I’ve already addressed Rossmann’s political activism in a previous comment. I appreciate all the work he’s done on it. But he’s by no means the only person fighting for right to repair. There are tons of others doing so as well, such as iFixit, the EFF, and loads of organizations representing farmers all over North America.
My criticism of Rossmann is specifically with the style of content he puts out. Negativity-based reaction videos are his bread and butter. That’s how he makes money. This puts an asterisk on all of the good things he does, just as MKB’s occasional soft takes put an asterisk on the work he does.
This kind of toxic negativity is heavily favoured by the YouTube algorithm and it leads people into mental health spirals. That’s my point. Louis Rossmann makes money by damaging the mental health of vulnerable people in his audience. None of his beneficial activism makes up for this. You can look at other right to repair activists and see that they are working towards their goals without this odious behaviour.
But it obviously isn’t how he makes his money. He used to make his money with his repair shop, now futo is paying him to do right to repair/open software advocacy. Youtube pays jack shit for the amount of views he gets, and he never took sponsors, so youtube was never the way he earned his money. He gets some money from it, but would absolutely love it if everyone watched him on odyssey or any other platform that isn’t youtube and that doesn’t pay him anything.
And yeah, there is truth to ragebait working well in algorithms. But you’re making a claim that’s plain false: he has economic incentives, and you’re avoiding a few more:
You claim he’s got financial incentives to do all the ragebaiting. He regularly mentions his finances don’t depend on youtube, never have, it’s probably a fun extra for him, but it’s never been what makes the money for him.
You seem to prefer MKB, because he’s positive. But his income does depend on youtube, and he’s heavily sponsored by the brands he reviews. So somehow because he’s positive all the things you claim are an issue for Louis Rossmann aren’t an issue for MKB??
Your algorithm claim: you claim the algorithm favors his kind of content, but his channel is far smaller than the less critical techchannels such as MKB and LTT that take all the sponsor money and say all is fine. So it seems the algorithm favors that even more?
And you name his negativity toxic, why? He’s addressing actual shit that is happening all around us and can get you into serious issues in the future. Your car manufacturer selling your data to your insurance can have a serious impact on your life. Manufacturers suing customers that leave a bad review can seriously ruin your life, … But at the same time he always tries to use this criticism to empower the viewer to make better choices, to teach you how to avoid such issues, and how you can make a difference. Just this week he made a video regarding doing business in an ethical way, that’s like the least toxic video possible, his message is always: bad shit is happening, here’s how to spot it, here’s how to make a difference, and not “all is lost, you may now despair because there’s nothing you can do about it”
Your arguments are imo very biased, and simply don’t show the truth. I know the kind of youtubers you mean, and there are plenty, but putting people like Rossmann in that basket is just insane. He actively tries to make the world a better places. Makes incredible videos on how you can be part of the change, has for over a decade done everything to empower his viewers and customers, and you’re all like “he’s just a toxic negative youtuber that does it for money”.
And one follow up question: can positivity be toxic? Can the likes of MKB & LTT just sweep all the stuff that’s happening under the rug, take huge payouts to make the viewer look the other way, and just slowly let everything enshittification take its course and make everything worse for the consumer until someday we wake up and wonder where it all went wrong and why we didn’t see it coming? That’s what it feels like for me when i watch those channels “all is fine, don’t look into the closet full of skeletons please”.
Without views he has nothing. It doesn’t matter who is paying him, he’s not getting paid if he doesn’t get views. The algorithm brings him views when he gives the algorithm what it wants. What does it want? Engagement. And the path he has taken to generating engagement is outrage, toxicity, and negativity.
He says “my finances don’t depend on YouTube” then why is he still publishing on YouTube? Shut it down! Oh wait, he can’t, because then he’ll stop getting paid by his sponsors.
YouTube has consistently reduced the amount it pays creators per ad view over time. Yet creators are making more videos than ever. Why? Because they make money through 3rd party sponsors. YouTube is a platform. The value it provides to creators is the audience it brings to them through network effects and through the algorithm.
He makes videos on youtube to empower his viewers and because he feels he has messages that are important to be heard. You know… there are still genuine people out there that do things not for profit.
and again, everything you’re saying is even waaaaay more true for MKB, so why does he get a pass?
You’ve got one more chance to actually adress the arguments, if not, i can only assume you’re a troll.
So his own company is his sponsor (the company that existed long before he had any meaningful amount of viewers, and that has a good reputation because he does good work)
And his current employer is also his “sponsor”.
You might want to look up what the word sponsor means.
And even if you had a point (which you don’t), you’re still refusing to answer why MKB is ok for you while any incentive you say is bad for Louis is amplified by 100 for MKB, yet there all is fine… so odd…
I was reallly hoping you would actually engage in an honest discussion, because if you actually could make a case for Louis being toxicly negative, i’d love to hear it, and i think he would also love to hear about how & why and try to improve on that. His goal has always been to empower his viewers, if he’s doing the opposite, i’m sure he’ll do his best to change that. Similarly to the other points we could discuss.
But you seem to be intent on just trolling and refusing to answer… so the dialogue ends here i guess… Thanks for at least trying to make one or two points, it’s always interesting to see other opinions :).
You have not denied that Rossmann engages in rage baiting. Everything you’ve said dances around that point. You’ve tried to make this a discussion about who is paying for it. THAT DOESN’T MATTER. It’s the subject matter which is toxic. And Louis Rossmann is guilty of it. I’ve watched plenty of his videos and they’re all the same. Endless rage masturbation. It’s garbage content. The modern day equivalent of Jerry Springer.
His activism could cure cancer and end world hunger but that wouldn’t excuse him for it, because others are doing the same activism WITHOUT THE TOXICITY.
I’ve already addressed Rossmann’s political activism in a previous comment. I appreciate all the work he’s done on it. But he’s by no means the only person fighting for right to repair. There are tons of others doing so as well, such as iFixit, the EFF, and loads of organizations representing farmers all over North America.
My criticism of Rossmann is specifically with the style of content he puts out. Negativity-based reaction videos are his bread and butter. That’s how he makes money. This puts an asterisk on all of the good things he does, just as MKB’s occasional soft takes put an asterisk on the work he does.
This kind of toxic negativity is heavily favoured by the YouTube algorithm and it leads people into mental health spirals. That’s my point. Louis Rossmann makes money by damaging the mental health of vulnerable people in his audience. None of his beneficial activism makes up for this. You can look at other right to repair activists and see that they are working towards their goals without this odious behaviour.
But it obviously isn’t how he makes his money. He used to make his money with his repair shop, now futo is paying him to do right to repair/open software advocacy. Youtube pays jack shit for the amount of views he gets, and he never took sponsors, so youtube was never the way he earned his money. He gets some money from it, but would absolutely love it if everyone watched him on odyssey or any other platform that isn’t youtube and that doesn’t pay him anything.
And yeah, there is truth to ragebait working well in algorithms. But you’re making a claim that’s plain false: he has economic incentives, and you’re avoiding a few more:
And you name his negativity toxic, why? He’s addressing actual shit that is happening all around us and can get you into serious issues in the future. Your car manufacturer selling your data to your insurance can have a serious impact on your life. Manufacturers suing customers that leave a bad review can seriously ruin your life, … But at the same time he always tries to use this criticism to empower the viewer to make better choices, to teach you how to avoid such issues, and how you can make a difference. Just this week he made a video regarding doing business in an ethical way, that’s like the least toxic video possible, his message is always: bad shit is happening, here’s how to spot it, here’s how to make a difference, and not “all is lost, you may now despair because there’s nothing you can do about it”
Your arguments are imo very biased, and simply don’t show the truth. I know the kind of youtubers you mean, and there are plenty, but putting people like Rossmann in that basket is just insane. He actively tries to make the world a better places. Makes incredible videos on how you can be part of the change, has for over a decade done everything to empower his viewers and customers, and you’re all like “he’s just a toxic negative youtuber that does it for money”.
And one follow up question: can positivity be toxic? Can the likes of MKB & LTT just sweep all the stuff that’s happening under the rug, take huge payouts to make the viewer look the other way, and just slowly let everything enshittification take its course and make everything worse for the consumer until someday we wake up and wonder where it all went wrong and why we didn’t see it coming? That’s what it feels like for me when i watch those channels “all is fine, don’t look into the closet full of skeletons please”.
Without views he has nothing. It doesn’t matter who is paying him, he’s not getting paid if he doesn’t get views. The algorithm brings him views when he gives the algorithm what it wants. What does it want? Engagement. And the path he has taken to generating engagement is outrage, toxicity, and negativity.
He says “my finances don’t depend on YouTube” then why is he still publishing on YouTube? Shut it down! Oh wait, he can’t, because then he’ll stop getting paid by his sponsors.
YouTube has consistently reduced the amount it pays creators per ad view over time. Yet creators are making more videos than ever. Why? Because they make money through 3rd party sponsors. YouTube is a platform. The value it provides to creators is the audience it brings to them through network effects and through the algorithm.
Ok, name his sponsors… i’ll wait…
He makes videos on youtube to empower his viewers and because he feels he has messages that are important to be heard. You know… there are still genuine people out there that do things not for profit.
and again, everything you’re saying is even waaaaay more true for MKB, so why does he get a pass?
You’ve got one more chance to actually adress the arguments, if not, i can only assume you’re a troll.
You just named them yourself. FUTO. His company.
So his own company is his sponsor (the company that existed long before he had any meaningful amount of viewers, and that has a good reputation because he does good work)
And his current employer is also his “sponsor”.
You might want to look up what the word sponsor means.
And even if you had a point (which you don’t), you’re still refusing to answer why MKB is ok for you while any incentive you say is bad for Louis is amplified by 100 for MKB, yet there all is fine… so odd…
I was reallly hoping you would actually engage in an honest discussion, because if you actually could make a case for Louis being toxicly negative, i’d love to hear it, and i think he would also love to hear about how & why and try to improve on that. His goal has always been to empower his viewers, if he’s doing the opposite, i’m sure he’ll do his best to change that. Similarly to the other points we could discuss.
But you seem to be intent on just trolling and refusing to answer… so the dialogue ends here i guess… Thanks for at least trying to make one or two points, it’s always interesting to see other opinions :).
You have not denied that Rossmann engages in rage baiting. Everything you’ve said dances around that point. You’ve tried to make this a discussion about who is paying for it. THAT DOESN’T MATTER. It’s the subject matter which is toxic. And Louis Rossmann is guilty of it. I’ve watched plenty of his videos and they’re all the same. Endless rage masturbation. It’s garbage content. The modern day equivalent of Jerry Springer.
His activism could cure cancer and end world hunger but that wouldn’t excuse him for it, because others are doing the same activism WITHOUT THE TOXICITY.
Then you’re on purpose just not reading my argument, and you’re avoiding replying to any of the points i make.
Thanks for the tiny bit of genuine discussion, and have fun trolling other people.