My gripes with most knife reviews on YT I decide I DON'T like:
1. TOO LONG (already covered)
2. BAD LIGHTING/CHEAP CELL PHONE VIDEOS (use bright, but not OVER bright daylight balanced lighting). It bothers the photographer / perfectionist in me to crank up the resolution (I watch everything on YT at the highest resolution possible) and STILL have a grainy or shaky video. Just because you HAVE video capability doesn't mean you need to post on YouTube! Blade HQs are some of the best-even at LOW resolutions the images are crystal clear.
3. ELIMINATE DISTRACTING NOISES I either laugh, or am frustrated (depending on how badly I want the information I think will be in the video) at the number of YT videos that have TVs playing in the background, BABIES CRYING (are you freaking kidding me!?!?), people talking, dogs barking, etc. As to the TV, this is something I see often in my life, as I do not watch TV. I don't have antenna, satellite, or cable. I do watch movies on DVD, but we put them in, watch them while doing nothing else (except maybe surfing the Net) and turn them off. I talk with people all the time who can't fathom this... Some continue to ask if I watched a show last night, even after I re-remind them I do not "watch television." People try to talk to me on the phone with a TV blaring in the background. I go to calls as a LEO and I turn the blaring TV off at their house without asking because they weren't even aware they were having to talk/yell over it. The point is that TV has became accepted in most homes as "background noise" and is always on, and therefore most people are not even aware of it. I can't believe how many people post reviews on YT with one playing in the background!
4. REMEMBER THAT 85-90% OF YOUTUBE KNIFE REVIEWERS SOUND LIKE GEEKS Probably gonna draw some heat for this but it's a fact. Even my wife will say if I'm playing a knife review "Please close that out! He sounds like a geek!" Many of them even look like they are done in their mom's basement, and many/most sound like they are 19 years old. Granted, I recognize that they are sharing a hobby/passion that I share, and they are attempting to provide a service to others, but even the older folks sound like the nerdy IT geek who still lives with his mom...! (Open to flaming...but facts are facts!) And using knife magazine, knife marketing, and knife forum lingo often makes it so much worse ("Had this sharpened by bigbalz555 on Zombie forum to a scary sharp edge..." "I 'commisioned' these handles from Kryponiteman..." "This folder locks up as tight as a bank vault" etc.)
5. THAT ^^^ SAID-DON'T TRY TO BE SOMEONE YOU AREN'T-Stick to facts, and be clear and concise and short (as already mentoned). Stay away from false dramatics if you ARE a 19 year old kid (or 44 year old Air Force retiree) that lives with mom... Things like "I have no problem trusting my life (in the line at Gamestop???) to this blade"... The false dramatics could merit a THREAD on their own!
6. TRIM YOUR DANG FINGERNAILS! Would have thought I didn't have to say that but in one otherwise decent (not great but decent) review I watched I could not concentrate on the knife due to the girlishly long fingernails the guy had! Even a poster below the video screen made the comment "DUDE-TRIM YOUR FINGERNAILS!" Please do not argue cultural or politically correct reasons this doesn't matter-it did to me, the other poster and probably many others. IT WAS VERY DISTRACTING.
Again, Blade HQs are probably the best IMHO... Granted they are a seller, but with that caveat everything else about them is outstanding (length, vid quality, background, voice, features, view of the closed knife from many angles, view of the opened knife from many angles, view of the knife in hand from many angles, etc.) A personal review could be a LITTLE longer but please don't launch off on Internet forum conversations, your personal problems, other knives you've owned (other than a mention in comparison), who to vote for, and other nonsense and rambling.
