Gamers Nexus alleges LMG has insufficient ethics and integrity

[yobson]

1 minute ago, Poinkachu said:

Because at the very least now I know He (Steve GN) meant it when he said he'd be treating LMG like any other corporation out there.

you wouldn't see many NZXT fanboys hating on GN for exposing their flammable cases or ASUS fanboys defending their warranty scandal

[harls]

3 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

The last sentence you mentioned is a big reason why you don't always contact the person you are about to run the piece on.

 

Linus essentially tried using the "trust me bro" approach in his response, and has essentially proven that LMG should not be trusted.  Like what Steve said in his video, that if there is a clear systemic issue at the company there isn't much point to contact.  In fact, it leads to things like what Linus did; where LMG might try acting quickly to try essentially changing the narrative and undermine the GN video. 

If that is what happened.  We do not know because Steve decided LMG is bad so he doesn't need any response or evidence from them. 

[Thepyrodex]

1 minute ago, AlienALX said:

 

Look, I will help you here.

 

Search Google for - linus sebastian employees.

 

You should see a few things pop up. I am not stupid enough to get myself involved in defamation lawsuits. Though do know, what you find may or may not be truthful, but you should read/watch it and be informed. 

you can't be sued for deformation for sharing a link to the thing someone else said...

[VisibleXela]

1 minute ago, AlienALX said:

 

Exactly. This is business, not personal. Linus tried to keep it personal, where I would imagine he would have swept it under the rug and we would have been none the wiser.

Yeah, it's kind of telling that Linus is talking about "team media" while the GN video is strictly business, treating LMG just the same as if it were any other business.

[lawney]

7 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Please look at GN's response to the response.  It's well worded and pretty much shows why you wouldn't contact someone like Linus before.

 

Linus completely mischaractized the Billet situation, so if GN had approached Linus before Linus could have easily done what he currently did and essentially "made it right" before the GN video got released...at which point it's a lot harder to show that Linus only did it because he knew the storm was coming.

 

Exactly. GN's follow-up basically proves Linus and anyone defending him wrong. If GN had informed Linus, it would have been journalistically irresponsible!

 

[RevengeofProfKatz]

1 minute ago, japers said:

Yes it is...Youre very wrong on this.
 

https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

 

"Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing."

As stated prior, the IPSO and RCFP do not require journalist to reach out to the subjects of a story when all the evidence provided in the story is factual and accessible public knowledge, which in this case, is, given it is spread out across multiple LTT videos. When journalist do reach out in a situation like this, it is done as a courtesy only. The exact same courtesy that Linus/LTT do not expend towards others they damage. At the end of the day, these are not "allegations of wrongdoing". And GN in a new video just confirmed that Linus lied on his post here. He did not try to make things right with Billet, per communication shared with Billet. Linus can go pound sand. He literally lied here in his own post and got caught in less than 24 hours of doing so.

Also, just to point out, the SPJ is a society/fraternity with membership being comprised of journalist in the media. It's membership is what adheres to its particular rule set. No one outside of that membership is required to adhere to it. GN is not required to adhere to it, if it is not a member. And to be blunt, in this case, the GN story checks most all the boxes on the SPJ requirement to the point that if needed, if GN was a member, the SPJ would come to their defense, given the evidence presented/covered in the story is well documented on LMG's own media.

And to have reached out to Linus/LMG would have caused a conflict of interest, per SPJ's own Code of Ethics, and limited GN's ability to act independently, a major requirement for the SPJ, especially when reporting on a company. Especially because in this case, since Linus personally considers Steve his "peer"/ one of the guys, and he would have tried to influence Steve to kill the coverage or spin it in his favor. I mean I am sure you missed it when you found the one thing you wanted to latch on to, but on the SPJ Code of Ethics specifically states the following:
 

Quote

Deny favored treatment to advertisers, donors or any other special interests, and resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.
 

Quote

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

Quote

Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and avoid political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility.

Quote

Expose unethical conduct in journalism, including within their organizations.

 

And this one in particular applies to Linus/LMG/LTT, since they have consistently failed to do so:

Quote

Abide by the same high standards they expect of others.

In actuality, in this situation, Linus is a figurehead for his own media company, that has been damaging other parties and providing inaccurate information on reviews and coverage that can disparage products and the companies behind them, and GN is the tech news journalist in this situation reporting on this story. Either way, the ones that actually matter in this situation are the IPSO and RCFP and their equivalents depending on the country you are in. The IPSO is an independent regulator for the press, and the RCFP is an organization that provides legal resources and services to assist in the freedom of the press.

[Dom1252]

the further this goes, the more I think Linus should have sold LTT... new owners would just drive it to the ground and we could say "well, told you so, end to good era" 

this way Linus as tired old man, lying to his audience, seems like a trashy persona on yt and here too

[aidenbliss789]

2 minutes ago, K4shira said:

I think Luke has given up at this point, at least that is how his reaction looked to me.

Yeah to me it also seems like Luke has given up and just wants to be with his floatplane team 

[atxcyclist]

14 minutes ago, DJ3thenew23 said:

Except he's not. There are plenty of times where they don't reach out, which is explained in his latest video. Maybe inform yourself before spewing nonsense?

That’s him doing damage control for hypocrisy, he absolutely made the effort in other instances. 
 

You have 7 posts here, and the majority are in this thread in order to stir-up drama. You, like so many other people posting in this topic don’t really participate in this community, but you’re happy to sling mud in it. Yikes.

[Poinkachu]

2 minutes ago, K4shira said:

I think Luke has given up at this point, at least that is how his reaction looked to me.

Maybe so.
I mean, I know my brother never listens to me, after some years I gave up.
Now I just immediately concoct a damage control and recovery plan in secret whenever he says he's about to do something.

[FullSpeed]

 

[PsyAviah - Yves Schelpe]

19 hours ago, LinusTech said:

To Steve, I expressed my disappointment that he didn't go through proper journalistic practices in creating this piece. He has my email and number (along with numerous other members of our team) and could have asked me for context that may have proven to be valuable (like the fact that we didn't 'sell' the monoblock, but rather auctioned it for charity due to a miscommunication...

=> So you have Billet's e-mail at least, right? They asked for it, back. Not sure how you're defending yourself now with this, as I see that private conversations don't really do much. You sold (cough - sorry - auctioned) it anyway, even though they asked to send it back. 
TRUST ME BRO, come one. Nope. Nope. Nope. 

I believe in second chances, in third chances even. So whatever you & LMG have to do, make it right. Do better, be better.

[Middcore]

1 minute ago, Godiwa said:

 

in response to you two... I think Luke have given up a while ago... he has tried SO many times... to no avail... it is sad... they are BEST FRIENDS and he won't listen to his best friend when he is off the rails...

he needed this backhanded slap to wake up... he lied yesterday... lets hope he wakes up TODAY... else I got a feeling it might end like some other streaming company that built PC's that ripped off another streamer/viewer for a price they rightfully won... If Terren doesn't pull up the reigns here and speak with BIG F'ING WORDS to Linus then it can ruin everything...

I caught flak for saying this yesterday, but... well, I'm not exactly expecting Luke to leave but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it happened at some point now. 

[coopa]

4 minutes ago, harls said:

 

Nowhere did he specify who WE are.  We could mean LMG internally had agreed to compensate Billet for their screw up.   They also may have been trying to spin things to make them look better.  Steve chose not to be a journalist and bash LMG.  LMG may need bashing in this instance,  but we do not know the facts.  It would help if someone impartial investigated. 

 

I'm sorry, but defending Linus' weasel words on the basis of them being technically correct is just an absolutely horrible take.

Yes, Linus did not technically specify who "we" was in the statement. That's the point. He made a technically accurate statement that was worded in a deceptive way. The technicality of the English language left "we" ambiguous, but 99% of people would read that as "oh LTT and Billet already agreed on Billet getting reimbursed for the prototype, prior to GN publishing their video.", when that wasn't what happened.

 

Look at the replies before GN's response video and how many of them were to the effect of "so Billet already agreed to a reimbursement offer from LMG, what's the big deal?" - the language choice by Linus was not an unintentional ambiguity. It was meant to make the community reach that conclusion.

Linus twisted the English language to be technically accurate but present a grossly misleading picture to manipulate his community and people with interest over this criticism. That is low, deceptive, and quite frankly awful behavior, and LMG's fans deserve better.

[AlienALX]

Just now, VisibleXela said:

Yeah, it's kind of telling that Linus is talking about "team media" while the GN video is strictly business, treating LMG just the same as if it were any other business.

 

And if Steve wants to be the journalist he says he is? then that is how it has to be. Lesson one in journo - you won't make many friends.

 

It's like I said. The truth is not often very pretty and can hurt. But, it is the truth and the truth will set you free.

[B3Mac]

Really think the proper response to this tech drama here is this segue - to your sponsor, Billet Labs! Do you want an overpriced chunk of copper to cool your CPU/GPU?
 

[WillHeard]

6 minutes ago, harls said:

Linus did not respond to many of the complaints.  Steve did a hit job without journalistic integrity.  LMG had made some huge mistakes they need addressed.  These things are all true. 

 

This was not a hit job, it did not lack journalistic integrity. You are crazy.

 

Steve is one of very few people with the credibility and platform to make a video like this criticizing LMG. He did so on a factual, secular level, and did so to protect consumers and viewers. 

[TTL.TM]

Linus still failed to address the frequency on which they release videos as this was brought up as the main issue with the channel and the time needed for each video to be precise and well made. Looking forward to that.

[RotHorseKid]

I only made this account to express my extreme disappointment in what a lying rich piece of s**t Linus has become. Money and success seem to have completely destroyed his ethics, if they were ever real in the first place.

 

I wish his employees all the best, none of it is their fault, that's my honest belief. Last week, I got called insincere and stupid on stream because I called out his twofacedness about employees unionizing. I think that I now know why. It grieves me that I had to cancel my floatplane subscription.

 

My heart goes out to this community, I know they can and will find a place that does not feel as filthy as writing on this website does right now.

[VisibleXela]

3 minutes ago, harls said:

 

 It would help if someone impartial investigated. 

 

So, the disagreement is between Billet and LMG, right? So wouldn't that make GN the impartial investigator? Or, by virtue of investigating and coming to the conclusion that LMG deserves bashing, are they no longer impartial? In that case, we need a fourth party... but if they come to a conclusion they're no longer impartial. We need an investigator to investigate the investigator investigators at that point.

It's investigations all the way down!

[JoshuaScholar]

LMG are big boys now.  They are expected to be able to handle criticism. 

[LinusTechLies]

16 minutes ago, ajmorin369 said:

Linus has already responded to the vicious attacks by Steve, who clearly could have handled this in a more professional manner by calling Linus or someone on his team that he already knows and has worked with before and has contact information for. But if you can’t find Linus's response then look here. 
 

 

 

 

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1526180-gamers-nexus-alleges-lmg-has-insufficient-ethics-and-integrity/page/16/#comment-16078641

 

Somewhere a tree is hard at work producing oxygen for you. I think you need to go find it and apologize to it profusely.

 

1. Linus Media Group auctioned off a one of a kind piece of hardware without the permission of the company in question. They basically STOLE it then auctioned it off to the highest bidder.

 

2. Linus blatantly lied about the timeline of the auctioned item in question. They only got contacted AFTER Steve's video. Do you think Linus would have ever contacted them if it wasn't for this 2nd video?

 

3. Linus lied to his entire community without even giving it a second thought. He gaslit the tech community into thinking he's the victim in all of this.

 

4. He took zero accountability for anything mentioned in Steve's original video. 45 minute's of Steve rightfully pointing out massive issues with Linus Media Group.

 

AND YOU WANT STEVE TO TRUST LINUS AFTER ALL OF THIS?! 

 

There's a thin line between being gullible and stupid. Trusting anything @LinusTech says at this point is like trusting a wolf to heard your sheep.

 

But as someone who's been with @LinusTech from the start I have to say money and fame really changed you man you went from caring about ethics and caring about the consumer to basically throwing everyone a big fat middle finger. I've unsubscribed from all your channels and canceled all my orders. Not that you would care anyways

[tarfeef101]

I already posted an "overall thoughts" comment (still hoping to see an LMG set of eyes on it, I do think that someone should be reading every comment here, even if they don't reply to all of em). So I won't restate those opinions/observations.

 

What I will say is I'm surprised (well really just disappointed) with the direction of the comments here. Everyone is focusing on the smaller issue of Billet Labs. Linus probably wasn't involved in that at all. It was a process issue (a real one that hurt Billet, I detail this further in my initial response). But it isn't "the main point".

The main point, for me, is the issue I noticed (and so did Linus, to some extent) long before the GN video: quality is lacking. A few WANs ago he talked about some kind of "bug bounty for viewers" because he knew that they kept messing up. It focused more on stuff like "misremembering a part of a display specification" or smth like that, rather than "not noticing a 300% performance deviation in a test", but there was some awareness. Yet, these issues have been going on for years, at a frequency (even accounting for the rate of publication) exceeding peers (at least the ones I watch, I have dropped subs before due to frustration with misinformation, notably jayztwocents). Their solution has been "we don't need one", and production has continued at a breakneck pace, and errors are missed or fixed in post. Again, my original comment details this further, but my point to be made here is "this is the main problem, priority on speed/volume over quality, even when shifting focus to a labs-centric, data-forward branding of content".

 

That is what the focus should be. The interview videos said it all right to the leadership's faces. They are moving too fast. But that hasn't been talked about. Linus has responded to easy, irrelevant stuff and shifted the discussion to pointless internet bickering, but hasn't addressed my concern as a longtime viewer: that I can't watch LTT videos with the intent to get technical information. I've long since classified LTT/LMG as "just for entertainment and product discovery". That is what I want Linus (and everyone else) to be talking about.

[DJ3thenew23]

Just now, atxcyclist said:

That’s him doing damage control for hypocrisy, he absolutely made the effort in other instances. 
 

You have 7 posts here, and joined just to stir-up drama. Yikes.

Again, factually incorrect. I joined a little bit ago to ask a question about a product, didn't receive an answer, therefore didn't interact until now. You know, not saying anything unless you have something to say? It's what well-adjusted adults do.

[throwawayManMode]

@LinusTech - Why did you lie to us?