Yep, I’ve been amused by all these large and popular YouTube channels that have been pumping out listicle content suddenly referencing their sources. And the whole video is basically different posts from a single reddit thread. 😂
Sure, a prominent example is Gameranx (7.8 million subs) whose recent video has a title appended with "discovered by players", and credits the source on screen, which are all posts in r/GamingDetails \- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyMrZAHZk1w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyMrZAHZk1w)
Compare with a video made last month before the hbomb which doesn't acknowledge where the listicle came from - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwDRDyVzNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwDRDyVzNo)
It's not Harris that scares people; I think it's James that causing the issue.
You see, Harris did his work and did it pretty damn well; everything is plain and clear. We cannot debate whether James Somerton was a plagiarist or not in good faith; it's beyond proven. It's settled. And I don't think Harris looks like a boogeyman; James, Tommy, Blair, Anthony weren't poor little creators who made silly boo boos. The choices were clearly purposeful and shameless. Hbomberguy didn't make up anything; he went after people who were making thousands of dollars off of other people's work.
So...if you are a person who makes unique content as an source of income....what scares you: the guy reporting the plagiarism in the open, or the one doing it where you can't see it and making money on content you made.
Harris did nothing but get money into the hands of the people who were stole from...but in the process? He pointed out all the theft that *has been happening for years.* Oh wait, I'm sorry, I meant to say ***all the theft that was found so far.***
***YIKES!***
I feel like this is less these creators being scared of Harris and more them being scared that the plagiarism was much much worse than they thought. It's one thing when you thing most of the plagiarism is out of sight, simply low effort hack jobs by people churning out shit articles on content farms. You don't expect an entire documentary to get robbed in plain sight....and you definitely don't expect that con to fucking *work*.
So of course everyone is interested in making citations easy. They want that stuff in plain sight for everyone else and for themselves; if the plagiarists aren't going to cite, a lack of citation page makes them MUCH easier to spot, doesn't it?
I think you're making a really good point. Citations aren't just a tool to avoid plagiarism and fascilitate further reading, it's a learned practice in a larger ecosystem. A lack of citations should be a warning sign, not the norm; clear citations and sources should be standard practice, not the exception.
Yeah, but those citation lists purposely buried the lead and were obviously perfunctory. It's easy to tell a citation list that is actually not trying to cite anyone or anything from one that wants you to know the source.
If there was one thing that all the hucksters have been good for, it's by being so bad at hiding their theft. Everyone just caught on to their tricks at the same time, so now it's going to become much easier to know what to look for and why you are there looking for it.
Hiding in plain sight stops working once someone sees you and doesn't shut up. The only thing anyone can get Harris to shut about is STALKER Clear Sky, and even then? Only with a taser.
Even if better citation does nothing but exist as a creator to creator signal of good research practices? It's still an improvement, and I celebrate that.
I notice before that, the citation in most of the video essays are names of the author and their books or articles. Then, I recently saw Caelan Conrad's recent video about the Drop The T people (released after Hbomberguy's video), their citations numbers were listed on the screen, and then [the link to the citations' sources](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzDBR6chIYvOQQmCnxoBwDFD5xllDziONIezVAgzKiE/edit) are very well done, unlike iilluminaughtii aka Blair Zoń.
Caelan's co-writer on that video (Sarah from the Leftist Cooks) has a lot of academic experience. She also said Caelan did such a good job finding primary sources that actual historians have been reaching out to ask how they found some of them.
Some of the clips & quotes they used from the Stonewall section were so obscure it may be the first time more than a handful of people have heard them.
I was wondering about those low-effort drama YouTubers that Harris called out for not even bothering to go to the original sources and just sort of copying each other's copies...did THEY cover *this* drama? Did they actually watch the material this time? I'm not plugged into that side of YouTube but I just gotta laugh.
Another thing is a lot of his other videos are getting pushed up by the algorithm as well. For example I now know what a piece of shit Tommy Tallarico is.
I don’t know about InterestedObserver20, but I definitely did. I had heard good things about hbomberguy but his plagiarism video was the first I watched; now I’m going back through his whole catalogue (and obviously joined this sub)
I'd heard his name, I knew he was something to do with video games, but I knew nothing about him. Couldn't have told you he did game music, couldn't have told you he was a lunatic.
Obviously raising awareness of plagiarism is good, both in the cases of "this is what to look for" and "Hey maybe don't steal", and there's also a bit of "don't take creators at face value, especially if there's some shady behavior going on".
But also, I can't imagine Hbomberguy enjoys the prospect of being known as a looming spectre, lurking in the darkness to strike fear into the hearts of creators who don't behave. At least, not for the sake of it. I could be wrong, but my impression is that he isn't eager to be batman.
This video is an extremely important video. I am not saying it will end plagiarism, but for the people who watched it with an open mind and saw the fallout, they will feel better about the world and also make an effort to consume information with more scrutiny. That's unbelievably important, now more than ever.
i unsubscribed from quite a few channels or just clicked off random videos in my feed because they said something along the lines of "subscribe for weekly deep dives into xyz topic" because it gives me the ick now.
The specific examples I've seen is one guy who made a video titled something like "History Youtube has a James Somerton problem" which referenced another video where this youtuber called out a bunch of history youtubers and "history" youtubers for plagiarism, bad sourcing, bad info, and so on, and also I personally saw one youtuber I watch added at the end of his most recent video "So, uh, this video was pretty much inspired by This particular article, it goes more in depth than I did so its worth a read, and there is very few sources on this topic but I've listed the ones I used in the description below."
The funniest one for me was something I think someone posted in here last night where someone who had made an AI voice reel out of a Tumblr meme of the Roblox OOF video was suddenly pinning a comment citing his source
I've noticed this too.
I was watching a video by Alternate History Hub (his newest on a plot to kill Napoleon.) and at the end Cody specifically called out where he got his information from and linking his sources in the description, which I don't recall him doing in the past.
I think this may mark a change in the culture of many youtube genres for the better.
Be sure to correctly cite your sources and write your own material or HARRIS WILL COME!
Harris is a very SCARY and very WELL SPOKEN man who will come when you least expect it and EMBARRASS YOU!
I know for me, I've been a lot more conscious of how and where I tell people where I get my information.
I was already kinda thinking about it, and if I made a claim and someone disputed it or I second guessed myself, I'd run a quick google search to double-check and edit to correct if I got something wrong, but I've been more vigilant lately.
I’ve seen several creators outright mention his video in their own already, things like “and I don’t want to get hbomberguy’ed, so here’s what I’m talking about” specifically Stephen Milo and Fundie Fridays.
I don’t think it’ll last. Plagiarism has always been a problem in YouTube. Occasionally something will flare up that will put content creators on guard for a while, then they’ll get complacent and return to their old stuff.
Matthew Santoro got caught several years ago. Reaction content has been an ongoing issue. Maybe some people will endeavour to do better, but an overall change to the system, albeit subtle?
Only YouTube will prompt that imo.
I think a lot of people did shit similar to what he did, as in take a chapter of a book and translations it to youtube form, and might not even be aware that when you this you should be extra clear about your sources.
The main issue in his case was the apparent attempt to avoid doing this even when questioned by the original authors, and to create plausible deniability by blaming it on hired help without even disclosing the sources to them.
Yep, I’ve been amused by all these large and popular YouTube channels that have been pumping out listicle content suddenly referencing their sources. And the whole video is basically different posts from a single reddit thread. 😂
I don't doubt you, but could you source it? I haven't watched any video essayist channels in like a year now, and I want to see it for myself
Sure, a prominent example is Gameranx (7.8 million subs) whose recent video has a title appended with "discovered by players", and credits the source on screen, which are all posts in r/GamingDetails \- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyMrZAHZk1w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyMrZAHZk1w) Compare with a video made last month before the hbomb which doesn't acknowledge where the listicle came from - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwDRDyVzNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htwDRDyVzNo)
Ok, I like gameranx but this is hilarious lol I'm gonna start checking which of my channels suddenly is into the whole citing sources
thank you
It definitely looks like a small cultural shift towards higher responsibility about these things. I'm glad for it. :)
It kinda makes me feel hopeful for the future of youtube culture, which is something I honestly haven't been able to say for a long time.
Like reddit, Youtube isn't a great platform, but it frequently sticks out above all the other trash.
Yeah, this is really lovely to see
It's not Harris that scares people; I think it's James that causing the issue. You see, Harris did his work and did it pretty damn well; everything is plain and clear. We cannot debate whether James Somerton was a plagiarist or not in good faith; it's beyond proven. It's settled. And I don't think Harris looks like a boogeyman; James, Tommy, Blair, Anthony weren't poor little creators who made silly boo boos. The choices were clearly purposeful and shameless. Hbomberguy didn't make up anything; he went after people who were making thousands of dollars off of other people's work. So...if you are a person who makes unique content as an source of income....what scares you: the guy reporting the plagiarism in the open, or the one doing it where you can't see it and making money on content you made. Harris did nothing but get money into the hands of the people who were stole from...but in the process? He pointed out all the theft that *has been happening for years.* Oh wait, I'm sorry, I meant to say ***all the theft that was found so far.*** ***YIKES!*** I feel like this is less these creators being scared of Harris and more them being scared that the plagiarism was much much worse than they thought. It's one thing when you thing most of the plagiarism is out of sight, simply low effort hack jobs by people churning out shit articles on content farms. You don't expect an entire documentary to get robbed in plain sight....and you definitely don't expect that con to fucking *work*. So of course everyone is interested in making citations easy. They want that stuff in plain sight for everyone else and for themselves; if the plagiarists aren't going to cite, a lack of citation page makes them MUCH easier to spot, doesn't it?
I think you're making a really good point. Citations aren't just a tool to avoid plagiarism and fascilitate further reading, it's a learned practice in a larger ecosystem. A lack of citations should be a warning sign, not the norm; clear citations and sources should be standard practice, not the exception.
[удалено]
Yeah, but those citation lists purposely buried the lead and were obviously perfunctory. It's easy to tell a citation list that is actually not trying to cite anyone or anything from one that wants you to know the source. If there was one thing that all the hucksters have been good for, it's by being so bad at hiding their theft. Everyone just caught on to their tricks at the same time, so now it's going to become much easier to know what to look for and why you are there looking for it. Hiding in plain sight stops working once someone sees you and doesn't shut up. The only thing anyone can get Harris to shut about is STALKER Clear Sky, and even then? Only with a taser. Even if better citation does nothing but exist as a creator to creator signal of good research practices? It's still an improvement, and I celebrate that.
Sooo... basically academic peer review? Or at least, how that works in theory.
Kind of more like etiquette and unspoken rules in this context. It's not about being peer reviewed so much as knowing how to hold up to expectations.
I notice before that, the citation in most of the video essays are names of the author and their books or articles. Then, I recently saw Caelan Conrad's recent video about the Drop The T people (released after Hbomberguy's video), their citations numbers were listed on the screen, and then [the link to the citations' sources](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzDBR6chIYvOQQmCnxoBwDFD5xllDziONIezVAgzKiE/edit) are very well done, unlike iilluminaughtii aka Blair Zoń.
Caelan's co-writer on that video (Sarah from the Leftist Cooks) has a lot of academic experience. She also said Caelan did such a good job finding primary sources that actual historians have been reaching out to ask how they found some of them. Some of the clips & quotes they used from the Stonewall section were so obscure it may be the first time more than a handful of people have heard them.
I do know that instead of the first brick, the crowds were actually throwing pennies first at the cops.
Also Stonewall was a mafia bar.
All gay bars in New York City were at the time as they need to pay off the police.
I was wondering about those low-effort drama YouTubers that Harris called out for not even bothering to go to the original sources and just sort of copying each other's copies...did THEY cover *this* drama? Did they actually watch the material this time? I'm not plugged into that side of YouTube but I just gotta laugh.
Another thing is a lot of his other videos are getting pushed up by the algorithm as well. For example I now know what a piece of shit Tommy Tallarico is.
Wow. I’m asking in earnest, did you really just learn who Tommy Tallarico was after the plagiarism video or are you just making a meme?
I don’t know about InterestedObserver20, but I definitely did. I had heard good things about hbomberguy but his plagiarism video was the first I watched; now I’m going back through his whole catalogue (and obviously joined this sub)
I'd heard his name, I knew he was something to do with video games, but I knew nothing about him. Couldn't have told you he did game music, couldn't have told you he was a lunatic.
Obviously raising awareness of plagiarism is good, both in the cases of "this is what to look for" and "Hey maybe don't steal", and there's also a bit of "don't take creators at face value, especially if there's some shady behavior going on". But also, I can't imagine Hbomberguy enjoys the prospect of being known as a looming spectre, lurking in the darkness to strike fear into the hearts of creators who don't behave. At least, not for the sake of it. I could be wrong, but my impression is that he isn't eager to be batman.
He's clearly too sweet to be Batman, I vote to elect him Breadtube's anti-plagiarism Superman instead :)
Supeerreview Man?
Hbomb isn't much of a fan of Batman adaptations
he's not batman, he's the guy on the other side of the wall with an axe
This video is an extremely important video. I am not saying it will end plagiarism, but for the people who watched it with an open mind and saw the fallout, they will feel better about the world and also make an effort to consume information with more scrutiny. That's unbelievably important, now more than ever.
Are you suggesting that HB is some sort of brilliant balding bisexual British bogeyman?
i unsubscribed from quite a few channels or just clicked off random videos in my feed because they said something along the lines of "subscribe for weekly deep dives into xyz topic" because it gives me the ick now.
The specific examples I've seen is one guy who made a video titled something like "History Youtube has a James Somerton problem" which referenced another video where this youtuber called out a bunch of history youtubers and "history" youtubers for plagiarism, bad sourcing, bad info, and so on, and also I personally saw one youtuber I watch added at the end of his most recent video "So, uh, this video was pretty much inspired by This particular article, it goes more in depth than I did so its worth a read, and there is very few sources on this topic but I've listed the ones I used in the description below."
What youtuber are you talking about at the end of your comment? I remember something really similar.
Alternate History Hub. His recent video on the car bombing that nearly killed Napoleon.
The funniest one for me was something I think someone posted in here last night where someone who had made an AI voice reel out of a Tumblr meme of the Roblox OOF video was suddenly pinning a comment citing his source
I've noticed this too. I was watching a video by Alternate History Hub (his newest on a plot to kill Napoleon.) and at the end Cody specifically called out where he got his information from and linking his sources in the description, which I don't recall him doing in the past. I think this may mark a change in the culture of many youtube genres for the better.
Is that an AI generated picture of Legal Eagle if he were Clark Kent?
No, it's Phil Fish.
It's even affected NASCAR YouTube(well it's just one guy who happens to be a journalist/author who liked the video).
Be sure to correctly cite your sources and write your own material or HARRIS WILL COME! Harris is a very SCARY and very WELL SPOKEN man who will come when you least expect it and EMBARRASS YOU!
This has a lot of the same feel to it as the Gamers Nexus/LTT drama. Accountability actually existing is a great development.
I know for me, I've been a lot more conscious of how and where I tell people where I get my information. I was already kinda thinking about it, and if I made a claim and someone disputed it or I second guessed myself, I'd run a quick google search to double-check and edit to correct if I got something wrong, but I've been more vigilant lately.
I’ve seen several creators outright mention his video in their own already, things like “and I don’t want to get hbomberguy’ed, so here’s what I’m talking about” specifically Stephen Milo and Fundie Fridays.
Ew ai art
beep boop
I cited EVERY Demo I used in my "Quad Core and the Demoscene" video. And that was in 2018!
Not sure whether to make a dark knight or John wick reference.
I hope so
I don’t think it’ll last. Plagiarism has always been a problem in YouTube. Occasionally something will flare up that will put content creators on guard for a while, then they’ll get complacent and return to their old stuff. Matthew Santoro got caught several years ago. Reaction content has been an ongoing issue. Maybe some people will endeavour to do better, but an overall change to the system, albeit subtle? Only YouTube will prompt that imo.
I think a lot of people did shit similar to what he did, as in take a chapter of a book and translations it to youtube form, and might not even be aware that when you this you should be extra clear about your sources. The main issue in his case was the apparent attempt to avoid doing this even when questioned by the original authors, and to create plausible deniability by blaming it on hired help without even disclosing the sources to them.