LMG Sponsor Complaints

[burner]

3 minutes ago, Nobody6502 said:

It’s probably important to note that a lot of these reference IFI which to an outsider may seem unrelated to LTT, however IFI is the parent company of RackSolutions and by all accounts, experiences like this are happening at all of the subsidiaries of IFI

Yeah, HEXBUG, VEX, and Rack Solutions are their 3 subsidiaries, some of the glassdoor reviews mention the companies by name. 

[miklast]

12 hours ago, SansVarnic said:

Umm links? What threads are you referring to?

 

Should link to Bee217's post? Been a while since i used the forums.

 

Edit: Ill also add in this thread from another former IFI employee that was posted since the original post by Bee217.

A couple quotes, if you do not have the time to read the post (though i highly suggest you do):

 

[cw: violence, sexual harassment]

Spoiler

 

Quote

  The leadership team of Mr. Norman included individuals who would outright harass the young women interns/professionals in the office daily. Sometimes, an inappropriate comment about appearance, others, a tacit invitation for after-work socialization.

Quote

As a ‘new’ engineer, I personally had an executive aim their .45 at my back while working at the office alone during the weekend; it was assumed I had broken into the building due to an ajar door sensor from my entry disarming the building. I do not know what would have happened that day had I not heard this executive announce their presence.

Quote

 If you were doing simple research at your desk that didn’t “look” productive, you would be subject to verbal berating from Mr. Norman. This behavior became nearly cultural. As a result, it was not rare to leave a meeting after some amount of screaming from the management team; especially design reviews

Quote

Quote

“What [r-slur] designed this?” - TN

      And, for the record, I was the [r-slur], on the phone with all the other execs and engineers when Tony dropped that line. 

 

 

Edit 2: If reading everything from the last few posts is just too much of a timesink (and admittedly, there is a lot), there is a sitrep written up by a couple members of the robotics community that hits the main points  that you can find here.

[SansVarnic]

Interesting.

[sazrocks]

Hi, as a longer time member of the forum, I just wanted to echo the concerns of the FIRST community members above. I’ve been involved with VEX robotics competitions for a number of years, and it’s been heartbreaking to read the accounts that have been coming out over the last few days, and the response from IFI is insultingly bad. I would encourage LTT to distance themselves from all IFI companies (Rack Solutions, VEX Robotics, HEXBUG), and to if possible apply pressure to change their behavior.

[Isuck Assimov]

On 11/16/2022 at 4:30 AM, SansVarnic said:

No attacks present either. Seems like your on a hate train for some reason.

Does LTT check their mods ? 

Super sus that this guy is defending sexual misconduct at work and implies that someone speaking out against sexual harassement in the workplace is somehow a bad faith actor.

Nice victim blaming there, but you're jsut confirming what most people expect from the working environment at LTT, yikes !

[yolosnail]

20 minutes ago, Assimov said:

Does LTT check their mods ? 

Super sus that this guy is defending sexual misconduct at work and implies that someone speaking out against sexual harassement in the workplace is somehow a bad faith actor.

Nice victim blaming there, but you're jsut confirming what most people expect from the working environment at LTT, yikes !

Where was the defence?

 

And, given these posts are by new/rarely used accounts, it's right to be wary of their intentions.

[burner]

3 hours ago, Assimov said:

Does LTT check their mods ? 

Super sus that this guy is defending sexual misconduct at work and implies that someone speaking out against sexual harassement in the workplace is somehow a bad faith actor.

Nice victim blaming there, but you're jsut confirming what most people expect from the working environment at LTT, yikes !

This also seems unnecessary inflammatory, we came in hot with allegations one of their sponsors was horrible. It kinda makes sense he would want links?

[LogicalDrm]

5 hours ago, Assimov said:

Does LTT check their mods ? 

Super sus that this guy is defending sexual misconduct at work and implies that someone speaking out against sexual harassement in the workplace is somehow a bad faith actor.

Nice victim blaming there, but you're jsut confirming what most people expect from the working environment at LTT, yikes !

Moderators don't work for LMG/LTT. We are volunteers whose whole existence is to keep forums clean. At times, we also post as persons, like you. And as persons, we may or may not call out attacks/claims that are made without backing. Your post, at first glance, does look like one and it was contested as such. Not the best wording used, but that doesn't give you any rights to attacks back in this way, making assumptions so wildly.

 

Your argument has been covered by others, be thankful for them.

[Middcore]

6 hours ago, Assimov said:

Nice victim blaming there, but you're jsut confirming what most people expect from the working environment at LTT, yikes !

 

Who are the "most people" you have appointed yourself to speak for?

 

Spurious and inflammatory comments like this undermine the credibility of those making serious accusations about IFI. It seems like you don't care a bit about what may be happening with IFI, you're just waiting in the wings for an opportunity to take shots at LTT. 

 

1 hour ago, LogicalDrm said:

And as persons, we may or may not call out attacks/claims that are made without backing. Your post, at first glance, does look like one and it was contested as such.

 

Assimov isn't the poster who first brought up the accusations against IFI you replied to. That was @burner.

 

His "working environment at LTT" post certainly is an attack without backing, though. 

[LogicalDrm]

41 minutes ago, Middcore said:

Assimov isn't the poster who first brought up the accusations against IFI you replied to. That was @burner.

 

His "working environment at LTT" post certainly is an attack without backing, though. 

Good point. Seems like I spend too much time on forum since for me if someone takes badly hard criticism, they are more commonly the first poster.

[SansVarnic]

13 hours ago, Assimov said:

Does LTT check their mods ? 

Super sus that this guy is defending sexual misconduct at work and implies that someone speaking out against sexual harassement in the workplace is somehow a bad faith actor.

Nice victim blaming there, but you're jsut confirming what most people expect from the working environment at LTT, yikes !

I'll address this.

I'm not defending anything. I don't work at or for LMG. 

Neither am I victim blaming, I'm stating from the position of what I read in that statement.  That is it.

 

You are jumping to a very big conclusion here. It is obvious I'm not fully aware of the situation and the issue going on. Read past my comment and you will see this. Next time due your due diligence and consider what you're about to say before saying it.

 

My position was to check and verify the allegations made, as both an interested party and as a mod doing his job. As others mentioned before this response your making assumptions with nothing to bact it up.

Edited November 18, 2022 by SansVarnic

[QwertyChouskie]

As a member of both the LTT and educational robotics communities, what has come to light about IFI is quite frankly horrid, vile, and sickening.  One guy literally had a gun pulled on him!  Need I say more?

 

I HIGHLY recommend LMG cut all ties with IFI and its subsidiaries, including Vex, Hexbug, and most applicable here, Rack Solutions.

[Sveeno]

Hey everyone,

 

I just wanted to chime in and say we are looking into the whole RackSolutions and IFI situation currently. The business team does not have a contact with them, so it's taking a bit to get this sorted.

 

We will provide an update once everything is figured out.

[miklast]

3 hours ago, Middcore said:

That was @burner.

Bee217 actually, but the semantics are not that important.

 

Thank you @sazrocks for giving some extra credence, its understandable to be weary of a random group coming in and all claiming some very vile things about a company, and thank you Sveeno for the acknowledgement of everything posted above. 

[SylvieM]

1 hour ago, Sveeno said:

Hey everyone,

 

I just wanted to chime in and say we are looking into the whole RackSolutions and IFI situation currently. The business team does not have a contact with them, so it's taking a bit to get this sorted.

 

We will provide an update once everything is figured out.

Hi, I'm also a member of the robotics community where this is taking place. 

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J8_fjSIm8Oep_D-yvs1unrASiVnjLMH1LTEFi2i6Vs0/edit?usp=sharing

 

This document here has a fairly good summary of what's been going on, with citations directly to the statements in question. This situation is still evolving, and I would be happy to provide any other information I can. 

[mehnadnerd]

On 11/17/2022 at 7:40 PM, SylvieM said:

Hi, I'm also a member of the robotics community where this is taking place. 

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J8_fjSIm8Oep_D-yvs1unrASiVnjLMH1LTEFi2i6Vs0/edit?usp=sharing

 

This document here has a fairly good summary of what's been going on, with citations directly to the statements in question. This situation is still evolving, and I would be happy to provide any other information I can. 

Here are some of the primary sources used and referenced in this document:

A letter from a volunteer mentor to their school district regarding that school district's relationship with IFI: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/additional-teams-committed-to-phasing-out-vex/417579/10

 

A statement by Chuck Glick, a former employee at IFI: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-violence-sexual-harassment-ifi-a-toxic-and-predatory-workplace-in-edtech/417760

The thread on ChiefDelphi, a forum for FIRST Robotics Competition: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-sexual-harassment-an-open-letter-to-vex/416929

And some discussions in it:

• https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-sexual-harassment-an-open-letter-to-vex/416929/34 a former employee talking about the harassment they suffered there
•  from https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-sexual-harassment-an-open-letter-to-vex/416929/93, a message to someone mentoring a girls robotics team, regarding a possible internship for a female student.
• https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-sexual-harassment-an-open-letter-to-vex/416929/164 an anonymous former employee discussing the bullying and harassment they suffered while working at VEX.
• https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-sexual-harassment-an-open-letter-to-vex/416929/237 another employee discussing the harassment they faced
• https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/ifi-vex-response/417791/151 an employee discussing how they are still too scared to post about their experiences

Statements from FIRST Robotics Competition Teams regarding their relations with IFI/VEX:

• The Citrus Circuits, a top team based at the University of California, Davis who has competed in and won the world championships. https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/statement-from-the-citrus-circuits-regarding-ifi/417425
• The Cheesy Poofs, a top team based at NASA Ames, who have won the world championships twice. https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/statement-from-team-254/41746

The (tone deaf) response from IFI: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/ifi-vex-response/417791
A preliminary statement from The REC Foundation, a nonprofit linked with IFI: https://www.vexforum.com/t/statement-to-rec-foundation-community/109171
 

A related document summarising the situation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hwZCwTsgHmlYKkfpz2QKe7XarvMkv0xfsSJnxSVxsHc/edit

 

EDIT 20221123: (all of the content warnings) additional allegations regarding IFI: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/cw-si-sh-substance-abuse-sexual-harassment-how-i-was-abused-by-148-ifi-and-grant-cox/418327
EDIT 20221123: The CEO has resigned over the allegations: https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/breaking-tony-norman-has-resigned-as-president-and-ceo-of-ifi/418508

Edited November 23, 2022 by mehnadnerd
New information

[Spotty]

Please keep discussion here related to LMG sponsors. If you would like to raise concerns regarding a forum moderator contact an admin via PM. For the purpose of keeping this thread on topic any further posts not related to LMG sponsors may be removed.

[Isuck Assimov]

My bad, i was under the impression that the forum moderator post is a paid spot and i wrongly accused SansVarnic of being an LTT employee.

[binaryternarykernary]

GlassWire, an application meant to protect your privacy has started sending your network data to it's servers as part of it's v3 update, to "enhance GlassWire as an endpoint security solution". They can do anything with the data they collect now, which is ironic since the app is meant to prevent stuff like that.

I had download GlassWire after learning about it from one of LMG's videos. Would recommend a disclaimer being added to future videos since this update with new data collection "featuers" were not conveyed at all when updating the app, or when downloading it on the website.

[SlashedM]

On 10/16/2022 at 6:28 AM, Bablin190 said:

Maybe but Linus implied that he would not work with a sponsor who sponsored a portion of a video and not video.

There are numerous of sponsor spots from LastPass that are "portion of a video" and not a whole video

[OhBoy]

Less of a complaint and more of a concern. But I just checked out nreal website and it shows Short Circuits video as an in depth review. with an out of context quote from the video, as you can see in this page:
https://www.nreal.ai/light/

Is taking CS videos as reviews and/or endorsements normal practice? or nreal is pushing their luck?

[ngrussell13]

I was disappointed to see Newegg as a WAN show sponsor today after the GPU scandal they had at the beginning of this year. I thought Gamers Nexus did a very good job investigating this and I have come to the decision that I will no longer be shopping at Newegg. 

[Drayak]

Sorry I am no sure if this is the right spot for this, but regarding the Solidworks sponsor video collab mentioned in the WAN show on Nov-25/ 2022.   First I want to clarify I didnt hear the whole conversation, I was just tuning in when the topic was being discussed, so I may be missing something.

 

I was chasing getting a Solidworks for makers subscription and when they sponsored one of the videos a few months ago I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

 

I'd like to make sure its clarified in the video that the Solidworks 3D Experience Connected for makers has some interesting things, for example, to launch the software you need to login to a webpage and start the software from within the web-browser, if for some reason there is no connection, you are out of luck, seems that after launching there is a way to move to work offline, but haven't tried.

The critical part, I recall that while signing on to my yearly subscription I read that it will automatically renew every-year, I didnt take screenshot as I assumed its like a lot of products that you can easily go and disable auto-renew, sadly it doenst seem to be that easy, I spent hours trying to disable it and at this time I am not sure if its disabled at all.  (I can provide screenshots of their support pages for other people complaining about it, while googling how to disable autorenew found some reddit topics also complaining, I also found help there).

 

I have used Solidworks at work and its an incredible tool, I love it, but the version for Makers is far from there, its painful to get it installed and launch it. I hope they fix that, even my 15 y'old decided to move to Fusion360 (Autodesk) due being too complicated to start the software, we both have a free Fusion360 account, I agree its limited for the free tier, but way easier to launch and start using, you dont need to login if you login often, on the Solidworks case you need to open a browser, log into their site, navigate thru a weird UI and then finaly launch the software from web... that has to be done everytime you want to open the software.

 

Rant over, the purpose of this is, if you guys are working with them to get a new sponsor video, would it be possible for you guys to approach Dassault Systemes and let them know they need to improve the experience, I understand they want to avoid piracy, but to be honest I feel they went overboard with this, launching the software should not be so painful, I bet it may be easier to get one of those illegal version working.

 

Another request is that if you guys could use the "Connected 3D Experience for Maker" version, not the professional as I believe you have been using, ideally show the process to launch it, maybe there are tricks that we can learn :D.

 

[Quackers101]

2 hours ago, ngrussell13 said:

I was disappointed to see Newegg as a WAN show sponsor today after the GPU scandal they had at the beginning of this year. I thought Gamers Nexus did a very good job investigating this and I have come to the decision that I will no longer be shopping at Newegg. 

newegg had a lot of drama and situations, I guess through all of the covid years and as you say this year too. bad bundles, shady deals and so on.

[creesch]

I saw UGreen has sponsored a video. It seems to be the new darling of the internet. Although I am always a bit suspicious of the flood of people saying it is their go to cable company. Specifically because I have had a lot of bad cables from them over the years. Not in the sense that they don't work, but simply that they break fairly quickly. 

 

It is also a company that has produced a fair amount of products that simply are out of spec and promise features that aren't likely to be happening. For example, usb-c female to male extension cables (something the usb-c spec does not allow for) that basically only work for USB2.0 devices and that sort of thing. 

 

Also this thing which has high ratings but if you dig into the more negative reviews you notice a pattern. At first I was one of the people who would have left a positive review, until I noticed that some of my connected devices started to behave oddly on it. Turns out that the host devices aren't fully separated as far as power goes causing all sorts of weird issues. 

 

I have had enough bad experiences with a variety of their devices that don't consider it to be a fluke. So I am really hoping that UGreen products are tested properly by the lab before any of these sponsored videos are being made.