5 ms·

I feel like these are “somebody got a promotion” patterns. Basically, somebody was able to “prove” to Higher-Up Managers that $X number of these videos were “w

I feel like these are “somebody got a promotion” patterns. Basically, somebody was able to “prove” to Higher-Up Managers that $X number of these videos were “watched” or “engaged with” (or whatever today’s BS lingo is), and therefore the business “benefited” in some way by “reaching” more people. Profit? In reality, at least in my case, what happens is: (1) I say “WTF!?!?”, (2) I make a mental note to never ever visit the site again, and (3) (sadly) I see it again and again at different sites.

mhb 5y ago
Sort of related - is geeksforgeeks the new experts-exchange?
- siltpotato 5y ago
  What's the story on experts-exchange?
ndynan 5y ago
This pattern is purely a representation of how financially hurt news institutions are. They are desperate to make revenue and the end user experience is sacrificed in the name of keeping the ship afloat (and sometimes profit).
- hellbannedguy 5y ago
  I'm to the point I'd like to see them go 501c3 nonprofit. Admit defeat. Get used to just making a barely livable income, like the rest of us. Stop begging. Stop the obnoxious ads. Stop the shady subscription schemes. Enough with the .99 cent for six week promos. We obviously don't value you enough to give your access to our debit cards. Newspapers you lost the war. The sooner you realize it the better. Follow the PBS model at this point. (And I realize the importance of non-biased news. I wouldn't mind seeing tax money going to certain high quality organizations.)
  - chrischen 5y ago
    I don't think tech workers are making barely livable incomes.
    - epicureanideal 5y ago
      Many of our parents had better lives overall despite less education, fewer hours worked, shorter commuting distance, etc. Yes, tech is better than most other jobs, but most tech jobs just give you the middle class life many people had 20-30 years ago (aside from the tech gadgets that didn’t exist 20-30 years ago that even the poor have now). In terms of large expenses and free time rather than gadgets, we’re no better than the middle class of the last generation. Which is and should be disappointing given that it’s one of the best jobs available.
      - bserge 5y ago
        Stop buying gadgets, save way more money, get your free time. Or did you expect to be able to buy 4 cars, 3 homes and 2 yachts as a middle class worker compared to your parents?
      - mavhc 5y ago
        I work in education, so not highly paid, bought a car and a house by myself, and easily manage to save £500/month. I just don't waste my money on stupid things like paying other people to make my sandwiches and drinks, or gadgets that are priced as 10x what they cost to make.
        epicureanideal 5y ago
        Can you give more information? Are you in London or another major city in the UK?
        mavhc 5y ago
        Midlands, city suburb. My house is better than my parents where I grew up to start with, my car is electric, I have free electricity from the sun, a TV larger than anyone could imagine back then (with films for £1 with the same quality as a cinema), I can communicate with almost anyone on the planet, via video, for free (including free translation), I can buy a computer like on Star Trek that I can talk to for £20, life is magical.
donohoe 5y ago
Sort of. When I worked at a rather large publisher they did a deal like this because someone promised a large truck of revenue by a company. For a site that was badly monetized (because they it was over-weighed with ads and poorly engineered to begin with) this was seen as something they could not say no to. Again, it is a slow race to the bottom. I can assure you that often these deals are done by the business-side without consultation with product/engineering.
tete 5y ago
You know, if you paused it, you closed it, maybe even mis-clicked you interacted with it, that's engagement for way too many metrics. You are not gonna consider them to not be or even be negative, who wants their numbers go down? Destroys the nice hockey stick chart, promotion, etc. It's maybe not the best, but it's also not evil. And by that standard "somebody had a good day". I won't blame them. That's what teams, managers, corporate cultures, capitalism, the system or whatever incentive for, and that's what they get.
vorhemus 5y ago
Most likely the leadership team is aware that these "viewers" just exist in theorey but they can fool advertisers into thinking their channel has a higher reach and collect more advertising revenue in return.
blowski 5y ago
The goal of these sites is normally to be as profitable as possible. If they achieve that goal at the cost of pissing off "a bunch of geeks", I don't think they'll care.

mhb 5y ago

Sort of related - is geeksforgeeks the new experts-exchange?

siltpotato 5y ago
What's the story on experts-exchange?

ndynan 5y ago

This pattern is purely a representation of how financially hurt news institutions are. They are desperate to make revenue and the end user experience is sacrificed in the name of keeping the ship afloat (and sometimes profit).

hellbannedguy 5y ago
I'm to the point I'd like to see them go 501c3 nonprofit. Admit defeat. Get used to just making a barely livable income, like the rest of us. Stop begging. Stop the obnoxious ads. Stop the shady subscription schemes. Enough with the .99 cent for six week promos. We obviously don't value you enough to give your access to our debit cards. Newspapers you lost the war. The sooner you realize it the better. Follow the PBS model at this point. (And I realize the importance of non-biased news. I wouldn't mind seeing tax money going to certain high quality organizations.)
- chrischen 5y ago
  I don't think tech workers are making barely livable incomes.
  - epicureanideal 5y ago
    Many of our parents had better lives overall despite less education, fewer hours worked, shorter commuting distance, etc. Yes, tech is better than most other jobs, but most tech jobs just give you the middle class life many people had 20-30 years ago (aside from the tech gadgets that didn’t exist 20-30 years ago that even the poor have now). In terms of large expenses and free time rather than gadgets, we’re no better than the middle class of the last generation. Which is and should be disappointing given that it’s one of the best jobs available.
    - bserge 5y ago
      Stop buying gadgets, save way more money, get your free time. Or did you expect to be able to buy 4 cars, 3 homes and 2 yachts as a middle class worker compared to your parents?
    - mavhc 5y ago
      I work in education, so not highly paid, bought a car and a house by myself, and easily manage to save £500/month. I just don't waste my money on stupid things like paying other people to make my sandwiches and drinks, or gadgets that are priced as 10x what they cost to make.
      - epicureanideal 5y ago
        Can you give more information? Are you in London or another major city in the UK?
        mavhc 5y ago
        Midlands, city suburb. My house is better than my parents where I grew up to start with, my car is electric, I have free electricity from the sun, a TV larger than anyone could imagine back then (with films for £1 with the same quality as a cinema), I can communicate with almost anyone on the planet, via video, for free (including free translation), I can buy a computer like on Star Trek that I can talk to for £20, life is magical.

donohoe 5y ago

Sort of. When I worked at a rather large publisher they did a deal like this because someone promised a large truck of revenue by a company. For a site that was badly monetized (because they it was over-weighed with ads and poorly engineered to begin with) this was seen as something they could not say no to. Again, it is a slow race to the bottom. I can assure you that often these deals are done by the business-side without consultation with product/engineering.

tete 5y ago

You know, if you paused it, you closed it, maybe even mis-clicked you interacted with it, that's engagement for way too many metrics. You are not gonna consider them to not be or even be negative, who wants their numbers go down? Destroys the nice hockey stick chart, promotion, etc. It's maybe not the best, but it's also not evil. And by that standard "somebody had a good day". I won't blame them. That's what teams, managers, corporate cultures, capitalism, the system or whatever incentive for, and that's what they get.

vorhemus 5y ago

Most likely the leadership team is aware that these "viewers" just exist in theorey but they can fool advertisers into thinking their channel has a higher reach and collect more advertising revenue in return.

blowski 5y ago

The goal of these sites is normally to be as profitable as possible. If they achieve that goal at the cost of pissing off "a bunch of geeks", I don't think they'll care.