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Comment by Ansil849 | Hacker News Reader

I tried watching a couple, and the guy just comes off as an insufferable douchebag. Acting like a twat and mugging for the camera.

edit: having watched a couple more videos, this just reinforces my theory that the most popular youtube channels are also the most mediocre. This guy's formula is basically 'travel to $random_CIS_country; check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel while acting like an asshat; the end.' And this gets millions of views and subscribers.

This guy basically goes to one poor town after another and then complains that...it is poor and wonders how people can live there.

The videos seem to oscillate from just being obnoxious to being downright rude and insulting. It's depressing that they seem to be extremely popular.

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That's one way to look at it, I suppose. What I see is someone who travels around a country that is unfamiliar and inaccessible, and who focuses on showing us what life is like there. And that may not be incredibly spectacular, but I admit to greatly enjoying seeing such a unique and unfamiliar part of the world and the people that live there. I could travel there myself (and I have), but I don't speak Russian so I could never make the connections he makes and hear the stories he hears.

Is he rude? Well, he is certainly much more extraverted than I could ever be, and I suppose he crosses the line at times, but he talks to real people about their real life, rather than putting up a bit of a tourist show with only highlights. I find it fascinating, just like I find "yeah Russia" (youtube channel) fascinating.

I do wonder how his Ethiopian adventure ended though. I'm sure there's a story there...

> check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel while acting like an asshat; the end.' And this gets millions of views and subscribers.

he lived in india for couple of years and learnt passable hindi.

I think your impression is right - there's some indications that guy might be at the very least have questionable morals, or might even be a straight up sexual predator - https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/judnlm...

tl;dr internet sleuths have connected him to a since deleted account on a "pick up artist" forum where that person has bragged about going to Eastern Europe to find desperate women to have sex with, using very questionable methods

They're basically saying that he's a terrible person because he... has sex with women.

Well, in that Reddit comment it says he uses lies and threats.

> They're basically saying that he's a terrible person because he... has sex with women.

That is not at all what the comments appear to be saying. Instead, the comments are saying things like:

> Hmm here he talks about taking a girl to bed with Rohypnol.

Auch. That's quite ugly stuff.

There's another solo youtube traveler with nearly the same vibe. In both cases I think part of the issue is that they are too connected to the camera and not to the people around them, so they just seem disinterested.

It bums me out because I'm looking at doing quite a bit of solo traveling in the next few years and would like to capture some of it for my family and friends, but if I come across anyway like this it's going to be a major fail. I posted some from a recent trip and didn't appear or say a word in any of the videos and it was received reasonably well, but the audience isn't exactly like to say 'bro stop being a douche' lol.

I do a fair amount of travelling (both solo and group) myself, and I just very rarely take videos. I stick with photos.

I've switched from photos to taking short clip type videos just to pull in some of the sounds and ambiance. It just helps me reconnect to the experience later.

I understand where you are coming from but there are some pearls in there such as this one about the Beslan tragedy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0knAQL9WtM

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