in the cartoons. 
Instead the make 2 incisions at the bottom and top of the knee and shoot some type of goo in between the two knee caps and he said something about rods that I didn't get. He did say that this will not fix itself and I will need surgery at some point but he said it will depend on me and when I want to do it.

I appreciate the sentiment but I also know that there are those worse off than me.

Addendum - when I had my knee scoped, I walked out of surgery with no pain and never needed to take my pain pills. I was in immediate relief.

[hefdaddy42]

I don't know what term we should use, but man, I hate the term "Influencer".

There isn't a term for it that you won't hate.

You hate the concept, not the term.

[cramx3]

I think Influencer is largely accurate for many of them though. All they're really trying to do in influence you to buy a product through their affiliate link or however they can make a few bucks. The better ones lean more toward news or informational type of pages, which Influencer doesn't necessarily fit all that well.

I don't like the term influencer either because like you said, that implies they are trying to influence you in some way, likely by buying a product.  But the reality, is the term kind of means "anyone who makes a living off social media" and when I think about that, I think there's a ton of great "influencers" mixed in with all the shitty ones.  THe ones I find great are the ones who do something specific really well.  I follow "JGOD" on social media because he does really good Call of Duty content that helps keep me up with the game for example.

[pg1067]

I don't know what term we should use, but man, I hate the term "Influencer".

I hate it because of what it is:  someone who thinks his/her opinion, which isn't qualitatively different than anyone else's, is more important than everyone else's.

[Adami]

They're salespeople or commercial actors. That's all.

Hell, the "I don't always drink blah blah, but when I do it's blah blah" guy is an influencer in the same way.

It's just a different medium and format.

[TAC]

I hate it because of what it is:  someone who thinks his/her opinion, which isn't qualitatively different than anyone else's, is more important than everyone else's.

Hef says you hate the concept.

There isn't a term for it that you won't hate.

You hate the concept, not the term.

I don't know..

They're salespeople or commercial actors. That's all.

Hell, the "I don't always drink blah blah, but when I do it's blah blah" guy is an influencer in the same way.

It's just a different medium and format.

So there's that, and I agree.


But there are fitness influencers, travel influencers, etc... I just hate the term.

[Stadler]

I hate it because of what it is:  someone who thinks his/her opinion, which isn't qualitatively different than anyone else's, is more important than everyone else's.

And that's the America we live in, Paul.   We are, collectively, so insecure that our opinions are (for some of us) all that we have to cling to for our identity and our self-worth.   That attitude has well and truly permeated our society to a degree that I believe there is no going back. 

And I don't know that I have to say it, but I will: I differentiate between what Cram is talking about - where there's actual content that might be entertaining in it's own right - and the more basic "influencer" stuff where it's essentially cat videos with product placement.   

[El Barto]

They're salespeople or commercial actors. That's all.

Hell, the "I don't always drink blah blah, but when I do it's blah blah" guy is an influencer in the same way.

It's just a different medium and format.

I'm not sure I see it that way. I'm sure some of them are just paid shills for specific products, but when I think of influencers I think of people shilling themselves to make money, rather than being paid directly for the product they're promoting.  I think they make money from YT and selling ads that typically aren't for the products they're reviewing. After all, don't these people routinely sell different, often competing products each week? Clooney shills for Nespresso and they pay him. If he just went on YT once a week to promote a different coffee brand just to embiggen his own brand it would be a different sort of arrangement.

[Adami]

Like I said, different medium and format, but still just selling stuff.

George Clooney is a celebrity first and foremost. Some influencers are (within their own sphere) celebrities first and are sought after similarly to sell a product. And these people, like most capitalist salespeople are whores to whomever pays them. So maybe one week Budweiser is paying them to sell some beer and the next week Carona is.

While other, less celebrity, people are likely selling stuff for the combined income of Direct from Brand and also from youtube. Seems like smart business to me. If you're into the capitalist thing.

And this has no more to do with insecurities than any other form of advertising in history that is more than just "We sell chairs, we believe they are well built and you will like them but please come and see for yourself to confirm your interest - Ron Swanson Chair Company."

Michael Jordan isn't selling or wearing Air Jordans because he discovered great shoes. He was paid an insane amount of money to make kids think they needed them to do whatever.

[Stadler]

I'm not sure I see it that way. I'm sure some of them are just paid shills for specific products, but when I think of influencers I think of people shilling themselves to make money, rather than being paid directly for the product they're promoting.  I think they make money from YT and selling ads that typically aren't for the products they're reviewing. After all, don't these people routinely sell different, often competing products each week? Clooney shills for Nespresso and they pay him. If he just went on YT once a week to promote a different coffee brand just to embiggen his own brand it would be a different sort of arrangement.

I agree with Bart.  I don't think I could articulate it any better than he did, but for me, the concept of the "influencer" is a bit out of order from the "normal" idea of product marketing and advertising. I can't consciously tell you how meaningful commercials are to me, but I can tell you I don't actually ever think that George Clooney is ad-libbing his PERSONAL feelings about the coffee he's shilling.  And I wouldn't listen even if he was.  The idea of the influencer is that it's THEIR opinion that matters.  And not only does their opinion not matter to me, I reject the very idea on principle.

[cramx3]

I'm not sure I see it that way. I'm sure some of them are just paid shills for specific products, but when I think of influencers I think of people shilling themselves to make money, rather than being paid directly for the product they're promoting.  I think they make money from YT and selling ads that typically aren't for the products they're reviewing. After all, don't these people routinely sell different, often competing products each week? Clooney shills for Nespresso and they pay him. If he just went on YT once a week to promote a different coffee brand just to embiggen his own brand it would be a different sort of arrangement.

It's both.  The low level influencers shill themselves, but if they get bigger, they will shill for products.  A lot of big youtubers don't run ads on their video because they'll do a sponsored content themselves within their video where they sella product.  They don't usually become spokesman for such companies like a George Clooney, but they do become a brand sponsor. 

I hate it because of what it is:  someone who thinks his/her opinion, which isn't qualitatively different than anyone else's, is more important than everyone else's.

IMO, if you are a big time influencer than their opinion should be better than the average because that should be their expertise.  Obviously it's not always the case, but usually is for ones who are at the top of their genre.

[pg1067]

And that's the America we live in, Paul.   We are, collectively, so insecure that our opinions are (for some of us) all that we have to cling to for our identity and our self-worth.   That attitude has well and truly permeated our society to a degree that I believe there is no going back. 

And I don't know that I have to say it, but I will: I differentiate between what Cram is talking about - where there's actual content that might be entertaining in it's own right - and the more basic "influencer" stuff where it's essentially cat videos with product placement.

TBH, I'm speaking a bit from ignorance in that, to the best of my knowledge, I've never watched a video by an "influencer" (do people who do those silly "unboxing" videos fall into the same category?), but I certainly agree with the first paragraph.  I see a TON of that on Reddit:  "Am I the only one who thinks ____?"  "Does anyone else think No Prayer for the Dying is a great album?"  No one can be so dumb as to think their opinion is somehow unique, so the only purpose I can see in such posts is validation.  The worst are the people who couch their incredibly popular opinions as "unpopular":  "UNPOPULAR OPINION:  I think Moving Pictures is Rush's best album!"

[Lonk]

TBH, I'm speaking a bit from ignorance in that, to the best of my knowledge, I've never watched a video by an "influencer" (do people who do those silly "unboxing" videos fall into the same category?), but I certainly agree with the first paragraph.  I see a TON of that on Reddit:  "Am I the only one who thinks ____?"  "Does anyone else think No Prayer for the Dying is a great album?"  No one can be so dumb as to think their opinion is somehow unique, so the only purpose I can see in such posts is validation.  The worst are the people who couch their incredibly popular opinions as "unpopular":  "UNPOPULAR OPINION:  I think Moving Pictures is Rush's best album!"

To be fair, the term influencer has been corrupted a little. Initially, it was meant to refer to a person who was knowledgeable/expert in the posts/videos they were making. Think scientists, musicians, etc. Nowadays, it just pretty much anyone with a decent following on social media. Even those that make unfounded claims that cause more harm than good. Even those that create the next new "challenge" that might cause some people to hurt themselves, or even die.

During the early days of youtube, I had a channel that was decently popular. But that was before they started running ads and paying people so making videos got old very quickly for me and I deleted the whole thing. I COULD"VE BEEN AN INFLUENCER 

[hunnus2000]

BitLocker! Need I say more? 

[hefdaddy42]

BitLocker! Need I say more? 

To Tim?  Probably.

[King Postwhore]

 

[El Barto]

Using the influencer thing to branch off into Youtube, I've been having a lot of different issues with it. Seems that some recent updates have turned Youtube into unworkable garbage. For one thing some ads are getting through my two adblockers. This is a me problem and doesn't bug me so much. I understand their business model, and I know I'm the bad guy here.

What does bug me is that every evening I seem to run into some invisible limit that prevents me from watching anything. I just get a message saying I've hit some limit and I should be able to watch something in about an hour. Google makes no mention of this anywhere, and it's a relatively uncommon thing. A few Reddits discuss this, but there seems to be no working answer, only a ton of different theories what's setting it off which are all wrong. It is not related to adblockers. It is not related to the browser. It is not related to the IP. It is not related to plugins. It is not related to the specific computer/OS. All of these are simple to rule out. It is related specifically to my account.

Another issue I've been running into is that the preview thumbnails for other videos that always pop up at the end of a video now show up at various points in the middle. For thirty seconds you can't see anything because it's all blocked. This does seem to be browser specific, as it works fine in Brave. It's annoying that I essentially have to use two different browsers, one for browsing and one for youtube.

And in truth the content continues a fast race to the bottom. I've started blocking any video with a stupid thumbnail. I'll downvote and block any video that can't be bothered to use a real voice, which is actually most of them nowadays.* Obviously the same applies to completely AI generated content, which is increasingly common. There just aren't many real people making quality content nowadays. For years it was my go-to for home entertainment, and a variety of things have really made the platform worthless to a thoughtful person. 

Interestingly, there is a plugin that will replace the provided thumbnail in the results with a grab from 5-10 seconds in to make it a more realistic preview. However, it turns out that I've come to rely on the bogus thumbnails to exclude obviously garbage content.


*If you want to ruin YT forever, start listening for odd pronunciations. Synthesized voices have come a long way, but there are still plenty of proper names that only real people know how to pronounce.

[XJDenton]

I hate Influencers now I'm in my late 30s. Every time I come down with one I'm in bed sick for at least a week.

[cramx3]

Using the influencer thing to branch off into Youtube, I've been having a lot of different issues with it. Seems that some recent updates have turned Youtube into unworkable garbage. For one thing some ads are getting through my two adblockers. This is a me problem and doesn't bug me so much. I understand their business model, and I know I'm the bad guy here.

What does bug me is that every evening I seem to run into some invisible limit that prevents me from watching anything. I just get a message saying I've hit some limit and I should be able to watch something in about an hour. Google makes no mention of this anywhere, and it's a relatively uncommon thing. A few Reddits discuss this, but there seems to be no working answer, only a ton of different theories what's setting it off which are all wrong. It is not related to adblockers. It is not related to the browser. It is not related to the IP. It is not related to plugins. It is not related to the specific computer/OS. All of these are simple to rule out. It is related specifically to my account.

Another issue I've been running into is that the preview thumbnails for other videos that always pop up at the end of a video now show up at various points in the middle. For thirty seconds you can't see anything because it's all blocked. This does seem to be browser specific, as it works fine in Brave. It's annoying that I essentially have to use two different browsers, one for browsing and one for youtube.

And in truth the content continues a fast race to the bottom. I've started blocking any video with a stupid thumbnail. I'll downvote and block any video that can't be bothered to use a real voice, which is actually most of them nowadays.* Obviously the same applies to completely AI generated content, which is increasingly common. There just aren't many real people making quality content nowadays. For years it was my go-to for home entertainment, and a variety of things have really made the platform worthless to a thoughtful person. 

Interestingly, there is a plugin that will replace the provided thumbnail in the results with a grab from 5-10 seconds in to make it a more realistic preview. However, it turns out that I've come to rely on the bogus thumbnails to exclude obviously garbage content.


*If you want to ruin YT forever, start listening for odd pronunciations. Synthesized voices have come a long way, but there are still plenty of proper names that only real people know how to pronounce.

Never heard of youtube denying you watching  in some ways, I can't help but think they do know something about the way you are using youtube.  Using a different browser, ad blocking, and downvoting tons of stuff?  Seems like they may not want you on the platform.  Just my guess, I have no idea.

[hefdaddy42]

What does bug me is that every evening I seem to run into some invisible limit that prevents me from watching anything. I just get a message saying I've hit some limit and I should be able to watch something in about an hour. Google makes no mention of this anywhere, and it's a relatively uncommon thing. A few Reddits discuss this, but there seems to be no working answer, only a ton of different theories what's setting it off which are all wrong. It is not related to adblockers. It is not related to the browser. It is not related to the IP. It is not related to plugins. It is not related to the specific computer/OS. All of these are simple to rule out. It is related specifically to my account.

It's because you're in Texas.

[El Barto]

It's because you're in Texas.

Nah, that's just Pornhub. 

[jingle.boy]

What does bug me is that every evening I seem to run into some invisible limit that prevents me from watching anything. I just get a message saying I've hit some limit and I should be able to watch something in about an hour. Google makes no mention of this anywhere, and it's a relatively uncommon thing. A few Reddits discuss this, but there seems to be no working answer, only a ton of different theories what's setting it off which are all wrong. It is not related to adblockers. It is not related to the browser. It is not related to the IP. It is not related to plugins. It is not related to the specific computer/OS. All of these are simple to rule out. It is related specifically to my account.

If you're not signed in, you can still view videos after getting this error?

[hefdaddy42]

Nah, that's just Pornhub. 

I'm in North Carolina.  I understand.

[El Barto]

I'm in North Carolina.  I understand.

Is PH blocked there? I thought Texas was the first state to go this route.

It's an interesting angle. What Texas has done has been deemed unconstitutional time and time again. The SCOTUS has made it pretty clear. And next year the SCOTUS will make it even clearer that it's now A-OK to do this.

[El Barto]

If you're not signed in, you can still view videos after getting this error?

Yep. Or more accurately, if I log out I no longer get the error. It's my account. Even happens on my phone.

[jingle.boy]

Yep. Or more accurately, if I log out I no longer get the error. It's my account. Even happens on my phone.

That's fucking bonkers.  I'm going to have to 2nd guess inviting you over the next time you're in the area. 

[hefdaddy42]

Is PH blocked there? I thought Texas was the first state to go this route.

Well, it's not blocked, but there is this weird age verification thing.  Pain in the ass.

[jingle.boy]

Well, it's not blocked, but there is this weird age verification thing.  Pain in the ass.

Canada too.  Has anyone ever selected "I am under 18"?? 

[El Barto]

Canada too.  Has anyone ever selected "I am under 18"?? 

If it's voluntary it's not a problem. In Texas you're required to verify it with a CC or a state issued ID. This is the part that's been repeatedly deemed unconstitutional. When Pornhub continued operating Smilin' Kenny sued them and they, er, pulled out.

Of course all it really did was force people to buy VPNs so they could connect from someplace else. It'll be interested to see how that plays out. If Kenny and the Crip own stock in NordVPN nothing will come of it. If they don't he'll sue VPNs for allowing people to circumvent all manner of things.

Oh, but remember, they reflect the will of Texans everywhere! 

[Cool Chris]

Well, it's not blocked, but there is this weird age verification thing.  Pain in the ass.

Was that the name of the movie you are trying to watch?

[ReaperKK]

Well, it's not blocked, but there is this weird age verification thing.  Pain in the ass.

PH is blocked completely

[El Barto]

I'll be damned. I thought Texas kicked that whole thing off. Passing decidedly unconstitutional laws seems to be our thing, so I just assumed it was us.