Constructive feedback/ideas for Linus and LMG

[merch22]

I am completely new to this forum, English is not my first language and I would probably not be speaking up if not for this "incident", the reason being that I was happy with what LTT had to offer so far. They are not theoretical idols.

I think I have some understanding of what's going on now (I have difficulty documenting long sentences in English, but reading and listening are not a problem).

LTT must change, I see this as an opportunity for LTT to become more competitive. If it survives without going in the wrong direction.

Let me offer a few observations and perspectives here.

 

The output of productions, has to drop temporarily, not because they are not competent enough, but because they are having problems optimizing their processes in the process of growth.

Let's be honest, a ”YouTube company” has over 100 employees? They are on the cutting edge of the industry, no one is better qualified to manage this organization.

This organization has come to this point in a patchwork, and that too in a very short time.

I'm no expert on organization building, and I can only hope that they will produce good results. And I only want to see results.

 

Work environment aside (whether one is in heaven or hell is subjective, the reality is often somewhere in the middle) one thing that would be an improvement would be clarification of responsibilities.

100 people is a lot, but clearly less than the organizations I've been a part of,  and we are systematically pursuing a chain-of-command.

 

Regarding the production side of the story,LAB need to be utilized more, It's not everyone's bible or archive, it's a support role for the entire organizations.

They may be busy, but they should give top priority to LMT videos, both communication and daters.  my feeling is, what is LAB doing?

I feel that for some reason LTT's main channel overlaps with shortcircuit.

LAB has the most optimal role in the power they have.

Independent channel under LMG with the most datadriving contents.Sounds boring, but I have a feeling someone is demanding it.

 

So this is what I think the future.

LTT:Main channel, Linus is in charge, which is a big project or series and interesting hardware that the public can't experience, such as Linus's House, Tech Upgrade, Corporate Tour, etc.The best channel to make you say wow or provide a laugh.

LAB:Find some one in charge. The most cruel review channels provide users with data that no one can complain about, and are feared by companies. metal to metal comparison, We don't need kindness for the weak.

SC:Unboxing channel. Get the spac right PLZ,At the same time, it's not a bad channel to embody the employee hobby to the fullest. Point the camera at more employees maybe. No need to make it less personal opinions. But lets get date right.

 

Other channel is fine now.

[Rex Hite]

LTT/LMG/Labs should stop pretending they are doing serious work for serious people. They should frame their content in the context of 'fun' and 'toys', (which they often do), but there should be an audio and written disclaimer as part of the presentation.  If their audience and critics still fail to grasp this, then that would be the audience and critics failure, not Linus and the team. Given the most common, in depth, subject matter for LTT, (maximising gaming performance or enjoyment through hardware), a disclaimer shouldn't be required. But apparently it is.

[Cooldoe]

15 hours ago, Rex Hite said:

LTT/LMG/Labs should stop pretending they are doing serious work for serious people. They should frame their content in the context of 'fun' and 'toys', (which they often do), but there should be an audio and written disclaimer as part of the presentation.  If their audience and critics still fail to grasp this, then that would be the audience and critics failure, not Linus and the team. Given the most common, in depth, subject matter for LTT, (maximising gaming performance or enjoyment through hardware), a disclaimer shouldn't be required. But apparently it is.

I think they did tried to do that

By separating short circuit with LTT where review and unboxing is separated. But still some people think short circuit video is a review.

 

I think they have done so much review that the way they are doing unboxing also mimic a review

[smcoakley]

I think one of the problems with Labs data right now is they are still working on getting proper workflows for Labs established and it isn't quite there yet. As Linus commented somewhere (probably WAN at one point), others in the industry have commented that it seems like Labs is progressing quite quickly, but to businesses "quite quickly" is 2 years instead of 4. But to viewers who are expecting Labs to do something feels like glacially slow. Maybe there's some internal and external pressure to try and incorporate Labs data into videos prematurely? Or maybe they're just so excited about Labs that they can't wait?

[smcoakley]

2 hours ago, Cooldoe said:

But still some people think short circuit video is a review.

I mean I think they did this to themselves. Short Circuit "first look" videos seem to have been getting longer in the past year and more "review-like" so I can understand the viewer confusion there. Personally it seems like an odd strategy to me, but maybe they're trying to turn Short Circuit into a more general review channel, whereas the main LTT channel is more focused on projects and research around products.

[Cooldoe]

33 minutes ago, smcoakley said:

I mean I think they did this to themselves. Short Circuit "first look" videos seem to have been getting longer in the past year and more "review-like" so I can understand the viewer confusion there. Personally it seems like an odd strategy to me, but maybe they're trying to turn Short Circuit into a more general review channel, whereas the main LTT channel is more focused on projects and research around products.

I agree that is why it should be clearer in their messaging what is a review and what is not a review

[Lebon14]

On 8/21/2023 at 5:58 AM, mMontana said:

@Lebon14 I think that that JankMeter could be easily sent out of rails when most prominent host won't accept the script during filming...

 

I mean: look the billet lab block test!

Everything went close to sideways, but the video got anyway edited, verified and published.

 

If I were to have rated that video, it would have been a 3. It was scripted and planned but not very serious. But also data started to play a role. What we don't know (at least I don't) is, what was Billet's goal? For them to try it out? If it was just that, a 3 is a max in seriousness.

 

Anyways, the guidleine I wrote were just my ideas on how I would use it. That's why I ended my post with "anything I described above shouldn't be used as-is by LMG."

 

It could be used and be used seriously. But I guess people don't see my post as serious anyway...

[mMontana]

Does mr Sebastian accept a "no" as a serious answers.

I'd bet for "not that often". Or he's being conviced, otherwise "Full Linus" is the gear that engages.

[Zoopera]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:38 AM, Clasmir said:

Personally, I like the fun aspect that Linus and everyone else brings. 

I watch YouTube channels like LMG for two reasons:

 

• To have some distracting fun (yep Linus is that!)
• To learn something new (maybe) about some new tech.

 

If I really really want to know something tech wise and be certain that its the truth... I have to confess that I will slog through Tech Jesus content.  I am HOPEFUL that the new LMG LAB work will give me fun AND some serious tech data. I'm very excited to see power supply details. Yes I'm that kind of nerd.

 

 

My go to channels are LMG, GN and J2C. They all bring different views.

[HenrySalayne]

The week is over. What I expect today:

- a mission statement explicitly wording their goals, principles and rules of operation

- the implementation of quality control measures

- update on measures to make the workspace more friendly and including regarding Madison's allegations

- maybe some restructuring

- maybe new schedules for videos

[mMontana]

The only message I think will be clearly stated is "it'l take some time to adjust".

[Guest]

Just now, mMontana said:

The only message I think will be clearly stated is "it'l take some time to adjust".

Which is 100% valid. LMG is a big ship and these things will take time to get right. They will still make mistakes along the way, which is normal. Despite that there will be a group of people nit picking every single thing and pointing out every mistake, big, or small and present it as "see they didn't change, they lied."

[CrabbyDadTech]

There needs to be a massive cultural change and even then, I can't overlook the issues Madison is reporting. That is inexcusable. Anyone even remotely close to that situation needs to be removed. 

 

To re brand, they need to stop talking about LMG and focus on the content people care about (tech). The WAN show became this whole, let's talk about ourselves show and it was super off putting. They need to lose the sophomoric humor that caters to the lowest common denominator of tech enthusiasts. They should expect the community to grow up. I hate to say this because it's jobs, but if I were running LMG, I'd take a hard look at cutting it down by a solid margin. It's gotten too large for them to manage and what has happened is the content has not only suffered from a quality of quality and accuracy, but it has also lost that great start up, I'm supporting this guy or gal on YouTube feel... Now LMG is just any other big media company and to me that hurts them because they are no longer relatable. I don't see LMG as reporting for me anymore, I see them more as a company that is supporting multiple sponsors and corporate interests. It wasn't always that way, A dozen or so years ago, Linus was an innovator that represented the common tech nerd, but today that kid is gone. Finally, I'd take Linus off the air. He is strictly behind the scenes with a quarterly guest appearance perhaps. His emotional investment and his growing ego are toxic. The less he is on camera the better for LMG going forward. 

[smcoakley]

The amount of massive restructuring that can happen within a week for a moderately-sized company is very low. Anyone expecting some kind of report today listing a massive number of changes will be disappointed. Its just not physically possible.

1 hour ago, CrabbyDadTech said:

Finally, I'd take Linus off the air.

Worst suggestion. Their views would tank. His name is on the freaking channel. Besides, its (partially) his company, and being in front of the camera is something he wants to do. And just because he's eager to jump the gun and take all the blame on himself (or interpret it as targeting him) doesn't mean he's actually the singular one at fault. I'm sure there's plenty of fault to go around, with Linus being responsible for just a portion of it.

 

My advice would be own up to mistakes, grow from it, and move on. Not throw in the towel, pull people from their positions, etc. (Except in case of sexual harassment, that's a different issue.)

1 hour ago, CrabbyDadTech said:

His emotional investment and his growing ego are toxic.

Emotional investment is normal and good. We don't want emotional robots delivering us carefully-curated, corporate sanitized videos. And I don't know where the "ego" comments all come from. To me it seems like Linus' ego is the same slightly-above-average size that its always been.

 

My advice is don't take this community response as a request to change your videos into some kind of sanitized, pristine and dry content devoid of humor or emotion. If I want that kind of content I'll go read some whitepapers.

[Rex Hite]

Since LTT/LMG is in the publicity business it means the audience is often invited to see how the sausages are made. This is intended to keep things engaging and informal. But like with programming, there needs to be an abstraction layer to protect the valuable and vulnerable parts.

 

 

[mMontana]

3 hours ago, smcoakley said:

To me it seems like Linus' ego is the same slightly-above-average size that its always been.

I'd took the word "slightly" with a pinch of salt. Big like Himalaya.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, smcoakley said:

The amount of massive restructuring that can happen within a week for a moderately-sized company is very low. Anyone expecting some kind of report today listing a massive number of changes will be disappointed. Its just not physically possible.

I agree, the only thing I'll say in this regard is they could show case their plans and what they want the future to be. Obviously the understanding is that this will take time, but if they showcased a roadmap or so to speak, then at least people can have a glimpse of what their plans will be going forward.

 

3 hours ago, smcoakley said:

My advice is don't take this community response as a request to change your videos into some kind of sanitized, pristine and dry content devoid of humor or emotion. If I want that kind of content I'll go read some whitepapers.

 I agree with this as well.

 

I don't think anyone wants them to become boring. People will still expect the fun, janky videos they are known for... However, I think people just want certain expectations set. For example, if its suppose to be a fun video (ie: some random  ridiculous mod, the AMD tech upgrade, etc...) those are intended to be fun videos. If they are doing an actual review/testing video then it needs to be more serious with accurate data. So they don't need to stop the fun, just have the proper expextations depending on the type of video they are making.

[MikeD8791]

I hopped on the forum today to see if there was an update on content releases and stumbled upon this thread.

 

I have a little constructive feedback, and I'm saying this as someone who spent the time from his teens to his thirties in video production (back in the cable access and early YouTube days):  LMG, I love your content, but it's time to do a bit of growing up.

I don't mean that you need to stop being light hearted and funny because that is welcome and needed.  I mean this in the same way that a person finds things funny in their teens and early twenties that they look back on in their mid thirties and early forties (damn I'm old) and cringe.  It's time to stop the "nice" every time someone says 69, it's time to stop the double entendres, and it's unfortunately time to be a little more mature.

 

Nobody ever WANTS to grow up, it just sort of happens while you're doing other stuff.  Still keep being you, still keep things humorous when you can, but it's time to retire the "dick and fart" jokes and the like.  You're good, intelligent people, and you can still produce fun content without it.  When I was a video producer, there were times I could let people run wild and there were times I used to need to rein in people on productions based on what we were doing and who our audience was.  It's time for you to do this so you can move on in a positive direction.

Lastly, I know you love to say to your viewers "hey guys, look at what we're working on next," and we love to see that and love the enthusiasm.  But maybe it's time to dial that back a bit too and keep things behind the curtain until they're at "beta testing" levels instead of "sketch on a napkin levels" like was done with the lab.  It's cool to tell us what ideas are in the works, and maybe even leak some merch every now and then, but for all of us, and most importantly all of you, keep the big stuff under wraps until it's far enough along that it's at a good point to show us.

I don't mean this as a dig at Linus, but stepping aside as CEO and bringing in someone he trusts is probably one of the smartest business decisions ever.  The company has grown to a point that someone with that level of business training needed to take over the helm and making that decision was a sign of wisdom and maturity by Linus for the future stability of the company.

 

Keep your heads up, learn, and move ahead.

[ARitz Cracker]

I'm going to give Linus the benefit of the doubt and say that he does genuinely believe that he's a good person and that his mission is just.

I can say that from personal experience, the problem with believing that you are the most just, fair, righteous, etc. is that it's super easy to blind yourself to your own flaws. The thought process goes, "I am an idealistic person, therefore I will always act on my ideals". With that assumption in mind, you will miss when you're excessively compromising or going against your own ideals. The result is being perceived as hypocritical.

 

The biggest evidence to me that Linus is a person who actually cares is the "sad linus" stream, but it also shows me that he's the kind of person who can get blinded by his own idealization, to the point where it takes a family tragedy or some major controversy before he can take a step back and truly see how the results of his actions/inaction affects people. As long as the LMG is an extension of Linus, this will also reflect in how the company is ran.

 

So yeah, I guess this is the big wake-up call. An opportunity to fully examine whether or not Linus, and by extension, LMG, is capable of solving the conflicts between their stated mission/ideals and the execution.

Linus is someone who I personally idolize, so I really hope that he and those in his inner circle take this opportunity well.

[IKWMTY]

20 hours ago, Cooldoe said:

But still some people think short circuit video is a review.

If your video concludes with "the only question that remains is am I recommending you buy this product yeah maybe no", it's a review.

[wildfyre]

Reposting my $0.02 here (although it probably doesn't mean jack shit in the grand scheme of things).

 

Quote

I really think you need to give your content the proper time and preparation that they need to arrive at a conclusion that's somewhat satisfactory. For example, what if I REALLY wanted to use a car radiator for water-cooling? What will a proper, low-jank set-up look like? Something that's not just you plugging leaks all over the place. If I really wanted to use an ice bath for a fanless setup? What would that look like?

 

It's fun to watch you guys on camera having fun, but I also rather you give the "tech" and engineering side of your content some love. Your recent content leaves me feeling empty more often than not these days. Most of them I can sum up as "couple of guys goofing off and having fun". Entertaining, but a little vacuous.

 

 

 

[HenrySalayne]

16 hours ago, smcoakley said:

The amount of massive restructuring that can happen within a week for a moderately-sized company is very low. Anyone expecting some kind of report today listing a massive number of changes will be disappointed. Its just not physically possible.

I have been going through the "What do we do now?" video and what they promised:

• Yvonne: "All YouTube video production is on pause and our teams are going to be spending this entire next week focusing on long-term workflow changes to make our content better in a lasting way."
• Gary: "Our team will be spending our week publishing living documents for our testing standards and opening  them up to feedback from the community and our peers in the industry should they wish to participate."
• Gary: "We will also task part of the team with going back through every video with Labs data to ensure accuracy, make full Corrections, and if there are any fundamental issues with the workflow, design or results, pull or replace that video outright.
• James: "you'll see some of these videos go up during our time off. We already have multiple videos that are scheduled for release."
• Tarren: "We are human but next week we'll be creating and publishing a clear policy for correction handling. And I'll be working with a community management team to be prompt and transparent, with corrections are as visible as possible."
• Tarren: "I think one thing that we've done a poor job off, however, is publishing these standards, where a community can see them. That's something we'll be improving upon and so will I."
• Colton: "Moving forward then you can expect weekly updates in the sub Forum on issues that need addressing and will also include an up-to-date list of product verticals that are off limits for our channels."
• Linus: "First I'm going to be working through the other members of the exact team for any crisis communication moving forward and second I'm going to spend my week working with the other teams to develop a system of processes that will help our company fulfill my vision of being a world-class Tech media organization."

Am I just oblivious or has LMG (so far) not did a single thing they promised?! (except the production pause)

 

[McDude]

I think senior management is not growing at the same rate the company is and they are very out of touch with the corporate world and failed to realize THEY are in that world now.

 

From a Software Developer perspective, it says a lot when Linus and specially Luke bash still using Outlook or using Slack for communication. Oh so using Outlook is outdated but Microsoft Teams is better than Slack? Get off your high horse. This just shows how out of touch they are with tech corporate jobs. Not eveyone wants to use Google Services, specially when your company has MSDN or MVLS accounts.

 

They need to wake up and smell the coffee (or sip the cappuccino?) and realize they are turning into a big corporation now and need to get better practices. 

[pauloforte]

While I agree on the overall sentiment of this thread, I think most of the takes here are simply taking this whole thing too seriously.

All of this. ALL of this, even what relates to workplace environment - more on that below -, is being taken to a proportion which I haven't seen outside major corruption scandals. And even then.

You'd think the man was caught embezzling or something. There are shouts for him to get out of camera. For a whole number of measures that I bet most of you asking for them don't even expect from your own government...!

No.

There were mistakes, yes. They need to be dealt with, yes. I think that these mistakes were exploded by the fact they were very public and very exploited by other channels. Although this created drama and a sense of scandal, if you actually look at it there is no scandal here. There were mistakes made and there is a company being forced by public pressure to perform in a week's time the sort of adjustments that companies and organizations normally take years to achieve. And they will be absolutely hammered by haters whatever they say next. Saying the company needs to grow, that management needs to put on their adult shoes is rather disingenuous: they know that, they've been saying this for ages, if you've been listening to then number of internal adjustments they've been making over the last couple years, or to the number of times they themselves complain about internal processes or simply the fact that Luke is freakin' Chief Technical Officer. Damn, even a couple of months prior, the actual CEO and founder willingly stepped down to make place for someone who can actually lead the company into more sustainable growth. This literally happened a couple of months ago and suddenly everyone is acting as if they're still producing out of the Langley house and making WAN Show sitting on a couch with a wall of boxes behind them.

Do not expect them to come out with mind-blowing measure out of the gate. Rather with their growth mindset explicitly drawn into a publicly available time-line.

I for one expect them to never abandon the cheeky "nice", or the double-entendres, or the jankyness. That, together with a solid scientific approach and Linus' candor, honest takes and pro-consumer views are what makes me love the channel. And I bet I'm not alone on this. Creating just another generic, bland, gray corporate-looking reviews outlet is something that would kill the channel. You know this, they know this. Competitors know this.

 

On the workplace environment: It's important to separate what we already know is the workplace environment by their own words - a fast-paced difficult demanding workload - from the allegations of harassment. I actually think that the latter is not the company culture and therefore I am not including it under the term "workplace environment". Like Dr. Cutress said, a workplace where people are driven to produce more is the norm. I venture saying it should be the norm when you are working alongside people who are passionate in their respective fields.

[Taf the Ghost]

In the interest of actual, rational feedback from someone that's watched a long time, been around these parts a long time and invariability gets asked to help a lot dealing with complex problems, some thoughts.

 

• While he's probably been doing it, Linus really needs to do a bit of soul searching for why he responded so badly to the GN piece and, at the same time, completely missed how epic of a chain of terrible decisions had to happen by his employees such that the Billet Labs part ended up getting Auctioned off. The reason the firestorm went off after the Forum Post is the radical disconnect that happened around Billet. It was such an all encompassing failure that it can't just be brushed off. It wasn't just a Red Flag Waving Event, it a university marching band in a parade with Red Flags waving down the street for a mile.
• Short Circuit's channel role has slowly gone everywhere. Is it a Showcase? Is it a Review? I don't mind if they're "short reviews", though some of the videos have gotten as long as primary LTT videos. Which might also be where a lot of resources have quietly gotten drained to. But some clarity would really help.
• The brain drain that happens with the loss of older, veteran employees matters a lot more than most realize. Taran would be hard enough to replace given his vast experience, but Brandon leaving might actually be the most impactful. He always came across as someone that was incredibly particular on details, and that feels like a lot of what has gotten lost. 
• There's clearly been QC issues and pipeline checking that has to be very much re-evaluated. That's likely been happening, but it's needed. Also, an editor needs to be able to request On Screen Talent do replacement voice over/voice inserts. It might be a little wonky in places, but it would improve the videos where there is some massive mistakes in something that was said. 
• GN should have been a lot more clear on the topic (and Ian at TechTechPotato I think might have gone a little far in his defense of the Labs' Lead), but there is real issues with Conflicts of Interests and PERCEIVED Conflicts of Interests with LMG Labs and highly technical testing.  There doesn't have to exist any quid pro quo, but the perception alone can be an issue. I honestly think the Framework stuff has been handled well, but, since LMG now has a lot of employees with time at upper levels of other companies, it's important to note, even at the end of a video, about that.  It's like "Handy Tech under $100". Same vibe is needed. People take different jobs, but that doesn't mean it can look wrong, depending on the situation. This could very easily come up with a product that Labs tests as being subpar from a big brand.
• Ian touches on it in his long form video, but automated Gaming Benchmarking, at scale, is basically going to be a full time job for probably 3 highly paid employees. And there's still open questions about whether consistently repeatable results can be extracted from all games. That really isn't a small detail. It can probably be overcome, but it's going to be basically a constant fight for the Labs folks doing it.