# Burrfection youtuber



## kartman35

Have any of you guys seen this youtuber's vids? He has a channel with product comparos and sharpening instructions. The production quality is top notch, the camera angles are super, but the content seems questionable to me.

I've only seen a couple, but in that time for example he demonstrated the proper way to begin sharpening a Yanagiba as about 5 minutes of uraoshi on a chosera 1k. He he never indicates to only apply pressure on the push, and insists on a 90 degree angle of approach for uraoshi. In another video he says "now we'll strop" and proceeds to do gentle alternating edge *leading* strokes. 

He gives all kinds of vague and unintelligible reasons for weird habits that he seems to have developed and generally seems to present or even know very little theory behind what he's doing.

have you guys seen him? Am I being too critical?

:scratchhead:


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

"He gives all kinds of vague and unintelligible reasons for weird habits that he seems to have developed and generally seems to present or even know very little theory behind what he's doing."

This description would only exclude a minority even on this forum, and certainly not me 

You notice he is still learning from video to video. Do, don't die attitude that leads to mistakes here and there....

The problem is, somebody sharpening so much and so many knives will hardly ever let the kit breathe and show what the edge retention is at....


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## kartman35

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> "He gives all kinds of vague and unintelligible reasons for weird habits that he seems to have developed and generally seems to present or even know very little theory behind what he's doing."
> 
> This description would only exclude a minority even on this forum, and certainly not me
> 
> .



Right..and not for me either. the difference is we're not out there TEACHING as though we were some kind of expert.


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## mikaelsan

i support what he does, as he keeps pointing out, its a learning experience for him as well, so yes there are points i disagree on, some variables that are not discussed and some times he could change his opinion on things.
But the fact is that his method works, and people learning how to sharpen seems to be his main audience, i know i got a lot more stable results after watching his stuff for a while. So expert or not i think its a nice option to be able to see his full session sharpening s and hear his thoughts along the way.
Also I'm there every once in a while to check out what different stones are like in use. 
Every stone/knife in action video i can watch i appreciate, that's also why i like to watch stuff like mr knife fanatic as well =)


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## K813zra

I don't feel that one has to be a master at something to be a teacher or an instructor. My father taught me how to fish, drive, tie my shoes and what have you and he is a master of none of those. An average guy that knows how to do them fairly well, sure. We as human beings have been handing down what knowledge we have about certain subjects to others for many years and all the while not being experts. 

That aside, if you follow him you will clearly hear him state that he is not an expert and he recommends others who are if you are looking to start out in sharpening. What I feel he is doing is sharing the knowledge he gains on his sharpening journey with others. I see nothing wrong with that nor do I see how it differs from what happens on this or other forums on a daily basis. 

Like any youtuber, take what you can from his videos and if you see something that you feel is flawed then say so.


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## Badgertooth

kartman35 said:


> He gives all kinds of vague and unintelligible reasons for weird habits that he seems to have developed and generally seems to present or even know very little theory behind what he's doing.



Hahaha, I pretty much assumed that sharpening was the solidification of a bunch of weird habits. I'd steer well clear of any of my videos then.


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## Jovidah

I don't think you're being too critical. As I said somewhere else... the production / video quality only thinly veils his lack of mastery of the subject. He's just a guy who looked at all the youtube videos, and repackages them with a lot of hearsay and wild uninformed guesswork thrown in between. The biggest problem is that the format creates an impression of knowledge that just isn't there; there's a lot of half-truths and hearsay in there, and he misses a lot of the basic knowledge. Some it is simply plain wrong. Good luck trying to figure out which parts are correct and which parts aren't.

Admittedly that goes for most of us, but for those very reason most of us shouldn't start a channel trying to 'inform' the world'. Most of us don't go around telling people how to sharpen a yanagiba after we just bought our first one 3 days ago...

Another issue is that at least some of his recent videos (for example on the Dalstrong stuff) give me a strong impression that it's sponsored content.
The goal of the channel is to make money. I'd take whatever he says with a big heap of salt...


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## Jovidah

K813zra said:


> I don't feel that one has to be a master at something to be a teacher or an instructor. My father taught me how to fish, drive, tie my shoes and what have you and he is a master of none of those. An average guy that knows how to do them fairly well, sure. We as human beings have been handing down what knowledge we have about certain subjects to others for many years and all the while not being experts.


I see your point... but I'm pretty sure your dad never wrote a manual on "How to fish for dummies" after his first fishing trip. Nor did he become a driving instructor a week after getting his driving license... 
The issue here is that people will just take him at his word, without looking further for the actual good stuff that is already out there.


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## K813zra

Jovidah said:


> I see your point... but I'm pretty sure your dad never wrote a manual on "How to fish for dummies" after his first fishing trip. Nor did he become a driving instructor a week after getting his driving license...
> The issue here is that people will just take him at his word, without looking further for the actual good stuff that is already out there.



We take people at their word everyday when we are not certain that they know what they are talking about. If one does not do further investigation and just assume that the one person they happened upon is right then the fault is their own. It isn't like he is claiming to be a professional sharpener and charging people to mimic what he does.

Edit: I didn't see the other post. 

Most youtube channels out there are about making money even if they didn't start out that way. I am not saying to take the mans word as gospel but people do get to see the stones in action which is more than many can do locally. Even if it only gives a basic idea.

I get what you are saying but at the same time many of us answer questions on this forum on a daily basis without being an expert. If everyone were to keep quite I have a feeling that a lot of questions would go unanswered, maybe most of them.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

He might be learning by teaching - and I think he himself more or less admits to it if one listens  The will to be methodical is certainly there with all these comparison studies....


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## TurboScooter

Jovidah said:


> Another issue is that at least some of his recent videos (for example on the Dalstrong stuff) give me a strong impression that it's sponsored content.
> The goal of the channel is to make money. I'd take whatever he says with a big heap of salt...



The Burrfection channel spun off his original YouTube channel that had all kinds of other unrelated content, and now it has a scummy spammer like feel to it. He had some ads up for "friends" who had a store on Amazon and Etsy, but that seemed like it was about it for the knife products.

Now, every video description is an Amazon Affiliate link list (so he's making money off the links) 10 miles long. You can't even search his channel for something without bringing up every video because every video description has every product on his channel. It's like the idiots on Craigslist that spam words into their ad to bring up their ad in completely unrelated searches. I know I was looking for a Miata but wow this ad for a huge SUV came up because you put the word Miata in your ad along with every other auto related word you can think of. I never would have considered buying your huge SUV if you didn't so very cleverly sneak it into a search for a tiny roadster. I sure would like to make a several thousand dollar purchase from such a fine, honest person of unimpeachable character such as yourself.

I only look at the channel because I'm looking for views of something or just sheer boredom. The opinions and advice contained within the videos, however, I treat as possibly tainted/dishonest and thus essentially worthless.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

Sponsored reviews and monetized channels do not IMPLY dishonesty IMHO, but they certainly need scrutiny.

"You can't even search his channel for something without bringing up every video because every video description has every product on his channel"

Looks like somebody who is trying to maximize his youtube presence (not a problem in itself) while being inexperienced and simply following bad advice.

What I do wonder about is the scarcity of food related content ... And that a lot of non-knife content appears to have been deleted.


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## berko

> Every stone/knife in action video i can watch i appreciate


 +1

i also love to hear peoples opinions on stones, even if they dont match with my experience.


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## mise_en_place

Dunning Kruger + Desire to make money = Burrfection and people like him


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## TurboScooter

mise_en_place said:


> Dunning Kruger + Desire to make money = Burrfection and people like him



"No nothing" :eyebrow:


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## XooMG

For folks unfamiliar with it, Dunning and Kruger got an Ig Nobel prize. There is no Nobel prize for psychology.


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## valgard

XooMG said:


> For folks unfamiliar with it, Dunning and Kruger got an Ig Nobel prize. There is no Nobel prize for psychology.



And Ig Nobel prizes are worth a read if you are in for a nerd laugh, there are some really amusing things people have devoted their time to...


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## mise_en_place

TurboScooter said:


> "No nothing" :eyebrow:



Haha I can't believe I missed that. 

I no know nothing.


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## Sharp-Hamono

Jovidah said:


> I don't think you're being too critical. As I said somewhere else... the production / video quality only thinly veils his lack of mastery of the subject. He's just a guy who looked at all the youtube videos, and repackages them with a lot of hearsay and wild uninformed guesswork thrown in between. The biggest problem is that the format creates an impression of knowledge that just isn't there; there's a lot of half-truths and hearsay in there, and he misses a lot of the basic knowledge. Some it is simply plain wrong. Good luck trying to figure out which parts are correct and which parts aren't.
> 
> Admittedly that goes for most of us, but for those very reason most of us shouldn't start a channel trying to 'inform' the world'. Most of us don't go around telling people how to sharpen a yanagiba after we just bought our first one 3 days ago...
> 
> Another issue is that at least some of his recent videos (for example on the Dalstrong stuff) give me a strong impression that it's sponsored content.
> The goal of the channel is to make money. I'd take whatever he says with a big heap of salt...



OK, guess I'll be the dude who sticks up for him. I see a whole lot of generalizations and buzzwords in your condemnation, but scarce few examples. Let's take your core complaint that his production values are too high for his level of knowledge. If every YouTube channel with high production values and mediocre informational value were shut down, there'd only be a handful of people left on the site. Anyone who has used the site more than once knows that YouTube channels do not equate to authoritative, encyclopedia-like collections of knowledge. I really don't understand what your fundamental complaint is. Would you rather he use less expensive camera equipment until his knowledge is sufficiently deep to gain your approval? It's such a bizarre complaint, IMO, that I have to assume you're hating just for the sake of hating. Maybe out of jealousy. 

Let's take the money making complaint. A channel that size probably makes anywhere from a couple hundred to maybe a thousand bucks a month on ad revenue and referral links. That could be enough to pay his rent many months, depending on how much he's getting. He's definitely a businessman, like many youtubers are, and I'm not sure how anyone could miss that. It's one thing to not like him - that's normal and completely your right to do - but honestly, who are you to say that he can't feed his family just because you don't think he's smart enough or he doesn't do things to your approval? How can you spite a businessman for trying to make money? I mean, come on. Let's not play coy, no one is taking advice from any YouTube video completely at face value - and if they are, and it's bad advice, then that's their own fault. There are a lot of different kinds of channels on YouTube, and I for one am glad that at least one of them is making videos about knife sharpening and whetstone use. Don't like it? Let's see you make a better channel then.


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## kartman35

I started this thread with a few examples.

Perhaps Jon would care to comment on whether or not it's good advice to start sharpening your yanagiba with several minutes of 2 directional sharpening on the ura with a medium grit stone?

****EDIT****

Nevermind I just saw the Korin video which shows exactly this as the way to start sharpening your yanagiba.

More than one way to do things I guess.


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## kartman35

Sharp-Hamono said:


> Let's not play coy, no one is taking advice from any YouTube video completely at face value -




Well they can if the video is on the knife sharpening playlist at Jknifeimports for example.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

@kartman35 I think if someone was to take Mr Lau or Mr Sugai's advice literally while not having their skill, they'd be likely to wreck their knife. Taking diamond plates to an ura anyone? Not wrong, but certainly dangerous.


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## Jovidah

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> Sponsored reviews and monetized channels do not IMPLY dishonesty IMHO, but they certainly need scrutiny.
> 
> "You can't even search his channel for something without bringing up every video because every video description has every product on his channel"
> 
> Looks like somebody who is trying to maximize his youtube presence (not a problem in itself) while being inexperienced and simply following bad advice.
> 
> What I do wonder about is the scarcity of food related content ... And that a lot of non-knife content appears to have been deleted.



I don't have a problem with sponsored content per se, but it has to be labeled. And in a channel that portrays to give objective reviews...there is just no place for it IMO. I know this is quite common on youtube, but that's not an excuse. That's just a bigger problem.
I agree on the issue of lack of food-content. He seems to fall in the trap a lot of people tend to fall into of studying knives in a vaccuum, maybe even spending more time sharpening than using them for their intended purposes. Same issue you see with people who use rope cutting tests for knives. Great if you actually want your knives to cut ropes, but not very useful if you only want it to cut carrots and onions.



Sharp-Hamono said:


> OK, guess I'll be the dude who sticks up for him. I see a whole lot of generalizations and buzzwords in your condemnation, but scarce few examples. Let's take your core complaint that his production values are too high for his level of knowledge. If every YouTube channel with high production values and mediocre informational value were shut down, there'd only be a handful of people left on the site. Anyone who has used the site more than once knows that YouTube channels do not equate to authoritative, encyclopedia-like collections of knowledge. I really don't understand what your fundamental complaint is. Would you rather he use less expensive camera equipment until his knowledge is sufficiently deep to gain your approval? It's such a bizarre complaint, IMO, that I have to assume you're hating just for the sake of hating. Maybe out of jealousy.



No my issue isn't necessarily that the production values are too high, only that the knowledge base is too low. The fact that more channels suffer from this problem isn't an excuse. The overwhelming amount of cooking or knife 'instructions' that give bad or simply wrong advice are a thorn to my eye as well. And the reality is many people do seem to take it for 'expert advice'.
The main reason I don't have a lot of examples is because I wasn't exactly keeping a list as I went through some of them when they popped into my feed. Sorry, it's been a few weeks and frankly I can't be bothered to go back and watch them again. 

I don't know why I'd be jealous. Personally I get the idea that my level of knowledge on the matter is no different or even higher than his... and _I don't consider myself expert enough to create such instructional material for a bigger audience_. I can share a few tips, experiences or suggestions, but IMO instructional series should be left to the few people who actually have a damn clue and don't mix up good advice with bad advice.




> Let's take the money making complaint. A channel that size probably makes anywhere from a couple hundred to maybe a thousand bucks a month on ad revenue and referral links. That could be enough to pay his rent many months, depending on how much he's getting. He's definitely a businessman, like many youtubers are, and I'm not sure how anyone could miss that. It's one thing to not like him - that's normal and completely your right to do - but honestly, who are you to say that he can't feed his family just because you don't think he's smart enough or he doesn't do things to your approval? How can you spite a businessman for trying to make money? I mean, come on. Let's not play coy, no one is taking advice from any YouTube video completely at face value - and if they are, and it's bad advice, then that's their own fault. There are a lot of different kinds of channels on YouTube, and I for one am glad that at least one of them is making videos about knife sharpening and whetstone use. Don't like it? Let's see you make a better channel then.



The whole businessman argument is BS. By your reasoning I could legitimize slave traders and drug smugglers. Most of those have rents to pay and families to feed as well. Yes I most certainly can complain about how people make money if I think their ethics or business practices suck, or the quality of work is lacking. Everyone does. Heck, why is there a CheeseKnightsToGo embargo here? For that very reason. 

Take the reviews of the Dalstrong knife for example (happened to pop in my feed a while back). It's a knife that has some pretty obvious issues - especially if you go through their own promotional materials. Yet he only gives glowing reviews. That means he is either too incompetent to notice them, or it is sponsored content which isn't labelled as such (more likely). Take your pick. The latter is extremely dishonest IMO and actually illegal in some places.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

He was pretty upfront about the fact that Dalstrong gave him some knives for free.. assuming you're talking the Gladiator, how is that one bad for a softer western-hybrid knife in your opinion (not a rhetorical question!)?

....

Yes, there is something to be jealous about: The "2010's style confidence" of saying "hey, got one eye, and the kingdom's blind, so I do not only get to be king, but it is good for everyone!". I think it really helps  (Yeah I know, I myself am part guilty, part sorely lacking of it). Maybe.

And hey, who wants to read a one liner saying "I've been through three shopping bags of produce with knife XYZ, need no more than a polishing stone and a newspaper now. Not claiming my work style is representative." when you can get glorious youtube vid with spry, smiling guy? 

My impression that he's not beyond salvation was from the Masamoto vs Pumpkin thing: First thought was "You sharpened terrible steering into that, either a) by doing it wrong, or b) by doing it right but making a knife that either c) you can't use or d) that is useless on a pumpkin, thus rendering the test nonsensical". However, further down the line he was indeed *spending some thought into why it happened*.

Problem is, in case d) it is hard to fathom if this would also apply to that knife as-new .... which might reflect unfairly bad on Masamoto. 

......


Defending no side at all here, just unfiltered thoughts. Hey, this fence makes for comfortable sitting...


......


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## XooMG

Is he hostile to constructive criticism? Has anyone recommended he add secondary sources or references when dealing with methods or concepts in which he is not especially competent?

Online authority is an easy trap to fall into when you're a motivated amateur. Belligerence is an easy trap as well.


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## brooksie967

I actually have Ryky on facebook and he's a pleasant guy who seems to want to learn lots. Yeah he's getting free samples and probably making money but I have never gotten the impression that he's doing this without the best intentions.


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## Sharp-Hamono

Jovidah said:


> I don't have a problem with sponsored content per se, but it has to be labeled. And in a channel that portrays to give objective reviews...there is just no place for it IMO. I know this is quite common on youtube, but that's not an excuse. That's just a bigger problem.
> 
> Take the reviews of the Dalstrong knife for example (happened to pop in my feed a while back). It's a knife that has some pretty obvious issues - especially if you go through their own promotional materials. Yet he only gives glowing reviews. That means he is either too incompetent to notice them, or it is sponsored content which isn't labelled as such (more likely). Take your pick. The latter is extremely dishonest IMO and actually illegal in some places.



He's pretty upfront about where he gets his knives, actually. He certainly never denies that he got certain knives for free, and in many videos, he specifically says that he was sent the knife for free, for example the video he did recently on the Kuma knife. He also made a whole Q&A video recently where he explained how he gets a lot of knives sent to him for free. 



Jovidah said:


> No my issue isn't necessarily that the production values are too high, only that the knowledge base is too low. The fact that more channels suffer from this problem isn't an excuse. The overwhelming amount of cooking or knife 'instructions' that give bad or simply wrong advice are a thorn to my eye as well. And the reality is many people do seem to take it for 'expert advice'.
> The main reason I don't have a lot of examples is because I wasn't exactly keeping a list as I went through some of them when they popped into my feed. Sorry, it's been a few weeks and frankly I can't be bothered to go back and watch them again.


I only wrote a short essay explaining my position. But you didn't take notes, so you "can't be bothered to" distill your high level thesis into a mere one or two paragraphs of reasoning with examples to convey your opinion without all the generalization or conjecture. Why would anyone ever expect reciprocity in a conversation, of all things?



Jovidah said:


> I don't know why I'd be jealous. Personally I get the idea that my level of knowledge on the matter is no different or even higher than his... and _I don't consider myself expert enough to create such instructional material for a bigger audience_. I can share a few tips, experiences or suggestions, but IMO instructional series should be left to the few people who actually have a damn clue and don't mix up good advice with bad advice.


I don't know why you'd be jealous either. But like I said, despite there being other channels giving incomplete or inadequate advice for sharpening knives, you seem to have singled out only this one to crucify. I'm just trying to understand, and since you haven't offered evidence to support your position, I don't have much to work with.



Jovidah said:


> Yes I most certainly can complain about how people make money if I think their ethics or business practices suck, or the quality of work is lacking. Everyone does. Heck, why is there a CheeseKnightsToGo embargo here? For that very reason.


So don't watch his videos then. Why is this such a difficult concept for you? Nobody's forcing you to watch them or agonize about all the things he's doing wrong.



Jovidah said:


> The whole businessman argument is BS. By your reasoning I could legitimize slave traders and drug smugglers. Most of those have rents to pay and families to feed as well.


Point to where, in the post you're replying to or anywhere else, I said that it's OK to make money by hurting other people or doing anything else that's illegal.

I'll wait.


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## malexthekid

Umm he singled out this one because it is a thread about this channel. I thought that was obvious.


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## Sharp-Hamono

He's criticized burrfection in at least one other thread in the same superficial, generic way. I'm still waiting for him to give any specifics whatsoever. The fact that he's more willing to insinuate that I can rationalize slavery than give examples backing up what he says tells me that he's probably unable to defend his position.


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## malexthekid

Mate sorry but I am on his side of this. Obviously sponsored (not just free) content. Pretty rubbish tutorials. But looks pro because of the quality.

Look if you like the guy fine. But you will get better tutorials from Jon or Rick (ThEory).

And I still can't figure out what position you want him to defend... let alone not being able to defend it.

Take a chill pill and go buy a dalstrong.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

@malexthekid what is being defended against here is the accusation that he is clandestinely hyping sponsored gear - he is not, he openly says it has been given to him for free.


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## malexthekid

I disagree from what I see he is getting freebies for good press... now this might or might not be true but it is the perception I get from it.

Just declaring I got it for free doesn't excuse you if there is more you are withholding...

But that is my perception and why I don't watch his vids.


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## TurboScooter

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> @malexthekid what is being defended against here is the accusation that he is clandestinely hyping sponsored gear - he is not, he openly says it has been given to him for free.



I think that disclosure might be required.



Electronic Code of Federal Regulations said:


> §255.5 Disclosure of material connections.
> 
> When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience), such connection must be fully disclosed. For example, when an endorser who appears in a television commercial is neither represented in the advertisement as an expert nor is known to a significant portion of the viewing public, then the advertiser should clearly and conspicuously disclose either the payment or promise of compensation prior to and in exchange for the endorsement or the fact that the endorser knew or had reason to know or to believe that if the endorsement favored the advertised product some benefit, such as an appearance on television, would be extended to the endorser. Additional guidance, including guidance concerning endorsements made through other media, is provided by the examples below.



Incentivized reviews are often biased, even if unintentionally, and disclosure doesn't get rid of the bias. It can be also argued, IMO, that the Amazon affiliate links are clandestine, or at least somewhat so. He's publishing reviews and putting Amazon affiliate links to every product in every video description. I don't think it's openly disclosed or obvious to most people that the links are affiliate links.


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## Jovidah

XooMG said:


> Is he hostile to constructive criticism? Has anyone recommended he add secondary sources or references when dealing with methods or concepts in which he is not especially competent?
> 
> Online authority is an easy trap to fall into when you're a motivated amateur. Belligerence is an easy trap as well.



Honestly I don't know... I only responded about his channel when it came up on here on the forums. I don't really respond to youtube videos and quite frankly until it came up here I didn't feel like making an issue of it.



brooksie967 said:


> I actually have Ryky on facebook and he's a pleasant guy who seems to want to learn lots. Yeah he's getting free samples and probably making money but I have never gotten the impression that he's doing this without the best intentions.



Oh I'm not saying he cannot be a pleasant guy. I prefer to look at people as more than one-dimensional. But good intentions do not guarantee good results. As I said he gets some stuff right and some stuff not. That's the main problem when you start lecturing about stuff you don't master; you don't know what you don't know. And with free samples it's _very_ easy of falling into the trap of not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you. It happens to a lot of the people (especially youtubers) who work by that model. It has essentially ruined youtube (and actually a lot of the internet) as a place to get any kind of reliable reviews.
I would have a lot less problems with all that if there wasn't a business aspect to it.


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## Jovidah

Sharp-Hamono said:


> He's pretty upfront about where he gets his knives, actually. He certainly never denies that he got certain knives for free, and in many videos, he specifically says that he was sent the knife for free, for example the video he did recently on the Kuma knife. He also made a whole Q&A video recently where he explained how he gets a lot of knives sent to him for free.


As I said, it's definitly not clear in all of the videos, and when the resulting movie is a glowing review of a knife that obviously has some issues, it calls into question either the objectivity or the qualifications of the reviewer. That means it's not a review, it's essentially a paid advertisement, that he profits from.
I know this happens a lot on youtube, but that's not an excuse... it's just a bigger problem.




> I only wrote a short essay explaining my position. But you didn't take notes, so you "can't be bothered to" distill your high level thesis into a mere one or two paragraphs of reasoning with examples to convey your opinion without all the generalization or conjecture. Why would anyone ever expect reciprocity in a conversation, of all things?


No I meant that I didn't take notes when I went through his movies when I saw them. But that was the general impression I got. If you want to watch all of his stuff, fine go ahead. I have no intention to re-watch it just to fuel this discussion. I did not start this thread. Someone made an observation, I agreed with it, and summed up my feelings on the matter. Nothing more. 
You're more than welcome to disagree and idolize the man and his channel if you want. I'm just explaining why I have some problems with it.




> I don't know why you'd be jealous either. But like I said, despite there being other channels giving incomplete or inadequate advice for sharpening knives, you seem to have singled out only this one to crucify. I'm just trying to understand, and since you haven't offered evidence to support your position, I don't have much to work with.


Oh I agree there is lots more bad stuff, a lot even worse. I only responded here because it came up and I shared the sentiment. Same thing in another thread... someone brought up this dude and I gave my thoughts on why I wouldn't necessarily put too much value in his advice. Just like I usually hazard people not to put too much stock in mine.
And as I said one of the reasons I did is because the higher production values unconsciously lead people to overestimate the expertise level of the creator. People usually don't make that mistake when they're watching the usual shaky webcam footage. 




> So don't watch his videos then. Why is this such a difficult concept for you? Nobody's forcing you to watch them or agonize about all the things he's doing wrong.


Which is why I didn't want to go back and watching them just to fuel this discussion. I'm just giving my opinion on them after it came up. Again, I was never the one who started any threads about him.




> Point to where, in the post you're replying to or anywhere else, I said that it's OK to make money by hurting other people or doing anything else that's illegal.
> 
> I'll wait.


You were argueing about how I was in no position to say how he could or couldn't feed his family just because I didn't approve of how he was doing this. I just think that's a non-argument. Lot's of people do lots of morally questionable things 'to feed their family' and 'pay the rent'. Just because it's how they choose their money doesn't mean we're allowed to critize them? Again, I'm sorry, but drug smugglers, slave traders and whatnot do what they do to feed their family and pay their bills as well. I'm not saying you condone those things, I'm just saying it's a non-argument. Legality does not guarantee morality.

Just to give a personal example. I worked for a callcenter for a while. I made a conscious decision to work at the helpdesk instead of at sales (which would have earned more money) because I found what they were doing doing business - mostly trying to sell people stuff they absolutely did not want or need - morally questionable. Even at customer support I actually lost my job after half a year when they had to cut employees because I was doing too good a job at 'trying to help people' while it was more profitable for the company just to 'get rid of them in the quickest way possible'. I could never go along with that as it was morally questionable and frankly insulting to the consumers. It hurt my finances a lot but I still stand by it.

I just don't buy into the general argument that 'you're not allowed to critique how someone makes their money'. There are more than enough questionable business practises in this world to go around and I don't buy into the capitalist idealism that you cannot fault a businessman for trying to make money. That's the kind of attitude that got sugar and corn syrup producers to bury research on the unhealthyness of their product, got tobacco producers to deliberately mislead the public about how their products caused cancer, and has fossile fuel companies ruining the environment while financing bogus climate deniers just so they can make a buck to the detriment of everyone. 
While I'm quite willing to admit his intentions might be entirely benign and innocent, that does not good guarantee results. A lot of very questionable things in this world are done by entirely selfless idealists. But I guess that's my thesis speaking. 




Sharp-Hamono said:


> He's criticized burrfection in at least one other thread in the same superficial, generic way. I'm still waiting for him to give any specifics whatsoever. The fact that he's more willing to insinuate that I can rationalize slavery than give examples backing up what he says tells me that he's probably unable to defend his position.


Again, I did not start either discussion about the channel... I was only responding to them when I came up and shared my doubts about them. The insinuation about rationalizing slavery was about the argument you were giving. 
For the record... I can rationalize slavery just as well myself... it wasn't meant as an insult.


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## Sharp-Hamono

@Jovidah, 

The non-argument is to conflate the voluntary exchange of value between a call center salesman and his customer with the involuntary coercion that takes place between a slave trader and his slave. That's an invalid comparison because you're not acknowledging that one example includes the initiation of force, while the other does not. They are totally different situations.

I never said that you "can't" criticize someone for engaging in business to feed his family. My point, which I'll clarify now, is that when you imply that he shouldn't make money with his sharpening videos, but you haven't pointed out a single specific wrong thing that he's doing when sharpening, let alone advice so egregious as to be unethical, then your argument comes off as disingenuous to me. The ethical claim underlying your posts seems to be that naive knife owners watching his videos might take Ryky's advice and ruin their expensive knives, presumably due to a misplaced trust in someone they wrongly concluded was an authority figure. Is that not what you're saying? If not, please take the opportunity to clarify. 

To solve this, you said that viewers need to take the advice with an exaggerated grain of salt. My response was that viewers are already doing that because of where the videos are published. There is an implicit understanding that YouTube content comes with zero guarantees. For example, the #1 most subscribed youtuber has excellent production values, but his main content is literally videos of himself playing video games. Most of the popular channels on the site tend to be similarly focused on entertainment and looking good. There also are plenty of channels out there with high informational content, but low production values. I really don't think most viewers will make the connection your ethical claim relies on, that high production values equates with high informational content and therefore authoritative knowledge. 

If Ryky's allegedly erroneous advice were instead published in the latest issue of a hobbyist magazine or in a book, or even if he claimed on his channel to be a professional knife sharpener who had all the answers, then it would be a different story. For example, we consider it acceptable for tabloid journalists to make unsubstantiated claims about Bigfoot living in a cave under Mount Rushmore, but if a serious journalist made such a claim, we'd call it irresponsible. Format matters.

I'd love to hear your _actual critiques_ of Ryky's sharpening technique as a way to help the OP evaluate the value of the channel; however, as yet, you haven't given any. That's really what irks me about your posts.


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## malexthekid

Sharp-Hamono said:


> @Jovidah,
> 
> The non-argument is to conflate the voluntary exchange of value between a call center salesman and his customer with the involuntary coercion that takes place between a slave trader and his slave. That's an invalid comparison because you're not acknowledging that one example includes the initiation of force, while the other does not. They are totally different situations.



Mate we get it. You are a fan boy. That is fine. But you are on a forum where I would suggest 80 to 90% of members would take one look at his videos and see through the reviews and discount his sharpening videos because of the flaws.

In terms of your "non-argument"... yes it is a big leap between immoral youtube channel and slavers... but there are still moral issues. Yes hyperbole and to different degrees but "reviewing" goods which are gifted is always questionable....

As in, point me to one of his reviews of a gifted product that is negative? I admit I only skimmed but couldn't find one... to me that is a massive alarm bell.

And as Jovidah said. He may just be thinking he is being totally objective but it doesn't appear that way to some. And it seems you are too much of a fanboy of his to accept that others see his content and have a different view.

Also just because you disclaim something doesn't excuse you. Disclaimers are legal tools used to minimise risk. You make the statement quickly up front or at the end where people are not focused or forget it. The rest of the content is presented, and therefore interpreted, as fact. Very hard for the common man to acknowledge it for what it is.


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## brooksie967

Why has this turned into name calling?


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## malexthekid

Yeah my fault on the "fanboy" comment. Didn't mean it in a nasty way. Took it as a cop out rather than righting more words, which given the length of my post in the end was pointless...

Anyway didn't mean anything in a nasty way, but it probably doesn't sound nice.

Someone should just close this thread its run its course and no useful info is going to come from here on... I'm outta this discussion. Have fun... debate... and stay nice(ish)


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## Sharp-Hamono

malexthekid said:


> Mate we get it. You are a fan boy.


I'm not a "fan boy," and if you'd been paying attention, you'd have noticed that I haven't defended his content - only his right to make it.



malexthekid said:


> In terms of your "non-argument"... yes it is a big leap between immoral youtube channel and slavers... but there are still moral issues. Yes hyperbole and to different degrees but "reviewing" goods which are gifted is always questionable....


These are weasel words. You're not actually taking a stance on whether publishing a sharpening video on YouTube is the same as slavery. It isn't "a big leap...but." It either_ is or it isn't_ the same as slavery. If you, or someone else, can't formulate a moral argument about a YouTube video without invoking slavery, then how can you expect anyone to take you seriously? 



malexthekid said:


> As in, point me to one of his reviews of a gifted product that is negative? I admit I only skimmed but couldn't find one... to me that is a massive alarm bell.
> And as Jovidah said. He may just be thinking he is being totally objective but it doesn't appear that way to some. And it seems you are too much of a fanboy of his to accept that others see his content and have a different view.
> Also just because you disclaim something doesn't excuse you. Disclaimers are legal tools used to minimise risk. You make the statement quickly up front or at the end where people are not focused or forget it. The rest of the content is presented, and therefore interpreted, as fact. Very hard for the common man to acknowledge it for what it is.



The majority of the videos I can see on his channel just show him sharpening a certain knife on a certain whetstone. The videos about the Dalstrong knives someone mentioned are literally just unboxing videos. If I wanted to be generous, I'd call them product feature videos. I'm still looking for all the "shill review" videos you're referring to.


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## Joe1828

Has anyone seen him prep/cutting food for any of his videos as part of a knife or sharpening stone review?

When I first got into J-knives and searched You-Tube, his videos popped up a lot. Initially I thought it was interesting and helpful, especially with all the stones he talked about, then it started getting infomercial with the Dalstrong reviews and also conflicting information on many of the videos compared to what's being discussed (I think in one of the videos he said it was a conspiracy to use a flattening plate - and that it wasn't needed and vendors just wanted to sell more items. In a newer video, he started using flattening plates - I guess he got some freebies? Hypocrite? He used to review camera gear, now he reviews knives and stones, what's next?


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

"Also just because you disclaim something doesn't excuse you. Disclaimers are legal tools used to minimise risk. You make the statement quickly up front or at the end where people are not focused or forget it. The rest of the content is presented, and therefore interpreted, as fact."

Disclaimers are more of a non-apology. Non-apologies are a polite way of saying you're not owed an apology


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## Gustavo1977

I think there are two issues.
The first refers to the theoretical content of the videos. In the past it was very difficult to publish or divulge some kind of information without having a good background. Today (for good or bad) anyone can write an online encyclopedia or have a blog or a channel on youtube. The difficult thing is to filter information and separate what is good and what is inaccurate. Of course he's not a 'Jon' or a 'Korin'. But there are videos far worse than his. He, like all of us, needs to perfect himself, but still remains a starting point for a spectator who has never had a serious connection with the subject.
The second question concerns knife evaluations. As long as he does not lie, I see no problem in receiving products. I would also see no problem in omitting that (I repeat, as long as the review is true).
What I often see in specialized forums is that people tend to ignore the target audience of the product. It's like wanting a Honda Civic to get a low rating because it's not as good as a Bentley. The expectations of someone buying a $ 20.00 knife are different from whoever buys a $ 500.00 knife. What an analysis of this type must answer is whether, observed competitors in that price range, the knife is good or it is not. And the answer, by the way, will have a very strong subjective degree.


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## HugSeal

I don't understand why people react to him being given things he reviews. That is pretty much the norm in most industries. 

Game reviewers, movie reviewers, some restaurant critics etc. don't pay for the things they are reviewing and people reviewing automobiles don't pay for renting the cars. For the case of game reviewers they are often drowned in keys for a massive amount of games.


The fact that he didn't pay for the items is a nonissue as long as that fact is presented, which afaik it is.

Sure, one could make the argument that someone would make a positive review because they want more freebies. But you can just as easily make the argument that someone who has bought an item is more likely to see that item in a positive light since otherwise they would not only rate the item negatively but also their own ability to make good choices. 

Choice-supportive bias is a very real thing.


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## malexthekid

HugSeal said:


> I don't understand why people react to him being given things he reviews. That is pretty much the norm in most industries.
> 
> Game reviewers, movie reviewers, some restaurant critics etc. don't pay for the things they are reviewing and people reviewing automobiles don't pay for renting the cars. For the case of game reviewers they are often drowned in keys for a massive amount of games.
> 
> 
> The fact that he didn't pay for the items is a nonissue as long as that fact is presented, which afaik it is.
> 
> Sure, one could make the argument that someone would make a positive review because they want more freebies. But you can just as easily make the argument that someone who has bought an item is more likely to see that item in a positive light since otherwise they would not only rate the item negatively but also their own ability to make good choices.
> 
> Choice-supportive bias is a very real thing.



It is not that he is given things to review... it is how he reviews the things he is given... The good game reviews will call a rubbish game that... and game companies will still give it to them to review, because they know a great review from them means a lot. They just run the risk that, their game isn't great....

My issue with his, is that they are positive reviews (without actual substance)... which tends to suggest to me, they are given to him for positive review (or simple unboxing if you wish to call it that, with positive comments). I take issue with that.

But as I said, its my perception, I could be totally wrong.


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## dominasia

I'm a subscriber and enjoy it in small doses, though I cannot understand why someone who spends so much on production values cannot be bothered to edit the videos. I have a background in video editing so i am biased i admit, but even so, some of these videos are at least twice as long as necessary. 
Some of the videos are plain daft. Comparing a Yanagiba to a gyuto as a chopping knife?
Then there is the top six recommended knives that he posts links to under heading categories Gyuto, Utility, santoku etc. Funny how Dalstrong is always number 1. Remember, this is a guy who owns two Masamotos, one of which is a KS.
He also recommends stones he was critical of during the reviews. Has he changed his mind?
He always seems to start with a sharp knife in the first place, which he runs across a brick to dull. I'd like to see him take a deadbeat knife through the process, but the running time would be longer than Gone With The Wind.

But he's a nice enough kid, with a pleasant demeanor, and he's very honest about how he's learning as he goes. I'll keep tuning in for a while longer.


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