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That's an interesting analysis, although perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that I can hardly sit through a minute of any of those YouTube voices linke
by baddox 11y ago
That's an interesting analysis, although perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that I can hardly sit through a minute of any of those YouTube voices linked in the article. I find the pacing and "bubbliness" exhausting, and the tone bordering on patronizing.
And yet I find some "Internet personalities" very interesting to listen to, and they're mostly from podcasts. Dave Chen from slashfilmcast.com is a favorite of mine (and yes, I miss Adam Quigley's voice). Many NPR shows (which I listen to in podcast format) are obvious examples.
In fact, the voices really make or break podcasts for me. I never made it past the first 15 minutes of Serial, because I just couldn't sit through the host's voice (clearly this is not a common opinion).
- asddubs 11y agoI feel the same way. If I'm looking for tutorials on youtube and someone goes "heyyy what's up everybody, it's joshkiller44 here and today..." - I just turn it off.
- maho 11y agoHave you tried a playback-speed of 1.5? (It's under "Settings -> Speed") The "YouTube voice" works nicely at 1.5x speed, and in my experience, most of the fluff becomes tolerable when it's shorter by 33%.
- bubalus 11y agoApplying the Wadsworth constant often helps as well.
- bcook 11y agoMy favorite YouTube personalities were those who were more interested in the topic (usually play-throughs) than pandering to the new viewers and how great they are for clicking a video. Though, I no longer even visit YouTube, so who cares what I think. :)
- asddubs 11y agooh wow yeah, those awkward monologues about how great and supportive the viewers are are also very uncomfortable to watch.
- beamatronic 11y agoExactly, I just jump to the middle of any video from the Internet which is not a movie.
- mstade 11y agoIt's a hit-and-miss for me. Some I thoroughly enjoy, and others I can't stand for more than just a few seconds before I have to shut it down. Interestingly, this is a per-video thing for me. For example – I very much enjoyed the Vlogbrother's series on American history, but then there are others (like the fart video linked in the article) that I just can't stand.
- lordCarbonFiber 11y agoIs this surprising to anyone? There are millions (tens of?) videos on youtube. Expecting all of the videos to conform to any individual's taste or even talking about "youtube videos" as if that's a canonical thing seems ludicrous to me.
- mstade 11y agoSure, I agree. My comment was in context of the "voice" as presented in the article, and how in some videos – from the same producers, no less – I find it enjoyable and in others I find it so annoying I can't continue watching regardless of other qualities such as whether or not the subject matter is interesting, production qualities, participants etc.
- stdbrouw 11y ago> I find the pacing and "bubbliness" exhausting, and the tone bordering on patronizing. The description "intellectual used-car-salesman voice" mentioned in the article is spot on.
- sp332 11y agoThe first few episodes of My Drunk Kitchen have excellent comedic timing, but after that it turns into a specimen of the type in the article.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- vdaniuk 11y agoAll YouTube and TED speakers are intolerably condensecnding? What an absurdly obnoxious statement. The irony burns.
- ashark 11y agoI blame ad revenue sharing, on-video links, and allowing links to outside content. Youtube's become a cesspool of spam and pandering garbage over the last few years. Enthusiastic amateurs eager to share useful or interesting material are buried under wanna-be Internet stars and ads masquerading as content (plus, you know, actual ads). I dread using the site now.