I've written more than a few op-eds over the years that said we should tax "campaign contributions." I agree. A win-win. I also think all politicians should be like NASCAR, and wear all their sponsors' logos.

You're kidding, right? The show/hide transcript links have been in the same place all along. Is that one click really that hard on you? What about the click it takes to watch the video you don't want to watch?

If you don't want to watch videos on Slashdot, don't. We run three of them in the average week, and 20+ text pieces per day.

Tell you what: If you're real nice, we *may* consider not forcing you to watch videos on Slashdot. And it's entirely possible that (if you're nice) we'll supply transcripts of most videos so that you can read instead of watching. Deal? :)

By "nobody" I think you mean you. Videos draw far fewer comments than text stories. This one, for example, has over 10K views and is still climbing steadily, vs. only 114 total comments.

Your login hassles: try emailing feedback@slashdot.org - that ought to get you some help.Probably not with the 'fucking' logon system, but with the regular one...

"These same points were made back when Slashdot started video'ing people, to no great effect. Vinegar is needed to catch your attention. You have the perfect opportunity to use 'directed practice based on feedback' which would turn you into a world-class videographer in a couple of years."

Thank you for your words of wisdom. If I want to do world-class videography, I will. But that is not the same as editing (and sometimes making) simple interview videos for a low hourly rate. And being Slashdot, I assure you that sophisticated videos with slick transitions and perhaps a music deck behind the dialogue would draw complaints about how they are "too fancy." I know. I made some. Amusing reactions.

I'll let (the late) Ricky Nelson sing for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I'm 62 and on disability, and one day my heart will go BOING! again and I'll be gone. Meanwhile, I do these Slashdot videos for fun and side money. If anybody *appreciated* more complex videos, I'd make them, but I suspect a true reader survey would show that good, full-length transcripts and short, simple videos would be the most popular choice. Or maybe "no videos," a choice to which I'd respond, "So don't watch them!"

You say: "If a video doesn't meet your requirements, it's impossible to tell *why* they don't meet them..." I said you could email video submissions and suggestions directly to me. I (lamely) obfuscated my email address, so here it is in the clear: robin@roblimo.com. If you send me a video submission or suggestion and I turn it down, I will almost certainly tell you why.

Did I need to be harsher to get your attention? :) Slather some vinegar on you? :)

Nah. That would be rude. I'm going to listen to some Primus and go to bed.

Thx

For all *you* care. But thousands of other people (and a growing number at that) watch the videos. Is it okay if we run a few video pieces for them? Please? Maybe three or four a week? We'd appreciate it. Thx

Wow. I would *love* to have budget to turn out 23-minute scripted, animated videos. That would be GREAT!

These videos are "Meet the Press" style on purpose. They exist to let you see some of the people behind the software, stories, and hardware they (or their companies) make. Steven, for instance, is one of the world's more popular tech journalists. Next time you see his byline, you can mentally call up his image. You may not want to do that, but others obviously do; thousands of people watch /. videos.

I agree with you about charts and graphs, up to a point. And people who have some sort of device or whatever should have a working model to show off. Otherwise, it's like my favorite PR pet peeve: Sending out a press release about a google glass look-sort-of-alike thing that is only a display and saying, "...I would love to schedule an interview for you with a Vufine team member." Instead of a review unit? Come on!

This is not a hypothetical situation. It's a press release I got today from this company: http://www.vufine.com/

Obviously, a hands-on test of an eyeglass-mount projector would be more informative than either a video or text interview -- and more fun for me, too. Why didn't they offer a test unit? Not to keep, of course. Just for a few days. Hmm?

Back to the talking head syndrome. I've made a lot of screencap videos, TV news shorts, online ad videos, TV spots, and a few music videos. So yeah, I can do fairly complex video work. 30 cuts in a 60 second piece? Sure. I've done that. BUT here we're sharing information, and a lot of it is pretty dry. We have no budget for motion video or animation, either. I could have included some shots of Steven's articles and pics of TV antennas, cableco logos, and other pieces of "visual interest." If you and a bunch of others feel the extra work/time/money is worthwhile, I'm happy to do that in future videos.

There's a whole other reason for videos of people talking: You know they're not being misquoted. Raw source material protects you against reporters changing meanings or opinions. I've been the misquoted person more than once, and I didn't like it. Even in a case like today's, where we ran a 4 minute video and 20 minutes' worth of text transcript, you can reasonably (and correctly) assume that I have the rest of the interview on a hard drive somewhere. Accuracy insurance.

Audio only? Be my guest! Listen to this video's audio on your smartphone while driving if you like. 100% up to you. But if it was sound only, you wouldn't have the option of watching the video. I was talking with someone else today about video vs. audio podcasts. His company did audio casts for a while, but he says they got a lot more response when they switched to video. And they do *not* provide transcripts.

A lot of this discussion falls into the "can't please everyone" category. Some people prefer watching people talk to reading what they say. (I'm a reader, myself.) But some people prefer visual information intake. Not you, obviously -- which is okay. Read the transcripts, don't watch or listen to the videos.

Last note: You said, "(I need to point out that anyone can grab a camera and record someone talking for ten minutes. What makes Slashdot better than all the YouTube teenagers who do this for their HS project? You have the intent, time, and money to do this. Do it right, then learn to do it well.)"

Geez! You're big on catching flies with vinegar, aren't you? :)

BUT if making simple videos is all that easy, why have we only gotten *one* usable video actually submitted by a Slashdot reader - ever? And it was over an hour long, and our management now wants our videos to be under 5 minutes. So we ran an excerpt of the guy's video and provided a link to the full-length version at his (non-commercial) site.

I have a guy who offered himself up for an interview because he though his product was better than one we did a video about. He does some interesting stuff I'm sure at least some /. readers will enjoy learning about. I'm going to try to schedule him in for next week, and see if he has any raw product demo footage around that I can use to make the video more interesting.

Do you have a video you want to run on Slashdot? Or a topic suggestion? Happy to check them out. Use the usual submission bin or email robin at roblimo dot com.

Thx.

Sigh. We supply text transcripts with almost all videos. Look for the link -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H... tells you how to use a hyperlink (or 'link' for short).

To see that link, click on the video's title or on the "read more" link below the video where it appears on the main page.

Have a nice day, and may everyone you meet be as courteous to you as you are to Slashdot staff!

Thanks,

- Robin

Unless a story or video is marked SPONSORED CONTENT or ADVERTISEMENT it is not a paid ad on Slashdot. Sometimes a Slashdot editor -- Tim in this case -- gets interested enough in a person, group, service or product to do a video interview with the person/people behind it. The theory behind the Dan Shapiro interviews (and we have two more to run after a while) is that they're a great primer on how to use crowdfunding to kickstart your company. His Glowforge product is obviously not unique, and we have said so and linked to several competitors, which should be a clue that it's not an ad.

We looked at what Shapiro had to say as good info for entrepreneurial Slashdot users who may want to start their own businesses one day. You may not be one of them. Please understand that many thousands of people hit Slashdot every day, and stories that interest you may not interest each and every one of them. And stories that interest some of them may not be your cup of milk.

A funny datum for you: We ran an excerpt from an interview at http://passionatevoices.org/ - whose owner Erik first contacted me about our videos; he wondered if they were paid ads. Obviously they're not, because when Erik submitted his first video on passionate voices, this is what happened: http://news.slashdot.org/story...

We are happy to accept and run reader-submitted videos and we love suggestions for people we should interview. You can use the submission form or email me, robin at roblimo dotcom.

Got any good ideas? :)

- Robin

I'm looking through my email archives, don't see anything from you about an interview request. Email me - robin at roblimo dot com - and we'll schedule it. Thx

I like most of the Sikhs I've met both in the U.S and India.

BTW: my friend Esther Schindler works for Jaspreet, editing Druva's corporate blog, and she thinks he's a pretty good guy.

My mistake. I meant to type 'Mumbai' but typed 'Bangalore' by mistake. Sorry about that.

So your suggestion for our next video interview is.....................? Please make sure you provide contact information.

And realize: 10,000 or 20,000 Slashdot readers might be interested in something that doesn't interest you. And you and a *different* 10,000 or 20,000 may be interested in something else that the first 10,000 have no interest in whatsoever.

And 'the staff being interested in it personally' means what? Slashdot only has three full-time people, plus me working part-time editing videos and setting up video interviews. 'The staff' each have their own interests. Something that catches a Slashdot staff person's eye is almost certainly going to be interesting to at last a decent-sized minority of users.

Now I'm going to go eat, then edit a video interview Tim did with a guy who makes clicky keyboards. Some Slashdot users will like it and some won't. And some will say they can read a transcript faster than they can watch a video. Me too! So we run written transcripts of virtually all videos and still get comments about the lack of transcripts.

I'm sure we'll also get complaints about background noise, since Tim shot this on a noisy show floor.

We have a significant number of readers who are only happy when they are disparaging something or somebody, and I have learned over the years to wear lots of skin thickener cream and ignore idiotic comments (which yours was NOT) and the cowardly anonymous ones, to whom I pay no attention at all.