I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I think the impact online words have on our psychology is underweighted by society right now.
The online words can hurt just as much as they would in person, but the one writing them isn’t exposed to the feedback system that exists in real life.
100% agree!
Yea I totally agree. I can’t imagine how much more challenging it would be to grow up as a teenage in a world like it is today with the constant online bullying and social media presence of posting and sharing your entire life online to be criticized on a daily, and not being mature enough to handle it.
It’s already hard enough to handle it as an adult sometimes, but being younger and dealing with it must be exponentially harder.
There’s definitely a detachment of accountability.
I created this post not because @metal571 is a headphone reviewer, but more so because he’s another human being. It bothered me that he was upset enough to have to walk away from something that he’s passionate about because of some anonymous bullying.
I knew he was a member here (though he hadn’t posted until today) and I wanted him to know that people value his work. I’m grateful for the positive responses from the forum, and I’m glad he’s seen it.
Thanks to all for the positive words and letting him know that he’s welcome here.
First off welcome to the fourm @metal571
I don’t post much on other forums anymore because of the attitude that some of the members have at those other sites.
I am very glad I found this fourm as this community here has been very welcoming. More so than any of the other fourms I have been on.
The community here seems to care about what is important, enjoying your gear and most important enjoying the music. As this IMO is what this hobby/passion is all about, enjoying the music.
I understand that there will always be (unfortunately) people that just want to cause trouble and post negative ‘things’ about anyone who does online/YouTube reviews, but you did this because you enjoy this hobby/passion.
I will say this, enjoy your break and try not to let these ‘negative people’ ruin your passion for audio. I do hope you come back (YouTube reviews) if you want to, but I believe most people will support whatever decision you make on the matter.
I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Take care,
Jeremy
Hi and welcome @metal571. You’re never going to be just some ‘Rando’. There are a lot sad and childish people who like to spread hate in all walks of life. I would say take no notice. But it does hurt when folk constantly nit pick. Enjoy your time for yourself now.
hey @metal571
while I watched all of your reviews and found them very helpful… I loved the Q&A live sessions and very often laughed my a… off- if you had not the right attitude, would this have been possible? No way. Big Thanks for the good times.
So take your brake- good for you!
Forget the childish haters and if I see the popup for a new q&a live session…
here is a cosy place with very knowledgeable people who respect all sorts of newbies, enthusiasts and seniors …keep patience over and over
So no harm will occur to a random youtuber
I see this as a widespread and growing observation. It’s bubbling out all over across the web.
There’s a good deal of data on how social media is transforming society in negative ways. Young girls have shown increasing levels of anxiety, fewer people know how to find a mate (i.e., the “incels”), and interest / experience with sex is way down. Some contemporary female pop stars are very open about what were previously rare or manageable personal issues (just review the subjects covered on Billie Eilish’s recent album). It also seems that men are becoming more eager to solve their own problems with anti-social violence too.
The personal and societal negatives of “no consequences” online behavior and living one’s life under a microscope are well understood by many people. This topic is probably the most important issue today, but it gets drowned out by the panic of the online media moment. Followed by the next panic 24 hours later. And the next panic. And the next panic.
This concern doesn’t actually have anything to do with political ideology (e.g., Joe Rogan from the left, Jordan Peterson from the right, Jonathan Haidt from the center, etc.). Most people tried to protect others against self destruction as recently as the 1990s, and saw the positives in their opponents. This fell dramatically with the rise of the Internet, and then fell much farther with smartphones. Now it’s just knee-jerk reactions and retreating into a bubble.
We’ve all adopted technology without understanding its side-effects and consequences. We need to take effective action.
The amount of pop stars in Asia, primarily Korea, that have committed suicide in the past year or two, in part due to social/media pressures is startling too.
It always takes a while for people to adapt to new communication technologies, be it the novel, the radio, television or the Internet. It’ll take us a while, but we’ll get there.
It isn’t, at least not by those who are actively participating in it and have any reasonable degree of self-awareness. In the context of specific societal niches, specifically people who didn’t grow up spending half their lives (or more) online, sure the effects might be understated, conflated, or just plain misunderstood, but the psychological ramifications of online interactions are very much being given due attention, at least as far as I am aware, by people to whom such things are relevant— for all the fun and good and good fun it houses, the internet be a heckin’ scary place where it’s far too easy to see the worst of humanity.
@metal571 as someone more or less familiar with your preferences but who does question some statements made, I do regret that things devolved rather rapidly after some people found the LCD-1 not to their liking and believed that you’d mischaracterised it by comparing it to the Sennheiser HD6__es. I’m inclined to make the same argument that being strongly opinionated and outspoken is “just part of the culture” on SBAF in the same way listening impressions carry hardly any weight in certain other sectors of the internet or how “literally everyone’s opinion is valid” in yet others. The nice thing about the internet is that it’s a large enough place where you can more or less go about your way without bumping shoulders with people you don’t care for, though in some instances people will for inexplicable reasons go out of their way to step on your toes. No way to completely circumvent that as far as I’m aware, which bites.
Bringing my rambling around to the baby Audezes, I’m holding my tongue on where I fall impressions-wise until I actually get ears on them, but as someone not particularly allergic to the sound of planars I’m hoping my reaction isn’t nearly as visceral 
I am sorry you’ve gone through Gehenna as a consequence of your celebrity, but at the same time feel like I should be encouraging you to take a break because of how stressful being a public figure that has opinions can be. Make no mistake, you are very much a public figure at this point, which leaves you very much open to vitriol and, pardon my not-French, absolute Scheiße.
May the time off prove fruitful and relaxing, and for when you do get back to recording reviews: all the best.
Not at all startling when you see how much many pop stars, Korean, Japanese, American, or what-have-you, are hardly treated any better than expensive mannequins. The Burning Sun scandal, Aya Hirano being lambasted for daring to have sexual relations, Yukiko Okada dying of suicide as a consequence of intense public pressure, Michael fucking Jackson, all these things are indicative of how purely toxic the celebrity machine can be.
Thanks, all. More than all the negativity was just a loss of drive to make the videos. It’s way easier for me to listen for a while and A/B and write up some notes. Getting to set up OBS and shoot the one take and upload it and do the thumbnail and the description blah blah blah is terrible for a lazy software engineer like myself. The last thing I want to do after work, is more “work”, but I also can’t and never would want make YouTube a full time job. It started feeling like that, and that’s when I knew it was time to change things. In the way YT exists today, it’s just unsustainable with all the corporatization and what not to make it a primary job IMO anyway.
Thanks for clarifying things. I know I’d love to see your ‘write ups’ posted here, as we can all partake in a dialogue as we do so already.
Enjoy your break from YouTube and I hope to read future posts’ from you.
You’ve been a huge help to me and the community, and so naturally I’m bummed to hear you’re stepping away. The live Q&A style you do on the weekends may be a decent platform to expound on your notes for headphones you just happen to be trying out. I’m sure that crossed your mind, but there may be more opportunities there for something else. And if not, or either way, I would love to do an interview with you on my channel. I know we’ve chatted about something like that before and never got around to it. At the risk of imposing on your free time once again, I’d love to still make that happen at some point.
Also, you’re still going to NY right?
I almost forgot about that interview thing. Wouldn’t be a problem, just give me until after that show, because yeah, I’ll be there
@metal571 I hope the hiatus from YT is relaxing and enjoyable for you. I look forward to reading your notes and thoughts. I appreciate all your reviews and q&a sessions as I learned many a thing from you. I have much respect for you and all the effort you put into your reviews. Also I appreciate the various times you’ve posted on my T50RP videos and pointed me in the direction of reaching out to ZMF.
I find this forum to be my favorite of all that I venture. No drama, no stress, no bickering or slandering just friendly music lovers discussing various topics in a civilized and polite manner. Welcome to the forum 
I just listened to your STAX SR-L700 review on YouTube. You seem conflicted. I suspect it’s because you have not had the luxury of listening with different amplifiers. I don’t know, because I lack the same luxury, and am still thinking about whether or not I want to go for the SR-L700s or stretch for the SR-007 when I finally pull the trigger.
I do like your reviews. There is nothing better than the honesty of someone working through the plusses and minuses.