Just now seeing this... I am a peace loving guy, not a violent bone in my body, but if forum members declaimed war on Youtubers, for whatever reason, I wouldn't mind throwing a few punches in the face to those guys... jus' say'n...
Well, there's rather a big conflict in the above statement!
While I am not a fan of YouTubers, they serve a real and useful service to the pipe community and many others. I don't watch a how-to video unless it's under 3 minutes, or a very complex situation,
And, herein is partly explained the crux of the YouTube pipe video problem.
It's not the tech, it's the use of it. Videos like those made by George Dibos show the value of YouTube as a medium for sharing information. George's repair videos are packed with information and no time is wasted.
By contrast, the vast majority of YouTube fanboy videos are long, rambling, streams of semi consciousness from people with little mental training, and it clearly shows. They're a form of masturbation, 'cause the video largely exists for the pleasure of its maker. Awareness for the audience is not much in evidence. These often take anywhere from 8 to 15 minutes to supply 1 minute of info. The rest is the sound of one hand clapping.
Fortunately, there are a couple of YouTube videographers who make a solid attempt to supply help to their audience, and while the results aren't visually professional, the contents are helpful and valuable.
YouTube has the capacity to provide a significant benefit to the pipe smoking community. It just needs a MUCH better grade of presenters than it has currently.
