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I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#111

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

yessirwhatever wrote: post #98
WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The question not being asked is how your audience changes A vs B in other ways than size. That's not how it works. The most important factor to get views on YouTube is the recommendation algorithm. It makes a huge difference. YouTube will not even push your videos to people who are subscribed to you if the recommendation algorithm doesn't favor them. As the click-through rate is an important part of how the algorit…

What the parent comment said still applies. Algorithm or not, you can become a top pop singer either by having a really good voice and being talented or by being singling about how you enjoy something controversial just to create outrage. The only difference is your audience.

It's going to be really hard to be a top YouTuber if the YouTube algorithm just doesn't show your videos in the same way the best singer in the world would never get any audience if no one could hear them sing.

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#112

Post by xdennis »

geerlingguy wrote: post #59
jjk166 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly wonder which came first, the viewer preference or the algorithm. Like are there people out there that see a whacky face in the thumbnail and think "Oh that's a video I want to watch!" and the algorithm just got trained on that? Or did whacky faces just resemble something (from the algorithm's perspective) that was briefly popular and then a positive feedback loop of algorithm recommends it -> gets popular…

I've discussed this with my brother a bit (he's a neurologist, though not a specialist in vision), and he seems to think part of it goes back to our brain's instinct to react more to 'face' than other stimuli. Therefore thumbnails with a discernible face will do better. And on top of that, an expression outside of "stock photo smile" will stand out more, and if you combine that, plus a catchy title that piques your i…

I think it's because people look at images more than text and the author's face immediately identifies the video.

It's happened multiple times before that a YouTube video keeps following me and I ignore it, but once I realize who it's by I see it.

Have you A/B tested mouth open and mouth closed?

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#113

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

opheliate wrote: post #95
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact is, if YouTube makes up a sizeable portion of your income, and that can increase by a factor of 10% just by making a dumb face, you’d be silly not to do so. Sorry, I don't believe profit motive alone should ever be acceptable justification for making the world a worse place. You might argue that stupid faces and clickbait titles don't really make the world a worse place, and if that's the case we'll just h…

I agree if we’re talking about YouTubers who are already making millions, but if you’re a smaller channel making high-quality videos, I would imagine that view bump is the difference between being able to work on producing videos full time, and having to work multiple jobs. At that point then, maybe the thumbnails do make the world a worse place, but I believe that’s offset by having more of the good-quality videos p…

The ends justify the means? I'm not convinced that's a good rationale. For one, everyone thinks their ends are the important ones so of course they justify the means, even though no one else necessarily sees it that way. Again, I point at the thread with the discussion of gym membership cancelation practices. Of course the gym can justify that to themselves: it's better for the customer because as long as they're paying anyway they're probably going to use the service and become healthier people! Or even just: I like money!

There is an argument to be made that engaging in this metric-chasing behavior will invariably lead to worse content anyway. After all, if there was a lot of demand for the content being produced then such tactics shouldn't be necessary in the first place. Over time, the kind of content they produce could continue to regress towards the mean, which is garbage.

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#114

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

_zoltan_ wrote: post #108
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can share knowledge without optimizing for increased clicks leading to ad revenue. Let us not kid ourselves about the altruism of the youtuber.

I do not kid myself, I said nowhere he is altruistic. I'd do the same thing if I were him - increase my income. If somebody tells me now that I get a 20-30% salary bump right now and I need to make a silly face once a day I ask back: where do I sign?

Precisely my point. Where would you personally draw the line? Would you invent a new kind of unstoppable popup ad? Unbreakable DRM? Would you implement an overly complicated and error prone gym membership cancellation procedure?

You can easily justify all that to yourself for selfish reasons. That does not mean that I have to think it is ok.

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#115

Post by II2II »

geerlingguy wrote: post #24
rym_ wrote: post #7

I get so frustrated with the idiotic thumbnails on youtube video these days. I am sure it's all optimized for the maximum number of clicks/views but if I see a still that looks the way it does at the bottom of this page I generally just don't watch it on principle.

Believe me, I had a nice discussion yesterday with my sister (who helped me take pictures for the thumbnail), and we both agreed it's one of the dumbest things about current YouTube... The thing is, from all my own A/B testing, a face vs. no face will automatically get 20-30% more views (all else equal). And an exaggerated face, a bit more than that.

The perspective of one viewer:

Having a face in the thumbnail helps me to identify channels that already of interest me. That is the positive.

While there is an element of entertainment to the channel, I usually view your channel for information (e.g. interesting project ideas). I expect the thumbnail to show me what the video is about. If an exaggerated facial expression draws my attention away from that, or leads me to believe there is more entertainment than substance to the video (e.g. it is for shock value), then I will simply skip over it.

Throwing in a face for a 20-30% increase in views is almost certainly worth it. The question is: are the exaggerated attention grabbing thumbnails worth a bit more than that? Each time I skip a video, the channel's relevance goes down in my mind. Each time the relevance goes down, I am less likely to assess future thumbnails positively.[1] My thoughts are that the "bit more" may be of short term value for gaining viewers, but counterproductive in retaining long term viewers.

[1] Yes, it is an unfair assessment since it is based upon unwatched videos. On the other hand, viewers are confronted with a deluge of videos each time they visit YouTube.

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#116

Post by jonathankoren »

rym_ wrote: post #7

I get so frustrated with the idiotic thumbnails on youtube video these days. I am sure it's all optimized for the maximum number of clicks/views but if I see a still that looks the way it does at the bottom of this page I generally just don't watch it on principle.

It’s not just the thumbnail faces. Streamers constantly overreact to even the most mundane things.

My son and a friend of his were watching some pair of Minecraft streamers, and I couldn’t get follow what was happening. Both men were constantly yelling “WHAT? WHAT? OH MY GOD! AHHHHHHHHH!” As far as I could tell, they were both yelling independent things, and just walking around sheep.

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#117

Post by letitbeirie »

blitzar wrote: post #69
geerlingguy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Believe me, I had a nice discussion yesterday with my sister (who helped me take pictures for the thumbnail), and we both agreed it's one of the dumbest things about current YouTube... The thing is, from all my own A/B testing, a face vs. no face will automatically get 20-30% more views (all else equal). And an exaggerated face, a bit more than that.

Face only, mouth open 4-6cm, "shocked" expression. Amount of $$$$'s in the title. Like, subscribe and turn on notifications. We want to hear what you think, comment below.

Remember to ring that effing bell

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#118

Post by CyberRabbi »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #103
CyberRabbi wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guy makes free high quality content for random strangers online to enjoy and learn from and you’re unironically accusing him of making the world a worse place? Spend 1 week doing the work of making free content for strangers online and then you can get on your soapbox about YouTube thumbnails. Until then you just sound like a parasite.

Yes, I am. It's only a tiny bit worse mind you, but it all adds up. Just because you make something and give it away doesn't entitle you to a pass for making the world a worse place in the process. People make systemd for free and get endless shit about the ways it makes the world worse, google produces chrome for free and gets endless shit about the ways it makes the world worse, etc. Besides, lets be clear here: if…

> People make systemd for free and get endless shit about the ways it makes the world worse, google produces chrome for free and gets endless shit

The existence of systemd and chrome have unequivocally made the world a better place. The world would unequivocally be a worse place if they did not exist.

> Besides, lets be clear here: if the goal is to produce and give away videos they don't need to optimize for generating clicks, and therefore ad revenue, do they?

You sound like someone who has never made anything independently in their life. He has chosen to make a living by providing free technical content online. That’s clearly his passion and it’s a net benefit for the world. To support his passion he needs to make sure he can make a minimum profit otherwise he cannot sustain his work of providing you with free content. To support himself he must optimize his view count to get his ad revenue to a minimum amount, as well as generate other revenue sources.

This should all be obvious to any functioning human so either you are completely detached from reality or you have some problem with independent creators needing money to live. But then why? It’s a job like any other, except in his case his job provides you with free high quality technical content.

Re: I built a $5k Raspberry Pi server (yes, it's ridiculous)

#120

Post by flyinghamster »

For all the I/O bottlenecks it has, I've still been rather surprised at the Pi 4/400's raw number-crunching power. It compares well to a 3.3 GHz i3-2120 in a clustered number-crunching task I sometimes run (via MPICH) - which seriously surprised me. I suspect that if it were too big to fit in-cache, the Pi would probably fall flat on its face, but still it just floors me that this itsy-bitsy SoC can do so much on seven watts at the wall socket.
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