bobcobble

Yeah didn't think so!
btw really like the server videos and wanted to say thanks for setting up floatplane club after vessel sunk (ayy get it).

My ISP only blocks the default mail ports so I have to change them to some ports they have set (which works fine)

Depends who actually, some will allow port 80, 443, 25 or 465 on their network.

You can often times change the port that is used since ISPs tend to just block those ports.

but why....

IT's late and I'm both hungry and tired from shooting Scrapyard Wars (which by the way is an LTT series and will be airing ad-supported on YouTube very soon for your viewing pleasure).
 
But there are a few points to address and you've already been patient enough.
 
I said LMG content would always be free. This was poor wording on my part. There has always been content produced by me and my team that was not necessarily available on a free platform like YouTube.
 
These "The Boost" videos that we make on contract as a sales training resource for Intel, for example:
 
 
 
In much the same way, Vessel has contracted LMG the production company to create an original series for their platform. They bankrolled the whole thing, giving us an opportunity to make something that otherwise would have been too costly, and per the licensing agreement they own the right to exploit this content. It's their show until such time as they decide it's not anymore.
 
We played more of a "production company" role in this than we're accustomed to.
 
This could, and SHOULD have been communicated better, and for that I'm sorry. The community should have heard about this from us FIRST, and not from a random email newsletter, but I've been (and so has the whole team) absolutely busting ass to not only get Nerd Sports produced, but also make sure that we're keeping up with everything else that we've got going on including not having missed a single day of LTT uploads for something like 5 years..
 
With that said, quantity isn't everything, and I've noticed that not everyone has appreciated the LTT content as much as usual lately, but it's hard for me to tell if that's because they don't like our new direction (fewer reviews, and more exploratory or experimental videos) or if they just saw a video or two they didn't like and raised hell in the comment section - it wouldn't be the first time.. And I will say, too, that honestly if a couple of the videos felt rushed then it's probably because they were.. HOWEVER, the primary reason for the rushed videos was  the entire week we're taking off this week to film Scrapyard Wars Season 4, which will be premiering on Vessel sometime in the next few weeks or so, followed by a release on YouTube 1 week later, which is the standard agreement for OUR content that is paid for by LMG or our sponsors.
 
Nerd Sports was shot 40% during evenings and weekends with employees taking time in lieu later on when we hire some more staff or when things slow down a little. We were careful to avoid disrupting any of our other commitments because imo you guys deserve the best we can deliver.
 
Which is another point that was brought up in this thread - "How will LMG keep its commitment to maintain the pace and quality of the other content if they're making Nerd Sports or other contractual content?"
 
We couldn't. We're hiring.
 
I've never shied away from investing in more staff or better equipment or a better facility to make sure that we're doing our best for ourselves, each other, our sponsors and our viewers. If we play our cards right, absolutely everyone wins.
 
Nerd Sports has been a fantastic learning experience for us, and whether we continue the series with Vessel, create other completely different web series in the future, or just say "fudge it" and flip burgers from now on, we'll be able to do those things better than we could have without having done this.
 
So bottom line is this. I screwed up the way I communicated "LMG content", which was meant to be content funded BY Linus Media Group rather than content funded entirely by and licensed to a 3rd party, and I screwed up in a MUCH bigger way the LACK of communication about this project. Sorry guys.