Gamers Nexus alleges LMG has insufficient ethics and integrity

[N0_ANIME]

23 hours ago, Tau_1s said:

hopefully LMG goes bankrupt

This whole situation just feels like a company with tight scheduling, communication holes and what is starting to teeter on a toxic work environment. I am with GN all the way on this one, but I don't dislike the LMG brand. Im still going to rock my merch, I just think there needs to be a step back and reevaluation of the company as a whole. A company is going to make mistakes, the problem with LMG is it is only amplified due to nature of there content. This will ultimately be a hiccup that will lead to financial restitution, and professional ties being severed.

 

I don't think Linus's approach to this was appropriate, I strongly disagree with the idea of posting your only acknowledgment of guilt in a forum owned by yourself, it feels incredibly sketchy, but that comes down to the fault of a individual in a corporation. He failed in his role as the figure head to appropriately address the issues. Same way someone in logistics probably messed up with the Billet Labs cooler, and the way the lab messed up with the whole tape fiasco. End of the day LMG is a corporate entity, I have no remorse for it but I do realize the humans behind it can make major blunders. I hope going forward they slow down, evaluate, and communicate. Its not a easy task to accomplish, ive been struggling with it most of my professional career but I want to see LMG take a stab at it and grow, all be at a more natural pace.

[UncleFunkle]

3 minutes ago, Tollermine said:

If the issues GN highlighted were truly insignificant, the community's reaction, especially here, would be different. After reading Linus's statement, I felt even more strongly that he is losing touch with his followers. He appears to be isolated in his ivory tower, failing to grasp the community's dissatisfaction.

 

I don't think he's about a disconnect with the community in a sense that he's lost touch with what people want. It's more that his ego is very fragile. It always has been. He gets defensive when attacked for things that he never had malicious intent about. If he's going to continue being in the public eye with such a large audience he needs to toughen that ego up or fight through the pain of shattering it.

[Thaldor]

4 minutes ago, Forbidden Wafer said:

Yup, and why wasn't it marked with a sticker with "loaned sample/not for sale. To be returned until year/month"? The inventory guys should have marked it upon receival to prevent this. 

 

This is the kind of change that prevents this from happening again. 

I don't know is it more frightening that LMG sized company with probably quite numerable "prop" warehouse with PC gear that is unique, prototypes and whatever through the years manages to not sticker someone elses item correctly. Or that in LMG sized company someone just goes to their warehouse, collects some interesting stuff to be auctioned off and that stuff isn't checked 10 fold that they can be actually auctioned off for charity.

[RockerBug17]

3 hours ago, LostInferno said:

I just watched GN's latest video. You're right. It is worst than I thought.

The gesture isn't clear in the current written form. I hope to get more clarity in a prepared video response. 

I appreciate you're being reasonable. I've spent some additional time thinking about the Billet issue. There's no angle that the timeline looks good from, and while I've never been interested in making excuses for LMG, I can imagine a scenario where he might respond to accusations without knowing all the intimate details. That's part of being a large organization, sometimes right hands don't know what lefts are doing.

 

That said, I am curious about one thing; Gamers Nexus specifically said Linus didn't contact Billet until a few hours after GN published their video. Are we to understand when GN says Linus they mean anyone at LMG, or do they mean specifically Linus. Because, again not making excuses, I can see a scenario where Linus didn't reach out to Billet until after the video but LMG was in contact prior.

[jos]

How many people here watch these videos for actual data other than when doing a purchase decision? And when doing purchase decision how many rely just on one source for decision? Linus tech tips is a tech entertainment channel. I enjoy watching it. And I will continue to do so. How many can deny they became pc enthusiast because of him? He is always good for industry. The auctioning off part was terrible on part of the LMG, but when a company put a sample onto a public outlet then the product and anything that can be learned is public knowledge not a secret anymore. Patents are there to protect. They can ask for compensation for making new prototype and for lossess in time. When sending a product for review they should have given a contract on how to handle things, if it is not publically released or someome should be there along with the product, I don't know if this was followed.

[aka473]

3 minutes ago, BlackSmokeDMax said:

 

At the time no agreement had been made. Earlier this afternoon that did change, per a reddit post from Billet.

That still isn't the case, they already turned down them getting the cooler back, they are still negotiating. Billet Labs still hasn't been compensated. 

[Tugmaster]

I can only imagine the thoughts going through Linus head right now. Here are some examples:

 

• I wish I took that $100 million offer.
• i thought Steve was a friend.
• Why are people so upset when it’s a simple miscommunication.
• I made things right by paying Billet Labs.
• People will forgive and move on if I stop wearing sandals 
• I am worth millions why did this happen to me?
• I should just retire as it’s not worth
• How do I get out of this mess?
• I should collaborate with Mr Beast on a give away and it will all go away.

[Vilacom]

2 hours ago, BlackSmokeDMax said:

 

It was a prototype based on the card they had (and the card they provided for testing, which LMG did not use), once they have their tech/design all ironed out, you think they wouldn't have made a version for the newer card?

That’s not the issue.

The issue is its an $800 water block in a space where $400 water blocks are considered vanity purchases and extremely overpriced and excellent top of the line versions are sold for about $200, and you’ll need a new one each time you upgrade.  

It’s like a Rolex watch, they are very pretty and there is a market for them among people who are looking for a way to try to impress other people with lots of money, but no one in their right mind would look at a Rolex and say “This is worth considering for anyone purchasing a watch”.  

It’s a very pretty cooler, but it’s never going to be worth someone spending $800 on it for performance, you should spend $80 on a solid air cooler and put the other $720 into a better graphics card, processor, higher end memory, literally anything else that could be a bottleneck.  

That was the point, you don’t need to review the performance of something like this because there isn’t any result that would make spending 10 times a good air cooler on literally just the block for the GPU a good use of money. 

[LinuxGeek18]

5 minutes ago, Levent said:

Yeah his videos are awesome. Great taste sir!

Yeah pretty much everything I watch is automotive. Lmao, I used to be a nerd into PCs all the time and I occasionally get back into PC stuff every once in awhile.

[PandaSquawk]

6 minutes ago, FRESHYLEMON said:

Uhh... I highlighted the part where he said that. The other OP says Linus lied... because he did. He claims that they already agreed to compensate Billet Labs in the post, but GN's second video + Billet Lab's reddit post confirm that they did NOT already "agree" to anything. GN/BL exposed the fact that LMG contacted Billet about 30 minutes after the 1st video came out. But I guess maybe they contacted Billet a minute before making the comment, so in your eyes that's not a lie on technicality lmfao.

 

 

Yeah, and words have meaning. Linus saying that "we have already agreed" does not mean "we have signed a settlement to reimburse Billet Labs."

 

Billet Labs had also already sent an email to LMG that included an estimate of it's value if that's in question.

[kendirect]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:40 PM, schitzkrieg said:

If Steve just wanted to "help", he would have chosen a more private setting to tell these things to Linus/someone at LMG.

 

Edit: Not that I don't agree with a lot said here. Could have been handled better I guess. 

Steve has literally never been a good person, it's amazing how few people understand that.

[Middcore]

1 minute ago, Tugmaster said:

I can only imagine the thoughts going through Linus head right now. Here are some examples:

 

• I wish I took that $100 million offer.
• i thought Steve was a friend.
• Why are people so upset when it’s a simple miscommunication.
• I made things right by paying Billet Labs.
• People will forgive and move on if I stop wearing sandals 
• I am worth millions why did this happen to me?
• I should just retire as it’s not worth
• How do I get out of this mess?
• I should collaborate with Mr Beast on a give away and it will all go away.

 

So, zero self-awareness or real introspection? I can believe that. 

[jeo]

Just now, jitteryzeitgeist said:

No, buddy.

 

It's because Linus is a huge presence and he fucked up really badly.

I understand why some people feel strongly but the volume seems odd.

I am probably old and out of touch.

Another reasonable option is that GN has a very passionate fan base who also feel personally attached to Ltt as well (they are far more motivated to speak out, then if they didn't care about GNs target).

 

That seems more likely than bots.

 

[TennSeven]

On 8/14/2023 at 1:16 PM, Agall said:

Technically he's not the CEO anymore, yeah? He's a creative director now IIRC.

He still owns the company.  I assume he's chairman of the board, and CEOs serve at the pleasure of the board.  It's also his opinion they're publishing when he hosts videos reviewing Framework or its competitors (and possibly his opinion even when he's not the host).

[Vilacom]

7 minutes ago, jitteryzeitgeist said:

They did not.

 

They told them the individual thing costs X and needs to be returned.  HE then said "We'll compensate you", but only after the GN video got released, and they have yet to take him up on that.

 

No agreement has been made.  I'm hoping Billet sues the fuck out of LTT and Linus for this incredible breach in trust and good practice.

So you’re hoping a startup spends more money than that prototype could have possibly cost to make before this ever sees the interior of a courtroom in order to get some money back for the prototype?

So you’re hoping Billet goes out of business to try to spite Linus?

[Tollermine]

3 minutes ago, Monolithic said:

Regardless of who sent what, it is a deal big enough for the person in charge to make sure whomever he put in charge of it, followed through, ESPECIALLY before making a public statement about it.

 

If he didn't then he is just making Steve's other points for him that Linus doesn't care enough to be accurate.

You're definitely right about that. Either Linus knowingly lied and tried to deceive the community, or as CEO, he fostered an environment where such poor communication could occur. Either way, it doesn't look good.

[PandaSquawk]

7 minutes ago, jitteryzeitgeist said:

They did not.

 

They told them the individual thing costs X and needs to be returned.  HE then said "We'll compensate you", but only after the GN video got released, and they have yet to take him up on that.

 

No agreement has been made.  I'm hoping Billet sues the fuck out of LTT and Linus for this incredible breach in trust and good practice.

That's a twisting of events. Saying "we have agreed" does not mean, "we have a formal agreement signed by all parties."

[RockerBug17]

1 minute ago, kendirect said:

Steve has literally never been a good person, it's amazing how few people understand that.

Care to elaborate?

[ColonelSupremePizza]

1 hour ago, Drazil100 said:

Linus has stated many times on WAN show that the company is too big for him to manage which lines up PERFECTLY with what Steve said about LMG. The CEO position is not honorary. While Linus still controls the direction of the company the new CEO will basically do all the actual hard part of figuring out how to organize the company and getting the departments communicating correctly and efficiently to get there.

What happened to Billet Labs and the quality control issues with their videos Steve mentioned were not an act of malice on Linus's part but an act of incompetence. It will take time before we see the influence of Terren's leadership but I suspect things will improve in a year or so. (It took half a year before we started seeing the effects of the new YouTube CEO) 

Oh, I'm not imparting malice on Linus at all and it absolutely is all incompetence and arrogance. I do believe that you're correct in that the CEO is there to help run and organize the company, however the issue is that Linus is acting like a man child and making the CEO's job harder. I intended to imply that it was a more honorary position simply because he can't reprimand or help direct the company like a CEO normally would, and unfortunately Linus desperately needs that.

 

I don't believe we will ever see improvements from Linus though. This lack of responsibility has been a thing he's consistently had for whatever reason. With Linus' apparent deadlines and metrics he created for content, I doubt the CEO will affect that either. It absolutely will be a glorified office manager style job than being the actual CEO of a company or brand.

[Venture82]

The thing that I find fascinating is that most of the reaction has been about Billet and some about data accuracy, but there has not been a lot of response regarding the questionable ethics around the relationship that LTT has with manufacturers and how it might be affecting content.

[JoshuaScholar]

1 minute ago, Tugmaster said:

I can only imagine the thoughts going through Linus head right now. Here are some examples:

 

• I wish I took that $100 million offer.
• i thought Steve was a friend.
• Why are people so upset when it’s a simple miscommunication.
• I made things right by paying Billet Labs.
• People will forgive and move on if I stop wearing sandals 
• I am worth millions why did this happen to me?
• I should just retire as it’s not worth
• How do I get out of this mess?
• I should collaborate with Mr Beast on a give away and it will all go away.

Oh stop with the drama.

Linus made his employees put out videos too fast, quality is down.

He hurt a company because he doesn't care if he's being fair, he thought making fun of them would entertain the audience, fair or not.

 

He needs to let his company be run better.

 

He's a big, famous, wealthy guy with a lot of power, he's not a hurt little kid.

[jitteryzeitgeist]

Just now, kendirect said:

Steve has literally never been a good person, it's amazing how few people understand that.

Steve is in the right.

 

Linus has a channel where he routinely says YOU CAN TRUST ME AND MY DATA LOOK AT MY LABS and does reviews.  And then people trust him and these reviews in order to make large purchases.

 

Turns out, they shouldn't be using him for reviews, and they sure as hell shouldn't spend money on their recommendations since the daunting tasks of *checks notes* taking plastic off a mouse and turning off DLSS have them thoroughly stumped.

[whatsEJstandfor]

1 minute ago, kendirect said:

Steve has literally never been a good person, it's amazing how few people understand that.

Ad hominem deflection so you can avoid addressing any of the facts raised. Steve's character isn't relevant in any way, it's amazing how few people understand that.

[aka473]

1 minute ago, PandaSasquatch said:

Yeah, and words have meaning. Linus saying that "we have already agreed" does not mean "we have signed a settlement to reimburse Billet Labs."

 

Billet Labs had also already sent an email to LMG that included an estimate of it's value if that's in question.

Neither of those two things are true. The way you phrase the wording Linus uses is down right wrong. He said that they agreed on compensation, which implies reimbursement, when none of that was the case.

 

Billet Labs did not and still has not provided a true quote of value to LMG, per their own statements.

[rav007]

1 minute ago, jos said:

How many people here watch these videos for actual data other than when doing a purchase decision? And when doing purchase decision how many rely just on one source for decision? Linus tech tips is a tech entertainment channel. I enjoy watching it. And I will continue to do so. How many can deny they became pc enthusiast because of him? He is always good for industry. The auctioning off part was terrible on part of the LMG, but when a company put a sample onto a public outlet then the product and anything that can be learned is public knowledge not a secret anymore. Patents are there to protect. They can ask for compensation for making new prototype and for lossess in time. When sending a product for review they should have given a contract on how to handle things, if it is not publically released or someome should be there along with the product, I don't know if this was followed.

With labs they are positioning themselves into the data space, not just for entertainment. In that space the scrutiny is different because it goes from anecdotes and opinions to facts. Misrepresentation of facts ruins reputations and gets people fired. Its a tough switch for an entertainment channel to make into fact based content, but if they are going full bore, there is almost no margin for error. Errors are supposed to be an anomaly, not a trend.