Gamers Nexus alleges LMG has insufficient ethics and integrity

[Middcore]

I don't know if @Asbo Zapruder ever re-posted here in the main thread but I thought it was a good point:

 

Quote

 

Linus has essentially, and rather flippantly, admitted he doesn't give a crap about objective, evidence based reviews at the exact same time he's transitioning the company to providing objective, evidence based reviews.

 

And when called out on it, his response is he doesn't care because fixing his mistakes would cost him money.

 

 

The egregious ethics of selling the prototype aside, this attitude calls into question the entire rationale of the labs project. 

[BaidDSB]

2 minutes ago, Rysters Tech said:

Your argument would be true if his children were older, from what i learned when watching the LTX 2023 wan show, Linus' oldest son is 7 years old,

bruh Linus' oldest is 11 at least. that 7 years old was for LTX 2019

[Lyre]

2 minutes ago, Benji_w said:

I love how they stated they watched 5 mins only to then go on prove all of Steve's points perfectly....

I waited with bated breath through the whole video and even though my first reaction was angry confusion, I then agreed with all the points he made and then was disappointed in LMG

[the9thdude]

1 minute ago, SAUVE76 said:

I spent 5mins on Steves video then stopped...I don't use just one source for anything I intend to buy or review just to know about that item of interest.  LTT even state viewers to do so.  I enjoy LTT videos for info as it is done with a bit of fun...to add if I am interested in what ever it is in that video, i review the site of the manufacturer and other reviews.  Yes maybe some fixes at LTT are needed and even Linus and others there state this is needed.  So what was the point of the video bar an attack.  I believe as LTT are spending as they are on the lab as being the reasoning and for me that is poor on GN part.  That for me is disturbing as it's against the approach of having more than one source for such things, so the LTT Lab should be welcomed by GN, not a reason to attack. GN need to retract the video and approach differently or they lose credibility for me.  

Finish the video.

 

Yes, you should always look at multiple reviews but the issue at hand is even with Labs testing, their testing methodology is shoddy, error prone, and appears to have some conflict of interest in some products they review which have not been addressed. If the errors are caught before publishing, usually an * is included rather than a re-shoot of the incorrect part, and part of the problem here is the heavy reliance on asterisks in recent LMG videos.

 

If an error does make it's way through publishing and it gets caught, one of a few things happens: a correction is made in the comments but is not pinned, a correction is made in the comments and is pinned, or an "in place" re-upload is done. The fact that there is no consistent way of this being handled is a problem since there is no way of knowing how to look for that corrected information.

 

These two issues could be solved by providing the team more time on each video, which is one of the things that is included in some of the meet the team videos and is directly quoted by GN.

 

Again, go back, finish the video.

[Middcore]

6 minutes ago, McDude said:

Many people have already pointed out, but yeah the Billet Labs story is a big fuck-up on Linus's part. It's quite ironic that they got mad about one of the Wan Show  LTT Backpacks prototypes ending up in someone else's hands at the same time they were auctioning the Billet Labs block.

 

Linus, like most people, cares about bad things happening when they happen to him. 

[GotWeez]

11 minutes ago, Spotty said:

To clarify; all proceeds of the auction at LTX were donated to charity (Extra Life I believe). I am not saying this excuses what happened, but it's not fair to say that the reason it happened was greed.

No; it was worse than greed... it was complete apathy. Not one iota of care in that entire situation was given to the upstart, was given to the video, or was afforded to the viewer. But I bet that charity auction sure did have some benefit to LMG's marketing.

 

It's not a great culmination of straws breaking the camels back; and I'm sure these were driving factors to Linus' decision to relinquish the "CEO" title... to offload the responsibility for the direction he's driving the corporation in while saving face for that direction being against his own pronounced ethics.

 

I think someone mentioned it earlier...

 

"LMG is a corporation." -Linus

"Corporations are not your friend." -Also Linus

 

Is this just the fate of all tech blogs, regardless of format?

[Blademaster91]

17 minutes ago, Cavalry Canuck said:

But I maintain my opinion that Steve ended up being the one with some egg in his face over the backpack warranty. When his most recent modmat had a pinout labelling error on it, he didn’t resolve it in a way that would have met the standard he set for LMG over the backpack issue. I wish he did.

In my opinion Steve addressed the modmat issue fine, at least to the extent he could with the size of the company he has. If he were to recall all of the modmats that would be a considerable amount of money to spend compared to fixing the issue.

The people that bought a modmat were offered a free correction, and he took all of the modmats off the store until they were corrected with the updated labeling. I think thats fine given the error, if there wasn't a warranty he wouldn't have to offer a solution. Also given that Linus didn't want to offer a warranty on a backpack when that is an industry standard on backpacks that are in a similar price range or cheaper. The whole "trust me bro" warranty could have meant there wouldn't have been any support at all if someone got a backpack with a defective zipper or a strap fails.

[tkitch]

1 minute ago, Alex T88 said:

I will purposely wait for LMG's disclaimer, in regards to the prototype mishap. As always, there are 2 sides to every story, to say the least. What I will say, is that I am fairly certain that Billet Labs, would have already taken legal action, especially that a prototype of a great magnitude for the company, is in discussion. And no, I don't think that anyone from LMG, would be so daft to sanction a sale/auction that was illegal. Immoral, who knows... Illegal, most probably not. Like every company out there, LMG doesn't have any friends. Their sole purpose is to expand and to make more money. Who thinks otherwise, is definitely mistaken. The only aspect if what they are doing is legal or not. Sadly, morals/ethics do not matter, as long as the company can not be held accountable because they did not break any laws. 

Except Billet is *tiny* they are unlikely to have the capital to take LMG to court.  

They're probably screwed.  

[Budget DIY]

11 minutes ago, Spotty said:

To clarify; all proceeds of the auction at LTX were donated to charity (Extra Life I believe). I am not saying this excuses what happened, but it's not fair to say that the reason it happened was greed.

Let's call it 110% stupidity, and a very valid reason to fire someone.

[jooroth18]

7 minutes ago, McDude said:

Many people have already pointed out, but yeah the Billet Labs story is a big fuck-up on Linus's part. It's quite ironic that they got mad about one of the Wan Show  LTT Backpacks prototypes ending up in someone else's hands at the same time they were auctioning the Billet Labs block.

What wan show did this happen? Just curious 

[RasmusDC]

2 minutes ago, jamaniek said:

Even unknowingly/without proof of prior knowledge? Seems unlikely but I'm genuinely curious.

YES... but it is enforced not as strict, there is something called "fence" that is the seller of stolen goods, and the buyer, they will be prosecuted the same, there is a "in ill will" part of it.. so did where you buy it or the price indicate anything then it is at ILL Will..

 

My Aunt ended in such a case, many years ago.. she bought a FIAT at a dealer, she took the VIN checked with the police as is, and it was a "reputable" dealer... 4-5 years after, police came to her place, took the car, and the feedback was, the car was stolen, SO either she could contest, and she could go to jail or just accept that the car was taken back..

 

now the real story was that there was an INSIDER at the police that put new "VIN´s" in their system and the car dealer then deleted the old VIN´s this was back in the 70´s so LONG ago.. but she had NO CHANCE of knowing this, so she got the "soft" edge of the sword, by just loosing a car, that she needed, and the value it was worth..

 

"

Fencing is the act of buying or otherwise acquiring things that are stolen or obtained in the course of an illegal act. Fencing can also include helping someone to profit from something they obtained illegally. Paragraphs 290 and 303 of the Danish criminal code make both fencing and grossly negligent fencing illegal."

 

[dragonuck76]

4 minutes ago, FadedSpark said:

You missed the entire premise and core content of the video.

 

You should watch the whole thing.

Does the remaining video continue on the attack.

[GTC]

Who else has popcorn?

[Skiiwee29]

2 minutes ago, A_Mediocre_Kangaroo_Farmer said:

As someone who has a significant ownership of the business I work at, I consider the money that I invested to be my personal money and act accordingly. I work at my business, just because the stocks are not cash in my bank account it's still mine. Same goes for all the different investments I have. I don't consider it money spent and gone.

Again not disagreeing that the look is bad, it is imo. But by the law, it's not a conflict of interest since the money is from a different pool/account not tied to the business beyond Linus being the owner of the company. That's all I'm saying. 

[Middcore]

Just now, SAUVE76 said:

Does the remaining video continue on the attack.

 

If you've pre-determined that everything in the video is just an "attack" and refuse to open your mind to the possibility that criticism is warranted, then watching the rest of the video would be pointless. 

[Kronoton]

4 minutes ago, Rysters Tech said:

Linus' oldest son is 7 years old,

Not that it would matter, but he was 11 in a WAN show and back to 10 in the next one....

 

 

But what kind of argument is it in the 1st place? You can't criticize someone for doing s##t because the may have underage children that might come to have doubts about the god-like status of their parents?

[Billetlabsauction]

23 minutes ago, jooroth18 said:

Its not that they auctioned it off after misrepresenting it. Its that they misrepresented it, knew that they were and chose money over quality, then were asked to send it back and chose to make more money then sending it back.

 

This response obviously misses some context, in linus's mind he sees someone purchasing this as also a person to buy a 4090 instead of a 3090ti, which does make sense, but his conclusion doesnt clarify this, nor does any further determination as to the future viability of a 4090 variant. He should have spent more time communicating with Billet and ensured the video gave all sides.

You just said that they misrepresented it for money and then auctioned it off for money. That sure sounds like you're trying to say they auctioned it off after misrepresenting it in a more convoluted way!

[Kuromario]

Just now, SAUVE76 said:

Does the remaining video continue on the attack.

There is no attack, just a collection of facts, personal views, opinions and feedback.

[Rysters Tech]

1 minute ago, BaidDSB said:

bruh Linus' oldest is 11 at least. that 7 years old was for LTX 2019

I just checked and i was wrong, will correct. thanks for letting me know

[Benji_w]

1 minute ago, SAUVE76 said:

Does the remaining video continue on the attack.

Attack.... oh wow, willing to die on a hill you bare no knowledge of? That is.... just wow!

[FadedSpark]

1 minute ago, SAUVE76 said:

Does the remaining video continue on the attack.

Alright so you're not interested in legitimate discourse. Won't waste my time engaging further with you then.

 

If you care about the brand ltt, you should care about this video, and you should want them to do better.

[post_screen]

Just now, Budget DIY said:

Let's call it 110% stupidity, and a very valid reason to fire someone.

I don’t know the company policy on firing people, but it seems that they have a hard time firing employees. Colton is a prime example, but I found it pretty weird that Tim didn’t get fired after that blunder. I know that he is an important part of the company, but he hurt their reputation big time with that claim. Don’t think anyone will be fired over Billet Labs thing

[pinkcat]

14 minutes ago, Spotty said:

To clarify; all proceeds of the auction at LTX were donated to charity (Extra Life I believe). I am not saying this excuses what happened, but it's not fair to say that the reason it happened was greed.

This makes no difference and its still illegal.  

[Skipple]

8 minutes ago, Troutofdoom said:

Remember like...3 days ago when Linus complained about a prototype backpack showing up a thrift store?

Holy shit I didn't even think of that. 

 

It's quite honestly the same exact situation, but worse because the company actually wanted to product back.

[Athan Immortal]

Can't help but agree with Steve's points. I already had a concern watching the "working for lmg" videos where the overwhelming feedback was "I wish we didn't have to go so fast". And I remember watching some of those videos that were highlighted, granted I didn't catch the cooler temp deltas, but I did see the techquickie video that kept having to Asterisk so many of it's points for bad maths, and at one point I had said to a friend "Why didn't they just cut to b-roll and re-record the voice for this?"

 

I like LMG, I like the fun janky project videos, and frankly with their budget it means they're able to do what some can't, but I can't ignore what's being brought up in this video, and I already had problems with the amount of corrections and asterisks being put in.

 

If they want to be taken seriously for accuracy in testing, they also need to be willing to forgo their metics and remove wrong videos.

 

Also the Billet Labs thing is unforgivable. Auctioning off something that wasn't yours, that's been specifically requested back, not cool, they definitely need to publicly address that. And I'd go further and say they need to reach out to who bought it, even if it's a general call out on social media and buy it back for Billet.

 

What I'll be interested to see is... do they invite Steve onto the WAN show? Would they dare? And would Steve show up? Because it's honestly in Linus' best interest to squash this immediately. These are legitimate concerns.