People who criticize on the Internet

[wesleymcgrew at gmail.com (Robert McGrew)]

It makes me absolutely sick to listen to the sound of my own voice in
a recording.  I've been a guest on a few episodes of a few podcasts,
and every time I just mark them as "listened" in iTunes when it grabs
them, to eliminate the chance that it will show up on my iPod and
freak me out on my walk to work.

I enjoy speaking though, and I'm still asked to be on podcasts,
lecture the security class here, give talks, etc.  Mostly positive
feedback too.  My wife even manages to talk to me on a daily basis
without cringing.

I guess my point here is that very few security folks have a
professional "voice for radio", but it doesn't matter.  Content is
king, and as long as people get what they need from it, they'll be
pretty forgiving of the tonal qualities of the source.  You can't
expect someone who's spent a lot of time building up a technical skill
set in security to also have spent time training their voice.  Some
may be "naturals" but not all, or even most.

As far as the complaints about the content go, this is a person who is
not in the target audience that thinks he should be.  I'm not sure why
some people continue to consume a source of media when they should
know from one or two episodes/videos/etc. that they're not the target
and won't be satisfied with it.  If he wanted more in-depth material
then he should seek out another source.  If he can't find something
else that satisfies him, that's no reason to complain about you.

Yes, most of your videos are surface-level introductions to
tools/techniques/concepts.  Is that what everyone needs?  No.  For
example, I don't watch every one of your videos, because I might
already be familiar with the subject, or I don't have an immediate
need for it.  I don't subject myself to it just to have something to
complain about when I find out "surprise surprise I already knew
that".

I *do* however know they're there.  And if I do need to quickly plug
in and understand the basics of something, I can drop by and watch one
and get myself up to speed.  More importantly, I know where to point
others when they express an interest in a specific tool or attack.
They can watch a video and then determine from there if they want to
do some additional research/experimentation.  I point students to your
Metasploit videos all the time for this reason all the time, and
they've always seemed to appreciate having a audio/visual intro to it.

In short, just like everyone else is saying: Carry on.  Do your thing.
 You have your audience, it's just not this guy.

On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 10:00 AM, Adrian Crenshaw <irongeek at irongeek.com> wrote:
> I don't quite get people. I got this comment on my recent Ethernet bridge in
> Ubuntu video:
>
>
> NOTE: This comment is waiting for your approval. It is not yet published on
> your site.
> ======
> ugh <who at cares.com> (unregistered) wrote:
> How many years is it now that you've been doing videos? I used to think it
> was good at that you did them. But your speech impediment hasn't improved.
> Your not an idiot because of how you sound, it's because you make ten
> minutes of READMEs. I have NEVER seen a video from you with ANY unique
> information.
> It's a bad joke and you should switch to writing something you actually
> think about.
> Hearing you in your RETARD voice butcher some summary a programs intro....
> pathetic.
> IP address: 93.182.146.5
> Link to comment: http://disq.us/7pwie
> -----
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>
> Why does someone bother to keep watching the videos if he never gets
> anything out of it? And why even take the time to send a flame to someone
> you don't know? It's not like I raped his grandma? or something.
>
>
> Adrian
>
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-- 
Wesley McGrew
http://mcgrewsecurity.com