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YouTube millionaires are not your friends

vox.com

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Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#41

Post by atoav »

lelanthran wrote: post #12
Animats wrote: post #8

Celebrities are not your friends. Remember all those celebrities who claimed they'd bought Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs? That was all a scam.[1] It was put together by a Hollywood agent who represented both a long list of major celebrities and BAYC. Now there's a lawsuit against all the parties involved. Kim Kardashian was already fined a few million dollars by the SEC for that sort of thing. [1] https://variety.com/202…

> Celebrities are not your friends. > Remember all those celebrities who claimed they'd bought Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs? Well, yeah... This isn't new, it's always been this way. Remember all those people who said they'd leave the US if Trump won?

Claiming to do $X if $Y happens and then not doing it is different than claiming to have done $X already despite this being false.

In the first case it could be hyperbole, circumstances could change, it could be a statement made in the heat of the moment, etc. In the latter it is just a lie, or if money is at play, fraud.

If I recall correctly there were many republicans that claimed their kind would be deported if Biden came to power. At least those who predicted Trump would act like a fascist got it right.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#42

Post by koonsolo »

holoduke wrote: post #33

Nobody you have really befriended (in real life for a long stable period) can't be your friend. No emmotional expession in commercials or other people towards you is genuine. Its all so they get what they want from you. Money or attention. Of course the random stranger you meet can be an exception. But i never understood how people can fall in love with brands, (most) artists etc. There is no mutual feeling.

> There is no mutual feeling.

Why would you think that? That seems like a very negative world view to me.

The seller is not exploiting the buyer, it's just a mutual deal where both parties benefit.

I create a product, and some of my users really love it. They are very happy that I created it in so far that they want to pay for it. They want me to make more features.

I, on my part, am very grateful that they love my product. That means they want to pay for it and I can make a living. I love my biggest fans or hard-core users the same way as they love me and my product. Is it a real personal relationship? Probably not.

You make it seem like all people that sell you something try to rip you off. Maybe they just want to create a great product, and create a win-win relationship. I'm sure plenty of artists love their fans and want to do great things for them.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#43

Post by sirsinsalot »

The worst thing about these toxic people, aside from preying on disenfranchised people in a cult-like way is that rather than use something obvious like religious talk they co-opt the language of things that are legitimate and mix in vile philosophical memes.

Like an MLM scheme that also has links to white Christian fundame.. oh nevermind.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#44

Post by lethuel »

highwaylights wrote: post #34
Velc wrote: post #13

“If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost.” So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos? This seems like a fairly obtuse statement. I don’t watch these hustle porn guys on YouTube but I learn a hell of a lot from smaller tech YouTubers who produce educational content. The author is clearly quite sal…

I think you’ve missed the point of the comment. The point is that these people aren’t making their money from what they’re preaching, they’re making it from YouTube. Even if there were some validity to what they’re saying in the videos, if the video has 3 million views by the time you’ve watched it then you’re at least the 3 millionth fish in the packed-to-the-gills salmon farm by then and there’s no margin left for…

There's lots of similar programming videos, does that mean you should not learn programming because you'll be the 3 millionth fish? Competition exists in every niche, you still have to get better than others, there's no silver bullet.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#45

Post by blackoil »

I don't seek friends on Youtube or online. I am looking for genuine information, better parameter is conflict of interest. A shovel seller may have best info. about gold, but they have an incentive to exaggerate and hype it. In a more relevant context, VCs may be able to give best advice to a founder but they have a bias towards to the fund.

For youtube influencers / gurus / religious gurus, they are in business of selling clicks and views so they'll be more prone to tell you what you want to listen than what will truly help you. Even likes of Jordan Peterson may give wonderful advice if consulted in person, but on Youtube he has to cater to the bias of people who are viewing his videos.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#46

Post by berjin »

> Drop shipping, or the practice of PURCHASING cheap goods, usually from China, and selling them on a legitimate-seeming website for profit

Vox doesn't even understand what drop shipping is. The whole point is that the goods don't need to be owned. Vox are mad people are watching dumb videos instead of their own low quality articles.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#47

Post by lessname »

lethuel wrote: post #44
highwaylights wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’ve missed the point of the comment. The point is that these people aren’t making their money from what they’re preaching, they’re making it from YouTube. Even if there were some validity to what they’re saying in the videos, if the video has 3 million views by the time you’ve watched it then you’re at least the 3 millionth fish in the packed-to-the-gills salmon farm by then and there’s no margin left for…

There's lots of similar programming videos, does that mean you should not learn programming because you'll be the 3 millionth fish? Competition exists in every niche, you still have to get better than others, there's no silver bullet.

If you learn programming you can create a completely unique and useful program. Dropshipping on the other hand is thousands of different people selling the exact same product, there is no value added.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#49

Post by glass3 »

ryandrake wrote: post #37
jen729w wrote: post #14

What I find distasteful about these fellas is that they’re not adding anything to the world. They’re taking away. It’s what I love about HN. Sure, most of us wouldn’t mind being rich (sorry, ‘financially independent’), but it’s not the driver. The driver is to make something cool; to make something better. I couldn’t imagine being the sort of person who sold people cheap Chinese shit just so I could buy a ‘Lambo’. Ev…

I admit I envy their ability to not care how they are making their money. I was once pitched a gig that, after you boiled away the flowery tech contraptions, amounted simply to “run your own scummy leadgen business.” I felt like I had to take a shower after hearing that pitch. Wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t have that part of my brain that recoils in disgust at treating other human beings as “leads” to be bought and…

If you want to get rid of that part of your brain, check my profile and fill out the form on my homepage ...

Apart from the lack of personal fulfillment, isn't it good for society, and thus not such a bad job, that fools are parted from their money? After all, consumers decide what our society does. If a consumer is not able to recognize a scam, how can society trust them to make meaningful decisions? A hustle guru will spend their money on fast cars and thus at least support state of the art engineering.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#50

Post by Velc »

varsketiz wrote: post #30
Velc wrote: post #13

“If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost.” So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos? This seems like a fairly obtuse statement. I don’t watch these hustle porn guys on YouTube but I learn a hell of a lot from smaller tech YouTubers who produce educational content. The author is clearly quite sal…

I'm not sure how you get from "If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost" to "So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos?"

If a startup idea is good, it doesn’t really matter if someone mentioned it in a video that got hundreds of thousands of views. Execution is still the key component.

‘You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means.

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