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Louis, while sometimes brash, has got to be one of the most genuine people on YouTube. As far as I can tell there is nothing about his content which is abusive.

Louis, while sometimes brash, has got to be one of the most genuine people on YouTube. As far as I can tell there is nothing about his content which is abusive. While I’m still not really sure how I feel about right to repair, I would hate to see him be censored as one of his best qualities is his uncensored nature.

simondotau 5y ago
I support the majority of right to repair principles but I find Rossman himself to be a person whose personality has suffered from its ever-increasing exposure to YouTube celebrity. I certainly don't blame him. I know my own mind and I'm certain I wouldn't fare any better in his situation. I think most people would be unprepared for the psychology of becoming Internet-famous, of having their opinion continually validated by a hungry audience. In fact it's genuinely fascinating to me when occasionally you see an individual who remains seemingly unaffected by celebrity, psychologically unaffected by their thought-leader status in a large community. I'd actually pick Linus Sebastian—of all people—as be a canonical example of this. Whether it's sincere or incredible acting skills, the stratospheric growth of his channel hasn't made him any more insufferable. The few people who can nagivate this perfectly truly shine in the world of YouTube. (The Slow Mo Guys is another example. And weirdly, I'd have to give a nod to Project Farm as well, for content that seems entirely unaffected by channel success.) A lot of my favourite creators fall somewhere between these extremes. (e.g. Technology Connections, Mark Rober, savagegeese, Engineering Explained.) Not unscathed by their popularity, but seem to be able to cope with the mindfuck thus far.
- civildude 5y ago
  i mean, he knows how to take care of PPS, got good balls soldering and always splashing that nice flux on the nastiest stuff
- Causality1 5y ago
  Suffered in what way, exactly? Rossman's new content seems very much like his old content to me.
- atoav 5y ago
  As a long viewer of Louis channel: IMO the change that you think you see with him is more a function of age (remember he is a lot younger than he looks like) than having anything with internet fame. I changed a lot in my life as well at a similar age. Louis is certainly someone who always likes to work on hard (but not unsolveble) problems. What he does with right to repair, is just yet another one of those. This is just trying to repair the underlying cause for a lot of troubles reapir shops are or will be in. I guess the only impact internet fame might have had is that he now sees this as a problem that can actually be solved (rather than one that he as yet another small repair shop owner cannot solve).
  - theshrike79 5y ago
    > he is a lot younger than he looks like ...the dude is 32 (born in -88). So that means he was in his late 20's when he started his channel. Why does he look like a 50 year old IT veteran who has seen it all, twice :D
    - KozmoNau7 5y ago
      Stress and constant battle ages you, no joke.
    - rraihansaputra 5y ago
      Maybe because he did. I can't fathom how hard it is building a good, reputable third-party service center and really wanting to serve his customers the best way, while being pretty much road-blocked by Apple. Harvesting ICs and caps from donor boards is definitely hampering the technicians' work.
- manigandham 5y ago
  How has it suffered exactly? Current videos seem just like those from years ago to me, although he now covers even more topics in the "Adventures of a small Apple repair shop"
- pyaamb 5y ago
  Playing devils advocate here The reason you become famous in the first place is because you do a good job being creative with the possibility space in your present environment. Once you become famous that environment and possibility space changes, and you are forced to chose between being grounded which may mean choosing not to use the new superpowers given to you, or to continue doing what you have always done with your new capabilities...
  - simondotau 5y ago
    I'd argue that isn't devil's advocate — rather it's pretty much spot on. Being restrained in the face of influence isn't the norm. The default state of the Human On The Internet to be certain of our own opinions and want to shove them in front of everyone who will listen.
kwanbix 5y ago
Love Louis myself. Very bright guy, great work, honest. What puzzles me is how can anybody not be sure about the right to repair.
- jmull 5y ago
  Some bad and crazy ideas are attached to that label. Also, some perfectly reasonable ones. I’m not sure about “right to repair” because I never know which ones we’re talking about.
- 0xcde4c3db 5y ago
  On paper, you already have the right to repair things that you own. However, it's hard to materially ensure the right to repair without regulating the market to ensure availability of replacement parts and schematics, ban certain classes of security mechanism, mandate a certain level of openness for manufacturing/diagnostic/recovery software, and so on. A lot of people see any initiative shaped like this (cf. net neutrality, product safety regulations) as little more than an excuse for government overreach, and even supporters can have various concerns about the laws/regulations being worded or implemented in a way that inadvertently ends up doing more harm than good.

simondotau 5y ago

I support the majority of right to repair principles but I find Rossman himself to be a person whose personality has suffered from its ever-increasing exposure to YouTube celebrity. I certainly don't blame him. I know my own mind and I'm certain I wouldn't fare any better in his situation. I think most people would be unprepared for the psychology of becoming Internet-famous, of having their opinion continually validated by a hungry audience. In fact it's genuinely fascinating to me when occasionally you see an individual who remains seemingly unaffected by celebrity, psychologically unaffected by their thought-leader status in a large community. I'd actually pick Linus Sebastian—of all people—as be a canonical example of this. Whether it's sincere or incredible acting skills, the stratospheric growth of his channel hasn't made him any more insufferable. The few people who can nagivate this perfectly truly shine in the world of YouTube. (The Slow Mo Guys is another example. And weirdly, I'd have to give a nod to Project Farm as well, for content that seems entirely unaffected by channel success.) A lot of my favourite creators fall somewhere between these extremes. (e.g. Technology Connections, Mark Rober, savagegeese, Engineering Explained.) Not unscathed by their popularity, but seem to be able to cope with the mindfuck thus far.

civildude 5y ago
i mean, he knows how to take care of PPS, got good balls soldering and always splashing that nice flux on the nastiest stuff
Causality1 5y ago
Suffered in what way, exactly? Rossman's new content seems very much like his old content to me.
atoav 5y ago
As a long viewer of Louis channel: IMO the change that you think you see with him is more a function of age (remember he is a lot younger than he looks like) than having anything with internet fame. I changed a lot in my life as well at a similar age. Louis is certainly someone who always likes to work on hard (but not unsolveble) problems. What he does with right to repair, is just yet another one of those. This is just trying to repair the underlying cause for a lot of troubles reapir shops are or will be in. I guess the only impact internet fame might have had is that he now sees this as a problem that can actually be solved (rather than one that he as yet another small repair shop owner cannot solve).
- theshrike79 5y ago
  > he is a lot younger than he looks like ...the dude is 32 (born in -88). So that means he was in his late 20's when he started his channel. Why does he look like a 50 year old IT veteran who has seen it all, twice :D
  - KozmoNau7 5y ago
    Stress and constant battle ages you, no joke.
  - rraihansaputra 5y ago
    Maybe because he did. I can't fathom how hard it is building a good, reputable third-party service center and really wanting to serve his customers the best way, while being pretty much road-blocked by Apple. Harvesting ICs and caps from donor boards is definitely hampering the technicians' work.
manigandham 5y ago
How has it suffered exactly? Current videos seem just like those from years ago to me, although he now covers even more topics in the "Adventures of a small Apple repair shop"
pyaamb 5y ago
Playing devils advocate here The reason you become famous in the first place is because you do a good job being creative with the possibility space in your present environment. Once you become famous that environment and possibility space changes, and you are forced to chose between being grounded which may mean choosing not to use the new superpowers given to you, or to continue doing what you have always done with your new capabilities...
- simondotau 5y ago
  I'd argue that isn't devil's advocate — rather it's pretty much spot on. Being restrained in the face of influence isn't the norm. The default state of the Human On The Internet to be certain of our own opinions and want to shove them in front of everyone who will listen.

kwanbix 5y ago

Love Louis myself. Very bright guy, great work, honest. What puzzles me is how can anybody not be sure about the right to repair.

jmull 5y ago
Some bad and crazy ideas are attached to that label. Also, some perfectly reasonable ones. I’m not sure about “right to repair” because I never know which ones we’re talking about.
0xcde4c3db 5y ago
On paper, you already have the right to repair things that you own. However, it's hard to materially ensure the right to repair without regulating the market to ensure availability of replacement parts and schematics, ban certain classes of security mechanism, mandate a certain level of openness for manufacturing/diagnostic/recovery software, and so on. A lot of people see any initiative shaped like this (cf. net neutrality, product safety regulations) as little more than an excuse for government overreach, and even supporters can have various concerns about the laws/regulations being worded or implemented in a way that inadvertently ends up doing more harm than good.