Linus Tech Tips pauses production as controversy swirls | What started as criticism over errors in recent YouTube videos has escalated into allegations of sexual harassment, prompting the company t...

They really should, especially since LTT was trying to be GN by adding the Labs. Claiming to be better than GN while making basic mistakes was just super unprofessional, which is why Steve's response was so awesome. Anyone who has watched his channel knows he has a standard, and it's massively important to him. I don't think he would mind more competition in the space necessarily, even coming from LTT Labs, but the bedrock of GN is data, even if it's a little bit dry as content sometimes. If you're going to try to compete with or dunk on Steve, best meet the bar he's set.

Most of those staff are going to have no trouble finding new jobs. It's a highly technical and specialised crew, many would already be in demand elsewhere, and a void left by LTT would be quickly filled by other groups producing similar content, who suddenly find themselves in need of more staff. Hell, a lot of former LTT staff would be gobbled up by LTT's own sponsors.

This is a terrible argument whenever there's any public controversies within the private sector. It's not worth thinking about 'the jobs' because that's not how the economy works. If there's fire behind this smoke, and LTT did fold, those left long-term unemployed are probably fewer in number than those who are currently being exploited and mistreated. It's almost always a zero-sum game.

I get the concern. And I've been part of enough layoffs to know how much it sucks. But a company being held to its responsibility and a standard and held to the light like this to show it's failings, would be an acceptable condition. That said though, I really don't see anyone losing their jobs over this. This is a failing on the higher end of LMG, not the rank and file.

Linus is not the only one to blame. The people who work there could have done something to stop the unethical behavior or quit. But some of them stayed there for years and enabled Linus. I can't look at those people and not think that they aren't incompetent or corrupt.

They're not going anywhere. He'll take a hit from it. Now that the heat is actually on and he can't just say whatever he'll apologize he'll outline what they're going to do to make it better and then it'll all be back to where it was in another couple months, maybe with a little extra effort on the data.

This was my take as well. To add to it, on an individual level, the way to avoid biases is to step back and think critically for a second. In the interest of time, if you just blurt out every thought that comes to your head you'll say insensitive stuff every now and then. Or you'll unconsciously express favoritism out of convenience. The work culture there that tries to pass it off as "just the odd mean joke between friends" needs to change too, but having time to foster a positive environment involves taking away time from cranking out the next video.

Linus has got to look inside a little and find integrity again for his company, because that's what they lost years ago in pursuit of a constant churn of content.

Very much so.

They've basically been operating in startup mode for years, and haven't bothered to transition their management systems to "decade old company with lots of employees" mode.

You can't burn on startup mode forever without things exploding at some point.

The company has far outgrown Linus's ability to run it. Half the shit he says on the WAN show I cringe at as someone who's done corporate management / systems consulting for the last decade+. I get the feeling he really is unable to separate his ego from his corporate responsibilities and this inability seeps through in all their content. Just take the Billet Labs fiasco as an example, he was so convinced he knew better that he felt insulted on the WAN show that his conclusion was brought into question when it was shown his methodology was abhorrently flawed; or look to his and the entire team's proclivity to misappropriate inventory to their homes or the projects that personally benefit him and his family - I would hate to be his personal attorney as any litigation hitting LMG is sure to hit him personally as there is ample evidence of the corporate veil being pierced, and JFC why is the entire consumer tech market perpetually in the mindset of a horny 14 year old? Talk about a hostile work environment.

I found it hilarious when he was discussing Blizzard and their actions to be egregious when the vibe at LTT honestly doesn't seem all that different - he seems to be barrelling toward following in their footsteps

My take as well. I hope after their break, they cut things down to have fewer videos with higher quality. We know from what Linus has said openly that they're set with money, so sacrificing some earnings to establish themselves as a channel that can truly be trusted seems like the obvious move.

They are popular because they really know how to leverage the Youtube algorithm and end up being suggested to a ton of people. Technically knowledgeable people might reject LTT even more due to this mess but there are still a ton of viewers following what Youtube suggests.

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Yeah, while it is annoying, I know there is a whole art form to those thumbnail images and there are other people I respect that are worse about them. I think they've talked pretty openly about how those are simply the annoying part of being in the YouTube business and if they didn't, they would just be leaving views on the table.

I dont get why everyone is so up in arms about thumbnails. I watch the videos not the thumbnails!

But yeah, I was wondering if the new CEO would say anything about the matter, and I was surprised to see him actually say something. Even more surprised to se Yvonne speaking out too. Both her and the CEO seem to have basically told Linus to fuck off for a bit, cuz hes only making things worse.

Worst thing is you never know the topic of the video, I cant tell if it's about PC building some random gadget review, some nonsense humour piece. The only one I wanted to see was Intel's $5000 build your tech thing. For PC building I go to other channels now

And the title is an ambiguous clickbait question. Bad look for sure

I do about 95% of my YouTubing on my iPad or AppleTV. I’m not sure I’d be able to utilize any extensions, unfortunately.

I had never heard about this, this is absolutely awesome

Except I watch for entertainment and gamers nexus is boring.

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That was their early model. They took money for a product and produced a positive video on it. That was the channel its how it got started and grew. They always used weasel words (still do) like a company "hooked them up" which meant they received a free product and payment to produce this video. They were actually caught properly on this on a series of AMD sponsored videos which were so incredibly positive and glossing over the issues and AMD explained the videos had been paid for. It turned out that was how the channel worked, they got paid for positive reviews.

Nowadays sponsorship is better declared (because the ASA required that of them) but conflicts of interests aren't. There is also the appearance of a lot of fraud too where free products are being placed into their homes. The Intel extreme series is a prime example of something that looks super dodgy and maybe a tax dodge. Right now its hard to prove something criminal is happening, based on their history however its not unreasonable to suspect it is.

You can make a distinction between gender when it comes to the phrases. To my male friends, yeah. Depending on the situation I can see myself saying both of those phrases. But to my female friends? They don’t mean the same thing.

“Calm your tits” is a maybe depending on the circumstances and how close we are, but never in an aggressive tone.

“Stop being such a bitch”, downright out. Never to those friends. So many better ways to phrase it depending on the circumstances.

And finally, all of these were to my friends, NOT A FUCKING COWORKER. You never say these things to coworkers. The whole goal of team management is promoting teamwork, these phrase foster nothing but animosity. I try to say anything even remotely close to those phrases and my ass will be out of a job before lunch (and for good reason).

In terms of legal, IANAL, but as far as I know you would have to present this to a jury or judge, and the bar that they’d have to pass in the US is “more likely than not”. In other words: “is it more likely than not that this comment was made to harass the individual based on their sex?” Pretty low bar to cross.

Also, LTT is a Canadian company, so the above paragraph is kinda moot to the whole situation.

TL;DR: those phrases are rude to women, LTT would likely have a rough time in court (if they were a US company)

If I said either of those things to any of the women I work with I'd likely get fired before the end of the week. And they really do not want to fire me

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It has to do with how the parties involved interpret it. Between friends I have said the same things, but not everyone will be comfortable with these things said to them and can even interpret them maliciously. They can be seen as workplace harassment for this reason.

In the US, the person experiencing the harrasment gets to define whether they felt it was sexual in nature.

Forget about the legal system, saying those things to a coworker will get you fired from pretty much any job in the US. LMG is Canadian BTW.

ngl you had me in the first half. It's too early in the morning for me.