Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 249 posts

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#171

Post by j45 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #31
graypegg wrote: post #12

Tom Scott’s work stands out as some of the best examples of how interesting and valuable web content can be. In a sea of short derivative junk-food content, he made things that i honestly learned from, without demanding more than 10 minutes of my time a week! There’s of course a lot of people also doing the same sort of great content, but it does feel like a slowly dying breed. Tom definitely deserves an indefinite b…

I agree! But the thing is— I’ve got about fifty Tom Scotts in my subscription list. I’m perplexed by doomsaysers’ laments about the state of online educational media. I’ve got far more high quality content for a huge variety of topics than I’ve ever had before. My theory is this: your favourite hobby store expands and adds one more aisle of fantastic products and five aisles of garbage. You’ll likely perceive quality…

Helping more people create videos sustainably is a definitive challenge

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#172

Post by alister »

throw0101b wrote: post #56
M2Ys4U wrote: post #36

Tom's commitment to accessibility is fantastic. Turn on the subtitles on any of his videos (particularly when there are multiple speakers) and you'll see the effort that goes in to it. Far too many people who publish to YouTube just let users deal with the the auto-generated subtitles, even when they have the ability and budget to do it properly. "'Oh look at me I bought a Lamborghini!' Buy some damned subtitles" --…

> Turn on the subtitles on any of his videos (particularly when there are multiple speakers) and you'll see the effort that goes in to it. He actually did a video on subtitles recently, "Why don't subtitles match dubbing?": * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU9sHwNKc2c

His explanation about why subtitles don't match dubbing is not convincing. Basically he says that subtitling and dubbing are done by different teams with different goals. The dubbing crew tries to match lip movement. OK, so why not use the script that the dubbing team produced for the subtitles? Why do the translation twice?

His explanation for that: (a) sometimes what's spoken is too long to fit as subtitles on the screen, (b) what's spoken needs to be summarized, like multiple people shouting over one another on a reality show, otherwise the subtitles would be a confusing jumble of words, and (c) jokes/slang/puns can be difficult to translate.

I that agree (a) and (b) are legitimate reasons why subtitles might occasionally not match dubbing, but (c) is irrelevant. Jokes/slang/puns might be difficult or impossible to translate, but whatever way it ends up being translated can be spoken and written identically. In fact his goose joke is spoken and written in Portuguese as Eu estou gansado deles in the same way (timecode 3:57). I.e., the dubbing matches the subtitles. So the examples he gives do not support what he did in his own video.

Furthermore, his video (like almost all videos and TV shows) is chock full of cases where the subtitles and dubbing are different for no plausible reason related to (a), (b), or (c) above:

All examples below are when the video is set to Brazilian Portuguese audio and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles.

  Time: 0:22
  Dubbing:  E o motivo disso é que as legendas e a dublagem ...
  Subtitles:  Isso acontece porque as legendas e a dublagem ...

  Time: 0:51
  D:  as legendas e a dublagem são praticamente idênticas
  S:  as legendas e a dublagem são quase idênticas

  Time: 1:08
  D:  é sincronizar o movimento dos lábios o mais próximo possível
  S:  é sincronizar os lábios o mais próximo possível
Although I agree that reasons (a) and (b) above might be valid on rare occasions, I think the real reason that subtitles don't match dubbing is because they are done by different teams with no coordination, with different timelines and deadlines, and probably by completely different companies in different countries.

If you cared strongly about this issue, I don't see any reason why the subtitles and dubbing couldn't be 99% or 99.9% identical in any particular target language. The 1% or 0.1% case being when the dialog is much too long for the screen or when you have to summarize a bunch of people talking simultaneously.

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#173

Post by philipwhiuk »

maxglute wrote: post #144

It's nice to see Youtube channel end on their own terms. So many creators burn out without warning, maybe a written explanation somewhere. Very few would post a video saying this channel is dead for obvious reasons. It's probably against the rules, but I hope he reuploads every week from episode 1. I haven't gone through 10 years of backlogs and it's nice when new videos, as in videos that's never been watched comes…

They're not seasons? Seasons have breaks between each one.

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#174

Post by ysavir »

CooCooCaCha wrote: post #42
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #11

What struck me was “it’s either keep growing and become a manager or stop and do smaller projects” As someone who many years back looked at a team of 40 developers I was leading and went “nah, I want to be an IC again” that resonates

I'm not sure I buy his reasoning there. He said that he uploads a video every week which is a brisk pace. Why not a video every month? Every quarter? Perhaps he really just wants a break and this explanation sounded the most reasonable. But I hope he didn't get burned out because he was afraid of switching things up.

He definitely could, but I imagine his immediate goal is to manage expectations, and making sure no one is disappointed.

Leaving it as he did, he's open to do anything he wants: upload monthly, upload in indeterminate times, never uploading again, etc. And no one will feel let down or deceived.

If he said he'll start doing monthly, but then finds that he much prefers not doing the primary Tom Scott stuff at all, many people looking forward to those monthly videos will be let down.

If there's one thing that I feel comfortable saying about Tom Scott (as a casual viewer, at least), is that he likes doing right by people. I doubt anyone, including he, knows what to expect will be next, and the best thing he can do for his audience is to set an expectation that there ought to be no expectations. Let any surprises be surprises for the better, and let him have the peace of mind that he can do what he wants without feeling external pressure to deliver.

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#175

Post by al_borland »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #11

What struck me was “it’s either keep growing and become a manager or stop and do smaller projects” As someone who many years back looked at a team of 40 developers I was leading and went “nah, I want to be an IC again” that resonates

I was lucky to have a boss who let me dip my toe into the water of management. I dealt with a team of 10, I was formerly a IC on, and they required very little effort. After a year I decided to go back to being an IC as well. I was glad I was able to see I didn’t want to do it when the stakes were low and the team was actually easy to manage. It also gave me some more empathy for those in those management roles.

Interestingly, back in YouTube land, Matt D'Avella also just announced he got rid of his team and is back to doing things himself. He fell into that trap of thinking he needed to hire a team and scale a few years back, then found himself as a manager and wasn’t happy. It’s good Tom was able to see the paths ahead to avoid the headaches and layoffs when he ultimately decided he didn’t like it.

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#177

Post by wussboy »

trogdor wrote: post #165
kragen wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the problem i have with educational youtube is that it's competence porn. it's quite satisfying to watch lyle peterson, kiwami japan, grandpa amu, nigel braun, grant sanderson, andy george, or xyla foxlin working through the problems involved in creating something, to the point that hours spent getting satisfied that way displace the far more effortful hours required to work through those problems myself. but i don't…

Going to the symphony is similarly “competence porn.” It does nothing for your musical skills, but it’s a joy. There is nothing wrong with entertainment for entertainment’s sake.

Perhaps. But I wonder how much of this completely passive entertainment was in our ancestral environment? Before 50 years ago, the percentage of all humans who had ever experienced the symphony was so low it was essentially zero. Perhaps the boredom is integral to good living?

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#178

Post by al_borland »

leros wrote: post #167
imiric wrote: post #73

I always appreciate when authors of successful projects decide to stop after they've figured out the formula for success. Whether these are films without sequels, TV shows without dozens of seasons, or video content creators who are not compelled to keep uploading in perpetuity. It shows true care and dedication to their craft, and a desire to keep innovating in perhaps other areas of their career. It also avoids the…

He's in a nice position in that he's diversified his content with a game show and podcast, so he can stop his main channel content and still have some income flowing. That gives him time to take a step back and re-invent himself if he chooses. I wonder if he would be doing the same thing if he only had his main channel.

I would think if he invested well and lives a modest life, he could live off the investments and effectively retire. Not that he’d want to stop doing things, but he could focus on what he finds interesting rather than what will pay the bills.

Of course I have no idea what his financial situation is like, but he doesn’t strike me as the type of YouTuber to blow all his income on fast cars and other “status” symbols.

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#179

Post by schiffern »

mixdup wrote: post #118
CooCooCaCha wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I buy his reasoning there. He said that he uploads a video every week which is a brisk pace. Why not a video every month? Every quarter? Perhaps he really just wants a break and this explanation sounded the most reasonable. But I hope he didn't get burned out because he was afraid of switching things up.

>I'm not sure I buy his reasoning there. He said that he uploads a video every week which is a brisk pace. Why not a video every month? Every quarter? Yeah, this immediately came to mind for me as well. There's nothing set in stone that his production has to be weekly. He could move to monthly, or whatever. It doesn't even have to be a schedule, just whenever the next thing is ready push it. Which, he did leave the d…

  >There's nothing set in stone
It's not about setting in stone, it's about setting a goal. That means something to some people.

  >he's just shifting into different types of content, which is fine
He wasn't waiting for your permission. ;-)

Re: Tom Scott: After ten years, it's time to stop making videos [video]

#180

Post by yardshop »

graypegg wrote: post #152
yardshop wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are so many great channels on there! Here are a few of my recent favorites: Laura Kampf - german maker and problem solver, currently renovating a 120 year old house Jimmy Diresta - maker and designer, also renovating an old house in upstate New York Adam Savage - from MythBusters, interesting builds, and interesting discussion of shop and building techniques Rambling Wild Rosie - former long-distance hiker and…

Laura Kampf is new to me, and right up my alley! Subscribed! Mattias Wandel for the woodworking channels list as well!

Absolutely, I was just outside working, thinking of building some shelves, and thought, "what about Matthias?!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QeXOb9rxRY

Laura Kampf is wonderful, very inventive and knowledgeable builder, and great attitude.

Post reply on HN