The truth about the Website Skill Share.

[Black Phoenix]

https://youtu.be/kpDpiYmPcMM

It doesn't surprise me that such is true. I always was one step backward of this websites who say that they provide knowledge for the masses in a easy way.

That and that old teaching from my grandfather who always told me that if it was something good it would not need advertising since everyone would buy it and know it (although I have reservations regarding this, mostly is true in certain cases and industries).

[ejeffrey]

Are you going to tell us what (you think) the problem is or just advertising a random YouTube video?

[Black Phoenix]

Are you going to tell us what (you think) the problem is or just advertising a random YouTube video?

First I'm not the creator of the video itself or have any ties with any YouTube creator.

Second if posting a video on this forum is considered advertising then there are a lot of other users that do the same, some with their own YouTube channels and online presence and with something to gain by doing it.

For me the problem and my intention is to create awareness about bad tactics and bad products, related with the core of this forum (Skill Share have programming courses, electronic courses and others) and to use the knowledge of the rest of the users here to find alternatives that are more viable and efficient (Youtube for example, although there is too much quantity there where a minimum par is quality) while informing new users of what pitfalls this line of knowledge have and their bad actors and said knowledge teachers.

Or even create a platform that teaches the "proper way" with know members at this core as a base of knowledge (probably a very far fetch dream to achieve but who knows) specially now with the advert of AI and their know faults currently. It will not be very far away when AIs do what we do, their replies and knowledge get more accurate and then all that we get feed down our throats is what the AI wants to tell us, while not other avenues are explored or even considered.

I found it interesting because I have close contacts who swear about Skill Share and their good business, when they didn't used it to really check if it was good or had used but then realize that what they learned could had been done in a more complete way, in more depth and for cheaper.

[Berni]

Some of these might have started off as a legitimate idea to host well thought out organized courses on various topics.

But then due to how the internet works things didn't work out and so they resorted to the ad flood tactics to actually turn a profit. At that point the quality of the product was not important anymore since even if like 0.1% of people sign up for just one month and then cancel they make a nice profit. Profit that can be invested into even more aggressive advertising to make even more profit.

Unfortunately just having a great product does not make it sell itself. It ALWAYS needs some form of marketing, nobody will buy your product if they don't even know it exists. It's just that certain kinds of marketing are most effective for certain products.

Youtubers have a very good reach to a wide audience, the built in sponsorships also bypass adblockers, so they are pretty valuable to advertisers. At the same time Youtubers like taking up these sponsorships because they can pay VERY well, much more than what they would get from google after google takes most of the money as its own cut. Especially youtubers that just managed to claw themselves up out of the noise into barely being able to do youtube full time, they need the sweet sponsorship money.

Yeah it sucks that most of these sponsorships are consumer predatory bullshit, but then again they are paying for production of the content i watch on YouTube. I watch most of my video on there, i don't watch TV at all, i don't have Netflix etc..

[Nusa]

You completely missed the point of why people object to a an undescribed youtube link. The point is that if you weren't willing to type even 10 words describing what the video is about, so why should we spend any time following a link? And if we didn't look at your link, anything else you say about it is also worthless.

[alm]

the primary issue that remains unstated is that the video wasn't embedded. if it was playable here nobody would be complaining about the 'cost' of following a link.

I disagree. It takes seconds to skim a text, while it will takes minutes to watch a video. Also often I'm reading on my phone while commuting, so watching a video involves digging up headphones. A textual description is essential in my opinion to convince me to watch it later, unless it's a YouTuber that I know and trust like Dave or Shahriar.

[mendip_discovery]

Posting links with no text is just lazy and similar to just going into a shop and shouting "the chickens are up to something" and then running off.

Years ago I remember a quote from a mate which said "If you can think of a fetish, no matter how odd it is, there is possibly a porn website specialising in it". YouTube is the modern equivalent just swap Fettish for PoV. You are bound to find a angry person with a clickbait style videos with little to no actual content other than just they didn't.like something.

[Black Phoenix]

It was my mistake then. I should had posted an explanation then instead of a comment, expecting people to first see the video and then understand the context of the comment.

My fault and will not happen again.

[SiliconWizard]

I did watch it. If just because Skillshare is indeed a heavily promoted service by many Youtubers.

To be honest, the video is a lot of talk for not much. There is actually relatively little in terms of the overall quality of the courses, or just very vague points.
When you watch this video, what strikes you is that the guy just says a hundred times how Youtube is cheaper and better than Skillshare for learning purposes. It looks like a promotional video for YT more than anything else.

The only point worth mentioning is the aggressive commercial subscription model, making it easy for users to miss the 2-week period (when the free trial period is 1 month) before they get automatically subscribed to the service. It sure is a deceptive practice, althougn it's written in the agreement when you sign up (yes you should read those) and although most subscription-based services actually pull off the same trick, so, not pretty, but not specific to Skillshare. Also he mentions how shaky the 'unsubscribe' can be, and that again is shitty but not specific to Skillshare.

One thing that I absolutely avoid at all costs as much as possible is to give a credit card number BEFORE buying or subscribing to anything. Do not give away your credit card number to get a free trial, and this kind of issue won't ever happen. Of course, they almost all do this. great, they can just f*ck themselves, I won't get tricked. I won't give away a credit card number unless I actually buy something, and a free trial is, by definition, not something you buy.

One competitor that also serves as a sponsor for many Youtubers is Brilliant. I have personal experience with neither, but from the kind of Youtubers Brilliant sponsors, as a preconception I would think that Brilliant offers a better service with higher quality, while Skillshare is a bit like the "Fiverr" of online learning.

[mendip_discovery]

I do enjoy the YT promos that go around. From the buy a bit of scotland and become a lord to asking a bearded YT chap to sell a razor subscription service.

I know some YT types have to do it so they get to buy more test gear. But in general I avoid the adverts if they are not inline with the channel theme.

I have seen a few adverts for Great Courses Plus. But the YTuber does spend most of his time joking about the different hand cradles they make and use it to score the presenter.

[SiliconWizard]

Note that an alternative for the credit card number issue and automatic payments is to use a temporary card number, a service that some banks now offer. It's very handy!

[tooki]

It was my mistake then. I should had posted an explanation then instead of a comment, expecting people to first see the video and then understand the context of the comment.

My fault and will not happen again.

So… we’re waiting.

[coppercone2]

I only use nordVPN to play Raid Shadow Legends while taking a break from trading NFT art investments  and enhancing my intellect with Skillshare.