I am firmly in the SMASH category.
I enjoy watching content about the things that I'm in to, and BBQ is one of those things. And lets face it, TV just flat out sucks today so I find more enjoyment watching Youtube videos on the things I'm in to anyways. Before I got in to the whole BBQ Youtube thing, I got hooked on the BBQ Pitmasters show (like many people), but when I found it the show was already over and was in reruns on the Destination America Channel. After watching every episode of every season I started watching them again, because there was nothing new and after a while it got boring watching the same episodes again and again.
Then somehow (I don't remember exactly how) I found a Youtube video from T-Roy Cooks which I enjoyed enough that I subscribed to his channel and started digging through all his videos. It may have been that I was searching for info on something related to the Weber Smokey Mountain I had just bought that led me to his channel as a link to one of his videos popped up from my search. I found that I enjoyed his content wether I learned anything new or not, and frankly he just seemed like a really cool and down to earth guy that I would love to hang out with. Then thanks to the algorithim I found other channels like Babyback Maniac, Aim em and Claim em Smokers, and even Harry Soo who I recognized from BBQ Pitmasters.
Today, my favorite channels are Chuds BBQ, Jirby BBQ, Joe Yim, Smokin Joe's Pit BBQ, Meat Church, How to BBQ Right, and yes....Mad Scientist BBQ. There are a lot of other channels I enjoy as well, but those are my favorites, all for differnt reasons. Some I have learned a lot from, and others are just entertaining. And of course I still love T-Roy Cooks channel, he just doesn't post videos as often as he used to. Same with Babyback Maniac and James at Aim em and Claim em.
Overall, I do think my BBQ game has improved as a result of watching these channels. A few specific things are my briskets which were driving me nuts as they kept coming out over cooked. I took info from several different channels that helped me to learn how to determine doneness by feel rather than by probing, and they have been coming out perfect since I started applying certain things I learned from them. Or sausage... Without Chud's BBQ or Smokin Joe's Pit BBQ's channels I never would have even started attempting to make sausage. I'm far from having it perfected, but I'm on the way, and that wouldn't be the case without Bradley at Chud's or Joe.
I do realize it's not for everyone, but it also seems simple enough to me that if you don't like it you don't have to watch it.
I do have to call BS on the food safety stuff as a concern though. If you are cooking ANYTHING, you should have a basic understanding of food safety, the danger zone, cross contamination etc., and if something seems off, DON'T duplicate it... and that is also probably a channel you should ignore. Or, if it's something your just not 100% sure of, do you own research. Like cold smoking sausage for example... with sausages left in the danger zone for an extended time, it's safe but you MUST use the proper amount of pink curing salt. Decided to research that one myself just to be safe, and ultimately determined that yes, it is safe. Just make sure you use the proper amount of the pink curing salt. I'm actually cold smoking some sausage as I type this. The way I see it, if you don't have a mind of your own or an instict for things that may not be safe, then you have much bigger problems in life then Youtube BBQ.