5 ms·

I could not repair half the things I have learned to repair without Youtube. 100% worth having to look out for manipulative antifeatures, in my book.

sthnblllII 6y ago
I dont think thats true. If people stopped using youtube people would upload to other sites. Google hasnt taught you how to repair anything.
- JasonFruit 6y ago
  I don't know why you're being downvoted, because you are obviously right — just like the audience will go where the content is, the content creators will go where they can get an audience.
  - pugworthy 6y ago
    Probably downvoted because of that last sentence.
    - JasonFruit 6y ago
      But that's actually a good insight: it isn't Google that has taught me anything, but people, who happened to use Google's properties to distribute knowledge. Any other service would be as good, if the people chose to use it.
toast0 6y ago
I'm happy for the content in any form, but a bunch of things would be easier with a wall of text and a couple pictures I could scroll through. Don't forget to like and subscribe and support me on patreon.
- flukus 6y ago
  This is certainly true when I want to sit down and repair something. There are other times when I just want to see what's involved and how complicated something will be first, maybe have dinner at the same time. This sort of higher level overview is where I find youtube fits in well, same for programming related videos. I wish there were more hybrid approaches, video with the accompanying wall of text.
- nullsense 6y ago
  My 5 year old often tells me to like and subscribe to his channel. He doesn't have one.
Syonyk 6y ago
What sort of stuff, and what alternatives have you tried? If it's a vehicle, the Chilton's or Haynes (I'm sure there's a difference but I sure couldn't tell) manuals will cover just about anything you'd want to do. If it's a piece of consumer electronics, iFixit usually has good teardown and repair guides (in the "annotated images and text" style) that cover a lot, though for some brands you can actually find factory repair manuals. Home, property, etc, there exist plenty of books out there, and often enough, plenty of slightly bored retired people who have been doing whatever the task is forever, and who are happy to help someone learn the ropes.
- thelean12 6y ago
  So I buy the Haynes book for my car, wait for it to be shipped and delivered, then finally figure out how to do what I need to do. Then I put it away for 1-5 years until I need it again, and hope I don't forget where I put it. Or you want me to build a friendship with a retired fridge repairman? I don't understand that one. With youtube I get to watch a pro do it right in front of me for free instantly. There's nothing like it. ifixit is good, though, I'll agree to that.
  - Syonyk 6y ago
    You buy them at the local auto parts store and put them either in the car somewhere or on the bookshelf of other auto repair books, of course. I didn't think twice about spending 20% of the purchase cost of a vehicle on the rebuild manual for it back when I drove stuff that needed a lot more work. I drove some cheap cars. As far as stuff like fridges... you don't need a fridge repairman, just someone who has worked on a variety of things. For a while, while I was doing laptop repair work, I didn't really need manuals for the bulk of the stuff I was taking apart because it was just a laptop. They all came apart in a handful of ways, and as long as you keep close track of where the screws came from and got them back where they went, it wasn't a big deal to get some random laptop apart. If you can find a YouTube repair of your particular product, and the video is well done, OK, I can see value in that. My experience has been that it's usually a lot of mumbling, terrible light, and weird camera angles that I can't map to anything actually on the product I'm trying to repair, so it's generally not a good use of time vs just going and working on it. Shoving your cell phone kinda sorta in the engine bay, pointing it at some shadows, and "mmfffs the bolt... ffssssh" because it's windy out... eh? Or just a 45 minute "teardown" of a simple product that hasn't had any of the random futzing around and reading the manual out loud edited out. Maybe we just fix different things.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

sthnblllII 6y ago

I dont think thats true. If people stopped using youtube people would upload to other sites. Google hasnt taught you how to repair anything.

JasonFruit 6y ago
I don't know why you're being downvoted, because you are obviously right — just like the audience will go where the content is, the content creators will go where they can get an audience.
- pugworthy 6y ago
  Probably downvoted because of that last sentence.
  - JasonFruit 6y ago
    But that's actually a good insight: it isn't Google that has taught me anything, but people, who happened to use Google's properties to distribute knowledge. Any other service would be as good, if the people chose to use it.

toast0 6y ago

I'm happy for the content in any form, but a bunch of things would be easier with a wall of text and a couple pictures I could scroll through. Don't forget to like and subscribe and support me on patreon.

flukus 6y ago
This is certainly true when I want to sit down and repair something. There are other times when I just want to see what's involved and how complicated something will be first, maybe have dinner at the same time. This sort of higher level overview is where I find youtube fits in well, same for programming related videos. I wish there were more hybrid approaches, video with the accompanying wall of text.
nullsense 6y ago
My 5 year old often tells me to like and subscribe to his channel. He doesn't have one.

Syonyk 6y ago

What sort of stuff, and what alternatives have you tried? If it's a vehicle, the Chilton's or Haynes (I'm sure there's a difference but I sure couldn't tell) manuals will cover just about anything you'd want to do. If it's a piece of consumer electronics, iFixit usually has good teardown and repair guides (in the "annotated images and text" style) that cover a lot, though for some brands you can actually find factory repair manuals. Home, property, etc, there exist plenty of books out there, and often enough, plenty of slightly bored retired people who have been doing whatever the task is forever, and who are happy to help someone learn the ropes.

thelean12 6y ago
So I buy the Haynes book for my car, wait for it to be shipped and delivered, then finally figure out how to do what I need to do. Then I put it away for 1-5 years until I need it again, and hope I don't forget where I put it. Or you want me to build a friendship with a retired fridge repairman? I don't understand that one. With youtube I get to watch a pro do it right in front of me for free instantly. There's nothing like it. ifixit is good, though, I'll agree to that.
- Syonyk 6y ago
  You buy them at the local auto parts store and put them either in the car somewhere or on the bookshelf of other auto repair books, of course. I didn't think twice about spending 20% of the purchase cost of a vehicle on the rebuild manual for it back when I drove stuff that needed a lot more work. I drove some cheap cars. As far as stuff like fridges... you don't need a fridge repairman, just someone who has worked on a variety of things. For a while, while I was doing laptop repair work, I didn't really need manuals for the bulk of the stuff I was taking apart because it was just a laptop. They all came apart in a handful of ways, and as long as you keep close track of where the screws came from and got them back where they went, it wasn't a big deal to get some random laptop apart. If you can find a YouTube repair of your particular product, and the video is well done, OK, I can see value in that. My experience has been that it's usually a lot of mumbling, terrible light, and weird camera angles that I can't map to anything actually on the product I'm trying to repair, so it's generally not a good use of time vs just going and working on it. Shoving your cell phone kinda sorta in the engine bay, pointing it at some shadows, and "mmfffs the bolt... ffssssh" because it's windy out... eh? Or just a 45 minute "teardown" of a simple product that hasn't had any of the random futzing around and reading the manual out loud edited out. Maybe we just fix different things.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]