Cancel Your Floatplane Subscription. Don't Buy Their Merch.

[ThousandBlade]

After more info came out via GN on their second video.
I'm on the fence about how to feel right now. While I'm am sympathetic of Linus being in this mess, mistakes happen, company growing too fast all those problems. tho I do feel like some of the hate he is recieving right now is uncalled for, he still did not handle this well at all.

What rubs me the wrong way was that he said he won't even address it on WANSHOW.

TBH this is big enough to warrant a dedicated video on their main channel about it, yet Linus only address some of the problems in this forum.

His main response didn't sit right with me when it first came out, and now with newer information about the timeline between LTT and BilletLabs, the optics just got a whole lot worse.

 

I'm not a subscriber of floatplane but I have spent thousands of dollars on lttstore.com

The outcome of this controversy will determine if I will continue to support them in the future. 

Things don't look too great for them in my mind right now, but I'm still open to and hoping for change.

[sometingrandom]

3 hours ago, geokilla said:

Since Linus only cares about money, the obvious thing to do is to cancel your Floatplane subscription. Also don't buy their merch. Who in their right mind is going to pay $250 USD or $70 USD for a backpack and screwdriver respectively?

People who care about quality. That's who.

[adm0n]

3 hours ago, TylerD321 said:

Just to play devils advocate here... What is the benefit of wanting LMG to fail? Linus already has a house, cars, etc. He has 250k in framework and probably many more investments elsewhere. LMG failing likely wouldn't hurt Linus that bad but would ruin some of his employees. 

 

Please keep in mind that I personally do not care about this controversy and have no opinion on whether GN or Linus is right. I also don't follow GN and have no intentions on stopping following LMG including my floatplane subscription.

I find it hard to believe that a big portion of people who generally like their content would wish them to fail now or for anyone there to lose their job. Much rather their intent is on leaving a mark, which might result in them taking these accusations seriously. "Hurting" them financially is just the lowest hanging fruit I guess.

 

[True Bob Ross]

3 hours ago, geokilla said:

Since Linus only cares about money, the obvious thing to do is to cancel your Floatplane subscription. Also don't buy their merch. Who in their right mind is going to pay $250 USD or $70 USD for a backpack and screwdriver respectively?

Those are completely reasonable and competitive for quality products.

[imreloadin]

2 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

@imreloadin

 

We were at 41.2K before this entire thing started.

 

We're down 1.7k so far
 

Almost down under the 39,000 mark now...

 

That's almost 2,200 unsubs since this mess started. Since they offer a $5 tier and a $10 tier that means they've lost between $11,000 and $22,000 a month in revenue from this fiasco, impressive.

[Hezkezl]

38 minutes ago, costafilh0 said:

Do not tell me what to do.

 

Would you like it if I told you to stop being a sheep and with the cancel culture because it doesn't help anyone, it just makes you look like an ignorant spoiled child?

That has nothing at all to do with 'cancel culture', stop using buzzwords you don't know the proper meaning to just because you think it's gonna be some sort of zinger or "gotcha"...

[DrHax34]

7 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

Almost down under the 39,000 mark now...

 

That's almost 2,200 unsubs since this mess started. Since they offer a $5 tier and a $10 tier that means they've lost between $11,000 and $22,000 a month in revenue from this fiasco, impressive.

If it wasn't gonna be a WAN show topic before, it's gonna be now! If it continues like this and Linus does not address it until Friday, they're gonna incur into big revenue losses.

 

I'm not sure we can keep blaming this on ADHD or not, Linus does not seem to learn on how to actually act when situations like these happens. Luke has demonstrated to have good opinions and so have multiple people around him. He needs to gather feedback, think on it and actually answer properly when this stuff happens.

 

Everyone can be hot headed, heck, even I have taken criticism as personal attacks before learning that was rooted in my ADHD, but Linus has a massive company now with multiple people working under it. Either he or Tarran must give a proper thought-out response and a plan of action.

[SashaG239]

The reactions some people are having are amazing. Do I agree with what LTT did and the response Linus gave to Steve's video? No. Is there a need to go full bat shit and call for cancelation? Hell No.

 

Even though it may not seem like it, there can be a middle ground. Where you can be upset, but also understand you're dealing with other humans, and ones you most probably like and enjoy watching. So put on your big boy/girl/other pants and give everyone a hot minute to breath. Maybe go play a game on that fancy pc you built.

[nike12000]

4 hours ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Extreme much.  Geez, kneejerk reactions. 

Not at all Linus himself has said people should vote with their wallets, if you are upset about Linus reaction esp in the most recent gn video that is exactly how we should respond. We do NOT need to ridicule or harass we need to pull money / stop buying and Linus will either take responsibility or he will double down and have to deal. 

[Knopfjim]

4 hours ago, Tumwum said:

You're right.  The response was not ideal but, at least on my end, I'm not one to pick up a pitchfork and ruin someone because of a poorly thought response.  I think, LTT should see that this is a bigger issue than they think it is and take the time to reflect and respond with a better, more thought out message.

 

I may be giving them too much credit, but I do suspect they're level-headed people who, with time, will come to the right mindset. 

Why would I?? 
Content is good, screwdriver is great.

and 5$ a month?!? 
 

These hate comments are so sad. 

[andreimj]

Bro, who hurt you? WTF is wrong with you people?

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

2 minutes ago, nike12000 said:

Not at all Linus himself has said people should vote with their wallets, if you are upset about Linus reaction esp in the most recent gn video that is exactly how we should respond. We do NOT need to ridicule or harass we need to pull money / stop buying and Linus will either take responsibility or he will double down and have to deal. 

Linus =/= Linus Media Group.

 

This is a distinction that Steve made, however alot of the new "activists" accounts can't seem to reconcile with.

 

Linus is the frontman, but the other 100+ arent exactly involved in this.

 

Peoples behaviour in this debacle highlights their age, business understanding, and maturity. 

 

Let start with your relationship with Linus, LTT, LMG and position within the community will dictate whether you react emotionally or not.  

 

To be crude, alot of the posts read like "Big greedy youtube boss did  bad thing, now me mad".  I have been watching LTT since 2011, you get to understand a personality in this time, you also get to see how he has reacted to multiple difficult conversations and situations, e.g. Dennis' visa, bad sponsors, good sponsors, losing access to 30/40% of hia revenue, female staff members, salary disclosures, getting his wife to work with him etc....

 

Linus has a long track record which enables objective thinking.  So yes, knee jerk reaction

[N0ps32]

I have stopped my floatplane subscription for now. The testing inaccuracies I can live with as I watch mostly for entertainment anyway, but the way the Billet Labs situation was handled is disgusting. Not being responsive in communicating and having a messed up logistics process where something accidentally gets sold is one thing and something that can happen at scale even if it's not ideal. But to then release a statement where you CLEARLY try and manipulate the reader into thinking that the situation had been resolved before the Video dropped in order to make yourself look better is completely unacceptable.

  

It's mindblowing to me that after so many PR nightmares Linus still refuses to use some kind of professional to help him write and word his responses. This could have been a nothing burger with no lost community trust but Linus turns around and just refuses to read the room and releases a statement like that. They need to figure out how to act in a professional manner ASAP because with that kind of size you cannot continue operating like a 5 man shop.

[imreloadin]

15 minutes ago, SashaG239 said:

The reactions some people are having are amazing. Do I agree with what LTT did and the response Linus gave to Steve's video? No. Is there a need to go full bat shit and call for cancelation? Hell No.

Nobody is wishing LMG to fail as a company. Linus literally said that what he cares about the most is *money*. What this means is that in order for the audience, meaning his employers, to voice their displeasure with how things are being run we have to do so with our money. It's insane to think that everyone will unsub and stop watching and buying merch.

 

What will happen is one of two things. Option one being that it gets to the point where enough people have withheld their money that it forces LMG management to finally take responsibility and communicate the changes they're making to address the issues. If those measures are agreeable to the viewers then they will go back to supporting LMG, if not then it's back to the drawing board for them. Option two is that not enough people stop buy things and LMG just carries on business like usual. This is pretty basic business. What people want is for LMG to finally go "Wow, look a those numbers. Maybe we handled this poorly and should make some changes".

 

21 minutes ago, SashaG239 said:

Even though it may not seem like it, there can be a middle ground. Where you can be upset, but also understand you're dealing with other humans, and ones you most probably like and enjoy watching.

What I described above *IS* the middle ground. Also, regarding your comment about the fact we're dealing with other humans, I agree. From their own words they are being waaaay overworked, having to produce 25 videos a week. They (meaning the writers, personalities, editors, and other production staff) know that their content would be superior if they were allowed time to actually give it the effort needed instead of having to pump things out like they have been doing. They know that the quality itself is what suffers because of this and have voiced those concerns themselves.

 

24 minutes ago, SashaG239 said:

So put on your big boy/girl/other pants

A word of advice. Don't be condescending when trying to get your point across, it ultimately hurts your message.

[Nathat23]

How is the subscriber count calculated? If you cancel a subscription, then it just means memberships ends before the next billing cycle so you would still count in the numbers surely. The decrease may be explained since 1 month ago was a Friday where Linus was getting people to join for LTX content and those people don't want a continued subscription.

[Synchor]

15 minutes ago, codemak said:

No sorry I just disagree with your responses to my critique.

 

LTT is a great company. They do a lot of good, much more than any bad.  By your standards, any company working with them are just as egregious and money grubbing as you claim LTT to be due to their association through youtube media, sending them their products, or otherwise (this is you Billet Labs.  What a way to get some free press.  Won't be buying your products).  You're being hypocrites.

 

Regardless, I do not believe all Linus cares about for LTT are bottom dollar profits.  He has always come off as pretty cheap and in most practice really cares about the value of a product when representing its cost to buy it. 

 

Y'all sound like entitled virtue signal Andy's.  I say that with kindness because I know that for some of you it comes from a place of great care about the community.  However, I think your reactions are not justified whatsoever.

Breaching a contract by refusing to return a one-of-a-kind prototype is ground for a LAWSUIT; personally, what Billet Labs did is EXTREMELY professional given the situation. If I was in a similar position, any remaining funds I had would be going to lawyers, not attempting to build another prototype for their community. The amount of good a company does IN NO absolves or excuses ANY of the behavior demonstrated by Linus. Being a good company, and I know it's hard to forget with megacorps being evil, is THE BARE MINIMUM.

[Eddo89]

5 hours ago, dimforest said:

This topic will likely be locked/deleted but I want to make sure anybody reading this understands LMG is more than just Linus. If you want to buy the products, buy the products. If you want to still consume their content, do so. There are 100+ other non-Linus people working for LMG that likely are not part of the core issues being addressed right now.

And those employees can likely find work elsewhere too if needed, I would say any long time employees of LMG can quite easily find work in the Youtube space given how much content they produce and have access and knowledge to most of the latest filming tech.

 

If the company needs restructuring and let go of employees, you would hope they get a proper severance packages. Merch and subscription adds to the coffers of the big boss, is not like the employees' pay are dependent on it. 

[UTiii]

Seems the snakes are out

[batezippi]

5 hours ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Extreme much.  Geez, kneejerk reactions. 

Linus always taught us to vote with our wallets.. that is all that is happening. No more lttstore purchases. FP I cancelled months ago.

[batezippi]

5 hours ago, dimforest said:

This topic will likely be locked/deleted but I want to make sure anybody reading this understands LMG is more than just Linus. If you want to buy the products, buy the products. If you want to still consume their content, do so. There are 100+ other non-Linus people working for LMG that likely are not part of the core issues being addressed right now.

LMG is entirely Linus. No one else has money put into it (as far as we know). Everyone else is just a salary employee. It is not a public company. Any dollar lost OR earned goes directly into Linus' pocket. If a sale of LMG happens all money would go to Linus.

Do you consider the poor employees at Intel when you purchase an AMD CPU?

[batezippi]

5 hours ago, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Considering the size of the LTT community, this is barely a drop in the ocean. 

 

People like yourself may want LTT to fail, but the community wont suddenly disappear

I agree. In order for this to be a significant lesson, the number would need to drastically drop. Most people don't want LMG to fail, quite the opposite. As someone who has spent hundreds of dollars with LMG, I hope they change.

[cajjpants]

5 hours ago, Cash said:

Linus is clearly very bad at taking constructive criticism, but he really just needs to 'get good'.

 This is the crux of it. The content has been sloppy for a little bit just because of the pure volume, that’s whatever.

 

Lying about this whole thing, especially after the trust me bro moment, and a response inline with the narcissists prayer is really starting to show a pattern. 
 

if this was a tech company we’d be advised to avoid, so I’m going to do as much. Vote with my wallet, so to speak. 

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, imreloadin said:

Yep, and considering that the lowest subscription level is $5 that is quite the chunk of change...

Im on the $3 sub. Cause Im OG. 

[BondiBlue]

2 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Im on the $3 sub. Cause Im OG. 

Same here. When did you sign up for Floatplane?

[LTTinthegravetonight]

6 hours ago, geokilla said:

Since Linus only cares about money, the obvious thing to do is to cancel your Floatplane subscription. Also don't buy their merch. Who in their right mind is going to pay $250 USD or $70 USD for a backpack and screwdriver respectively?

Note how it's mostly all parasocial users with hundreds of posts that rushes in to defend the company/Linus at the very notion to stop supporting their bad practices.

Linus already said it - They (Linus, LMG) should be held accountable. This is how you do it. Time to stop riding them, they are not your friends.