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Sad to see 'Not Just Bikes' lumped in with these great informative videos. Not Just Bikes is extremely opinionated and is frequently swept up in emotional argu

Sad to see 'Not Just Bikes' lumped in with these great informative videos. Not Just Bikes is extremely opinionated and is frequently swept up in emotional arguments and comparing apples to oranges. Shame really. But it definitely gives people the ammunition to pretend to fight for change (where in reality they are fighting for unrealistic expectations and to get their oranges into apples) and this leads to a feel-good feeling. The rest of the list are extremely informative and interesting to many with next to no bias.

scrollaway 5y ago
NJB quality is extremely high, that is a fairly objective fact. That you don't like the fact it gives cyclists "ammunition" sounds like a You problem :-) Yes it is opinionated though. I don't think it's possible to talk about what he talks about without being opinionated, because there is such a large section of the population that blindly loves cars to the point that it's become a religion, so everyone talking about improving things for bikes and public transportation looks like... Ammunition for attacks, right? But he doesn't compare apples to oranges. He compares how different cities function. He showcases how things can work. The potential every city and country has with some better planning. It's a shame (and a little telling) you don't like him. If you want less opinionated channels about urban planning there is City Beautiful for example. I don't think the production quality is as high, even if the guy is an actual city planner.
- seoulmetro 5y ago
  I never said the quality was bad. MKB is the best quality on YouTube (usually) and he's entirely about subjectivity. You can have high quality whilst also realising that the video is not made to be purely informative or educational. >That you don't like the fact it gives cyclists "ammunition" sounds like a You problem :-) ??? Why are you talking about cyclists? I never mentioned cyclists. >I don't think it's possible to talk about what he talks about without being opinionated It is, and that's the crux. Though it's a lot more boring and harder. >But he doesn't compare apples to oranges. He very much does. I don't even need to argue on this point, it's that visible. It's a shame indeed, but I have good reasons.
  - scrollaway 5y ago
    I'm not sure what your point is then because the list was meant as a list of high quality channels that touch on subjects that likely interest an HN audience. Not as "here are the ten least opinionated channels on YouTube". Being engaging is a requirement of being high quality. Someone who isn't engaging, even if their videos are very informative, will quickly lose his viewers. This is a problem because quality of the research isn't enough if nobody makes it to the end of the video. And no, once again, he doesn't compare apples to oranges. He shows how things can work. He shows the potential. His channel is essentially just an opinionated tour of how urban design works in the Netherlands. It's not like he says "Phoenix AZ should work exactly like Amsterdam and be designed exactly this way".

scrollaway 5y ago

NJB quality is extremely high, that is a fairly objective fact. That you don't like the fact it gives cyclists "ammunition" sounds like a You problem :-) Yes it is opinionated though. I don't think it's possible to talk about what he talks about without being opinionated, because there is such a large section of the population that blindly loves cars to the point that it's become a religion, so everyone talking about improving things for bikes and public transportation looks like... Ammunition for attacks, right? But he doesn't compare apples to oranges. He compares how different cities function. He showcases how things can work. The potential every city and country has with some better planning. It's a shame (and a little telling) you don't like him. If you want less opinionated channels about urban planning there is City Beautiful for example. I don't think the production quality is as high, even if the guy is an actual city planner.

seoulmetro 5y ago
I never said the quality was bad. MKB is the best quality on YouTube (usually) and he's entirely about subjectivity. You can have high quality whilst also realising that the video is not made to be purely informative or educational. >That you don't like the fact it gives cyclists "ammunition" sounds like a You problem :-) ??? Why are you talking about cyclists? I never mentioned cyclists. >I don't think it's possible to talk about what he talks about without being opinionated It is, and that's the crux. Though it's a lot more boring and harder. >But he doesn't compare apples to oranges. He very much does. I don't even need to argue on this point, it's that visible. It's a shame indeed, but I have good reasons.
- scrollaway 5y ago
  I'm not sure what your point is then because the list was meant as a list of high quality channels that touch on subjects that likely interest an HN audience. Not as "here are the ten least opinionated channels on YouTube". Being engaging is a requirement of being high quality. Someone who isn't engaging, even if their videos are very informative, will quickly lose his viewers. This is a problem because quality of the research isn't enough if nobody makes it to the end of the video. And no, once again, he doesn't compare apples to oranges. He shows how things can work. He shows the potential. His channel is essentially just an opinionated tour of how urban design works in the Netherlands. It's not like he says "Phoenix AZ should work exactly like Amsterdam and be designed exactly this way".