Blademaster91

Im not sure if anyone else watches this guy but Vex just commented on the situation and he makes some good points as to why this situation is so serious:
 

 

That's a mischaracterization though.
 
If you send a sample, with the intent they can keep it to keep doing reviews...then you see the video where they don't even follow the instructions and show no intent on even trying to use it later; then yes you should ask for it back.  They weren't looking for positive reviews, they were looking for a fair review and potentially future reviews where the product would be tested (but it was clear that LMG had no intent on ever reviewing it again).  In essence, it's like hey if you aren't going to use it can you return it to us.
 
Again, it's not about them wanting a positive review, it's about the fact that it was clear LMG would no longer have a use for it.  (And it's pretty bad that LMG also didn't redact the cost of the prototype)
 
For the GN stuff; there's not a problem about making mistakes, but the level and frequency of mistakes that LMG makes is egregious to the point that it's irresponsible when they are claiming that they have so many employees and a lab that's dedicated to accuracy.  Like what I keep pointing at, they got the price of a product 5x wrong ($1000 stated but it's actually $5000+), and no correction or anything...just happy to ignore.

That's part of the issue. With LTT Labs, they are billing themselves as the most accurate and authoritative source of benchmark data. Inaccuracies are excusable (somewhat) for entertainment content (i.e. if they test their weird car radiator loop wrong), but are not excusable if they're claiming to be the most accurate and correct benchmark source.

Exactly, 100%. Steve has never cared about personal attacks or any of this Drama BS.
 
The WHOLE POINT of Labs is to provide more data and more accurate data and Steve welcomes that.
 
But when you build an entire department based on testing and you expect it to be accurate and then it literally does the EXACT OPPOSITE and gives you s*** data and then you brag about how good your channel is, you better believe Steve has the sort of integrity to call you out on your BS.
 
Come on guys, this shouldn't be so difficult to understand...

No, Linus said it was going to take time for them to get their data right and they wouldn't be publishing it until it was.  He then started showing data from the labs almost immediately with easily verifiable inconsistencies.
 
 
 
As for everyone else saying Steve is butthurt about Labs, FFS he isn't. He's said he welcomes MORE DATA being published to hold manufacturers to account. All he was doing with this video was to point out that LTT needs to get their shit straight in order to not hurt the reviewing community with BAD DATA.

You are right to some extend, but GN did what they do best - keep everyone in check and not let anyone think they are untouchable. Friends, fellow journalists or big tech companies, it doesn't matter - all have to be held accountable for their mistakes so they can do better.

I feel like the people that are obsessed with wanting to discredit GN over contacting them first are people that don't even watch GN's videos anyway, because there are times where he doesn't ask a company before he does a review pointing out the faults in those products and bad decisions the company made. The prebuilt PC's from companies like Alienware is an example, Steve even buys those himself to avoid any bias with sponsorships, LMG is a company, not your friend, and I don't see why LMG needs to be exempt from fair criticism.

Except LTT threw shade at them first, doing it twice without asking GN. His treatment isn't any harsher than how he would treat any other company, asking first is not a requirement, and I don't see what GN would have to gain from this. They have the risk to lose much more than LTT/LMG would, GN could be upsetting a lot of viewers that also watch LTT and those viewers could side with Linus and unsubscribe from GN. And asking first wouldn't change the outcome of the video as GN has pointed out problems with things LTT have been doing for a while now, also the Billet labs issue probably would have never come up if GN had asked first, as Billet labs wasn't paid until GN put up the video.

I feel like the people that are obsessed with wanting to discredit GN over contacting them first are people that don't even watch GN's videos anyway, because there are times where he doesn't ask a company before he does a review pointing out the faults in those products and bad decisions the company made. The prebuilt PC's from companies like Alienware is an example, Steve even buys those himself to avoid any bias with sponsorships, LMG is a company, not your friend, and I don't see why LMG needs to be exempt from fair criticism.

It makes no sense to be blaming Steve on that, when he was bringing the news forward regarding Asus for them being anti-consumer, but it seems like you're more concerned with defending Asus. Are you sponsored by Asus or something?
There is no goal to be defending a company like that as every company has the potential to make a mistake that can ruin hardware then try to brush away the mistake, especially for companies like Asus that can just avoid criticisms based on brand marketing.
Also it being the case with Asus bios doesn't make it ok for Asus to put out a garbage bios then still say they're denying warranty for a bios that literally cooks the CPU. Asus had the choice to not put that wording there for that bios but went ahead and did it anyway.

Now that's it's been a couple days, my take is that, yeah, I'm glad GN called out LTT.  Could it have been done better?  Sure, but it needed to be done.
 
LTT's inaccuracies are part of the reason I stopped watching LTT altogether.  Their employee(s?) trying to call out GN and HU on testing and accuracy was laughable at best. What they did to Billet Labs was just disgusting, and how they reviewed that mouse was also laughable, especially since from certain angles on the video for it, you can tell there's still plastic on the feet. 
 
Linus's rant on here was just a nothing burger, it was gaslight, gatekeep, (attempt at) girlboss. He felt attacked and considering how passionate he is about LMG, I can understand why.  But having watched GN's original video a couple times now, it's clear he wasn't attacking LTT, he was voicing his concerns.  He mentioned during the warranty debacle that LTT/LMG would be treated like any other corporation from then on, and that's what he did. 
 
Steve's follow up also wasn't bad, it was straight to the point, he said what he had to say, and left the ball in LTT's court. 
 
As for that apology video...
Lmao, lol even.
It is one of the videos of all time. Idk what it is about it, it felt forced. Some of it felt genuine, most of it felt fake AF. The new CEO being front and center at the beginning was smart, I felt since the beginning of this whole thing he should have been the one doing the talking, not Linus. The first joke about sponsors was fine, I know a lot of people have been arguing about that on reddit and twitter.  Breaks up the tension and eases the viewer into a video with a heavy topic. The LTT store plug, and showing off a new screwdriver color wave people can buy though? Not the time and/or place, and made most of the video feel fake and like "we just want to put this behind us, buy our merch uwu," and the sponsor joke again at the end was a little much, but that's not as egregious as the LTT store plug/ad, or the monitizing of the video itself. Luke and the new CEO felt genuine to me, so did Yvonne. Someone should have kept Linus on a tighter leash though, or not had him in the video at all, he just went right back to gaslight, gatekeep, (attempt at) girlboss. 
 
As for the Madison situation, I don't have a huge opinion on it yet, I hope her the best, and I won't attack her or go after her or LTT over the allegations, I'll simply wait to see how that plays out in court (if it goes to court or settlement).
 
All in all, I feel like GN did the youtube tech community a favor, a lot of viewers had been saying this stuff to LTT for a long time, so have their employees apparently according to the "employees answers" video, but Linus and other leadership didn't listen until a peer of theirs in the community called them on it.

GN did act professionally, and asking for an interview on LMG's terms only would have benefited LMG, which is of course what Linus wants for his company, he wants to have control and doesn't like it when people criticize his company even when its to do better, he took it rather personally with the backpack warranty and he's taking it personally again.
 
I think people are already terrified to speak up and tell their stories, given that LMG is a large company, and has lots of fans to defend them and deny LMG of any wrongdoing.
Even though GN didn't ask, calling out LMG is good for the community because now we can expect LTT/LMG to improve on things, not just saying they care about input from the audience as they've said before when people on the forums point out mistakes.
 
GN did act for the good of the consumer, as consumers we should want LMG to provide detailed accurate info, and if you think GN did it for the clout you're missing the point, the sub count and views are likely only short term, people will forget this issue and still watch LTT content.
I think GN is risking sponsorships that may also sponsor LTT/LMG, and possibly risking long term viewers that also watch LTT content because he called out LTT, I would expect some of those angry viewers to unsub and no longer watch GN's content.

Unless there is proof this was done for views this is people taking sides. I've said it before I don't see what asking first would have changed with the outcome of the video.
What benefit to both sides would there be to a scripted interview or a WAN show call between LTT and GN?
I'm going on what actually happened, not people wanting to discredit GN taking sides with LTT. 
Unfortunately it would've been about Linus, because Linus responded to this whole situation instead of the new CEO,  and he used a lot of "I" statements not "we" statements as that would indicate a response acting as a professional company. It seems like Linus takes issue with the things GN said as personal attacks, not problems with the company producing content.
The advantage is all there for Linus and LMG as the "What do we do now" video is monetized, and LTT store plugs are in it. I don't see any drama in this except for the people wanting to nitpick at how GN brought up these issues instead of focusing on the points GN made that LTT needs to improve on.

Unless there is proof this was done for views this is people taking sides. I've said it before I don't see what asking first would have changed with the outcome of the video.
What benefit to both sides would there be to a scripted interview or a WAN show call between LTT and GN?
I'm going on what actually happened, not people wanting to discredit GN taking sides with LTT. 
Unfortunately it would've been about Linus, because Linus responded to this whole situation instead of the new CEO,  and he used a lot of "I" statements not "we" statements as that would indicate a response acting as a professional company. It seems like Linus takes issue with the things GN said as personal attacks, not problems with the company producing content.
The advantage is all there for Linus and LMG as the "What do we do now" video is monetized, and LTT store plugs are in it. I don't see any drama in this except for the people wanting to nitpick at how GN brought up these issues instead of focusing on the points GN made that LTT needs to improve on.

GN did act professionally, and asking for an interview on LMG's terms only would have benefited LMG, which is of course what Linus wants for his company, he wants to have control and doesn't like it when people criticize his company even when its to do better, he took it rather personally with the backpack warranty and he's taking it personally again.
 
I think people are already terrified to speak up and tell their stories, given that LMG is a large company, and has lots of fans to defend them and deny LMG of any wrongdoing.
Even though GN didn't ask, calling out LMG is good for the community because now we can expect LTT/LMG to improve on things, not just saying they care about input from the audience as they've said before when people on the forums point out mistakes.
 
GN did act for the good of the consumer, as consumers we should want LMG to provide detailed accurate info, and if you think GN did it for the clout you're missing the point, the sub count and views are likely only short term, people will forget this issue and still watch LTT content.
I think GN is risking sponsorships that may also sponsor LTT/LMG, and possibly risking long term viewers that also watch LTT content because he called out LTT, I would expect some of those angry viewers to unsub and no longer watch GN's content.

Unless there is proof this was done for views this is people taking sides. I've said it before I don't see what asking first would have changed with the outcome of the video.
What benefit to both sides would there be to a scripted interview or a WAN show call between LTT and GN?
I'm going on what actually happened, not people wanting to discredit GN taking sides with LTT. 
Unfortunately it would've been about Linus, because Linus responded to this whole situation instead of the new CEO,  and he used a lot of "I" statements not "we" statements as that would indicate a response acting as a professional company. It seems like Linus takes issue with the things GN said as personal attacks, not problems with the company producing content.
The advantage is all there for Linus and LMG as the "What do we do now" video is monetized, and LTT store plugs are in it. I don't see any drama in this except for the people wanting to nitpick at how GN brought up these issues instead of focusing on the points GN made that LTT needs to improve on.

GN did act professionally, and asking for an interview on LMG's terms only would have benefited LMG, which is of course what Linus wants for his company, he wants to have control and doesn't like it when people criticize his company even when its to do better, he took it rather personally with the backpack warranty and he's taking it personally again.
 
I think people are already terrified to speak up and tell their stories, given that LMG is a large company, and has lots of fans to defend them and deny LMG of any wrongdoing.
Even though GN didn't ask, calling out LMG is good for the community because now we can expect LTT/LMG to improve on things, not just saying they care about input from the audience as they've said before when people on the forums point out mistakes.
 
GN did act for the good of the consumer, as consumers we should want LMG to provide detailed accurate info, and if you think GN did it for the clout you're missing the point, the sub count and views are likely only short term, people will forget this issue and still watch LTT content.
I think GN is risking sponsorships that may also sponsor LTT/LMG, and possibly risking long term viewers that also watch LTT content because he called out LTT, I would expect some of those angry viewers to unsub and no longer watch GN's content.

I don't see that, I think the concern is LMG is going to use their labs so they can sound like a better source of data than anyone else because they're throwing tons of money at a lab and testing equpiment, but not taking the time to make sure the data is as a accurate as possible. If LMG puts up data that isn't accurate people will repeat misinformation then assume other channels like GN is wrong because they don't have a massive testing lab.
I went through the GN video again, and he didn't, but IMO that still wouldn't have changed anything, I don't think Steve had to be nice about it.

So you have no evidence that he considers this a standard, you have convinced yourself of it being a standard instead of a thing he actually has every right to chose to do or not do at will per story (which lines up with journalism standards) and ascribe malice to his motives because of it.
I've done no such thing. I don't believe you have any interest in having a discussion, and I will not be engaging with you further. Have a lovely day.

That would have been an ethical violation by showing preferential treatment to LMG. GN committed no ethical violation. 

I feel like the people that are obsessed with wanting to discredit GN over contacting them first are people that don't even watch GN's videos anyway, because there are times where he doesn't ask a company before he does a review pointing out the faults in those products and bad decisions the company made. The prebuilt PC's from companies like Alienware is an example, Steve even buys those himself to avoid any bias with sponsorships, LMG is a company, not your friend, and I don't see why LMG needs to be exempt from fair criticism.

jeeeeez dude.

What's your goal behind repeating the same thing every few minutes? Repeating statements regularly creates an illusion of credibility?

You disagree with the way GN handled it, fine. Thanks for sharing. See ya

I agree, both need to provide accurate information, and I think its even more important for LMG to provide more accurate information because of the influence they have on the tech community.  LMG bringing up ethics as if they did nothing wrong and its somehow GN's fault seems disingenuous to me, and feels like they're punching down at GN and LMG as they're able to provide good data, Linus thinks he can just throw money at the issue of accurate information when money isn't the issue.  Also LMG trying to make themselves look good is probably to get fans to side with them as well, as people keep being hyper focused on GN not asking for contact even though they didn't have to, when GN hasn't done anything wrong here.
I find it ironic that GN needed to ask for contact, yet LMG had thrown shade at them twice and didn't ask for contact to discuss things first or even apologize for making those comments.
And if people are still mad at GN and think they did it for "drama" at this point there isn't any way to get them to understand the important part of the discussion which isn't whether or not GN asked first.

Billet was going to let Linus keep it for testing, until he said it was crap and didn't want to use it again because he claimed it would cost too much to use the block. Billet of course wanted it back if LMG had no plans to use it, and they even joked at least it wasn't going to sit on a shelf after they sold it.
I've seen someone use a car analogy, its like letting someone borrow your car, they go ahead and use it for a while, then say its crap and sell it without telling you even though you asked for it back, then the person says they didn't sell it they auctioned it.
It doesn't matter if it was crap or not because you lost time and money on having to get another one.

The issue I have is that Linus is still doing most of the videos though, and I think it would be great if the rest of the talent at LMG could script and host videos as IMO Linus needs to take a break from LMG.