What do we do now?

[Needfuldoer]

2 hours ago, Pepik said:

I am not saying that they need to employ a qualified HR person doing HR full time.  But it needs to be done well to avoid a lot of problems which stem from emplyees having problems I described above.

HR should be outside the reporting structure for the rest of the company, and they need a concrete code of conduct to enforce. Having a co-owner of the company or anyone's boss pull double duty as HR is a potential conflict of interest. Without a written code of conduct that's available to everyone and universally enforced, conflict resolution is purely up to HR's judgement. Nobody is perfectly objective, and those judgements can be taken personally (especially if some are "more equal" than others).

 

Without them, it's easy for a company like this to fall into a "frat club" atmosphere.  During rapid expansion, it's also possible for early hires to form a tight-knit  "in-group" who's buddy-buddy with the founder, and everyone who comes in later is an "out-group" who feels pressured to go along with whatever the in-group decides. (Not saying that's exactly what happened at LMG, but it's an easy pit to fall into.) 

  

2 hours ago, Pepik said:

There have been even some speculations about drug abuse of some people in LMG.

I heard people have been finding these on the set for years:

 

[phje]

5 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

HR should be outside the reporting structure for the rest of the company, and they need a concrete code of conduct to enforce. Having a co-owner of the company or anyone's boss pull double duty as HR is a potential conflict of interest. Without a written code of conduct that's available to everyone and universally enforced, conflict resolution is purely up to HR's judgement. Nobody is perfectly objective, and those judgements can be taken personally (especially if some are "more equal" than others).

 

Without them, it's easy for a company like this to fall into a "frat club" atmosphere.  During rapid expansion, it's also possible for early hires to form a tight-knit  "in-group" who's buddy-buddy with the founder, and everyone who comes in later is an "out-group" who feels pressured to go along with whatever the in-group decides. (Not saying that's exactly what happened at LMG, but it's an easy pit to fall into.) 

  

I heard people have been finding these on the set for years:

 

I Will say, it's a bit odd that they don't have an HR department - not a sudo HR department - but a real one with people who have real HR training. As Linus always tells us.. they are over 100 employees now.

[Woofer21]

16 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

I heard people have been finding these on the set for years:

ahhhhh good one

[Pepik]

54 minutes ago, CrabbyDadTech said:

... Luke going so far as to strike a "69" joke in an apology video.

SIX NINES is a measure of quality or availability, see here for example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability

 

[Skipple]

2 minutes ago, Pepik said:

SIX NINES is a measure of quality or availability, see here for example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability

 

I think most people are familiar with the concept. That doesn't mean he didn't crack a joke... 

He smirked and did finger guns to the camera. That's not a 69 joke? 

https://youtu.be/0cTpTMl8kFY?t=929

 

[Wintyr]

I know i gota to wonder about the ethics of a company when the owner jokes about people stealing stuff from work in all those tech upgrade videos.  not sure how AMD and Intel glossed over they were supporting a nonethical-ethical company

[Pepik]

44 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

....

I heard people have been finding these on the set for years:

 

Well, I saw Linus being EXTRAORDINARILLY twitchy in some videos. It was really weird. He may well be on some Arctic silver.

 

BTW being a drug addict does not mean you cannot function in society, as a company owner or director or as a parrent. You can control yourself pretty well. But some negative effects are unavoidable. 

[Godiwa]

21 minutes ago, Pepik said:

Well, I saw Linus being EXTRAORDINARILLY twitchy in some videos. It was really weird. He may well be on some Arctic silver.

 

BTW being a drug addict does not mean you cannot function in society, as a company owner or director or as a parrent. You can control yourself pretty well. But some negative effects are unavoidable. 

afaik he said he had ADHD... so him being extra twitchy wouldn't be unusual...

[naylor2006]

Tell you what though, surely this has been amazing for Gamers Nexus and their subs, its brought alot of attention to their channel and it all started mostly because labs made a sly dig.
 

[Pepik]

I also believe that the block manufacturer got enormous promotion "for free", they should not waste it.

[DaseinBot]

22 minutes ago, naylor2006 said:

Tell you what though, surely this has been amazing for Gamers Nexus and their subs, its brought alot of attention to their channel and it all started mostly because labs made a sly dig.
 

yeah youtube is now so boring without the daily ltt upload to watch with my dinner, i even started watching gn....

[Cid2k]

Not been a subscriber to either LTT or GN, but some things dont add up here. *disclaimer* the below is opinion only and not fact before getting flamed

 

 recently there seems to be a direct and indirect attack on LTT.  Is that due to its size ? value? id ask why?

 

is someone devaluing the company delibrately? do they have an poison pill or pills inside ? it did seem a good video by GN calling ltt out myabe too good?

 

this has caused a few trust issues as ive always used LTT as a source of good info. GN videos seem to rigid and straight.

 

Linus is not corporate guy small family business vs corporate is not good. LTT can still operate very small i used to work for a Domain registrar that had a one room office and 5 employees it regularly turned over millions

 

theres a bad mix here perhaps the focus on money has become a defence to the attacks on LTT.  Pump out videos to keep the wolves from the door because Linus is struggling to run the corporate side - and he was on to a looser hiring a corporate guy because of his background after all having links within the industry.

 

 

 

 

 

[Needfuldoer]

14 hours ago, Cid2k said:

recently there seems to be a direct and indirect attack on LTT.  Is that due to its size ? value? id ask why?

My take:

 

Steve pointed out a serious problem: quality was slipping in service of keeping the algorithm fed, but LMG kept plowing along anyway because viewer engagement said everything was "fine". The Internet decided this meant it was time to dogpile the tech tips man and nitpick every little misstep he's ever made, blowing relatively minor things completely out of proportion and twisting Linus into some kind of evil mastermind. That's mostly calmed down, now that more information about the Billet Labs water block and other related controversies has come out, and the Internet has moved on to its next shiny target.

 

A former employee who felt LMG was a toxic work environment decided it was time to go public with their experiences while LMG was in the news, perhaps because the blowback against them (undeserved or otherwise) wouldn't be as severe as it would have been if they did it on their own. I believe handing the investigation off to a third party is the correct way to handle these very serious allegations.

[AdmiralKird]

Even according to Madison's own statements about her employment, it sounds like LTT realized they brought on the wrong person fairly quickly. Someone made a high-risk, high-reward call to make her part of the company because she exhibited real unique talent. For a multitude of reasons there was a breakdown. In the vaguest terms it sounds like Madison mistook the content of the videos as what working at the company was like and was in for a shock when the underlying work environment didn't match that. Reciprocally, it seems like Madison was brought on under special circumstances and just placed into the rest of the team like a regular hire. She probably needed a mentor and a different type of focus to succeed but few if any companies would be willing to do that. On top of this, there may be things that are actually alarming regarding the behavior by some employees towards her. Most may be misunderstandings or misreads, but others might be deviant.

It's honestly impossible for LTT to honestly address the public about Madison's statements because even if there weren't legal reasons for avoiding explanations, LTT telling their side would just feature a lot of what would be considered "victim blaming" and just tarnish their reputation further. They are better examining it internally and just giving a bunch of PR speak about the matter. I do hope they figure out what happened and if any wrong-doing was committed that those individuals are punished appropriately.

[taterthotsalad]

The dude that called out HWUboxed and GN needs to be axed. Period. His claims in the video need to carry weight. It was reckless to say the least. 

[QBerto]

1 hour ago, naylor2006 said:

Tell you what though, surely this has been amazing for Gamers Nexus and their subs, its brought alot of attention to their channel and it all started mostly because labs made a sly dig.
 

I have to say, I'll not watch Tech Hagrid until some things get clarified, because as I said before, if he used any other channel to send this message and errors to Linus, surely would have been discarded, but some of his allegations were kinda biased and he just threw the bomb and run away to his next thing, that's not cool either, he doesn't deserve my watches xD 

[digitalscream]

3 hours ago, cornholio509 said:

Also it is a fact there is an external HR group that have been available to LMG staff .  The conflict resolution goes as follows .

• Take up issues caused with the staff member you have issues with resolve conflict . 
• If that doesnt work take it up with middle management . ( dont know the guidlines here for management on how to deal with things )
• IF that doesnt work take it up with the CEO and CFO . ( probably and most likely taken extremely seriously )
• If you want you can always go through the HR firm hired externally . ( Staff member is in trouble as HR will look at suspension and possibly even more drastic measures )

Now LMG have a path of least resistance to resolve problems . When you do meet someone that wont take claims seriously you take the next step . It seems maddison didnt go past middle management . Its plausible she didn't know better . Its also plausible she did know and just didn't see the point at the time . It leaves a lot of questions unanswered . I would say been a young company been unskilled in HR is not by any means of a stretch . THat is probably why linius hired and external HR company . 

 

The main problem, I think, is the first step. If the person Madison originally brought it up with had thought about it for a second, and realised that if somebody is being harassed by someone else then "take up issues caused with the staff member who caused them" isn't any kind of realistic prospect. And, because they at least gave her the impression that it was a prerequisite for the next step, it all stopped there. In the vast majority of cases, that initial step would need to be at least mediated by a third party - it has massive potential to make things far, far worse...before management even have a record of it.

[gergy008]

On 8/18/2023 at 1:42 PM, BrucaWayna said:

Can we safely assume that LTT is dead then? Can we at least return our LTT merch for a full refund? Including the northern lights desk mat?

How can you genuinely feel like you can back out of an agreement for sale of a product simply because you don't like who made the product anymore?

[gergy008]

4 hours ago, Pepik said:

There have been even some speculations about drug abuse of some people in LMG.

Sorry if you're quite young and this ruins life for you, but drugs are prevalent in EVERY job ever. There are no speaky clean jobs out there, fact.

[gergy008]

2 hours ago, phje said:

I Will say, it's a bit odd that they don't have an HR department - not a sudo HR department - but a real one with people who have real HR training. As Linus always tells us.. they are over 100 employees now.

They do.

[dodger007]

"What do we do next?"

 

Simple, own it.  Be yourselves that's what we came for, but be better where you can be and be humble when you screw it up.

 

Ensure that the Maddison issue is fully dealt with, for all parties. Make it clear to the current staff exactly what is expected and how the conflict resolution process works, assign mentors from different departments for the younger/less experienced staff.

 

Ensure all staff including Linus, know that the book stops with Terren. Linus cannot continue to hide behind the loveable rouge mask

 

All press releases and non wan show responses are properly vetted, not just rushed Forum Comment that potentially contain further errors/issues. A disclaimer within the wan show that Linus/Luke/Dan's comments don't necessarily represent LMG.

 

People giving tours are fully briefed!!

 

A review of and clearer access to LMG's policies regarding ethics/testing/ad or sponsorship placement within videos. With corrections being properly promoted even if its a webpage listing errors that's linked to in the comments with a reporting mechanism for anyone finding mistakes.

 

 

[cornholio509]

4 hours ago, CrabbyDadTech said:

It is also plausible that Linus has fostered a Tech Bro Frat House culture at LMG and didn't really see her as an equal. Look at his videos featuring women. Nearly universally it's to help them with something. Look at the number of sophomoric sex jokes that find their way into the "content" - Luke going so far as to strike a "69" joke in an apology video. Let's stop giving Linus an out. It's his baby, he is accountable.  

 

I am not giving anyone an out .  you say linus fostered a tech bro attitude in there . Is also entirely plausible linus knew nothing about this until maddison posted on X . No one has yet to offer proof so don't jump to conclusions . 

 

WHat are you trying to prove exactly with your statements about "helping women with tech" and "sex jokes" . 

 

Let's break it down here . First . Majority of women don't care how to build a pc or upgrade a laptop . They want the tech to work and that's about as far as their interests go .  Its also true of the tech industry on YouTube . Majority of the channels doing tech are male . Women are more interested in other things like beauty , health , pets and children entertainment .  That doesn't show any bias of any kind on Linus's behalf . Its just how different men and women are when it comes to interests  . 

 

Sex joke . Well that isn't a golden bullet for guilt either . I take it you never heard a bunch of women going off on each other with dirty jokes . Believe it or not they can be just as childish and sexist with their jokes as men can . 

 

Yes no one is happy with the video . The joke could have been left out . Honestly i only care for the main context of the video and they seem to be sticking to their word so far .   

 

There is way to many unanswered question from both sides to make any conclusion .  Everything at the moment is pure speculation or the product of other people's imaginations . Until the allegations are investigated and details published i wouldn't make any claims . Doing so could drag innocent parties into a fight that's not theirs .  

1 hour ago, digitalscream said:

The main problem, I think, is the first step. If the person Madison originally brought it up with had thought about it for a second, and realised that if somebody is being harassed by someone else then "take up issues caused with the staff member who caused them" isn't any kind of realistic prospect. And, because they at least gave her the impression that it was a prerequisite for the next step, it all stopped there. In the vast majority of cases, that initial step would need to be at least mediated by a third party - it has massive potential to make things far, far worse...before management even have a record of it.

Not really a problem . Its guidelines and not a set way of reporting . If maddison didn't take it up with the co worker because of the nature of the abuse and felt the company wouldn't do much internally she could have gone straight to the external HR company . She would have been amomums in the investigation initially if she went to the HR firm . After that who knows what would have happened .  

 

My point been they are option and not a set in stone way of doing it . 

 

[MarineGeek23]

2 hours ago, cornholio509 said:

Let's break it down here . First . Majority of women don't care how to build a pc or upgrade a laptop . They want the tech to work and that's about as far as their interests go . 

Truly spoken like a bro that would ignore a woman's sexual harassment claims. Well done, sir.

[Owsleygarcia95]

Just now, MarineGeek23 said:

Truly spoken like a bro that would ignore a woman's sexual harassment claims. Well done, sir.

I mean call it whatever you want but he's not wrong. I've met a lot of girls in my life. Never knew one that upgraded their ram, let alone built a pc. I'm sure they exist. But they are few and far between. Most tech nerds are guys. That's just the reality.

[Owsleygarcia95]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:42 AM, BrucaWayna said:

Can we safely assume that LTT is dead then? Can we at least return our LTT merch for a full refund? Including the northern lights desk mat?

Please try this and post results on the forum