4 ms·

A professional is someone who gets paid for his work.

SllX 3y ago
Not by the people making the products they’re reviewing. Marques Brownlee runs an extremely popular YouTube channel; his money comes from YouTube ads and subscriptions and his reputation is everything just like any other product reviewer.
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  You seem unaware of the term "press junket" - events where car companies invite press to fancy locations and wine/dine them. The top tier press are invited to that, and they're expected to have nice things to say or they aren't invited back unless they have such a large audience nobody can say no to them. Just getting access to the press car fleet alone is worth something to a reviewer; if they can't get access to cars, they starve, especially if they can't get access before the embargo lifts; all the traffic will go to the reviewers who had pre-embargo access. If they're honest and don't pull punches, and don't have the clout of say Top Gear - the car company's PR team will cut them off. The way most reviewers get around being able to sleep at night is by focusing only on the things they like, and lie by omission. Any criticism is focused on subjective meaningless things like "this color is horrid." For example: go read reviews of the VW Mk8 GTI, see how many reviewers tow VW's line about them "curing" understeer, and how many reviewers are honest about the press car being delivered with softer tread compound tires up front and harder compound tires in the back, to cheat and make the car handle more neutrally. See how many mention that the press cars were EU models (normal) with a slew of features that won't be available in the US at all (not at all normal), like the fancier adaptive suspension system. See how many of them rave about how good the suspension is...a suspension the US didn't get!
  - reaperman 3y ago
    Here is a great article[0] with an overview of the press junket model. In it, a newly-established author with a passion for integrity wrestles/struggles with having to participate in the press junket scheme in order to write the articles that his readers want. 0: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03/ars-asks-how-do-you-feel-about-junkets-for-auto-coverage/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03/ars-asks-how-do-you-fee...
    - throwaway4good 3y ago
      Great link. But what is described here is how common reviewers and influencers are treated. However a superstar like Top Gear or MKBHD won't be impressed by a night at a London airport hotel. They require much more resources otherwise the company risks the hammer coming down like it was case here. People really shouldn't be surprised by this stuff - this phenomenon is as old as mass media itself.
      - KennyBlanken 3y ago
        Top Gear is a household name around the world, even with people who aren't car enthusiasts. Nobody knows who Marcus Brownlee is unless they're into tech and under 30.
        SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
        > Nobody knows who Marcus Brownlee is unless they're into tech and under 30. Disagree. I started looking at EV reviews on Youtube, and soon noticed him in that context. Yes, including the Fisker review. I don't fit your filter. You don't need to be under 30 or into computer hardware to have that experience.
        reaperman 3y ago
        *Marques. And most of my 35-40 year old friends know him, including most of the ones in medical/education/service industry. And we're not anywhere near a tech hub.
  - SllX 3y ago
    I know there are crap reviewers that are basically shills, and I also know that if you’re going to accuse a specific person or organization of shilling, you had best bring receipts. You’ll also note the guy I was originally responding to didn’t, and instead throughout this thread has made vague and uncritical commentary about social media influencers and how they need to be “managed” disregarding what Marques’s channel actually does. Don’t give a guy like that an out.
doikor 3y ago
He is paid by YouTube (ad money)
reaperman 3y ago
MKBHD runs a highly reputable company with 13 employees whose livelihood depends on his leadership. This is in an industry/market with notoriously obsessive fans who are very efficient at publicizing any controversial actions of companies/leadership like LTT/GamersNexus/TechLead/etc, but so far MKBHD and his team have avoided any controversy. I don't know how anyone would say he doesn't qualify for the "professional" moniker.
rsynnott 3y ago
A professional reviewer is paid by the publication they write for, or, these days, increasingly, by a monetised YouTube channel. A ‘reviewer’ who accepts pay from the manufacturer of the thing they’re ‘reviewing’ is actually doing advertisement, not reviewing. And if they don’t disclose they’ve been paid, they’re doing _fraud_.

SllX 3y ago

Not by the people making the products they’re reviewing. Marques Brownlee runs an extremely popular YouTube channel; his money comes from YouTube ads and subscriptions and his reputation is everything just like any other product reviewer.

KennyBlanken 3y ago
You seem unaware of the term "press junket" - events where car companies invite press to fancy locations and wine/dine them. The top tier press are invited to that, and they're expected to have nice things to say or they aren't invited back unless they have such a large audience nobody can say no to them. Just getting access to the press car fleet alone is worth something to a reviewer; if they can't get access to cars, they starve, especially if they can't get access before the embargo lifts; all the traffic will go to the reviewers who had pre-embargo access. If they're honest and don't pull punches, and don't have the clout of say Top Gear - the car company's PR team will cut them off. The way most reviewers get around being able to sleep at night is by focusing only on the things they like, and lie by omission. Any criticism is focused on subjective meaningless things like "this color is horrid." For example: go read reviews of the VW Mk8 GTI, see how many reviewers tow VW's line about them "curing" understeer, and how many reviewers are honest about the press car being delivered with softer tread compound tires up front and harder compound tires in the back, to cheat and make the car handle more neutrally. See how many mention that the press cars were EU models (normal) with a slew of features that won't be available in the US at all (not at all normal), like the fancier adaptive suspension system. See how many of them rave about how good the suspension is...a suspension the US didn't get!
- reaperman 3y ago
  Here is a great article[0] with an overview of the press junket model. In it, a newly-established author with a passion for integrity wrestles/struggles with having to participate in the press junket scheme in order to write the articles that his readers want. 0: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03/ars-asks-how-do-you-feel-about-junkets-for-auto-coverage/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03/ars-asks-how-do-you-fee...
  - throwaway4good 3y ago
    Great link. But what is described here is how common reviewers and influencers are treated. However a superstar like Top Gear or MKBHD won't be impressed by a night at a London airport hotel. They require much more resources otherwise the company risks the hammer coming down like it was case here. People really shouldn't be surprised by this stuff - this phenomenon is as old as mass media itself.
    - KennyBlanken 3y ago
      Top Gear is a household name around the world, even with people who aren't car enthusiasts. Nobody knows who Marcus Brownlee is unless they're into tech and under 30.
      - SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
        > Nobody knows who Marcus Brownlee is unless they're into tech and under 30. Disagree. I started looking at EV reviews on Youtube, and soon noticed him in that context. Yes, including the Fisker review. I don't fit your filter. You don't need to be under 30 or into computer hardware to have that experience.
      - reaperman 3y ago
        *Marques. And most of my 35-40 year old friends know him, including most of the ones in medical/education/service industry. And we're not anywhere near a tech hub.
- SllX 3y ago
  I know there are crap reviewers that are basically shills, and I also know that if you’re going to accuse a specific person or organization of shilling, you had best bring receipts. You’ll also note the guy I was originally responding to didn’t, and instead throughout this thread has made vague and uncritical commentary about social media influencers and how they need to be “managed” disregarding what Marques’s channel actually does. Don’t give a guy like that an out.

doikor 3y ago

He is paid by YouTube (ad money)

reaperman 3y ago

MKBHD runs a highly reputable company with 13 employees whose livelihood depends on his leadership. This is in an industry/market with notoriously obsessive fans who are very efficient at publicizing any controversial actions of companies/leadership like LTT/GamersNexus/TechLead/etc, but so far MKBHD and his team have avoided any controversy. I don't know how anyone would say he doesn't qualify for the "professional" moniker.

rsynnott 3y ago

A professional reviewer is paid by the publication they write for, or, these days, increasingly, by a monetised YouTube channel. A ‘reviewer’ who accepts pay from the manufacturer of the thing they’re ‘reviewing’ is actually doing advertisement, not reviewing. And if they don’t disclose they’ve been paid, they’re doing _fraud_.