Grabbing every F4LT course ?!?

[Lumos]

A rather poor idea - for lots of reasons too - here are some of them:

- Udemy has like ZERO quality control.
They are just another online seller of stuff and NOT some college or school.
Lots of what is offered there is pure, 100% krap; some is just PLR, some is even straight up webinars openly selling stuff for the author.
Udemy doesn't do anything about the krap as long as it is selling.

- Info overload.
The #1 reason folks do not get started and/or make any $$ online.
So, you get 300 (or 1000) courses - watch a little of some, try a few steps of one, jump into another and repeat this process endlessly until getting so totally frustrated with zero results that you quit and get a 2nd or 3rd job and give up on making anything online.

- Subject matter gets stale (outdated).
Right now the hot version of CSS is CSS3, but:
There's still loads of courses about CSS and CSS2 at Udemy.
Do you need them - maybe, maybe not;
Do you really need that 501st course ??
You must choose.

- Useless and/or totally incomprehensible courses.
Many, many are being made by folks with absolutely terrible, thick accents, have distorted sound with background noise or are so low in volume as to be impossible to hear.
Next, add in the many that either have zero CC, or do have it - but their silly accents make it useless and more like reading a comedy skit than anything anybody can learn from.

- Udemy goes on a crusade now and then to purge folks with mostly free courses and hassles those who speak up, so:
Buying a $9.99 course every so often may help in avoiding this...which leads to the last point being posted for now=>

- The refund policy there is still quite good - so if you do buy anything that turns out to be total krap and useless to you - get a refund, and:
If you find any that are fake, badly done, etc. - write a 1-star review for it AND get a refund so that maybe others will be spared the time waste.

Suggestions when considering ANY course - free or paid:

Always check out the previews.
Is it in the authors own voice ??
Is the sound quality decent ??
Is the accent impossible to get through ??
Or - is it great quality with a sincere presentation, tone and maybe even showing the author's picture ??

Always check any written reviews.
This is a great way to find out if you are about to totally waste your time.
Of course there can be nasty reviews as well as fake reviews too - but after reading some you'll know which are fake, etc..

Look at the modules list.
This can help to reveal if a course is badly put together, or maybe just a teaser aimed at selling something else instead of actually giving useful info.

A bit of advice:
The online course racket is just another part of the IM/MMO biz aimed at gaining endless incoming cash flow - so it works best for the owners when it is incomplete, leaving the victims hungry for more and more, endlessly.
So, be smarter than that and get the idea that having a HUGE collection of useless krap, is still...just a big pile of krap !!

I hope this may help someone in their quest for learning.

PS (edited):
There was a related query here=> and it has been very well answered by FFFF -

[MrPrestupnik]

Good points!! I had been going for all free ones, but then I remembered that not every tangible good that’s free is worth a d***. I enrolled into a couple Linux courses. One was always free not f4lt, given by a teenager with a crappy mic, the material didn’t flow... it was garbage! But (serious) kudos to him. He’s trying and learning himself. Next up is was a red hat course by certified red hat professionals - wow!! What a difference.

Just remember - even if it’s free, doesn’t mean it’s worth a d***!

[GoWork]

Yes, it is just quantity over quality.

[feefiefohfum]

So very true.

For instructors, it is becoming increasingly harder to stand out among the deluge of new entrants (with many offering "click-bait" courses).

Additional points to look out for are:
* Pay particular attention to 1-star and 2-star reviews - they can have valid points about the quality of the course,
* Check the response of the instructor to bad reviews - are they constructive (and willing to change the course content in response to valid criticisms), bad-mouth the reviewer or simply ignore the reviews?
* Check the last updated date (would not be particularly useful for soft-skills and such, but is especially valid for tech courses).
* Whether the preview videos actually mention relevant information or indicate an attempt to drag a 1 minute topic into an hour long course!
* Don't go merely by the length of the course - a 150 hour course could mean 150 hours of waste!

[quote]Totally related query=>
When making this thread the text formatting stuff was absent, so, for example [b] and [/b] did nothing here.
Can anyone tell me why that is ??
[/quote]

All formatting has been disabled in the Udemy section - has been this way for as long as I can remember.

Why?
My best guess is: since the section is not actively moderated, the post counts don't matter here, it was probably felt best to keep it plain-text only.

Cheers,
FFFF

[mopuss]

[quote='smithnowt' pid='2623435' dateline='1544244370']
Udemy goes on a crusade now and then to purge folks with mostly free courses and hassles those who speak up
[/quote]

All interesting and valid points, smithnowt and feefifofum. Just wondering if you or anyone give can more info on this bit as it sounds alarming! And what kind of hassle?

[jamputto]

It's a shame as Udemy has some good courses with some good instructor's still.
But the platform has a lot of junk on there as well.

It seems some instructors that are good have fallen fail of a Udemy rule, have either got themselves banned or their course taken off Udemy.

There are fake courses lifted off of you tube or other teaching platforms on there.Still not been taken off.

[Lumos]

Thanks for your helpful and thoughtful contribution here FFFF !!

Please pardon me for adding a wee bit to your very valid points (numbers added by me)=>

[quote='feefiefohfum' pid='2623617' dateline='1544260928']

Additional points to look out for are:
1. * Pay particular attention to 1-star and 2-star reviews - they can have valid points about the quality of the course,
2. * Check the response of the instructor to bad reviews - are they constructive (and willing to change the course content in response to valid criticisms), bad-mouth the reviewer or simply ignore the reviews?
3. * Check the last updated date (would not be particularly useful for soft-skills and such, but is especially valid for tech courses).
4. * Whether the preview videos actually mention relevant information or indicate an attempt to drag a 1 minute topic into an hour long course!
...[/quote]

Small additions to the points made by FFFF as per numbers added:
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. Sometimes those reviews are also made by trolls as well, seeking only to badmouth someone that they dislike, usually easy to spot due to acerbic language and/or bad grammar.
2. Said authors many times just also copy/paste in the same response, over and over - another sign of poor quality.
3. Thank You FFFF - I should have added that in the OP !!
4. Sometimes the previews only have a single, very short blurb rather than a selection of several valid options, and many of those are not indicative of anything EXCEPT that the author must provide something there.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Another point I'd like to make and add here:
The label of 'instructor' is usually as false as the overall label of 'course'.
These things come from the author's own claims of expertise and lack the depth and interactions of any real, personally delivered course.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Indeed, the point made by GoWork brings to mind the very tired, old saying:
'He who dies with the most toys, wins.' BUT:

[quote='GoWork' pid='2623536' dateline='1544251461']
Yes, it is just quantity over quality. [/quote]

Since that person is then DEAD - what did they win at all ??
---------------------------------------------------------------

Jamputto, that is all too true - and you are 100% right, quite shameful, if Udemy ever cared, it would be...
---------------------------------------------------------------

[quote='mopuss' pid='2623628' dateline='1544262091']

All interesting and valid points, smithnowt and feefifofum.
Just wondering if you or anyone give can more info on this bit as it sounds alarming! And what kind of hassle?[/quote]

There have been threads here about it - they went hard line about it for a while, and folks with paid ones yelled at them - and eventually they backed off and reinstated those accounts, but it took time and efforts to get their attentions.
Some folks said their accounts stayed dead and their requests were ignored.
One correlation seemed to be with those who had ot bought and paid for any at all - and some who had paid also got axed.

Seems to me that if anyone is just collecting courses without using them or participating in any manner, those folks would be red flagged 1st...

[feefiefohfum]

All your additions are valid and relevant, [b]Smithnowt[/b]!

To add to your label point - be wary of courses that promise the moon - "Be an expert in one hour" (especially for topics which take long to even get a grounding in).

Cheers,
FFFF

[aadhesh123]

Real life courses school and college teaching also give such experiences and there is no refund but still i think online courses cannot fully replace the real life guidance

[Lumos]

I agree 100% with FFFF and Aadhesh123.

If we lived in a situation like 'The Matrix' we could all become helicopter pilots or ninjas or whatever was desired in under a minute !!

As it is in this world though - that is not commonly possible.

My own favourite, unfavourite pitch word:
'SECRET'.
Most of those aren't secret at all - but actually just unseen until pointed out.