Lmao Linus immediately jumped back into the "we're only human, feel bad for us" thing
Yeah, I couldn't watch past Yvonne's section, it just felt like a corporate ad tbh.
Then you missed where they dropped an opportunity to show a new screwdriver variant coming to LLTStore.com 🤦
Don't forget to subscribe to Floatplane for the exclusives!
..and the finale Debrand name dropping ..
This is why adblock and sponsorblock are essential. I haven't seen any of that crap in years.
I was just thinking about how theres almost no gradient between what makes you a "quirky and fun small business" which they want to act like and "oh shit better put on our IBM corporate hats and make another video"
People buying this haven't worked for a mid to large sized company. This is internal corporate coolaid bullshit. Nothing ever comes from this lip service. It's just cringe
Yep. Some executive sent out an order that they have to make some sort of response. This was done to appease them, not the public.
Sometimes things do change for the better, but usually not with the same people in the same positions.
Personally felt it was the right thing, and earned some respect back from me. They need to address Madison's accusations separately (which are damning), but they certainly had positive movement with the points raised by the community / GN.
Each of the department heads outlined their shortcomings and how they were being addressed. It felt genuine and sincere, and certainly not the generic bullshit you usually get from a corporate PR team on damage control. I hope they follow through enacting those plans, and it has a positive impact to both their quality and working environments.
The only bit I hated was Linus' section (and this is meant to be a criticism, not a personal attack).
He opened up with a joke that Luke will have a lot to do curbing his (Linus) own behaviour, had a brief moment of sincerity, but went back to immediately defending himself and their actions. He didn't fully acknowledge what his "emotional" response actually did, nor a personal response/apology to both GN/Billet Labs for it. There was no real acknowledgment he will address his own shortcomings. It honestly felt like someone who acknowledges he's wrong (purely based on number of internal members telling him he's in the wrong), but doesn't agree nor accept it.
Linus should not have appeared in this video at all. It would have shown that adults are now in charge and that someone can actually tell him "no".
I mean the monetizing of the video was in pretty poor taste.
They plugged they're merchandise multiple times.
They joked about the video being sponsored twice.
All of which screams, we don't care about what we did just don't take away our money.
The video was still then being defensive.
They never apologized to GN or Hardware Unboxed.
Sex jokes too enlight of sexual harassment and employee mistreatment claims.
They rushed the video out too, it's a culmination of most of the things wrong with lmg. If they had taken their time with this and taken it seriously I would have probably given them points and been very surprised, but this was absolutely bs pr. Totally unapologetic and insincere. Even if they do change anything I don't believe it's because they want it, itll be because they'll be out $$$.
They also need to reconsider they're hr, pretty significant conflict of interest there... then again hr isn't there for employees protection anyway...
Once again he comes out with deflections and excuses.
Put your ego aside for one second and take this one humbly on the chin.
The "haha, we've made an oopsie" tone of the video (sponsorship jokes, plugging their store link, possible sex joke, deflecting to "I'm just a human" instead of fully taking the blame) don't sit right with me. I was also hoping they would address Madison's comments on why she quit.
I think Madison's post happened after the video itself was planned, recorded, etc, so it's understandable why that's not addressed. But Linus really has to address what she's said on the forums ASAP at least, because there's a lot of damning claims towards his company from her. Like seriously, wtf Linus?
Also, they should stop deleting all mentionings of the Madison thing on the apology video as they doing are now, makes it all seem very disingenuous and fake.
Can confirm. They appear to be doing it manually, so lots are still up (for now), but entire threads are being disappeared.
It should be it's own topic of discussion. It makes sense why they're trying to control the comments on that video specifically.
Given his responses so far, he's probably just going to dig his hole even further.
I really want to make a joke about how they could have added an annotation on the video to address it and how it would have taken “$500 of people’s time” but her post was super gross (about the company, not her) and that’s more of a poison pill for a company than the sloppiness IMHO.
I don’t watch LMG content and I have intention of starting to so I don’t have a dog in this fight but I always thought of LMG as “decent content but too over the top and silly for me”, the “decent content” part is in question now and the workplace allegations leave a bad taste in my mouth for sure.
I thought this video was very well done aside from:
“I don’t agree with ALL the criticisms” - ok, then expand on that
Store plug - read the room, I thought the sponsor joke was ok but then they did it twice and plugged the store.
“6 9’s” - didn’t we just talk about filtering for sexual innuendos? Look I don’t give a fuck but, again, read the room
Linus’ whole section - it really felt genuine then he came on and came off as a petulant child
To quote poetry:
Uwu We made a fucky wucky!!
A wittle fucko boingo!
The code monkeys at our headquarters are working VEWY HAWD to fix this!
Sex joke?
"6 9s"
Thats not a sex joke, that's just a server uptime thing
🙄 I want you to tell me with a straight face that you honestly believe someone could say something like "six nines..." whilst simultaneously quirking their eyebrow and striking a dual fingerguns pose without an implied double meaning...
For Pete's sake, the editor even inserted a zoom cut and delayed the next shot transition for comedic effect!
Worth noting that the "69... Nice" joke is not just a universal meme, but also specially part of LTT in-jokes. So it's very much in character for Linus or others at LMG to say something like that, but I am honestly disappointed that it came from Luke.
Yeah I get the various other critiques others have for this video but complaining about the "potential sex jokes" is a stretch.
Agreed
Between this and Madison's tweets I hope the good people can get out and the company dies.
I never saw Madison’s tweets, what happened there?
Oh for fucks sakes we have an edgel0rd over here. You can just stop watching the channel if you don't like them.
There's nothing wrong with hoping an unethical company goes under.
I don't think they're beyond redemption. My hope is that Linus can take a step back and let the CEO work on improving the workplace culture. No idea if he's up to the challenge but time will tell
Beyond redemption, no, but refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing doesn't paint a pretty picture for the future. In the days since I've heard "we couldn't have done any better", "yes we messed up but it wouldn't have made any difference if the numbers were right", "no one could expect us to spend 500 dollars to redo a messed up review"
Not once did I hear a mea culpa or we'll try harder to do better in the future. Not a good look.
Linus:
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
After digging into this whole fiasco and it’s various aspects, I’m coming to think that this is a leadership problem, pure and simple, and that the leader that allowed these pretty egregious situations to exist and metastasize is Linus. So sure, good for him for basically bootstrapping a company up to a ~$100M valuation… but that is absolutely not an excuse for, and in no way justifies the internal and external ethical lapses.
The best case here is if the new LMG CEO forces a sharp, top-down culture shift that enables more sustainable working practices, better employee treatment and culture, increased rigor in the data they present, and an explicit public acknowledgement that their previous high-handed interactions with some creators and brands - and ethical conflicts of interest with others - did, in fact, occur, and will be seriously investigated in the interest of not repeating those failures in the future. But given Linus’s continued “woe is me”/borderline gaslighting, I’ll believe change is coming when I actually see it. For now, I’ve unsubscribed.
Well put, I agree
Maybe, but spare a thought for the ordinary people who would lose their jobs as a result.
They worked at LMG, a highly visible company. They’ll get other jobs no problem.
Again, that may be the case, but it's still not good for people to lose their jobs in the first place.
Especially not in this economy.
I hope every unethical company goes over and everyone who works at all of them remains unemployed for at least 3 months actually. Unethical companies = employees often complacent and part of the problem.
I don’t see why you want to defend this
I'm not defending the company or the actions of whoever is involved in misconduct. But I also don't believe in guilt by association.
Sorry for caring about people's livelihoods.
It isn’t guilt by association. It’s not caring about several people losing their jobs as a result of their employer’s decision to sexually harass women. The few jobs lost isn’t that big of a deal compared to the trauma the female employees were put through. Those people will have no problem finding new work.
Well they said let good people leave the company and then the company to go to hell.
My thoughts go to the dependency on jobs for survival but that leads into a conversation about AI, the end of enough jobs for humans and the need for universal basic income. Job loss doesn't much affect my choice to interact with a corporation or wish for it to change (which may affect jobs).
They seem to have an excess of testosterone and are too sloppy, but unethical and worthy of cancellation is typical internet outrage over reaction.
Being invested in a company and giving glowing reviews to their products and only offering critiques of their competitors is pretty fucking unethical
I can't hear what you're saying with linus' stringy cock in your mouth, mate.
An unethical company that allows it's employees to be assaulted doesn't need to exist.
he won't see this, my guy
This situation sucks and was something I would have been willing to see through. But after reading the thread from Madison this morning I've decided to cancel my Floatplane subscription. While the accusations she makes are currently accusations, they're pretty damning and worth taking seriously in case they are more than allegations. I await LMG's response to her thread, as I feel that will be the deciding factor in whether or not I continue to consume and support anything LMG does going forward.
On the Floatplane thing, I am a bit worried for DankPods, who put a lot of backing into Floatplane after he got screwed over by Twitch. This whole thing might have some collateral damage towards the other creators on there, including him. Was considering subscribing to Floatplane for him and his drum streams before this.
I may not agree with a lot of things Madison does as a content creator, but what she's described in that thread is absolutely egregious. This goes so far beyond "trust me bro", and is already bathing in the gas that the company is actively lighting under them. Makes me wonder what kind of NDA and contract all of them have, to keep it hush-hush. I'm worried for the people there
what she's described in that thread is absolutely egregious
*If true and complete.
None of us were there, none of us know what happened, none of us knows the context of anything discussed. There's a universe where everything she described is misinterpreted banter and she's just an overly sensitive whiny zoomer. There's also a universe where everything she described is an understatement to the unfathomable conditions she may have been subjected to, and Linus is a prototypical millennial edgelord piece of shit who can't read a room, and gets off on belittling those under his domain.
It's important, I think, to not be impulsively reactionary towards individual accusations. Doing so disincentives discourse and transparency. I'm going to let this play out for a bit before I make any decisions with my wallet. If Madison deserves the benefit of the doubt, so does LMG.
DankPods is the only reason why I'd consider using Floatplane, but I've already been a Patron of his for a long time and could just up my tier sub if I wanted to support him more, which I may do if this effects his streams.
Thank you for this, I don't normally use twitter but I read some people saying the Threadreader app wasn't up to date with all the comments.
Ah shit, I forgot how much dank went in on floatplane
Maybe Dankpods can get into the Nebula sphere instead.
Ha, Nebula is not the answer, either. It's a gated community that doesn't even have a way to sign up as an uploader. They expect you to make it on YouTube first before they consider moving to their network, and then you're doomed to constantly advertise for Nebula for the rest of your career.
You can hear James' voice in some of the more heinous quotes :(
A former employee shitting on their employer during a scandal to draw media attention has been the oldest trick in the book. If more stories come forward or others corroborate the individual claims, it's worth notice. Until then, all I see is someone who took a high pressure job, couldn't hack it, and now they're trying to cash in on the negative experience for media attention.
One party versions are always .... tricky. If this was the case then people that support her need to step up and talk. It is hard to belive a company with such ethics also had good enough enviroment for a colleague to transition and publicly anounce it to the world. Something is off...
Exactly. Something doesn't smell right. If she wants to corroborate her story, she can start by showing her ER report for the supposed incident where she self-harmed to get out of work. That would be an easy paper trail to share and since she's already disclosed that information, she wouldn't be giving anything else up.
Words themselves have no value in these instances.
Exactly this ^
Until there's actual evidence put forward (and not just her word), I'll happily defer pulling out the guillotine and grabbing my pitch fork.
I get the community as a whole is rightfully shitty with how LMG has handled themselves over the last week, but I'm certainly not taking her accusations alone at face value, regardless of how abhorrent they are
Absolutely, the criticism from gamers Nexus was fair and earned by LMG, but these allegations are not only completely separate from the issue with quality, they're completely unsubstantiated. Should she start corroborating her story with things like the ER report from her reported incident of self-harm, or other employees confirm her story and are willing to state that they actually witness these accusations, that would be another story.
Changes nothing after what Madison has said about her experience working for them. LTT has had ethics and journalistic issues for most of its life, but it's come clear that it's deeper and more sinister than even I had imagined.
After reading that, I fully expect their plans "to improve" will involve abusing and blaming staff unfairly. Seems like they're already doing that when they blame "human error" for the videos being bad rather than taking personal responsibility, as management should.
Yup. Most of their journalistic problems are self-imposed by Linus and his demand for super expensive equipment for no purpose but cloutchasing/content farming.
The obsession with an 8K editing workflow and hosting their own poorly-managed content server has already led to staff losing hours of work multiple times (though it indeed made them some ✨content✨).
I can only imagine how stressful it is working as an editor for a man who completely replaces your hardware and workflow on the whims of whatever tech trend is popular on twitter.
Well they made the smartest possible decision in letting us hear from the other humans at LMG. The last thing they needed was another smug non apology rant from Linus himself. These folks seem like actual humans, and they made some very frank admissions of error.
Of course, Linus has to come in at the end and minimize, deflect, and ultimately fail to show an ounce of real contrition, learning, and growth. I feel the most pity for him in this because he’s clearly trapped in his deficient little mind, unable to grow through a major challenge like this. He’s passed beyond his ability to just rant back, but he doesn’t have any other pages in his playbook. The best he can do is rely on the adults around him. I hope he does more of that.
This video confirms what I've thought for a long time. The biggest problem with Linus Tech Tips is Linus.
And the fact that the video even declares that it took Yvonne to put her foot down before any changes could take place confirms that LTT has a cult of personality that is damaging the brand and the team. And keeping Linus as a CVO isn't going to change that.
And of course, Madison's accusations bring a whole new layer to the drama. A layer that should have been more obvious to me given that the only woman on that video was Linus' wife.
Also, anyone else find it funny that Gary Key made yet another mistake in this video - that Linus was the one that talked about testing every video - and not Gary's own fucking team member? Also his little "I dont agree with EVERY criticism" was a bit too petulant and defensive for this video. Come on...
Excellent analysis!
Linus ego and "I can do no wrong" attitude consistently adds fuel to the flame.
He recognized that he was getting emotional again but didn't recognize that it called for another take and maybe some more thought about it all before that take started.
Wait, so people used to take this guy seriously? I watched a review he did on some sim racing gear a few years back and it was obvious the guy didn’t google even the most basic advice on how to set up a sim rig properly.
I knew he was full of shit, because hell talk about really complicated things like ram timing like he's an expert, then when he tries to use Linux, a package manager is too complex for him and he becomes less tech savvy than my 75 year old mom, so its pretty obvious he knows nothing when he's not being feed answers by some marketing goon
That Linux video was so frustrating
Indeed it was. That was the shark-jump moment for me, and I wasn't even a part of the community.
This is so amusing to me, because I had no idea who this Linus was - I was only somewhat familiar with Linus Torvald of Linux fame. I looked up last night just to check that the old Linux nerd wasn't running around stealing water coolers and such.
Extra funny to see a comment the next morning that this Linus knows zero about Linux.
My impression was that the linux video was meant to be more of a vlog "Watch Linus Do Something" style and not a researched video. And its obvious that he would know very little about an operating system he has never used before.
it was a different style video, but he had used linux before.
he even knew he should use the package manager, but for some reason didnt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
For those who aren't aware why errors are an issue because all they've seen is wacky LTT videos where they mess around with stuff--Linus is the most popular (and profitable) computer hardware Youtuber, and he's always done hardware reviews, but to some degree this whole scandal came about because of him wanting to be taken more seriously. Recently he's been using his millions in an attempt to become the most authoritative PC hardware critic by building and staffing a state-of-the-art testing lab. It was one of his lab technicians who made the comment about how their testing was better than that of more respected channels like Gamers Nexus and Hardware Unboxed that kicked this whole thing off. And the whole lab thing makes the continuing inaccuracy of the videos seem that much more egregious.
You should see the shitshow when he tries to use Linux. It's astounding someone that uses a computer can be so fucking inept. Pretty sure it's all an act to further shit on opensource, which surely won't pay the bills for them.
yeah the linux videos were when I first noticed their lack of research, I always suspected it, but the linux videos made it obvious. Linus did absolutely NO research and put no critical thinking in those videos whatsoever
Well yea, same with the old mechanical keyboard video, but their new Mechanical Keyboard video is pretty well researched.
I mean, let's be clear, Linus knows wtf he's talking about. He recognizes obscure parts on sight and generally has a deep understanding of tech from years of experience with it.
Doesn't excuse the shitty behavior, but get real with this hot take.
Well I watched his Linux videos and to any mildly experienced GNU/Linux user he was laughable in that video, but not in a funny way, I pitied him for his lack of understanding combined with his usual stubbornness.
To anyone who may read this comment as overly critical or unfair. It is not. It is apt.
His stubbornness was incredibly frustrating in that one. Kind of even worse is how he acts like this is how a typical user would do when trying Linux, it's just insulting the intelligence of his own fans.. Well some of his fans
You could know absolutely everything about building computers and still know absolutely nothing about sim racing rigs. Knowing some domains doesn't make you an expert at all domains. He could reach out to an expert for areas he's not familiar with but he's more concerned about clickbait and shitting out videos as quickly as possible.
And this is true for anyone whose business depends on the monetization of YT content. Imo.
Eeeh, I don't know about that. He may have experience, but it never seemed to me like he had much understanding. Or even knew how to learn, like with the Linux stuff.
We'll, you're not wrong about the Linux debacle, that was pretty embarrassing.
Linus knows wtf he’s talking about
As a pedantic f*cking weirdo who goes WAY too deep into things until I'm satisfied that I understand them, he very much does not.
There is a difference between understanding technology and doing the homework before a video. You can be super smart/experienced, hut if you don't care to learn about the thing you're talking about it becomes a goof off very quickly. I've (and many others out there) have watched enough content to know when things are straying from legitimacy.
He has the technical competency of your average best buy employee. Not even geek squad, just like a normal employee. Just look at their channel, they constantly make videos about their mission critical servers breaking.
Maybe it's because, while I'm tech savvy on the software side of things, my understanding of hardware aligns more with a common layman (the kind of person LTT targets as an audience) so, to me, seemed like he was pretty knowledgeable 🤷🏼♂️
I can empathize with that, but that is sorta the problem to me. He frames himself as an authority on a lot of these subjects, and then goes on to demonstrate a clear lack of understanding. Those who know better can take his bad advice as purely entertainment, but to those who don’t, he’s misleading consumers, and potentially changing their purchasing decisions as a result. You can be a tongue and cheek entertainer with a theme, or you can be a journalistic authority, but it is wildly irresponsible (in my opinion) to try to be both at the same time. Especially when he has a demonstrable track record of misleading consumers with his lack of understanding. Its not on any of his viewers or fans that they were mislead, it’s on him for making the waters murky with inadequate experience, biased reviewing, unclear context, and conflicts of interest.
Linus always came off to me as one of those people who shouldn't be mangement. Idk, just watching him in videos feels frustrating, and he seemed to belittle his employees in a joking/non-joking manner.
Some of the other "techs" do seem to be very knowledgeable, and i feel bad for them to have to work under a man child.
The behavior sets an example among the rest of the staff too, it appears.
He seems like a kid making videos with his friends. Not realizing he is an adult making videos with professionals whose likelihood depends on his company.
Yeah, I saw that in several videos and it made me uncomfortable. He'd say rude things in a way that didn't actually come across like he was joking. If it was just a friend thing, I could maybe understand it, but there was a big power imbalance. Can't imagine what it'd be like to be on the receiving end of how he can act.
LMG and Linus in particular have not been reliable to me for a while. It all started with the screwdriver. First it was the full of year of videos teasing the product, it was just absurd how long it took to come out. Then when I watched Linus react to the project farm review is where things really turned for me. Project farm fairly rated the screwdriver and as he always does called out pros and cons of each product. Linus seemed to not be able to take the criticisms and seemed to almost get mad at project farm about it. The main criticism I remember is that in the ratcheting screwdriver market there are several companies that offer lifetime warranty and same day delivery/replacement. Project farm noted that LMG does not offer this level of customer service and they are being new to marketplace may not be equipped to handle common problems other supplies easily fix. Instead of admitting that LMG isn't trying to compete with companies like Mac tools or Snapon Linus immediately gets defensive and tries to discredit the need for 24/7 support.
I have also noticed the high amount of corrections in recent videos. I could see not wanting to reshoot a portion of video where Linus is speaking on camera. But why not show some B role and have Linus record a corrected voice over? Edited well viewers wouldn't even notice.
Linus adamantly refuses to offer any kind of long-term guarantee. He got flak for the warranty on the backpack for that reason; there are plenty of competitors selling bags at the $250 price point that back up their offerings with long or even lifetime warranties. When pressed, Linus put out a mealy-mouthed "oh I don't want to open up my family to liability" statement which both managed to say absolutely nothing (why would his family be personally liable? LMG is a separate entity) and shame critics. It seems to me Linus personally can't handle criticism, like at all.
Wait, backpacks cost that much? I got one for 25 bucks 8 years ago and it only needed some sewing to be perfectly usable. The brand is Polo Power.
Brand name bags like Samsonite can cost quite a lot. Why anyone would buy a bag from LTT for $250 in lieu of buying one from a reputable company with a warranty is beyond me.
My Peak Design bag cost more than my camping bag and it’s worth every penny.
Did any one see the pinned comment where they say turned off monetization after community feedback? as if this video should be monitized in the first place lol man this does not feel right
Things are not looking good for linus, especially now that an ex-employee is making accusations about terrible working conditions, sexisim, and harassment of all types..
This video is odd to me. The thumbnail of the video is of Linus but you don't see him in the video until almost the end. Even though technically Linus is no longer the CEO of the company the responsibility still falls on him because bulk of the controversy was created by his terrible response post on their forum. Also the tone of this video is very off putting. The awkward half joking "we're human so feel bad for us" tone by whole bunch people other than Linus feels evasive. I think LMG is treating this as a PR problem but clearly it's a serious systemic internal problem and I don't see how the company culture can be changed when Linus is still very hands on. Maybe I'm being cynical here but it feels like they'll just go back to business as usual after this blows over in a week.
They have said there will be a third party audit/inspection of which the results will be published. I am a little hopeful, though remain skeptical.
Also the allegations didn't squarely fall on Linus (though I guess the end-responsibility does lie with him). After his blow-up post on the forums I don't have faith he by himself will correct the ship. In that regard I'm also a little hopeful about their new CEO.
Isn't there a /c/drama this shit could be dropped in? Least technical article ever.
/c/WatchLTTdie
🍿
Didn't the original Drama create drama instead of reporting on it?
No? Or you mean Linus' initial response on their forum.
I meant the subreddit /Drama. It was what I heard about it.
Ah, I haven't seen anything from /drama on my feed yet so I completely misunderstood you.
Milking through dramaception
Drama is like "woke", it means whatever you want it to mean!
This is a legitimate story about the technology industry.
Filter out LTT, LMG, and Linus. It's that easy
I like seeing articles about cool gadgets and science pop up in my all feed, but this instance just keeps belaboring some youtube channel I dont care about. any ideas for some replacements because this place is getting kinda lame
they're one of the biggest tech channels on youtube, and the biggest gaming focused tech channel. A lot of people looked up to them, including myself. In a few days I'm sure the discussion will die down.
Call me a fanboy but this is not the worst response.
A few things that still annoy me ofc:
Madison's concerns were not addressed (she JUST wrote it, so fair enough, but that shit needs to be addressed)
everything sounds a bit scripted. Shit, just let them say what concerns them and the specifics of what they actually wanna address. Like give examples, so we know that you guys get it.
Linus blaming others sticks out. I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's doing it unconsciously but it really bothers me and I hope it's just truckloads of stress that he'll be able to work through. This is not meant as an insult, but it sounds to me he should get a therapist to talk himself through the feelings. It helped me, and I can smell the pent up emotions through the screen.
It's not perfect, but it's a start. Let's see what comes in response in the next while.
Also whoever hurt, degraded and ruined Madison's mental health fuck you. I know it won't happen, but if you read this Madison, what you went through was wrong and unfair and fuck everyone who hurt you, you did the right thing and now that you're gone, life will improve. If you got through your worst nightmare, you will easily get through the next weeks.
... a bit scripted? They were clearly, mechanically, reading from a teleprompter. Your high school "newscasters" are less obvious
For the scripting, that honestly makes sense for it to be scripted. You can proof and clear what is said beforehand instead of in post w/ retakes. Im not really invested in all this but it does make sense to me.
Too late. Don't care.
I've already unsubscribed.
You should care, it reaffirms all reasons to unsub.
same here. Unsubbed from all of their channels. Now I just watch the spectacle from a distance. LMG is dead to me.
PR damage control
You know there is something wrong in an individual when said individual resorts to emotion/"imjusthumantism" and other type of fallacies to answer facts and logic.
Any brave soul willing to recap the whole story in few line?? How exactly did they screw up so much they neet to post this apology/non-apology video??
Seems like kind of a straw that broke the camel's back situation.
A company sent them a one-of-a-kind prototype cooling device and the video card it was designed for to have it reviewed or whatever. The reviewer misplaced the GPU but was under deadline to produce their video, so they used a different video card, and the cooler (as should be expected) didn't function well, but they posted the negative review anyway. After the fuckup was pointed out, they put a very easy to miss "correction" on the video. People caught on that this happens alot, and started to question the value of the content, given so many mistakes and easily missed corrections. This also extended to people questioning the bias of their reviews on products related to companies they have partnerships with or competing brands.
Additionally, despite being asked to return the device and agreeing to do so, they later sold it at a charity auction. This measurably harmed the creator and it is unknown who purchased it (people speculate it was a competitor), apparently some compensation was worked out however.
Last I've seen, the former social media manager posted a pretty scathing recounting of time at the company. It included alot of events that indicate this was a predatory and hostile work environment, including sexual harassment.
Thank you and... WoW!
This measurably harmed the creator and it is unknown who purchased it (people speculate it was a competitor), apparently some compensation was worked out however.
Last I heard from Billet via GN was that they didn't get the offer regarding compensation until the same time Linus posted his first written response, so way late. At that point they hadn't agreed to anything. So a play of semantics for Linus?
Some small corrections here (as I understand them):
In the video, they actually mentioned that Billet's device was intended for a 3090, but "they (Billet Labs) think it should work with a 4090 too." Unsure if anyone from Billet ever commented on that, but that seemed to be LMG's understanding.
Additionally, the device was sent to LMG without an expectation of return. They asked for it back after the poor review, but when it was originally sent over, there were no strings attached.
They did find who the device was sold to, and it was just a random person at LTX (LMG's tech expo), not a competitor. Sounds like they auctioned off a lot of random stuff from videos there, and it was likely mismanagement rather than malice that caused them to sell it.
The Madison situation is obviously shitty, but I think there's a big distinction between her experiences involving sexual harassment and the "grind mindset" culture that LMG seems to have. Both are problems, but one is obviously larger than the other. I believe the new CEO stated they're going to bring in external investigators regarding the sexual harassment claims.
When it comes to them rushing things to keep up an unreasonable video schedule, I think that's a valid criticism, but in no way do I feel like it's some kind of line in the sand that can't ever be forgiven. I also think that GN probably should have asked for comment before releasing this kind of criticism against arguably their largest competitor.
Billet Labs sent them a 3090ti to test with and LMG lost it before they filmed the review. They comment on the GPU being wrong in the video. .
BL also commented on the video explaining why it would perform poorly with the 4090.
Someone at LMG agreed to send it back before they sold it at auction. Then that didn't happen and there was no apology or attempt to make it right until the GN video came out.
They always knew it was being tested wrong.
I also think that GN probably should have asked for comment before releasing this kind of criticism against arguably their largest competitor.
Not defending LMG's mistakes, but GN's opinion that you should not ask for comment doesn't hold water.
GN definitely has an agenda here. He made several comments that made it quite clear he's resentful of LTT's success.
While I don't think anything he reported is false, it's all wrapped in a narrative that relies on implications. He certainly makes a whole lot of hay about a few small mistakes and heavily implies LTT is in the pockets of their sponsors and a conspiracy theory that LTT is only successful because of some connections and preferred treatment by YouTube.
He's very much trying to establish a narrative that LMG is wildly corrupt and undeserving of their success. However, a lot of it comes across as sour grapes.
This doesn't completely match what GN reported or what GN said Billet told them.
In the video, they actually mentioned that Billet's device was intended for a 3090, but "they (Billet Labs) think it should work with a 4090 too."
According GN Billet said that they told ltt that it might work for the other card but that it wasn't tested.
Additionally, the device was sent to LMG without an expectation of return. They asked for it back after the poor review, but when it was originally sent over, there were no strings attached.
This I haven't heard before but I do find that highly unlikely. Most companies aren't willing to permanently part with a prototype considering how expensive they tend to be, trade secrets and the low number they have. Billet labs are apparently a two person start up making it even more unlikely.
and it was likely mismanagement rather than malice that caused them to sell it.
I don't think personally that it was a question of malice as such but most of the criticism from GN was based on LTT being mismanaged where speed was more important than being correct. So still not a good look for them.
I also think that GN probably should have asked for comment before releasing this kind of criticism against arguably their largest competitor.
GN responded to this in a follow-up. I think they said something along the lines that they don't do it for other companies either. I'm personally a bit divided. Most of the information presented was factual and not of the nature "he said she said" with the exception of the Billet question. The size difference (especially when in similar scenes) could also be seen as a reason not to reach out so that the story isn't buried by the larger companies reach and resources.
Important considerations, especially considering Linus first response where I felt he played around with semantics a lot. What I like about GN is that they always seem to back things up with references.
They are least released a video outlining their plan going forward, that's immensely better than other times where they've stuck their head in the sand. Be keen to see how this one pans out
But this video was after a long nasty, emotional rant on the LTT forums. Also after trying to claim compensation had been agreed between Billet labs, all while doubling down in reasons why it'd not changed the outcome of the result of the video.
Yeah, and the video made it clear that Linus needs to get out of the way of the business growing, which is what everyone was trying to address. How well that actually worked is up to you. Personally I'm one for actions backing up words. Admitting there needs to be a change is a good start.
I think the Madison thing that has come up since the video has seen enough speculation. At this point it is up to LMG to do what is right provided any further action is required.
More juicy nerd drama. Lemme grab my popcorn.
You mean Lemmy
Hi spez
Sociopath
no way, you're telling me that lmg spreads misinformation? who could've guessed /s
Will soon just be a OnlyFans channel called Linus Sex Tips
Just the tip(s)?
Remember: No one ever lies about anything, ever.
Artesian Builds walked so that LTT could run. Straight into oncoming traffic.
Linus Mtech Gtips
In case you’re actually serious, LMG is Linus Media Group, the company over LTT.
Linus Tedia Troup
Accurate. They repeat everything at least 5 times in a video.
amazing that something as bone dry as tech is now about nothing but drama and personalities and cliques
now
Uh.. I think you need to check out the history of computing.
no i know, it's all a big drama.. sells a lot of subs..
It's always been that way lol
People who follow a tech reviewer whos now a Multi million dollar company and who's always come out as fake are mentally ill. Simple as. Can't grasp my mind about people worshipping this dude/company
That would imply Gamer's Nexus is equally ridiculous for thinking its important to call out this behavior.
All the whiny complainers are responsible for this sad state of affairs. This is what happens when communist ideology subverts a culture.
Did you forget you're not commenting on Youtube?
Gods I miss the years when trolls tried. Used to be an artform. Now every Tom, Dick and Numbnuts thinks being a contrarian idiot is enough to get the job done.
there used to be a sense of pride in a good troll. i long for those days
It's sad, really. Even worse is that we dignify the morons simply hurling shit by calling them trolls. Even worse is that many can't even restrain themselves not feeding them.
Lmao Linus immediately jumped back into the "we're only human, feel bad for us" thing
Yeah, I couldn't watch past Yvonne's section, it just felt like a corporate ad tbh.
Then you missed where they dropped an opportunity to show a new screwdriver variant coming to LLTStore.com 🤦
Don't forget to subscribe to Floatplane for the exclusives!
..and the finale Debrand name dropping ..
This is why adblock and sponsorblock are essential. I haven't seen any of that crap in years.
I was just thinking about how theres almost no gradient between what makes you a "quirky and fun small business" which they want to act like and "oh shit better put on our IBM corporate hats and make another video"
People buying this haven't worked for a mid to large sized company. This is internal corporate coolaid bullshit. Nothing ever comes from this lip service. It's just cringe
Yep. Some executive sent out an order that they have to make some sort of response. This was done to appease them, not the public.
Sometimes things do change for the better, but usually not with the same people in the same positions.
Personally felt it was the right thing, and earned some respect back from me. They need to address Madison's accusations separately (which are damning), but they certainly had positive movement with the points raised by the community / GN.
Each of the department heads outlined their shortcomings and how they were being addressed. It felt genuine and sincere, and certainly not the generic bullshit you usually get from a corporate PR team on damage control. I hope they follow through enacting those plans, and it has a positive impact to both their quality and working environments.
The only bit I hated was Linus' section (and this is meant to be a criticism, not a personal attack).
He opened up with a joke that Luke will have a lot to do curbing his (Linus) own behaviour, had a brief moment of sincerity, but went back to immediately defending himself and their actions. He didn't fully acknowledge what his "emotional" response actually did, nor a personal response/apology to both GN/Billet Labs for it. There was no real acknowledgment he will address his own shortcomings. It honestly felt like someone who acknowledges he's wrong (purely based on number of internal members telling him he's in the wrong), but doesn't agree nor accept it.
Linus should not have appeared in this video at all. It would have shown that adults are now in charge and that someone can actually tell him "no".
I mean the monetizing of the video was in pretty poor taste. They plugged they're merchandise multiple times. They joked about the video being sponsored twice. All of which screams, we don't care about what we did just don't take away our money.
The video was still then being defensive.
They never apologized to GN or Hardware Unboxed.
Sex jokes too enlight of sexual harassment and employee mistreatment claims.
They rushed the video out too, it's a culmination of most of the things wrong with lmg. If they had taken their time with this and taken it seriously I would have probably given them points and been very surprised, but this was absolutely bs pr. Totally unapologetic and insincere. Even if they do change anything I don't believe it's because they want it, itll be because they'll be out $$$.
They also need to reconsider they're hr, pretty significant conflict of interest there... then again hr isn't there for employees protection anyway...
Once again he comes out with deflections and excuses.
Put your ego aside for one second and take this one humbly on the chin.
The "haha, we've made an oopsie" tone of the video (sponsorship jokes, plugging their store link, possible sex joke, deflecting to "I'm just a human" instead of fully taking the blame) don't sit right with me. I was also hoping they would address Madison's comments on why she quit.
I think Madison's post happened after the video itself was planned, recorded, etc, so it's understandable why that's not addressed. But Linus really has to address what she's said on the forums ASAP at least, because there's a lot of damning claims towards his company from her. Like seriously, wtf Linus?
Also, they should stop deleting all mentionings of the Madison thing on the apology video as they doing are now, makes it all seem very disingenuous and fake.
Can confirm. They appear to be doing it manually, so lots are still up (for now), but entire threads are being disappeared.
It should be it's own topic of discussion. It makes sense why they're trying to control the comments on that video specifically.
Given his responses so far, he's probably just going to dig his hole even further.
I really want to make a joke about how they could have added an annotation on the video to address it and how it would have taken “$500 of people’s time” but her post was super gross (about the company, not her) and that’s more of a poison pill for a company than the sloppiness IMHO.
I don’t watch LMG content and I have intention of starting to so I don’t have a dog in this fight but I always thought of LMG as “decent content but too over the top and silly for me”, the “decent content” part is in question now and the workplace allegations leave a bad taste in my mouth for sure.
I thought this video was very well done aside from:
“I don’t agree with ALL the criticisms” - ok, then expand on that
Store plug - read the room, I thought the sponsor joke was ok but then they did it twice and plugged the store.
“6 9’s” - didn’t we just talk about filtering for sexual innuendos? Look I don’t give a fuck but, again, read the room
Linus’ whole section - it really felt genuine then he came on and came off as a petulant child
To quote poetry:
Sex joke?
"6 9s"
Thats not a sex joke, that's just a server uptime thing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability
🙄 I want you to tell me with a straight face that you honestly believe someone could say something like "six nines..." whilst simultaneously quirking their eyebrow and striking a dual fingerguns pose without an implied double meaning...
For Pete's sake, the editor even inserted a zoom cut and delayed the next shot transition for comedic effect!
Worth noting that the "69... Nice" joke is not just a universal meme, but also specially part of LTT in-jokes. So it's very much in character for Linus or others at LMG to say something like that, but I am honestly disappointed that it came from Luke.
Yeah I get the various other critiques others have for this video but complaining about the "potential sex jokes" is a stretch.
Agreed
Between this and Madison's tweets I hope the good people can get out and the company dies.
I never saw Madison’s tweets, what happened there?
See: Madison on why she quit.
Oooh…
Big if true
Yeah. It’s like… not good. Even if her allegations are only partially true, it would be more than a bit damning.
I couldnt find too much but apparently sexual and emotional abuse https://www.dexerto.com/tech/ex-linus-tech-tips-employee-alleges-mistreatment-and-poor-conditions-2251613/
Oh for fucks sakes we have an edgel0rd over here. You can just stop watching the channel if you don't like them.
There's nothing wrong with hoping an unethical company goes under.
I don't think they're beyond redemption. My hope is that Linus can take a step back and let the CEO work on improving the workplace culture. No idea if he's up to the challenge but time will tell
Beyond redemption, no, but refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing doesn't paint a pretty picture for the future. In the days since I've heard "we couldn't have done any better", "yes we messed up but it wouldn't have made any difference if the numbers were right", "no one could expect us to spend 500 dollars to redo a messed up review"
Not once did I hear a mea culpa or we'll try harder to do better in the future. Not a good look.
Linus:
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
After digging into this whole fiasco and it’s various aspects, I’m coming to think that this is a leadership problem, pure and simple, and that the leader that allowed these pretty egregious situations to exist and metastasize is Linus. So sure, good for him for basically bootstrapping a company up to a ~$100M valuation… but that is absolutely not an excuse for, and in no way justifies the internal and external ethical lapses.
The best case here is if the new LMG CEO forces a sharp, top-down culture shift that enables more sustainable working practices, better employee treatment and culture, increased rigor in the data they present, and an explicit public acknowledgement that their previous high-handed interactions with some creators and brands - and ethical conflicts of interest with others - did, in fact, occur, and will be seriously investigated in the interest of not repeating those failures in the future. But given Linus’s continued “woe is me”/borderline gaslighting, I’ll believe change is coming when I actually see it. For now, I’ve unsubscribed.
Well put, I agree
Maybe, but spare a thought for the ordinary people who would lose their jobs as a result.
They worked at LMG, a highly visible company. They’ll get other jobs no problem.
Again, that may be the case, but it's still not good for people to lose their jobs in the first place.
Especially not in this economy.
I hope every unethical company goes over and everyone who works at all of them remains unemployed for at least 3 months actually. Unethical companies = employees often complacent and part of the problem.
I don’t see why you want to defend this
I'm not defending the company or the actions of whoever is involved in misconduct. But I also don't believe in guilt by association.
Sorry for caring about people's livelihoods.
It isn’t guilt by association. It’s not caring about several people losing their jobs as a result of their employer’s decision to sexually harass women. The few jobs lost isn’t that big of a deal compared to the trauma the female employees were put through. Those people will have no problem finding new work.
Well they said let good people leave the company and then the company to go to hell.
My thoughts go to the dependency on jobs for survival but that leads into a conversation about AI, the end of enough jobs for humans and the need for universal basic income. Job loss doesn't much affect my choice to interact with a corporation or wish for it to change (which may affect jobs).
They seem to have an excess of testosterone and are too sloppy, but unethical and worthy of cancellation is typical internet outrage over reaction.
Being invested in a company and giving glowing reviews to their products and only offering critiques of their competitors is pretty fucking unethical
I can't hear what you're saying with linus' stringy cock in your mouth, mate.
An unethical company that allows it's employees to be assaulted doesn't need to exist.
he won't see this, my guy
This situation sucks and was something I would have been willing to see through. But after reading the thread from Madison this morning I've decided to cancel my Floatplane subscription. While the accusations she makes are currently accusations, they're pretty damning and worth taking seriously in case they are more than allegations. I await LMG's response to her thread, as I feel that will be the deciding factor in whether or not I continue to consume and support anything LMG does going forward.
Her thread: https://twitter.com/suuuoppp/status/1691693740254228741
Gonna pop the ThreadReader link here for those who don't want to log into Twitter: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
On the Floatplane thing, I am a bit worried for DankPods, who put a lot of backing into Floatplane after he got screwed over by Twitch. This whole thing might have some collateral damage towards the other creators on there, including him. Was considering subscribing to Floatplane for him and his drum streams before this.
I may not agree with a lot of things Madison does as a content creator, but what she's described in that thread is absolutely egregious. This goes so far beyond "trust me bro", and is already bathing in the gas that the company is actively lighting under them. Makes me wonder what kind of NDA and contract all of them have, to keep it hush-hush. I'm worried for the people there
*If true and complete.
None of us were there, none of us know what happened, none of us knows the context of anything discussed. There's a universe where everything she described is misinterpreted banter and she's just an overly sensitive whiny zoomer. There's also a universe where everything she described is an understatement to the unfathomable conditions she may have been subjected to, and Linus is a prototypical millennial edgelord piece of shit who can't read a room, and gets off on belittling those under his domain.
It's important, I think, to not be impulsively reactionary towards individual accusations. Doing so disincentives discourse and transparency. I'm going to let this play out for a bit before I make any decisions with my wallet. If Madison deserves the benefit of the doubt, so does LMG.
DankPods is the only reason why I'd consider using Floatplane, but I've already been a Patron of his for a long time and could just up my tier sub if I wanted to support him more, which I may do if this effects his streams.
Thank you for this, I don't normally use twitter but I read some people saying the Threadreader app wasn't up to date with all the comments.
Ah shit, I forgot how much dank went in on floatplane
Maybe Dankpods can get into the Nebula sphere instead.
Ha, Nebula is not the answer, either. It's a gated community that doesn't even have a way to sign up as an uploader. They expect you to make it on YouTube first before they consider moving to their network, and then you're doomed to constantly advertise for Nebula for the rest of your career.
You can hear James' voice in some of the more heinous quotes :(
A former employee shitting on their employer during a scandal to draw media attention has been the oldest trick in the book. If more stories come forward or others corroborate the individual claims, it's worth notice. Until then, all I see is someone who took a high pressure job, couldn't hack it, and now they're trying to cash in on the negative experience for media attention.
One party versions are always .... tricky. If this was the case then people that support her need to step up and talk. It is hard to belive a company with such ethics also had good enough enviroment for a colleague to transition and publicly anounce it to the world. Something is off...
Exactly. Something doesn't smell right. If she wants to corroborate her story, she can start by showing her ER report for the supposed incident where she self-harmed to get out of work. That would be an easy paper trail to share and since she's already disclosed that information, she wouldn't be giving anything else up.
Words themselves have no value in these instances.
Exactly this ^
Until there's actual evidence put forward (and not just her word), I'll happily defer pulling out the guillotine and grabbing my pitch fork.
I get the community as a whole is rightfully shitty with how LMG has handled themselves over the last week, but I'm certainly not taking her accusations alone at face value, regardless of how abhorrent they are
Absolutely, the criticism from gamers Nexus was fair and earned by LMG, but these allegations are not only completely separate from the issue with quality, they're completely unsubstantiated. Should she start corroborating her story with things like the ER report from her reported incident of self-harm, or other employees confirm her story and are willing to state that they actually witness these accusations, that would be another story.
Changes nothing after what Madison has said about her experience working for them. LTT has had ethics and journalistic issues for most of its life, but it's come clear that it's deeper and more sinister than even I had imagined.
After reading that, I fully expect their plans "to improve" will involve abusing and blaming staff unfairly. Seems like they're already doing that when they blame "human error" for the videos being bad rather than taking personal responsibility, as management should.
Yup. Most of their journalistic problems are self-imposed by Linus and his demand for super expensive equipment for no purpose but cloutchasing/content farming.
The obsession with an 8K editing workflow and hosting their own poorly-managed content server has already led to staff losing hours of work multiple times (though it indeed made them some ✨content✨).
I can only imagine how stressful it is working as an editor for a man who completely replaces your hardware and workflow on the whims of whatever tech trend is popular on twitter.
Link: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741?refresh=1692174340
Hear Hear.
Well they made the smartest possible decision in letting us hear from the other humans at LMG. The last thing they needed was another smug non apology rant from Linus himself. These folks seem like actual humans, and they made some very frank admissions of error.
Of course, Linus has to come in at the end and minimize, deflect, and ultimately fail to show an ounce of real contrition, learning, and growth. I feel the most pity for him in this because he’s clearly trapped in his deficient little mind, unable to grow through a major challenge like this. He’s passed beyond his ability to just rant back, but he doesn’t have any other pages in his playbook. The best he can do is rely on the adults around him. I hope he does more of that.
This video confirms what I've thought for a long time. The biggest problem with Linus Tech Tips is Linus.
And the fact that the video even declares that it took Yvonne to put her foot down before any changes could take place confirms that LTT has a cult of personality that is damaging the brand and the team. And keeping Linus as a CVO isn't going to change that.
And of course, Madison's accusations bring a whole new layer to the drama. A layer that should have been more obvious to me given that the only woman on that video was Linus' wife.
Also, anyone else find it funny that Gary Key made yet another mistake in this video - that Linus was the one that talked about testing every video - and not Gary's own fucking team member? Also his little "I dont agree with EVERY criticism" was a bit too petulant and defensive for this video. Come on...
Excellent analysis!
Linus ego and "I can do no wrong" attitude consistently adds fuel to the flame.
He recognized that he was getting emotional again but didn't recognize that it called for another take and maybe some more thought about it all before that take started.
👆
Linus should have taken the $100 mill
LOL! This is the best comment I have read about this whole fiasco.
After all that has come out..
Did the 100m exist?
Wait, so people used to take this guy seriously? I watched a review he did on some sim racing gear a few years back and it was obvious the guy didn’t google even the most basic advice on how to set up a sim rig properly.
I knew he was full of shit, because hell talk about really complicated things like ram timing like he's an expert, then when he tries to use Linux, a package manager is too complex for him and he becomes less tech savvy than my 75 year old mom, so its pretty obvious he knows nothing when he's not being feed answers by some marketing goon
That Linux video was so frustrating
Indeed it was. That was the shark-jump moment for me, and I wasn't even a part of the community.
This is so amusing to me, because I had no idea who this Linus was - I was only somewhat familiar with Linus Torvald of Linux fame. I looked up last night just to check that the old Linux nerd wasn't running around stealing water coolers and such.
Extra funny to see a comment the next morning that this Linus knows zero about Linux.
My impression was that the linux video was meant to be more of a vlog "Watch Linus Do Something" style and not a researched video. And its obvious that he would know very little about an operating system he has never used before.
it was a different style video, but he had used linux before.
he even knew he should use the package manager, but for some reason didnt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
For those who aren't aware why errors are an issue because all they've seen is wacky LTT videos where they mess around with stuff--Linus is the most popular (and profitable) computer hardware Youtuber, and he's always done hardware reviews, but to some degree this whole scandal came about because of him wanting to be taken more seriously. Recently he's been using his millions in an attempt to become the most authoritative PC hardware critic by building and staffing a state-of-the-art testing lab. It was one of his lab technicians who made the comment about how their testing was better than that of more respected channels like Gamers Nexus and Hardware Unboxed that kicked this whole thing off. And the whole lab thing makes the continuing inaccuracy of the videos seem that much more egregious.
You should see the shitshow when he tries to use Linux. It's astounding someone that uses a computer can be so fucking inept. Pretty sure it's all an act to further shit on opensource, which surely won't pay the bills for them.
yeah the linux videos were when I first noticed their lack of research, I always suspected it, but the linux videos made it obvious. Linus did absolutely NO research and put no critical thinking in those videos whatsoever
Well yea, same with the old mechanical keyboard video, but their new Mechanical Keyboard video is pretty well researched.
I mean, let's be clear, Linus knows wtf he's talking about. He recognizes obscure parts on sight and generally has a deep understanding of tech from years of experience with it.
Doesn't excuse the shitty behavior, but get real with this hot take.
Well I watched his Linux videos and to any mildly experienced GNU/Linux user he was laughable in that video, but not in a funny way, I pitied him for his lack of understanding combined with his usual stubbornness.
To anyone who may read this comment as overly critical or unfair. It is not. It is apt.
His stubbornness was incredibly frustrating in that one. Kind of even worse is how he acts like this is how a typical user would do when trying Linux, it's just insulting the intelligence of his own fans.. Well some of his fans
You could know absolutely everything about building computers and still know absolutely nothing about sim racing rigs. Knowing some domains doesn't make you an expert at all domains. He could reach out to an expert for areas he's not familiar with but he's more concerned about clickbait and shitting out videos as quickly as possible.
And this is true for anyone whose business depends on the monetization of YT content. Imo.
Eeeh, I don't know about that. He may have experience, but it never seemed to me like he had much understanding. Or even knew how to learn, like with the Linux stuff.
We'll, you're not wrong about the Linux debacle, that was pretty embarrassing.
As a pedantic f*cking weirdo who goes WAY too deep into things until I'm satisfied that I understand them, he very much does not.
There is a difference between understanding technology and doing the homework before a video. You can be super smart/experienced, hut if you don't care to learn about the thing you're talking about it becomes a goof off very quickly. I've (and many others out there) have watched enough content to know when things are straying from legitimacy.
He has the technical competency of your average best buy employee. Not even geek squad, just like a normal employee. Just look at their channel, they constantly make videos about their mission critical servers breaking.
Maybe it's because, while I'm tech savvy on the software side of things, my understanding of hardware aligns more with a common layman (the kind of person LTT targets as an audience) so, to me, seemed like he was pretty knowledgeable 🤷🏼♂️
I can empathize with that, but that is sorta the problem to me. He frames himself as an authority on a lot of these subjects, and then goes on to demonstrate a clear lack of understanding. Those who know better can take his bad advice as purely entertainment, but to those who don’t, he’s misleading consumers, and potentially changing their purchasing decisions as a result. You can be a tongue and cheek entertainer with a theme, or you can be a journalistic authority, but it is wildly irresponsible (in my opinion) to try to be both at the same time. Especially when he has a demonstrable track record of misleading consumers with his lack of understanding. Its not on any of his viewers or fans that they were mislead, it’s on him for making the waters murky with inadequate experience, biased reviewing, unclear context, and conflicts of interest.
There is no way to set up a sim rig properly. No matter what you do it would still barely feel nothing like real driving, nevermind racing.
Source: I drive IRL.
Linus always came off to me as one of those people who shouldn't be mangement. Idk, just watching him in videos feels frustrating, and he seemed to belittle his employees in a joking/non-joking manner.
Some of the other "techs" do seem to be very knowledgeable, and i feel bad for them to have to work under a man child.
The behavior sets an example among the rest of the staff too, it appears.
He seems like a kid making videos with his friends. Not realizing he is an adult making videos with professionals whose likelihood depends on his company.
Yeah, I saw that in several videos and it made me uncomfortable. He'd say rude things in a way that didn't actually come across like he was joking. If it was just a friend thing, I could maybe understand it, but there was a big power imbalance. Can't imagine what it'd be like to be on the receiving end of how he can act.
LMG and Linus in particular have not been reliable to me for a while. It all started with the screwdriver. First it was the full of year of videos teasing the product, it was just absurd how long it took to come out. Then when I watched Linus react to the project farm review is where things really turned for me. Project farm fairly rated the screwdriver and as he always does called out pros and cons of each product. Linus seemed to not be able to take the criticisms and seemed to almost get mad at project farm about it. The main criticism I remember is that in the ratcheting screwdriver market there are several companies that offer lifetime warranty and same day delivery/replacement. Project farm noted that LMG does not offer this level of customer service and they are being new to marketplace may not be equipped to handle common problems other supplies easily fix. Instead of admitting that LMG isn't trying to compete with companies like Mac tools or Snapon Linus immediately gets defensive and tries to discredit the need for 24/7 support.
I have also noticed the high amount of corrections in recent videos. I could see not wanting to reshoot a portion of video where Linus is speaking on camera. But why not show some B role and have Linus record a corrected voice over? Edited well viewers wouldn't even notice.
Linus adamantly refuses to offer any kind of long-term guarantee. He got flak for the warranty on the backpack for that reason; there are plenty of competitors selling bags at the $250 price point that back up their offerings with long or even lifetime warranties. When pressed, Linus put out a mealy-mouthed "oh I don't want to open up my family to liability" statement which both managed to say absolutely nothing (why would his family be personally liable? LMG is a separate entity) and shame critics. It seems to me Linus personally can't handle criticism, like at all.
Wait, backpacks cost that much? I got one for 25 bucks 8 years ago and it only needed some sewing to be perfectly usable. The brand is Polo Power.
Brand name bags like Samsonite can cost quite a lot. Why anyone would buy a bag from LTT for $250 in lieu of buying one from a reputable company with a warranty is beyond me.
My Peak Design bag cost more than my camping bag and it’s worth every penny.
Did any one see the pinned comment where they say turned off monetization after community feedback? as if this video should be monitized in the first place lol man this does not feel right
Things are not looking good for linus, especially now that an ex-employee is making accusations about terrible working conditions, sexisim, and harassment of all types..
This video is odd to me. The thumbnail of the video is of Linus but you don't see him in the video until almost the end. Even though technically Linus is no longer the CEO of the company the responsibility still falls on him because bulk of the controversy was created by his terrible response post on their forum. Also the tone of this video is very off putting. The awkward half joking "we're human so feel bad for us" tone by whole bunch people other than Linus feels evasive. I think LMG is treating this as a PR problem but clearly it's a serious systemic internal problem and I don't see how the company culture can be changed when Linus is still very hands on. Maybe I'm being cynical here but it feels like they'll just go back to business as usual after this blows over in a week.
They have said there will be a third party audit/inspection of which the results will be published. I am a little hopeful, though remain skeptical.
Also the allegations didn't squarely fall on Linus (though I guess the end-responsibility does lie with him). After his blow-up post on the forums I don't have faith he by himself will correct the ship. In that regard I'm also a little hopeful about their new CEO.
Isn't there a /c/drama this shit could be dropped in? Least technical article ever.
/c/WatchLTTdie
🍿
Didn't the original Drama create drama instead of reporting on it?
No? Or you mean Linus' initial response on their forum.
I meant the subreddit /Drama. It was what I heard about it.
Ah, I haven't seen anything from /drama on my feed yet so I completely misunderstood you.
Milking through dramaception
Drama is like "woke", it means whatever you want it to mean!
This is a legitimate story about the technology industry.
Filter out LTT, LMG, and Linus. It's that easy
I like seeing articles about cool gadgets and science pop up in my all feed, but this instance just keeps belaboring some youtube channel I dont care about. any ideas for some replacements because this place is getting kinda lame
they're one of the biggest tech channels on youtube, and the biggest gaming focused tech channel. A lot of people looked up to them, including myself. In a few days I'm sure the discussion will die down.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=0cTpTMl8kFY
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Call me a fanboy but this is not the worst response.
A few things that still annoy me ofc:
It's not perfect, but it's a start. Let's see what comes in response in the next while.
Also whoever hurt, degraded and ruined Madison's mental health fuck you. I know it won't happen, but if you read this Madison, what you went through was wrong and unfair and fuck everyone who hurt you, you did the right thing and now that you're gone, life will improve. If you got through your worst nightmare, you will easily get through the next weeks.
... a bit scripted? They were clearly, mechanically, reading from a teleprompter. Your high school "newscasters" are less obvious
For the scripting, that honestly makes sense for it to be scripted. You can proof and clear what is said beforehand instead of in post w/ retakes. Im not really invested in all this but it does make sense to me.
Too late. Don't care.
I've already unsubscribed.
You should care, it reaffirms all reasons to unsub.
same here. Unsubbed from all of their channels. Now I just watch the spectacle from a distance. LMG is dead to me.
PR damage control
You know there is something wrong in an individual when said individual resorts to emotion/"imjusthumantism" and other type of fallacies to answer facts and logic.
Any brave soul willing to recap the whole story in few line?? How exactly did they screw up so much they neet to post this apology/non-apology video??
Seems like kind of a straw that broke the camel's back situation.
A company sent them a one-of-a-kind prototype cooling device and the video card it was designed for to have it reviewed or whatever. The reviewer misplaced the GPU but was under deadline to produce their video, so they used a different video card, and the cooler (as should be expected) didn't function well, but they posted the negative review anyway. After the fuckup was pointed out, they put a very easy to miss "correction" on the video. People caught on that this happens alot, and started to question the value of the content, given so many mistakes and easily missed corrections. This also extended to people questioning the bias of their reviews on products related to companies they have partnerships with or competing brands.
Additionally, despite being asked to return the device and agreeing to do so, they later sold it at a charity auction. This measurably harmed the creator and it is unknown who purchased it (people speculate it was a competitor), apparently some compensation was worked out however.
Last I've seen, the former social media manager posted a pretty scathing recounting of time at the company. It included alot of events that indicate this was a predatory and hostile work environment, including sexual harassment.
Thank you and... WoW!
Last I heard from Billet via GN was that they didn't get the offer regarding compensation until the same time Linus posted his first written response, so way late. At that point they hadn't agreed to anything. So a play of semantics for Linus?
Some small corrections here (as I understand them):
In the video, they actually mentioned that Billet's device was intended for a 3090, but "they (Billet Labs) think it should work with a 4090 too." Unsure if anyone from Billet ever commented on that, but that seemed to be LMG's understanding.
Additionally, the device was sent to LMG without an expectation of return. They asked for it back after the poor review, but when it was originally sent over, there were no strings attached.
They did find who the device was sold to, and it was just a random person at LTX (LMG's tech expo), not a competitor. Sounds like they auctioned off a lot of random stuff from videos there, and it was likely mismanagement rather than malice that caused them to sell it.
The Madison situation is obviously shitty, but I think there's a big distinction between her experiences involving sexual harassment and the "grind mindset" culture that LMG seems to have. Both are problems, but one is obviously larger than the other. I believe the new CEO stated they're going to bring in external investigators regarding the sexual harassment claims.
When it comes to them rushing things to keep up an unreasonable video schedule, I think that's a valid criticism, but in no way do I feel like it's some kind of line in the sand that can't ever be forgiven. I also think that GN probably should have asked for comment before releasing this kind of criticism against arguably their largest competitor.
Billet Labs sent them a 3090ti to test with and LMG lost it before they filmed the review. They comment on the GPU being wrong in the video. .
BL also commented on the video explaining why it would perform poorly with the 4090.
Someone at LMG agreed to send it back before they sold it at auction. Then that didn't happen and there was no apology or attempt to make it right until the GN video came out.
They always knew it was being tested wrong.
GN commented on that very criticism on his response.
Not defending LMG's mistakes, but GN's opinion that you should not ask for comment doesn't hold water.
GN definitely has an agenda here. He made several comments that made it quite clear he's resentful of LTT's success.
While I don't think anything he reported is false, it's all wrapped in a narrative that relies on implications. He certainly makes a whole lot of hay about a few small mistakes and heavily implies LTT is in the pockets of their sponsors and a conspiracy theory that LTT is only successful because of some connections and preferred treatment by YouTube.
He's very much trying to establish a narrative that LMG is wildly corrupt and undeserving of their success. However, a lot of it comes across as sour grapes.
This doesn't completely match what GN reported or what GN said Billet told them.
According GN Billet said that they told ltt that it might work for the other card but that it wasn't tested.
This I haven't heard before but I do find that highly unlikely. Most companies aren't willing to permanently part with a prototype considering how expensive they tend to be, trade secrets and the low number they have. Billet labs are apparently a two person start up making it even more unlikely.
I don't think personally that it was a question of malice as such but most of the criticism from GN was based on LTT being mismanaged where speed was more important than being correct. So still not a good look for them.
GN responded to this in a follow-up. I think they said something along the lines that they don't do it for other companies either. I'm personally a bit divided. Most of the information presented was factual and not of the nature "he said she said" with the exception of the Billet question. The size difference (especially when in similar scenes) could also be seen as a reason not to reach out so that the story isn't buried by the larger companies reach and resources.
Important considerations, especially considering Linus first response where I felt he played around with semantics a lot. What I like about GN is that they always seem to back things up with references.
They are least released a video outlining their plan going forward, that's immensely better than other times where they've stuck their head in the sand. Be keen to see how this one pans out
But this video was after a long nasty, emotional rant on the LTT forums. Also after trying to claim compensation had been agreed between Billet labs, all while doubling down in reasons why it'd not changed the outcome of the result of the video.
Yeah, and the video made it clear that Linus needs to get out of the way of the business growing, which is what everyone was trying to address. How well that actually worked is up to you. Personally I'm one for actions backing up words. Admitting there needs to be a change is a good start.
I think the Madison thing that has come up since the video has seen enough speculation. At this point it is up to LMG to do what is right provided any further action is required.
More juicy nerd drama. Lemme grab my popcorn.
You mean Lemmy
Hi spez
Sociopath
no way, you're telling me that lmg spreads misinformation? who could've guessed /s
Will soon just be a OnlyFans channel called Linus Sex Tips
Just the tip(s)?
Remember: No one ever lies about anything, ever.
Artesian Builds walked so that LTT could run. Straight into oncoming traffic.
Linus Mtech Gtips
In case you’re actually serious, LMG is Linus Media Group, the company over LTT.
Linus Tedia Troup
Accurate. They repeat everything at least 5 times in a video.
amazing that something as bone dry as tech is now about nothing but drama and personalities and cliques
Uh.. I think you need to check out the history of computing.
no i know, it's all a big drama.. sells a lot of subs..
It's always been that way lol
People who follow a tech reviewer whos now a Multi million dollar company and who's always come out as fake are mentally ill. Simple as. Can't grasp my mind about people worshipping this dude/company
That would imply Gamer's Nexus is equally ridiculous for thinking its important to call out this behavior.
All the whiny complainers are responsible for this sad state of affairs. This is what happens when communist ideology subverts a culture.
Did you forget you're not commenting on Youtube?
Gods I miss the years when trolls tried. Used to be an artform. Now every Tom, Dick and Numbnuts thinks being a contrarian idiot is enough to get the job done.
there used to be a sense of pride in a good troll. i long for those days
It's sad, really. Even worse is that we dignify the morons simply hurling shit by calling them trolls. Even worse is that many can't even restrain themselves not feeding them.
your brain rot is showing, how embarrassing
Move out of your mom’s basement you loser
What an ironic username.
NewsMax and OAN is that way
points in the general area of….anywhere else
Did you comment in the right thread?
https://youtu.be/YJ9ZD9oxndM
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/YJ9ZD9oxndM
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
What? Lol.