this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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I am carefully optimistic about this. They addressed the problems and seem to take some time to fix them. I hope they will focus on quality over quantity as they promised.
After all the shit Madison revealed, you’re going to give these creeps a chance?
The PC world truly is a toxic cesspool if you can sand behind these assholes a second longer.
To be fair: I (and probably you) don't know her and she didn't show any proof. So just take the accusations with a grain of salt. (That doesn't mean that they should be ignored!)
What got revealed?
Madison, a former LMG employee who handled the social media part of the business, posted a series of tweets alleging a slew of accusations of sexual harassment and paints a picture of a very toxic and abusive workplace.
Personally, I don't know how much stock I put into all of that just yet. She didn't come with receipts, so right now that part of the story is still mostly "he said she said" until either Madison posts more details about specific incidents or if LMG responds to her claims directly.
Edit: Link to Madison's tweets, mirrored off-site from Twitter: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/347639/Madison-on-why-she-quit
Madison, a former employee, basically described a terrible working environment. She was bait and switched on several aspects of the role, and only found out after giving up her US visa and moving to Canada. She was constantly berated, sexually harassed in many ways, made to manage an only-fans despite making her discomfort known, the expectations of releases were unreasonable and her coworkers sabotaged her by knowingly setting her up to release videos with incorrect facts. Taking any of this to HR, or even Linus himself, ended with her being laughed off or told to stop being a tattle tale
All this is alleged and there's a lot more, but the kicker to me is the fact she cut her leg bad enough to need staples, because going to the ER was the only way she felt she could get badly needed time off.
That's what seals it for me - either she's a borderline nightmare, or the working situation is far beyond the pale. Add in the fact the pressure to release, inaccuracies, and public glimpses of Linus's attitude, and I'm inclined to believe it's more true than false
This event is the first time I've heard of this company. I've built several PCs for friends over 20 years, never used YouTube for it, once. This feels like standard influencer drama, and much of the influencer space is a toxic cesspool. It's not about a hobby, it's about greedy assholes.
I will look at LTT to see the next new product, but I won't go to them for technical specifications anymore, which was one of the primary reasons I watched his videos.
It's damage control.
Of course it is. But admitting errors and avoiding to make them again is a pretty effective form of damage control, and it is the kind we should want from any company.
The problem is the founder is still a thin-skinned whiny jerk that made it about 'his poor feelings' and doubled down.
When everyone else in a video is doing the right thing, and the founder is not, you can bet there's a huge toxic culture that a dedicated, but peripheral group is trying to work around - and Madison's tweets show that there's a hell of a lot more toxicity than just their ethical and editorial failings.
That's not at all what happened, and I think you're seriously lacking empathy here. He explained he reacted emotionally, and he's still emotional. This is in no small part his baby. He made the decision to step down before this ever happened because he wanted someone that could do it better at the helm, he realized he had been promoted past his competency, that's not nothing.
People just love drama...
Wow, well, that's one way to attempt to rewrite history. Either you are uninformed, misinformed, or delusional. I suggest you read some of the LTT related topics on the front page.
Try just watching the video. Linus is to my eye being extremely genuine.
I don't get the absurd crusade to crucify someone one barely knows for a situation one barely understands in the name of what... Some self indulgent moral superiority?
It happens every time. "Big publicly recognized figure/company/whatever makes a mistake" and everyone wants their life ruined, speculates to infinity and beyond, and writes off their humanity, etc. And it's happening over increasingly trivial things.
It's an internet mob out on a witch hunt and it's disgusting. This dude and his wife built a company from nothing that has been good to many many people from everything I've taken in over the years. They didn't kill anyone, they screwed up some data in a YouTube video, an employee sold something they shouldn't have (which Linus then tried to rectify), and some allegations have been made without proof by one former employee with no information from the LTT side (and no proof Linus or his team knew anything about the situation or its severity). Meanwhile, y'all are out here screaming for the demise of the whole damn thing, and to screw any second chances. It's a completely disproportionate and unjustified response.
I absolutely hate to see people treat other people in this way.
There is tons of info in this thread about what happened. None of that was a mistake.
Apparently you are just misinformed and seem to have no will to take in the relevant information, which renders your opinion on the matter meaningless.
Maybe you should offer him an actual coutner-argument, instead of just saying "You're wrong and uninformed". You're not even presenting an opinion on the story at all, which is even more meaningless than his actually relevant comments.
The onus is not on me to inform him when he can scroll up and find the original gamers Nexus video, the LTT response, etc.
His arguments have absolutely no basis. There is no point engaging with someone who refuses to inform themselves on all the very public information that is available. Especially when it can be gleaned by nearly zero effort
While also monetizing the video and plugging their merch, in direct contrast to GN not monetizing the original video that started this whole thing. Absolutely brutal move there.
GN monetized their follow up video just the same, pure drama for clicks about a total non issue. But Internet loves this shit. That GN likes to put huge focus on not monetizing and playing "holier than thou"-card isn't exactly a good look either.
GN's follow up video is actually their normally scheduled news vid that happens to address Linus' poor reaction.