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.
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.
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
ok, at the risk of being branded a fanboy and a bootlicker I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say that this option is probably checked by default and whoever posted it didn’t think about it because they were probably one of the employees taking orders
Fair point, I thought about that too but if it were me and my reputation on the line, I’d make a main point of the video. Just as gamer nexus did.
Making a vid about being less careless and then being careless.
All that said, when I was posting vids, there was a full screen YouTube made me go through to set monitization and ad placement before proceeding to a separate screen for posting
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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 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.
EDIT: you all really going to pretend Linus is some tech idiot? Okay, I guess.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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 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…
and now she’s taking any chance of using the LTT brand for her own benefit
Serious question: how does she stand to benefit from the action she’s taken? Some other employer will take pity on her and hire her? Internet karma? I don’t immediately see a win in this for her.
She complains they were giving her too much to do? Apparently rest of the team also had a lot on their plate as well and most of them are still in the company.
What does that have to do with sympathizing with her?
No sympathy for Chanie Wenjack because lots of his classmates managed to graduate?
Honestly, I couldn’t quite simpatize with her. She complains they were giving her too much to do?
Unless you fully understand the effort involved in her reported daily and weekly quotas, you aren’t qualified to make an opinion on them. But what might make more sense to you is that LTT currently has a full team dedicated to what she was expected to do by herself.
The biggest issue for me was her reports of a toxic work environment. When she would bring up concerns about her workload, they’d respond by insulting her and threatening her job. She even saw an instance where a coworker felt she was sexually harassed and Linus yelled at and berated her for being an idiot.
My guess is that Linus is the owner and works like one, and wants everyone else to work as much as him.
This is exactly the kind of boss that creates a toxic work environment. A good boss should be respectful of each employee’s strengths and limitations and foster an environment where everyone can contribute meaningfully without feeling unduely overburdened.
A good boss encourages a healthy work/life balance.
Yes, Linus is a workaholic. His work ethic is unhealthy. He has publicly acknowledged this on WAN show numerous times. If he expects his employees to work as hard as he does, then he is knowingly fostering an unhealthy work environment.
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.
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