this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Linus Tech Tips

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Linus Media Group CEO Terren Tong also responded via email, saying he was “shocked at the allegations and the company described” in Reeve’s posts. He went on to note that “as part of this process, beyond an internal review we will also be hiring an outside investigator to look into the allegations and will commit to publish the findings and implementing any corrective actions that may arise because of this.”

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[–] [email protected] 333 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (33 children)

Wow quick and decisive action by CEO to call in external investigation. Reading Linus' response, it doesn't even appear that he would consider external investigation. He states that HR would conduct a thorough review. I'll be frank, I don't trust Colton to run the HR review.

I bet once this issue is resolved, we might see Terren bring in external subject matter experts to completely overhaul LMG business operations. HR consultants, Operations and Logistics consultants, Finance, etc. Up until now, LMG was/is run by a self-taught/self-made/learning-on-the-job crew. Can't do that when you're now a corp.

Edit: I would love to sub to a channel called TBT (Terren Business Tips) 😂

[–] [email protected] 137 points 1 year ago (7 children)

It is HIGHLY silly to even imply these woes are from a, "learn-on-the-job" crew/etc.

Many of the allegations are about basic factual information being wrong and a terrible work environment.

Those DO NOT naturally show up in any ol' little work environment. They show up when there's a lack of professionalism and basic respect for fellow humans.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 1 year ago (21 children)

That culture comes from a lack of process and experience of large organizations. The second that a team grows beyond 7 people it has grown beyond the direct control of any one person and the culture takes on a life of it's own. If not addressed early in growth, issues typically spiral and are either not caught or are allowed to exist out of a perceived necessity.

Small organizations are nimble so they do not need to formalize cultural and HR processes in the same way that large organizations do. If the leader sees something they don't like, they address it. It isn't just about basic respect. We all bring our own cultural issues to an organization. A lack of professionalism comes hand in hand with smaller creative organizations. That's what makes them entertaining. It also enables the toxic tendencies of some people as they are allowed to slip in and as the pressure builds. Don't confuse professionalism with respect.

These things don't happen immediately either. It happens over time as people get tired and impatient so they are not on their best behavior. We all go through a storming process. That's when toxic culture can set in if good lower level leadership doesn't catch and address it. That takes training and a formal approach to organizational structure, not just production processes.

I am one of those outside consultants.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Toxic environments can also be brought in by toxic leadership. Like a VP that intentionally pissed workers off because "they work harder"

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I've seen the exact same thing on a company that went from 5 to 50 employees in a similarly short time frame.

The issue happens if you start with a friend group without decent structures or leadership "because we are friends/anyway". This works if you got 5 people but it doesn't if you have 50 or 150. Because you don't just have friends who are enthusiastic about the mission there, but you have to fill the ranks with people who actually want to treat this like a job. Now the "bro" culture starts to fall apart.

With this size you start to get real issues at work that need to be handled with a correct structure, which you don't have because senior management still feels this is just a startup full of bros.

Bros don't mind working 60 or even 80h/week, every week, because of the mission. Employees do mind. So now you have a workload designed for 60h/week per employee that is shouldered by a 40h/week employee. So either they work 60h (probably without compensation for the overtime) or they cut corners and deliver crap quality.

Same with the way people interact with each other. Bros don't mind some rough jokes, but employees usually don't like it that much if their real concerns get brushed aside with the suggestion to maybe "calm your tits".

When going from startup to real company, you need to make big changes to the structure and work culture. If you don't, an LMG ensues.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not to say Colton can't do the job, but HR is a department that needs to be independent of all other departments and the voice of the HR manager needs to be considered more important than the voice of most of the other managers because they're the ones dealing with the humans that make the company.

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[–] [email protected] 136 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)

This situation is awfull and, i mean, i know sexual harasement is very serious and its really insensitive to joke about but i really cant help it, so if you are sensible to that type of comments then dont read it and feel free to downvote, ill understeand, so here i go, you have been warned:

Linus sex tips.

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

This is the best response the CEO has, well done for doing it so quickly.

And I think it's the worst outcome for the ex-employee. Just from a process perspective now these external investigators are going to dig through the entire history, to prove or disprove every claim, which could bring up a lot of traumatic incidents, or reveal personal information that people like to keep private. Even if people get fired for their behavior based on this incident report, it's going to be traumatic to relive.

The fact that two years have lapsed since the incident isn't going to make the investigation easier. So in all probability there will be insufficient data to make a determination either way. So the investigation is going to be both traumatic, and probably hollow because a determination won't be made. And the published report will feel a little empty and almost gaslighting. But that's what time does, time is like water, it erodes everything.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

She’s not an employee and this isn’t a government investigation. She can deny to assist and should if it negatively affects her.

All that said, very happy with this quick, decisive action. This is far more serious to me than all the other shit in the past week. I’m glad they’re addressing the other issues BUT this what would truly kill my desire to watch LMG content. I feel heartbroken for dad who lost everything but unless LMG called for harassment then that’s on the disgusting people that harassed them.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Assuming I will continue watching LTT after this whole fiasco, I just hope James, Riley, Dan, Plouffe, Alex and Jake (of the top of my head. I usually like most of the hosts) are not responsible for the potential allegations and are just the nice tech bros they are presented as. If some of them are, oof :(

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Given how the company grew from the talent and the nature of the complaints it’s likely one or more of those telegenic hosts committed, approved of or covered up those acts.

There just isn’t a huge structure independent of the talent on screen.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago (7 children)

You either die a hero or you live to sexually harass your subordinates.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Is it safe to say if the dude in the video wasn't passively crapping on HUB and GN this would never have happened?

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Probably not. All the issues were there, someone would have pointed it out for some reason at some point.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The company has currently paused all production to improve its review processes, and CEO Terren Tong tells The Verge an outside investigator will be hired to examine the harassment allegations.

“We’ve been seeing an alarming amount of conflicts from Linus Tech Tips as it relates to their corporate connections, their flow of money, and the potential bias as a result of those things,” said Gamers Nexus host Steve Burke.

According to Gamers Nexus, Linus Tech Tips reviewed a copper cooling block from Billet Labs on the wrong GPU, then auctioned it off at a recent fan event without the company’s permission.

The afternoon after Gamers Nexus posted its video, Sebastian began responding to concerned fans in the Linus Tech Tips forums.

Reeve went on to accuse the company of barring her from videos after she reported being “grabbed multiple times in the office” and being told to “calm my tits” and “stop being such a bitch.”

He went on to note that “as part of this process, beyond an internal review we will also be hiring an outside investigator to look into the allegations and will commit to publish the findings and implementing any corrective actions that may arise because of this.”


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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (23 children)

The reactions are so... reddit-ey:

I always knew it

I fee so gratified

It's what I've been saying all along

and all that stuff.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Its human nature not exclusive to reddit. You guys sure love talking about that place.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago

"we hired": there's going to be the findings they tell management, the report with the findings management allows them to add, and the findings that management tells us about.

This means nothing until you hear independently from the employees themselves about substantive changes.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The more I read about LMG, the more the structure of the company looks like a mob.

There is one guy with his wife at the top of the pyramid. The CEO and others are below. If the top of the pyramid has what it ask for, nobody will care about what's happening.

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