Madison reveals experiences working at LMG

[yoc]

This is serious and needs to addressed.
 

[NavyEmt]

What is over worked? I doubt LMG is running a sweatshop. 

[Taf the Ghost]

7 minutes ago, iAxX said:

Again, you're the person that doesn't understand social media. 

 

If LMG ignores her she wins
If LMG sues her she wins in the court of public opinion

If LMG dismisses her complaints she wins

 

No matter what happens, this was a grand master level play by her. She's been holding onto this for years. 

You crush them, force them to capitulate and issue a renouncement. You don't come away cleanly (that's the power of Asymmetric Social Attack Vectors), but it's entirely possible to weather the storm and come out on top.

 

It just requires a level of clinical response to the situation.

[Soukamoshirenai]

Not a single name yet, this has less ground than Naomi Wu's allegations.

[JoshuaScholar]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Dornon said:

Wow, I'm blown away by the responses in this thread. This is some pretty damning information that backs up other allegations and many of the responses are "haha gen z needs to grow up". Linus' own statements about "unless they take us to court, we didn't do anything wrong haha" statements back this up, but I guess I'm not surprised a lot of this community is neckbeards like the management. Treating people like shit is not "gen z whining", but I guess I'm not surprised by a bunch of people with zero social skills or awareness.

 

You can watch the videos LTT posted and see how poorly Linus treats employees and covers it up with a "haha just kidding". Several times, comments Linus and other people on camera have made inappropriate and rude to other staff, especially those "still on probation".

 

But of course, this forum is full of people that will fight tooth and nail for the tiny $100M "startup" that can do no wrong.

 

Between all the bs this week, Linus' piss poor response, this and the community's response, I'm done. I'm unsubscribing from everything and not recommending LTT or LMG videos anymore. At the start of this, I had hope it could turn around, but LMG and especially Linus have dug themselves such a hole, there's no remedying it anymore. Linus has shown how much of a terrible person he is and at this point, if he changes, it's because of money, not because he cares at all.

 

 

I don't think that 90% of Linus ribbing employees in videos is real.  Men rib each other.  That part is ok.  Where I really saw signs of abuse of power was when Linus told the audience that there's a rule against the audience knowing the name of a newer hire.  That new hires are on probation.  Ouch.  Abusive stuff.

 

A few things:

 

I don't think the Billet story was such a big deal.

 

Linus had a lapse of judgement, and the company was disorganized, everyone will forget it. He's not in charge anymore etc.

 

And maybe Steve managed to put pressure on them to make more accurate videos. That's a GOOD thing.

 

But this is a problem. It's a media group, their appeal is mostly that people have parasocial relationships with them. People LIKE them. Think of them as friends.

 

But it sounds like upper management was limitlessly cruel and allowed their employees to follow suit.

 

It's un-Canadian!

 

And that's not even touching the sexual harassment that wasn't dealt with either.

 

Ouch.

 

Men often treat young women amazingly badly. I know a few who have the worst attitudes you can imagine.  And that's not even counting the nerds who came on to her. I don't understand men and I'm a man myself!  And I don't think we don't want to face how common it is. 

 

This story will make people very uncomfortable.

[hassam222]

Why was LMG hiring people that are 18 years old? That was a disaster waiting to happen. Gender aside, there are going to be massive power imbalances from hiring people fresh out of highschool to a job like that.

[iAxX]

Just now, Taf the Ghost said:

You crush them, force them to capitulate and issue a renouncement. You don't come away cleanly (that's the power of Asymmetric Social Attack Vectors), but it's entirely possible to weather the storm and come out on top.

 

It just requires a level of clinical response to the situation.

"I'm being pressured by Linus's lawyers to delete my tweets" 

I don't think you realize how unfathomably horrible that would look and the reaction the community here and the audience outside would have over something like this, which I guarantee you they will hear when every single outlet on YT covers it. 

[NavyEmt]

Just now, Taf the Ghost said:

You crush them, force them to capitulate and issue a renouncement. You don't come away cleanly (that's the power of Asymmetric Social Attack Vectors), but it's entirely possible to weather the storm and come out on top.

 

It just requires a level of clinical response to the situation.

They have to make a tactical response, probably with a group of women talking about how it is not a toxic environment.

[Zato80]

Bad look for Linus and LMG, not good at all.

 

This compounded with the Billet Labs fiasco and they lies told in the response to the GN video (they hadn't agreed compensation and they only reached out after the video) needs to be a rude awakening for Linus and LMG.

 

His usual deflect, dismiss and acting the victim himself ain't going to cut it.

[Riccardo Cagnasso]

8 minutes ago, Godrick said:

Dark days for LTT, what's going on over there...

 

Full read here fyi: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html

updates, she now complains about:

 

- linus being mad about some woman on twitter that has nothing to do with her

- they being late installing new RAM on her computer

- not buying her a notebook

[Soukamoshirenai]

7 minutes ago, hassam222 said:

Why was LMG hiring people that are 18 years old? That was a disaster waiting to happen. Gender aside, there are going to be massive power imbalances from hiring people fresh out of highschool to a job like that.

Edit: She applied herself knowing what the terms were but was hired without her knowing. 

[Polderviking]

1 minute ago, NavyEmt said:

What is over worked? I doubt LMG is running a sweatshop. 

Sweatshop might be a bit of a stretch, but in their own "what it's like working for ltt" bit that has been quoted to death in the Gamers Nexus topic there are a lot of complaints about a lack of time for quality.

It's pretty obvious there's a work pressure issue.

[Super_goose_007]

That is why this "we don't need a union" thing is so off-putting. Maybe there's a reason they exist? This is so obviously the "everybody is a good guy" syndrome, so how could my staff ever suffer some injustices? A union has representatives, to where you go to get help, without getting the management involved. It's not a personal thing, it is a system made to follow certain regulations and procedures so that there is no room for "hurt feelings" or "wait, how can I do wrong, as I am the good guy?". 

 

An employee is at such a disadvantage to the employer, that's why there are unions, so the staff can have their wishes/demands/questions discussed in a safe setting, without needing to be singled out as "a bad apple" by the management. That's why unions work. 

[joaopt]

Just now, taekononomiya said:

Pretty sure she applied herself and maybe lied about something there? Gotta find the video again.

 

she said she was wired without her knowing, but she did applied. A complete mess

[NavyEmt]

Just now, taekononomiya said:

Pretty sure she applied herself and maybe lied about something there? Gotta find the video again.

I thought her hiring had something to do with the PC upgrade she won. I remember her being a fan fave and Linus talking about her on wan show.

[Drazil100]

3 minutes ago, RedRound2 said:

When the video broked out from GN, I initially defended LMG and Linus. Mistakes happen. Its alright and Linus did say (although saltly) that they weregoing to fix things and implied that billet labs incident was already being taken care of.

 

But, after reading billet labs response that they only got intimation about all these things after GN broke out with the piece, and if what Madison wrote here is true, there is really no justification for Linus or LMG as a company. I cannot stand by them anymore and this has honestly become heartbreaking and its made made me mad. If everything Madison has said is true (which we will need other employees to testify) then for the sake of my morales I cannot support LMG and Linus in any capacity anymore

I still overall believe that Linus is a good guy. I have seen enough of his hot takes on WAN that I feel I understand him pretty well. After everything in the past couple days I am definitely second guessing myself and will be reevaluating my opinion of him. That said what he has created is definitely a monster and it's no wonder he stepped down. If all of this is true then he had far less control than I think even he was aware of. I actually would not be surprised if he was unaware of any of this or believed the wrong person in what ultimately would have been an internal he said she said between her and the management reporting on her.

Really hope Terren can turn things around and implement proper HR and stuff so that if this is true it NEVER happens again.

[silentdragon95]

I... am somehow not very surprised. Which is really bad.

 

The time crunch sucks and it is very obvious that this is an ongoing issue at LMG and has been for years. It is also the root cause for the current controversy around the Billet Labs waterblock and the general decline in video quality. However, it is clear that this was not the main reason why Madison quit.

 

The other accusations however are extremely serious and have to get addressed in a satisfactory manner, except this time I have honestly no idea how LMG could even do that at this point. I have cancelled my Floatplane subscription for the time being and will not be purchasing the LTT x Noctua screwdriver, even though I was really looking forward to that one since it is actually an amazing product and I also really like Noctua and their products. However, I believe that at this point it would be best for them to cancel or at least pause this partnership. LMG and Linus himself as the public face and majority shareholder of LMG clearly have a lot of very serious issues to figure out at the moment and I am rapidly losing faith in their ability to do so. Which really sucks, because LMG and especially labs could have provided amazing resources to consumers.

 

I do not believe that Linus is a bad person. It's not like he needed to throw enormous amounts of money at Labs and testing equipment, since clearly that doesn't seem to be necessary for LTT videos to get lots of views. Linus has however clearly lost control of what he created and possibly of himself.

[RedRound2]

6 minutes ago, JoshuaScholar said:

I don't think the Billet story was such a big deal.

It wasn't a big deal because Linus claimed that there was already an undergoing conversation about compensating them for their loss.

 

But, that seems to have been a bold-faced lie, because Billet labs said that they only received communication from LMG after the GN story came out. That is not what he said in his reply initially. Had he said the fact that he was unaware about it and he was immediately going to rectify it, no one would be mad. But he LIED. That is the problem. He skewed the situation to make it look less negative for him. You cannot trust a person like that anymore.

 

The fact that LMG as whole has been quiet and hasn't released a scheduled video itself speaks volumes about what is going on internally. 

[RoseLuck462]

I hope GN releases another video to address Madison’s experience

As well as a vid from Louis Rossmann

 

Like, jfc, how irresponsible and shitty could Linus be? He needs to be order a leave of absence by the new CEO among many overhauls to staffing and company practices.

[HenrySalayne]

4 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

Listed a lot of things, a number which doesn't help her position. She has an obvious issue over the contract and everything around that, but she also has admitted to being in such bad general mental health that she stabbed herself to go to the ER. She clearly was not of "sound mind" for a chunk of her time at LMG, which puts everything they did into a very different context.  It also makes her an "unreliable narrator" in the public discussion.

 

What you don't do is make declarative statements about violation of BC law in the middle of complaining about the fact you had regularly communication issues with staff and management.   This is an absolute mess, but LMG will basically not comment except maybe to deny any wrongdoing. 

This is the worst take.

 

There is a person being mobbed at work to the point that they harm themselves.

Cause and effect.

But you think it is proof that the person is generally untrustworthy and has "not a sound mind". Really?!?

 

Nobody here has any insight about this situation. So you can express your feeling, but second hand allegations and accusations just because you read something on Twitter or watched a LTT video is completely misplaced and inappropriate.

 

[Ru1Sous4]

2 hours ago, Riccardo Cagnasso said:

So let's recap.

 

- people in the management criticize the quality of her work, as they should be since it's their job

- she doesn't like it and starts complaining about her superiors

- they point out that their management is made up of accomplished professionals and she's a newbie that could be fired anytime

- she gets offended at the fact that they didn't fire all the senior management because she was complaining

- she alleges that she was "inappropriately grabbed" whatever it means

- she's perplexed by the fact that LTT cares about what public faces put in the video and weather they will stick with the brand

So let's recap.

 

a techbro environment with pervasive misogyny/micro-agressions and slurs/managers exploiting power dynamics, sexual harassment and a subsequent refusal to take assault cases seriously, extreme work crunch, blatant lying about the freedom Madison would have for her Twitch/YT stuff.

[joaopt]

i think it's just sad no one of the co-workers that witness this crap come forward to back her up. I know everybody has to pay the bills, but someone was seriously suffering and for real hurt herself and it could have ended much worst.

[strajk-]

18 minutes ago, iAxX said:

If LMG sues her she wins in the court of public opinion

Wrong, it is always innocent until proven guilty, that point is obviously an if-else case, depending on how the Lawsuit develops one side or the other will win the public opinion, most recently see the lawsuit involving Amber Heard and Johnny Depp.

 

If people draw conclusions of a court case before it is concluded, their opinion is automatically irrelevant and they should be disregarded for anything in any topic ever.

[JoshuaScholar]

When I first read her tweets I didn't notice that she said upper management was limitlessly cruel, not just employees.

 

Suddenly I'm seeing this as a class thing.  It might not have just been MEN who were abusive.

[Drazil100]

3 minutes ago, RedRound2 said:

It wasn't a big deal because Linus claimed that there was already an undergoing conversation about compensating them for their loss.

 

But, that seems to have been a bold-faced lie, because Billet labs said that they only received communication from LMG after the GN story came out. That is not what he said in his reply initially. Had he said the fact that he was unaware about it and he was immediately going to rectify it, no one would be mad. But he LIED. That is the problem. He skewed the situation to make it look less negative for him. You cannot trust a person like that anymore.

 

The fact that LMG as whole has been quiet and hasn't released a scheduled video itself speaks volumes about what is going on internally. 

While this is true, Billet has all the PR power right now. If they wanted to they could hound LMG much harder than they did and the community would not only let them but would support them and repeat what they say back at LMG. Right now it seems that Billet Labs is about as happy as they can be with how LMG is handling the situation as evident by this post.

As far as I am concerned that situation is resolved until we hear something about Linus not sending the money or something.

The Madison situation is far more troubling IMO.