A constructive letter to a role model by a concerned fan.

[NavyRymar]

I have read and acknowledge the disclaimer, and have chose to post a new topic vice creating a new topic in hopes that someone at Linus Media Group will read it. If this post is inappropriate, please delete or merge it. If it offends, please ban me outright. I've put a lot of honest work into this letter, and to me it is worth the risk.

 

I know that there is a lot going on at Linus Media Group this week, and people on the internet must be saying terrible things. It wouldn't surprise me if death threats were thrown as well. I took some time yesterday to put some constructive thoughts together after the announcement of the cancellation of the WAN Show for the week. The intent of this letter is not to criticize, but to provoke constructive thought, and I hope it gets seen by anyone at the company.

 

I am not disappointed with your decision, and I also don’t consider the “streak” broken because of this. A missed WAN show because of a greater pause on (what was called “all”)  video production should mean WAN show as well.

 

I am however troubled by the evidence presented against Linus Media Group, and I won’t hold it against whoever runs social media, as it seems the workers were failed by management in this case. When I say “you or your”, it is a collective Linus Media Group management “you or your", and not directed at a single member of the team or management member.

 

I feel that the community is entitled to an explanation of your actions resulting in the cause of this. Even as an IT professional, my purchasing habits on products not of my area of expertise are greatly influenced by your content. I previously thought that the perceived collective integrity of your content meant that I could trust your data, and consider your opinions in my decisions to purchase those products. I understand that while I was not necessarily wrong, my trust may have been partly misguided.

 

I don’t fault you on your hastily corrected script details or your allegedly lopsided charts. These can be attributed to mistakes. Mistakes can and will happen, and trying to prevent them is folly.

 

The difference between mistake and malice is intent. A willingness to publish known bad data to fulfill a deadline is unacceptable.

 

The fact that this has happened at all shows that leadership at Linus Media Group has become so complacent that quantity has become more important than quality.

 

It is my belief that due to this, you’ve fallen into a constant crunch culture. Your employees (and maybe yourselves as well) are under so much pressure to perform up to deadlines that you’ve established yourself, that you’re willing to publish know bad data rather than miss an upload.

 

I’m pretty sure I subscribe to every Linus Media Group channel. I’ve thought on numerous occasions “I wouldn’t mind them shutting down production on TechQuickie or ShortCircut indefinitely, or even reduce the overall upload schedule if it means that content will have longer time in the oven.

 

ShortCircut always seems rushed, and can instead be used as filler on the LTT channel. My perception as a viewer is that your production for ShortCircut is: Buy product, grab host, film quick organic unboxing reaction, film quick organic basic use reaction, ask if the host buy it themself response, roll credits.

 

Tech Quickie, while well-written, would also be better as filler. If you have dedicated hosting personalities (which you should, to relieve the stress and priority balance of the production staff), you can pair them with the writing team to perform a queue of “emergency content” should one of the mainline or more in-depth, data-focused videos fall through.

 

There are a lot of different variables to consider to refresh your company, reduce workload, and start to regain what credibility has been lost by the community.

 

Your workplace culture issues (alleged general and sexual harassment, alleged management bias, alleged inappropriate management culture, recent mismanagement of privileged assets, and poor external executive communication to other companies) likely stem from the stress that the deadlines put on employees and not the employees themselves. If proven, any of the sources of any of these allegations should be held fully accountable. Stress, however, and the anxiety that it causes, has a history of making otherwise high-functioning, trustworthy, and professional employees make extremely poor decisions that can result in the above.

 

Linus,

 

You shouldn’t have kept CEO this long in the first place, brother. It makes perfect sense starting out as a young company, but the extreme stress of management and the fact that it is your life’s achievement and even bears your name can mean letting negative emotion leak into press releases and public statements because in that case every negative comment or controversy is unintentionally personal. It takes an extreme level of forced emotional detachment from business, academic study, and years of experience to efficiently lead a company, even of LMG’s size. Contrast Taran’s public statement about Madison’s allegations against what you would have written yourself, for instance.

 

I still wish LMG success. I enjoy your content, and am not going anywhere, unless conditions for your employees (and in turn, your management) do not improve. I daily drive your backpack and water bottle. I wear your screwdriver on my belt every day. Your channels are my most-watched visual media.

 

Please don’t sacrifice integrity and the wellbeing of people to maintain upload count or increase revenue.

 

Good luck. You should feel bad about what’s happening, but you can’t improve and move forward if it kills you.

 

Also, to anyone at LMG that needs to hear it, be it the CEO, the CVO, or the or the housekeeping staff: This is rough, and I know you may be going through a hard time, but it doesn’t define your personal worth. If you need professional or medical assistance, please seek it. Your life is worth more than a company.

[Nomis_Walcal]

I was going to start my own thread, but this seems a suitable location, given the warning.

 

I'm new to the forum, having joined for the purpose of this post. Whether or not I come back depends on how all of this gets sorted out, frankly. Do not consider that as a threat. Though I was a regular viewer of most of the youtube content and the WAN show, ad revenue was the extension of my monetary contribution to the LTT bank account. I don't have the disposable income for yet another steaming subscription or item from a premium consumer product line.

 

I am but a regular viewer who usually stays in the shadows, which was where I was contented to be until I happened upon Vaush's coverage of the newest scandal of the week.

 

A day or so ago, when this was just about ethical representation in an arena that I barely comprehend anyhow, I was willing to take the view of the opening poster. I left a comment as such in the What do we do now video stating such. Though this certainly makes things awkward in the moment, maybe some good can come out of it.

 

I have since deleted that comment. Considering that I recall a WAN show episode wherein Luke and Linus were discussing the toxic culture within (if I recall) Activision Blizzard (please correct me if I'm wrong), this whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I await the results of the investigation, as should other people. Until then, I will not be consuming any more LTT intellectual property. I will not unsubscribe (yet), but I just won't influence the organization any more than I already have.

 

I don't know who knew what. But knowing how hard it is to keep track of everything the larger an organization gets, I can also see how this could happen unnoticed. This is why union representation might not be such a bad thing after all, no matter the feelings of the managerial team.

 

I can tell you right now that a unionized Linus Media Group would instantly earn back a lot of the integrity that this incident has destroyed.

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, NavyRymar said:

Tech Quickie, while well-written,

I almost always find some omission or inaccuracy in Tech Quickie.  It feels like they try to gloss over details to keep it short.

Trouble is when you are trying to teach people technical information, the devils in the details, and you just end up misinforming people if its not 100% accurate.

[jhogan93]

As a fan of the people that make the content I am honestly scared of what the future holds for LMG. 

 

Linus,

You need to step back. You will bring ALL of this down with you. Trust your people. Be honest. Be thorough. Be better. 

 

"confidence and ignorance have only led to war, famine, and stupidity."

[Spotty]

2 hours ago, NavyRymar said:

I have read and acknowledge the disclaimer, and have chose to post a new topic vice creating a new topic in hopes that someone at Linus Media Group will read it. If this post is inappropriate, please delete or merge it. If it offends, please ban me outright. I've put a lot of honest work into this letter, and to me it is worth the risk.

As the warning message you dismissed says, please use one of the existing topics rather than creating new threads. I can understand you have your own opinions you want to share on the matter; but so do the hundreds of other people who have posted about it. This is precisely why the warning message is there.

 

For topics related to the recent LMG controversies, please use an existing thread rather than starting a new thread. New threads discussing these issues may be merged, locked or removed without warning.