"What do we do now?" - LMG's response to the recent controversies
Chozo@kbin.social to 
youtu.be
At least, some of the recent controversies.
Chozo@kbin.social to Chozo@kbin.social to Chozo@kbin.social to At least, some of the recent controversies.
Big shout out to them leaving the links to LTT merch in the description. Venal fucks.
The part witch Nick plugging LTT store was cringe
EDIT: did not know about the allegations from the former employee and it just saddens me. I was only aware of the cooling block and it's auctioning when I wrote this.
This thread you made is cringe. Grow tf up and try to have some understanding for once in a while.
Big corporations will always pull fake apologies and complain that consumers are beligerent little hotheads who's opinion doesn't matter in the long run. You're proving their point right now.
But if say LTT actually does pull out of this amicably and their words are followed by prompt action that remedies the situation, we can in turn look at Intel, AMD, Nvidia and the likes and say "see? That's how it's done".
As tech jesus himself said in his expose video is that we all make mistakes.
Do not attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity, and the way LMG has been working has been stupid.
Don't give the bastards an inch, I understand. But let us be clear about who the bastards are and I still don't think LMG has gone over to the side of evil.
Now they're stepping back, taking the time to make amens (I hope they really give that company they shafted a much needed boost for instance, as a bare minimum) and we should be here for that.
If you're just here to whine, fine. But don't think you're adding to the conversation or saying anything meaningful, because you are in fact just trolling.
Again, try and have some understanding. It's very important for us to do that, because secterianism and feudes will in the end hurt the community, and also the consumer, because we have to stay on top of this.
Ooohhh fanboys doing (presumably) unpaid PR work in the comments!
Does this mean lemmy has "made it"?
Hey folks, looks like we found Linus's Kbin account!
So I just watched the entire team apologize for Linus and then Linus proceeded to attempt to gaslight everyone watching.
Fuck this guy.
Yeah, I feel now it is out that he is a narcissist and it just feels so obvious. He is gaslighting everyone and people try to clean up after him, that's just symptomatic. He won't change, he will maybe get managed better by the people around him to reduce the damage. But there isn't anything else to hope for.
Monetizing an apology video of all things says it all.
From the majority of the team, this is a pretty good and textbook PR mea culpa. "Here's how we screwed up, here's how we're fixing it."
The pushing the merch was tone-deaf and the defensive whining from Linus was NOT on-point, though. I appreciate it ended with "how I'm going to fix it," but he should keep the defensive shit to himself.
It would be better if the CEO could learn to read a prompter so it looks like he's not reading one.
This is pretty annoying to watch with his eyes looking above the camera and going left and right constantly.
Still better than the labs guy who just sounded like a robot
To be fair to them, they aren't hosts. Its glaringly obvious they are not in-front-of-camera people. It does feel like its done on purpose to appeal emotionally.
Glad to see this video, even with some of the drawbacks mentioned in the comments. I think everyone needs a path to redemption and LMG should get a chance. I think that this "reflection" should be more regular. LMG is no longer a small company and like it or not, they need to regularly be ahead of these situations. I really hope that they will take a week ever month or two to review any new screw ups and remedy them. Process will not solve everything, ensuring a company culture that has key values will triump process. It takes time however. I wish them the best.
I run a small company, at what size do I need to start worrying about treating people respectfully? My belief is companies shouldn't get a pass, no matter the size. Why are we ok with it happening at all at this point? It's not 1960 anymore.
I was referring to what was stated in the video. The issues with poor benchmarking and the billetlabs issue (email sent to the wrong recipient). I am not sure why you think any of it implied that it is ok to treat people without respect if the organisation is below a certain size. I was referring to ensuring that a company culture of being humble, responsible and accountable via a monthly or bi monthly review. It could have potentially caught the issue with billetlabs and even several issues with the benchmarking. This is perhaps easier done in a small company but needs to be nurtured and reinforced in a bigger one. I hope my position is more clear.
People are sharks for argument on forums like this.
@Chozo The end of the video:
... is basically advertisement for the brand, packed into "a joke". Why would they mention it otherwise?
And the video itself is monetized.
Not anymore according to the update in the pinned comment
After the community backlash... At least they're listening ig?
They have a meme relationship with dbrand
You ever heard of this thing called jokes?
@LufyCZ Did you even read what I wrote?
I did, and disagree with you completely. You don't have to be so pesimistic about life and look for the worst things in it. They wanted to lighten a mood a bit, maybe it didn't land well for you but It don't see any ill intentions behind it.
Btw, how would dbrand know they're making this video? I doubt LMG reached out to them and told them, wouldn't make any sense.
I agree that it's good they're acknowledging the problems but that video felt like an interrogation. So corporate and weird.
In fairness, they would have been absolutely stupid to have not done a 100% prewritten, teleprompted PR riddled pre-written response given the situation. Linus sitting down in front of a camera and just letting his mind do Linus things isn't gonna help anyone lol.
You mean like he did on the forums about three hours after the GN video dropped?
Bingo!
It definitely helped everyone to see their true color...
Have a link by any chance, or has it been deleted?
Seconding this request.
Possibly screenshots to avoid paying them a visit, but, eh, a link would do, too.
Thanks
How many takes do you think each of them needed before they all managed to look at the camera while talking, read the script appropriately, and move their head and hands enthusiastically?
How many times do you reckon the team needed to ask linus before he decided to take the whole thing seriously.
Nevermind
So likely every scripted apology video basically
Guess, I am out of the loop.
After Linus blasted people using ad-blockers (fucking hypocrite), I uh, just blocked his channel.
When did he do that?
About a year ago.
The uh, irony.... is this:
Believe it or not, I think he has a point and isn't at all a hypocrite. He'd show you how to pirate and torrent stuff (and has before) while also telling you he doesn't recommend stealing. What he was saying is that the content isn't meant to be free. The ads pay for the content. So not watching ads means the producer doesn't get paid. Its a soft form of piracy but he wasn't telling you what to do about that. He just said "Be aware you're not giving people anything for their content". I don't know why thats controversial, he's not even suggesting its illegal or even immoral. I never understood the arguments here but I also dont visit twitter
Piracy I associate as an illegal act that carries penalties of fines and imprisonment. Like real piracy...
As blocking is legal and something even the FBI recommends. This is more a website shortcoming than an act of piracy. Which if blocking ads is piracy then at that point the word just becomes diluted, and at that point who even cares.
Isn't "taking something without paying" what piracy is? With YouTube, the "payment" is your time spent watching an ad. If you bypass that "payment", are you not effectively pirating the content?
It doesn't seem that diluted to me. I actually agree with Linus's take that adblocking is piracy. It's just a much more socially and legally-acceptable form of piracy.
If anything, I feel like adblocking on YouTube does even more direct damage to content creators than pirating blockbuster movies does to movie studios, honestly. If ten thousand people pirate a new Marvel movie, Disney's not going to hurt too bad from that. But if ten thousand people adblock a YouTuber, that can significantly hurt their income by damaging their ad impression ranking. Advertisers on YouTube set their rates based on the engagement they get from a channel, and drops in engagement will typically result in drops in CPM.
It's the reason I pay for YouTube Premium, myself. I use YouTube pretty much all day long, and I want the creators whose content I spend my day watching to get paid for their work. And if not for YTP, I would 100% be adblocking YouTube, otherwise.
If I tune into an NFL game using an OTA antenna, then turn off my TV during commercials and turn it back on for the game, would that be piracy?
There is no back channel to measure that so the impact to the content producer is way less direct.
The measurement of the act doesn't change the act.
I think the difference is websites have a terms of service they expect you to follow. If you have an account you have agreed to that. TV doesn't.
Also a valid point.
That's a whole lot of words for what in the end is not piracy with no laws being broken. There's a difference between a moral argument and law breaking.
It's not illegal to look away from a billboard or to close my eyes during a trailer at the movies, which seems more akin to using an adblocker in a browser.
"Not acknowledging" and "directly interfering with" something are two different things.
No, taking something without paying is theft. Piracy has many definitions, but none of them that simple.
-Robbery or other serious acts of violence committed at sea.
-The hijacking of an airplane.
-Copyright or patent infringement.
-The illegal interception or use of radio or television signals.
-An instance of piracy.
-In geology, that process whereby, because of a higher natural gradient, and therefore more efficient eroding power, one stream cuts back a divide and taps off the head-waters or a tributary of another stream. The captured stream usually turns a sharp angle into its new course and leaves a wind-gap where it formerly flowed. Also called stream-piracy.
-Robbery upon the sea; robbery by pirates; the practice of robbing on the high seas.
-Literary theft; any unauthorized appropriation of the mental or artistic conceptions or productions of another; specifically, an infringement of the law of copyright.
Possibly a hot take, but as I understand it, content creators of his size should be viewed that the viewer is the product, content creator is the seller, and the sponsor/advertiser is the buyer. It's the content creators job to sell our eye balls and brain space. However, just as a fish resists being captured by a fisher, I resist being sold. Adblocking is my resistance as a product. So producers of said product need to work harder to get enough of their product to be profitable. Should their be a drought, or if my tools are not maintained properly, then is it stealing if my crops die? Did my wheat fields steal from me when they didn't grow enough for me to be a profitable farmer? I am the product being sold, I don't "owe" them anything for harvesting me. It's up to THEM to make my eyes and data worth harvesting to be sold to advertisers.
I see what you mean but I don’t agree. The deal being made here is obvious and you’re signing up to give them data in exchange for watching a video. You’re also signing up to view their ads. You have an option not to be the product at all. You already have the wheat, but you’re giving the middleman less than what was arranged, not just producing less.
And if you view it as okay to not give them what they’re asking for while getting the content anyways, that’s chill. Just recognize that you’re paying less for the content than they’re asking. This is even more enforced by YouTube and news papers who charge for ad free experiences.
I don't buy this rhetoric. By your view, then if I don't watch an ad, then I don't get the content. Yet on YouTube I get the content inspite of declining to view the ad. Some websites do not let me see the content, unless I see their ads. That's fine, I just go to a different site or spend my time doing something else. This rhetoric is to help businesses make money, which is fine, but I have no interest in furthering their narrative. If websites block me from using ad block, then it is entirely within their right to deny me access to their content. *
If you are not paying for a good or service, you are the product. That is my claim. The ad is not the price paid, it is the medium someone is using to collect my market value. Were I to walk to a store, and tell them I wanted something in exchange for seeing their billboard on the highway I'd be laughed out the building.
*Yes there are ways around this, but I think that is outside the scope of this discussion on ads.
I want to be clear still, piracy isn’t a problem or wrong necessarily. I’m not pushing a corporate narrative by saying this, I’m more concerned about creators and other sites that use ads for revenue such as newspapers. So if you want to “pay” a site without money, don’t pirate their content. That’s all. That’s similar to what Linus has said.
But I think this is somewhat similar to asking you for a ticket at the door for a movie. If the “ticket” is watching the ad and they’re asking you to buy the ticket (with premium) or get it from ads, bypassing the doorman would mean it’s piracy. Doesn’t even matter if the doorman doesn’t try to stop you. Doesn’t matter if they don’t pull you out of the movie.
You being the product is irrelevant to the piracy thing. But it is relevant to the moral thing
I don't think you understand my position. I've no argument about piracy or not.
If they don't want me to view their content, then don't allow me to. Netflix has no problem keeping me off their service, because I don't pay the fee. Several other sites block me from viewing their site if I block their ads. That's fine, I leave knowing they don't want me consuming their content. 100% A okay by me. I pay for services I like, and creators I like.
My argument is that watching an ad, is not a form of payment. If it not a payment, it can't be piracy. To take your movie analogy. Let's say a park has a movie screen setup so that anyone can watch the movie, and before the movies starts, someone comes in front and tells everyone about the company sponsoring this public viewing. In the context of youtube, it is not a ticketed event. If I, in the audience, am typing on my phone with my headphones on so that I don't see/hear their sponsor, did I pirate the movie? What if I purposely show up a few minutes late, knowing in advance they would have the sponsor at the start? Is that piracy? I would claim no, but as I understand you, you would say yes.
If YouTube blocks a video from playing because I blocked the ad, then I don't watch the video. If it doesnt, then I can watch the video. My argument is specifically, that what is being sold is not the content. Content creators are creating audiences, with which to capture and sell to advertisers. Advertisers have spent uncountable amounts of money, and decades on propaganda to convince you of your current position, as I understand it, because it benefits them the most.
An advertiser is buying my time, that the content creator is selling. I am not paying a content creator by watching an ad. Full stop. I am paying an advertiser my time, then an advertiser pays the content creator. There is a complete fundamental difference between this relationship, and a simple pay a fee to watch a video, and that complexity is very profitable.
You’re not wrong. But I was just pointing out the validity of talking about the semantics of piracy. I ultimately don’t care what people decide to do, just be aware of what it is you’re doing by blocking ads. Which is most of what Linus was saying.
If I DuckDuckGo something and a video pops up and I watch it, I made no affirmative assent to giving them any data. Even if I go to YouTube.com, I made no agreement. Only if I make an account do I make any sort of contractual agreement with Google. If they only want to show their videos to those who agree to their policies, that’s their perogative. That they haven’t done so suggests that they know and allow people who haven’t done so to watch anyway.
Purchasing and pirating don’t have contractural agreements. You don’t have to have a ToS to pirate something.
If DuckDuckGo does block the ad in their browser, they’ve done the work for you. And if they do not but instead Google decides to serve it to you without ads in a browser, it’s not piracy to not have ads.
As long as the intended revenue of the content you’re viewing is being blocked, you’re pretty much pirating it. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, it’s just a definitional thing.
I do not block ads. I however use Privacy Badger to block tracking cookies, which means that I don't see ads. I will see all ads that are not tracking me, which seems to be none. Is protecting my privacy also piracy?
It is, yes. It’s a separate conversation of if it should be illegal or immoral to keep your privacy this way. But as long as you are violating the intended method of revenue for the content you’re viewing, that’s piracy to me.
I think most people hear piracy and think it’s immoral or illegal, but there are very valid reasons to pirate content such as game and movie preservation.
Yup, illegal does not mean immoral or unethical. It just means some rich or powerful person doesn't like what you're doing. There's a lot of overlap, of course. Many illegal acts are also immoral or unethical. But it's not a 100% overlapping Venn diagram. Also YT is kind of evil, so it's piracy against an evil corporation as much as the content creator. The smarter content creators have sponsors and embedded ads and don't rely on YT for anything.
The implicit contract is to show an ad for a service, but they are actually violating the contract by attaching other things to the ads. They then use the ads to steal information that they then sell without my consent. So, if anything we are discussing honor amongst thieves.
It’s not like you see the ads that have trackers, they get blocked. So it’s still part of the agreement sort of. And you’re also aware that it’s revenue for them. People assume it’s a moral argument, it’s not. You can pirate from absolutely evil people, but it’s still piracy. That’s why I don’t view it as worth arguing over for the most part. I WANT people to realize that it’s piracy but that they’re actually doing something ethical.
Same, I unsubbed back then.
(Thanks Louis Rossmann for existing, BTW).
Recent events only confirmed that my choice was right.
I unsubbed from MKBHD as well a while ago, I'm not at ease with YouTubers becoming corporations (or getting close to).
I loved LMG and watched their videos for years, but if you are going to put out false or exaggerated data knowingly, or auction off a one of a kind prototype, would pass me off but I might tune in from time to time for the entertainment.
But if you are called out on this and instead of trying to do the right thing you double down and even straight up lie to try to make a case where you aren't the bad guy, then I am done with LMG channels as I can not support a company with this clown.
IMO a good answer and directly adresses my biggest stated problem of "we know stuff goes wrong, but we don't care about them" (see https://lemmings.world/comment/1218294)
The thing about Madison: if true it's very concerning, but for now it's only one person who told about these problems and I don't know her enough to trust her like that without proof. In contrast: I trust GN and they showed proof
But that doesn't mean you should ignore these accusations and I would like to see an answer from LMG.
This is MY opinion on this matter. Your opinion may vary!
Re: Madison, she sprinkled a bunch of non-issues (edit: I don't mean to downplay the more serious issues she raises! I'm concerned that this would leave room for others to do so) or things that are normal for companies that aren’t super huge- the journal/lined paper debacle for example. Of course the company focused on profit is going to ask you to make do with essentially the same thing. That’s super normal.
Being asked to manage the OF despite objections isn’t super bad when you are literally hired just to do social media. It’s unpleasant, but most jobs are going to have unpleasant moments. At a similar pay scale, I’ve been required to go into homes where folks had COVID. Coworkers have been shot at. I’ve seen things I really would have preferred not to. No job is perfectly sane in that sense.
Some of the issues where Madison said “they wanted me to do x and I couldn’t because y” (red footage editing/ram comes to mind) feel like issues where she would be told something, then would vent in her head instead of going “hey, I don’t have enough ram to edit that footage!” - something I’ve encountered a ton with less experienced (in a business sense, not skill) hires.
The managerial and behavioral issues she brings up are awful but not entirely surprising given the type of folk who stick around there. It indicates a systemic issue and that usually happens due to a lack of oversight and course-correction, or outright malicious management. I’m hopeful that it’s the former.
Last but not least, she repeatedly states it was her dream job. This is an experience that should hopefully show her to never meet your heroes! Dream jobs usually suck unless you get lucky, because they have lots of rough edges. Hopefully she’s doing something that brings her more joy now.
You can't force a woman to manage an OF account against her will, knowing VERY WELL what she'll be exposed to. That's fucked up.
Why "a woman" specifically? And how would that be against her will?
Because the internet is exceptionally shit against women in particular, and because she clearly stated she didn’t want to do it.
This is kinda basic stuff.
She's just the manager of the account, not publicly facing on OnlyFans. She was asked to complete a task well within her job description, that is not against her will, she is against the job. A before you say looking at genitalia wasn't in the job description I urge you to look up what facebook moderation is like.
The kind interactions (including pictures and such) you get on OF vastly differs what you will get on other platforms. That’s not in the job description.
And to your last point, she was a social media manager, not a Facebook moderator. How does that compare? Are you intentionally making bad faith arguments?
No, lets keep this civil my guy.
She is a social media manager, onlyfans is social media regardless of the content that is usually posted. As for the reason I brought up Facebook moderation is, what do you think is usually posted there? Minion memes? Photos from trips? Well those moderators are often subjected to beheadings, rape, and other very graphic content. Do you think that was explicitly stated when they got hired?
Of course, Facebook isn't exactly the premier 'good place to work', but this is common throughout any industry that takes submissions for the populous. And I am not making any arguments whatsoever on whether or not she should actually have to see "comments from people talking about how they wanted to fuck me and my co workers.".
No likely not, and Facebook clearly deserves a proper reckoning. But I don’t see how this relates or makes it ok.
Would you say LTT/LMG sells itself as a channel about sex or porn or the likes? No, it’s a tech channel and as such one would expect tech related social media. You could state that the function of the job is unchanged, but the job content is also relevant here.
It was expressly against her will as per her own words. And as for why "a woman", its rather well known women already deal with much more sexual harassment and maltreatment online than men do. Just look at the market of AI generated porn of celebrities and online personalities as proof of this. So forcing a woman, who already has a public presence no less, to manage a platform such as OnlyFans, and constantly see and have to manage sexual objectification and harassment towards her as well as her coworkers, is unacceptable in my opinion.
She is not publicly facing on OnlyFans she manages the account. So her being a woman has absolutely nothing to do with your last sentence. Of course I won't debate your personal opinion, but she isn't being forced. It's a job within her job description.
This will be my final reply on the matter as I do not believe you are operating in good faith. But in case you are:
Firstly, the idea that you "cannot be forced to do something within your job description" is unequivocally false, and a sign of a toxic work environment. She actively requested to not be put in charge of a platform that made her uncomfortable, and the request was denied and she was forced, against her will, to do so. I have never in my life worked at a place where I could not request to be taken off a project or task due to being uncomfortable with it. This is not a point of discussion, this is a categorical fact.
Secondly, it does not matter that she was not public facing on OnlyFans. She, alongside her coworkers, were active public figures on multiple LMG affiliated channels during her employment. And OnlyFans is a platform known to be near exclusively used for sexual gratification, and it is therefore entirely unsurprising that the LMG OnlyFans account received a large amount of sexual advancements, objectification, and harassment of LMG employees. And due to my prior comment, I fully believe a large majority of what was received would have been targeting the women employed at LMG. Therefore, putting one of the main victims of said harassment and objectification in charge of managing it is wholly and entirely unacceptable behavior by the management at LMG.
These are not complex concepts, and are not even all that contemporary anymore. And as such I do not feel there is any real discussion to be had on the matter, there are people more intelligent than I that do a better job expressing these things in more empirical detail. I suggest you seek them out if you need more detail than I have provided here.
Have you seen how men act when they’re horny? Especially on the internet? She probably still gets gross DMs constantly.
They basically set her up for harassment for life.
I don't know what you mean about harassment for life. She wasn't publically facing on the OnlyFans. And yes I have seen. You didn't answer my questions however.
Because she will expierence sexual abuse there.
What do you mean by sexual abuse?
They probably meant "sexual harassment". Legally speaking, "sexual abuse" typically refers to sexual assault against a child. Verbal/online interactions would generally fall under "harassment".
Anyone can be sexually abused, not just underage people.
Yes that's true.
It should have fallen on her manager to handle, and she should have put her foot down on that.
Other good ways to improve that particular situation could have been separating her identity from the social media accounts, so that it wouldn’t be clear who exactly was managing them. It paints a target on her back as an attack vector (very dangerous due to her lack of experience) and target of harassment. That’s part of why many big brands do not publicize who exactly is managing their social media accounts.
At the end of the day, management needed to do better and Madison could have pushed back more. It’s just a job, theoretically one she could replace somewhat seamlessly given her capabilities, and the fatal mistake was idealizing it. That probably compounded all of her grievances.
Head of HR is Linus' wife. Yes, it is that bad. Even telling her manager, would have netted zero result.
She should not have needed to push back more nor should anyone need to "push back more" in their job. That's victim blaming.
No, it's realistic. If a manager at your workplace asks you to do something you don't like, you say "I don't want to do it", and they insist - you push back. Is it toxic and stupid that they did that? Yes. But companies get away with this shit because people don't push back.
Speaking up publicly after-the-fact is great too. It raises awareness and helps give a voice to people whose livelihood is tied up in a company they can't stand to support due to toxic working conditions. It helps raise awareness to C-suite execs that there may be a managerial issue causing it. It's a good step that some companies take in stride, and actually turn around to improve things. Time will tell if that's the case here.
I feel that your post is belittling a situation that, as narrated, is straight up mobbing and bullying, only acknowledging it in a small paragraph which I feel boils down to a dismissive "awful but only maybe malicious, probably just lack of oversight", while the rest of your comment tries to find excuses and normalizing something that is not.
These:
Are nor normal nor acceptable: for anyone who is in a corporation where this is common place: take a step back and understand that it is not healthy for you, bad power dynamics are a real thing and the abuse of them sometimes can feel normal, especially in small businesses that get a sudden explosive growth. And I don't even want to go into her self harming to get a day off.
You can say it was probably a single person, but the lack of action by management with phrases like "change your priorities", "put on your big girl pants" and stuff like that makes it a Company issue, Company which indirectly accept and endorse that kind of treatment: they being so against unionizing sincerely gets a whole other meaning read under this light.
The notebook case is self evidence of it all: A small thing that normally wouldn't be anything important, but compounded with the stressful environment got emotionally distressful. The fact that such a small thing has stayed with her so long should tell you that she was really not in an healthy mental state.
I don't personally care about the whole LTT fiasco, as an uninterested spectator it's fun to watch from the outside and then change channel, a blip in the media world that will most likely blow down in a couple of weeks. But reading how these actions are belittled is really distressing. Bullying is not normal, and it should never be accepted. Ever.
The full thread for whoever missed it: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
Not belittling the situation, toxic workplaces are horrible but they can become so very easily without conscience effort to prevent it. It’s clear that, at the very least, that effort hasn’t been made. I would hope Linus and the rest of upper mgmt don’t intend to normalize sexual harassment, verbal abuse, or threats- rather, they aren’t aware of the extent of it or are feeling upward pressure not to retaliate because they have so many toxic employees.
I’ve made it pretty clear in my message that I blame the company as a whole, and don’t think it’s one person. It’s a systemic issue. Company culture isn’t what you say, it’s what you tolerate, and they’re struggling to even maintain a decent public face.
To say I’m not surprised is not downplaying the situation. I’ve worked (and fought for coworkers, subordinates, and gotten several upper managers fired at) a few jobs where the culture was so horrible and hostile that our turnover rate was over 200% yoy. The writing generally is on the wall in these situations, and their writing was all the technical inaccuracies, sloppiness in content, and absolute negativity that has been displayed in some videos.
What I mean by my earlier message (which might be a hot take) is that the addition of fluff (intentional or otherwise) in otherwise perfectly valid criticism takes away some of the bite and gives fanboys room to speculate about the rest. Nobody should be forced to experience that kind of workplace, but hopefully lessons were learned on the affected party’s end that will help them avoid stepping in another pile of shit like lmg.
American? Because this is not normal up here in Canada.
US yes, but in Canada I’m sure there are many jobs where you are required by that job to do or see things you’d really rather not.
Ultimately there is some ownership of the situation required- put your foot down and say “no, I’m absolutely not doing that”. If they reprimand you- well, time to look for a company that doesn’t penalize employees for that particular issue.
Idealizing the employer makes it significantly harder to do that. Hopefully the debacle gave Madison insight/life experience that many people never have the chance to obtain.
You're in here a lot with a vaguely apologetic (on lmgs behalf) and victim blaming attitude. Do you work there or some shit?
I don't think calling LMG a pile of shit is very apologetic nor an indicator that I'm somebody who works there.
I also don't think "management needs to do/should have done better" and "I hope she is doing something that brings joy" and "I hope she was able to pull good insight out of a shitty situation" is very victim blamey.
It's hard to run a company, and maintain a positive working culture, but there's no excuse if they continue to allow those kind of working conditions. Make no mistake, LMG sucks for how Madison was allowed to be treated (and most certainly others, see also in other comments I've made that it's a systemic problem).
Hold up...LMG has an OF? Why? Is Linus getting his dick out to show the size of their fucking screwdriver?
It’s a joke account
It was an april fools joke that they left up for a couple of months. Don't think there was ever any explict content there.
I think this is the most sane opinion here really; and it's one I share...
Like, alright, they screwed up; we don't need to have a riot about it. I've followed these guys for a while, they seem genuine, they're humans, I think they deserve a chance.
It feels like a lot of people who don't know "how Linus is" or the history of the company getting upset and grabbing their pitch fork a bit too quickly.
LTT is deeply sorry!
Other than the Madison Reeves post I just read, I am completely out of the loop on the LTT controversy. That said, I made it about 1/3 of the way through the video before I had to stop it. I know very little about these guys but that video is infuriating.
Short and sweet summary as called out by Gamers Nexus:
Thank you!
You can watch the Gamers Nexus video on the LMG for context. Steve highlights a lot of errors that they've made.
Actions speak louder than words...
Their action was to monetize the apology video, which is especially funny after Gamers Nexus explicitely didn't monetize their video. They advertised their shop and floatplane and teased a new product. Just incredible.
They really cannot help themselves. Money corrupts all.
The description text is full of their ad stuff too while the GN videos is not.
The fact they're still hiding their testing methodologies behind floatplane makes me dubious of how effective this "housekeeping" week will be. Not that I plan on watching or interacting with anything LMG related going forward until the allegations brought up by Madison are properly handled anyway, in which then my final decision will be made.
Where can I see these allegations from Madison? I must have missed them.
Edit: I found them, right under this post on my front page lol.
You can find them on her Twitter here, or you can read them using Thread Reader here.
Edit: Lol, beat me to the punch with your edit!
Well that really hurts to read :( Madison was one of my favorites
I know Linus was pushing back REAL hard on getting a fact checker. And it would've likely prevented this situation entirely.
Edit: Other than the pushing of merch... Sigh... This is a pretty good PR mea culpa. At least from the rest of the team. I guess I should finish it. Pretty textbook. "We screwed up, here's how we're fixing it."
Edit 2: Nevermind. I got to the part with Linus. FFS.
Maybe they can do something about the toxic working conditions, too...
Just shut the company down. LMG peaked years ago, and went downhill from there. And even back then it was worst amongst the big tech channels.
Jesus, Michael Dell vibes over here
Lol.
You can just not watch their videos. That's always been allowed.
You don't have to be that drastic. Sure, I'm done watching their videos but if they truly want to keep their remaining audience, 1. Linus needs to step down from appearing in any vídeos, 2. Put out a statement to both the community and vendors that they are going to do better and list each change being addressed, and 3. Slow down the video release schedule to ensure proper benchmarks and results can be validated and accurately captured.
Oh my god i am so tired of seeing posts about this, PLEASE can we give it a rest? i want to leave this trend hounding shit on reddit
It's been like 3 days dude, calm down.
Browse link aggregator website. Complain about links being aggregated
No but that's specifically what i'm complaining isn't happening, i see the same link 5 times in a row.
It feels like we need an extra level of aggregation for posts. It would be great if all posts for a certain topic could be grouped together. Maybe hashtags or something.
Yeah it's honestly very strange that they don't implement a proper tag system, i can't imagine it would be difficult (like bro it's an extra array for every post) and it would give a ton of flexibility to the ecosystem.
It's also a feature reddit has...
I would love hashtags as metadata or in the text of the post
Kbin supports hashtags (and I included a few when I posted this), but there's no filtering option yet (that I'm aware of, at least), so it's still mostly just for discovery purposes.
People did move here from reddit after all. That's why I recommend apps like lemmy connect on Android with keyword filtering. You can't control what people post, but you can regain control by controlling what you see.
I am carefully optimistic about this. They addressed the problems and seem to take some time to fix them. I hope they will focus on quality over quantity as they promised.
After all the shit Madison revealed, you’re going to give these creeps a chance?
The PC world truly is a toxic cesspool if you can sand behind these assholes a second longer.
To be fair: I (and probably you) don't know her and she didn't show any proof. So just take the accusations with a grain of salt. (That doesn't mean that they should be ignored!)
What got revealed?
Madison, a former LMG employee who handled the social media part of the business, posted a series of tweets alleging a slew of accusations of sexual harassment and paints a picture of a very toxic and abusive workplace.
Personally, I don't know how much stock I put into all of that just yet. She didn't come with receipts, so right now that part of the story is still mostly "he said she said" until either Madison posts more details about specific incidents or if LMG responds to her claims directly.
Edit: Link to Madison's tweets, mirrored off-site from Twitter: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
https://kbin.social/m/linustechtips@lemmy.ml/t/347639/Madison-on-why-she-quit
This event is the first time I've heard of this company. I've built several PCs for friends over 20 years, never used YouTube for it, once. This feels like standard influencer drama, and much of the influencer space is a toxic cesspool. It's not about a hobby, it's about greedy assholes.
I will look at LTT to see the next new product, but I won't go to them for technical specifications anymore, which was one of the primary reasons I watched his videos.
It's damage control.
Of course it is. But admitting errors and avoiding to make them again is a pretty effective form of damage control, and it is the kind we should want from any company.
The problem is the founder is still a thin-skinned whiny jerk that made it about 'his poor feelings' and doubled down.
When everyone else in a video is doing the right thing, and the founder is not, you can bet there's a huge toxic culture that a dedicated, but peripheral group is trying to work around - and Madison's tweets show that there's a hell of a lot more toxicity than just their ethical and editorial failings.
That's not at all what happened, and I think you're seriously lacking empathy here. He explained he reacted emotionally, and he's still emotional. This is in no small part his baby. He made the decision to step down before this ever happened because he wanted someone that could do it better at the helm, he realized he had been promoted past his competency, that's not nothing.
People just love drama...
Wow, well, that's one way to attempt to rewrite history. Either you are uninformed, misinformed, or delusional. I suggest you read some of the LTT related topics on the front page.
Try just watching the video. Linus is to my eye being extremely genuine.
I don't get the absurd crusade to crucify someone one barely knows for a situation one barely understands in the name of what... Some self indulgent moral superiority?
It happens every time. "Big publicly recognized figure/company/whatever makes a mistake" and everyone wants their life ruined, speculates to infinity and beyond, and writes off their humanity, etc. And it's happening over increasingly trivial things.
It's an internet mob out on a witch hunt and it's disgusting. This dude and his wife built a company from nothing that has been good to many many people from everything I've taken in over the years. They didn't kill anyone, they screwed up some data in a YouTube video, an employee sold something they shouldn't have (which Linus then tried to rectify), and some allegations have been made without proof by one former employee with no information from the LTT side (and no proof Linus or his team knew anything about the situation or its severity). Meanwhile, y'all are out here screaming for the demise of the whole damn thing, and to screw any second chances. It's a completely disproportionate and unjustified response.
I absolutely hate to see people treat other people in this way.
There is tons of info in this thread about what happened. None of that was a mistake.
Apparently you are just misinformed and seem to have no will to take in the relevant information, which renders your opinion on the matter meaningless.
Maybe you should offer him an actual coutner-argument, instead of just saying "You're wrong and uninformed". You're not even presenting an opinion on the story at all, which is even more meaningless than his actually relevant comments.
The onus is not on me to inform him when he can scroll up and find the original gamers Nexus video, the LTT response, etc.
His arguments have absolutely no basis. There is no point engaging with someone who refuses to inform themselves on all the very public information that is available. Especially when it can be gleaned by nearly zero effort
While also monetizing the video and plugging their merch, in direct contrast to GN not monetizing the original video that started this whole thing. Absolutely brutal move there.
Relax. So they made some mistakes. Cringe mistakes that could easily be avoidable (a lot like much of my life has been). Either they do better in the future or they die. People are getting so upset and enraged it looks like this is something that matters. They are still fun, I like them. Im rooting for them to improve!
Ooh, it gets WAY worse than "some mistakes"...
That does sound pretty bad. Seems they have deep rooted problems. I wonder if there is a high turnover rate.
And, finally, somebody actually gave some context for this video.
Thanks, lol.
That's not all the context, though. GamersNexus made a video detailing it further. and a follow-up.
Zen master how can I reach your wisdom of dying doesn't even matter
You can't
Decent video until Linus gets on and immediately starts making excuses.
I don't know, Linus is still trying to excuse and justify. It would seem taking him out of the driver's seat was the right call. As for the rest, they are responding because their backs are against the wall. Time will tell if they will really make any changes.
Just recently a creator I watch talked about how YouTubers sometimes create drama between each other to gain more relevance. Then they go for drinks together. Is this the case here? No way to realistically know for sure.
Probably not from Gamers Nexus' side of things. Their video is very professional, and focuses on the damage done to other companies featured on the channel, and challenges LTT and LMG to be more professional. They also said in their followup that they won't be making any more videos on the topic, their goal was to raise awareness, and now it's LTT's responsibility to decide what to change, if anything. Is LTT playing it up as drama? Maybe, but I think it's more likely that they want it treated as drama rather than legitimate criticism so that they can ignore it and move on, rather than to increase attention/ relevance.
I don't think Gamers Nexus would do something like that, they have a good history of calling out companies for bullshit they try and pull. doing that would damage their reputation.
Calling out the integrity of a channel after that channels spent millions trying to shed the perception of them as just an entertainment channel as opposed to a trustworthy and reliable review channel by investing in the lab? Who comes off here thinking LTT is even more trustworthy when it comes to their reviews which weren't trusted in the community to begin with.
If this were just some personality driven non tech recommending channel I could agree, but LTT is a channel reviewing hardware like Intel and amd to name a few alongside their wacky lets build a teleporting PC. There's just some channels where hits to reputation would hurt them as opposed to help.
‘You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain…’
I always assumed this guy was a d-bag.
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