Wow.
After skimming the comments I can confidently say there are 4 types of people here: people who hate LTT, people who hate GN, people who don’t know what plagiarism is and me. Best course of action is to just move on to the post. The second best is getting the popcorn ready before diving in, you’ll feel like you’re back on reddit.
Thank you for saving me from a potential headache. Maybe I’ll come back later with a rum and coke.
At this stage, Linus Media Group and GamersNexus have both made statements which are extremely serious. This is far beyond presenting a front of friendliness, and I am respectfully requesting that Linus Sebastian drops that facade publicly, as well as ceases the repeated personal emails requesting as much, as it is personally making me extremely uncomfortable.
Uh I’m sorry what the fuck
I noped out of LTT after the initial reporting. What happened about the allegations of harassment and particular allegations by a former woman employee?
In summary, as confirmed by the investigation, the allegations made against the team were largely unfounded, misleading, and unfair.
Or more specifically the investigation found that:
Claims of bullying and harassment were not substantiated.
Allegations that sexual harassment were ignored or not addressed were false.
Any concerns that were raised were investigated. Furthermore, from reviewing our history, the investigator is confident that if any other concerns had been raised, we would have investigated them.
There was no evidence of “abuse of power” or retaliation. The individual involved may not have agreed with our decisions or performance feedback, but our actions were for legitimate work-related purposes, and our business reasons were valid.
Allegations of process errors and miscommunication while onboarding this individual were partially substantiated, but the investigator found ample documentary evidence of LMG working to rectify the errors and the individual being treated generously and respectfully. When they had questions, they were responded to and addressed.
Personally I’d wait for more people to complain. There are lots of women working at LMG, no one else has complained.
I’ve see disgruntled workers before lie about lots of stuff. If she’s telling the truth then others would also be saying something.
Makes sense. I guess it was a perfect storm back then that convinced me of something wrong. I used to watch WAN religiously and all the LMG channels, but with all these allegations it made sense to me to not give my viewership until everything is cleared, and it seems we are still far from it?
with all these allegations it made sense to me to not give my viewership until everything is cleared, and it seems we are still far from it?
I mean, it’s hard to proof a negative.
You ought to follow your conscience, but I haven’t found her to be a reliable narrator personally. The results of the investigation were enough for me, at least without further evidence to the contrary.
By memory the external firm they hired did not release documentation of the investigation but did release a statement saying LMG hadn’t done the things that were claimed
Honestly though, with this many different claims from such separate entities, I get the feeling there’s some evil lurking within at least some core (leader)ship that’s probably linked to all this negative coverage?
More directly, Linus kinda acts like a bit of a shit pretty frequently - between a bit of overconfidence that comes off through his general demeanor, and directly calling Steve autistic (allegedly) and definitely using the word ‘retarded’ as a derogatory (present in the text thread Steve posted), I’d say its pretty clear where the problem lies.
LMG would be a whole lot better off without that L stuck on the front of their name
If anyone wants to neatly summarize this drama in a few sentences, that would be much appreciated. I don’t have time to read this essay or watch multiple 45 minute videos on GN.
The article outlines a dispute between two tech content creators. One party accuses the other of plagiarism, spreading misinformation, and being unprofessional, while the accused defends themselves by claiming miscommunication and unfair treatment. Both sides present evidence to back their claims, but it boils down to a messy argument over ethics, accuracy, and accountability in online tech media.
This stupid drama is a turn off for me. I am going to unsubscribe from GN and LTT. Going to watch other creators instead.
LTT is a shitheel, repeatedly.
LTT gets called out for being a shitheel by different people.
LTT Cries about being a victim of the big mean critics, specifically targeting GN (despite other critics)
LTT fans get big mad at GN for criticizing dear leader, while completely ignoring every other critic (Just like LTT wanted)
LTT successfully, amongst his cultists, frame it as “GN Big Mean at LTT, y u no be fren?” in desperate attempt to make someone other than LTT look like the bad guy… and fails.
Living up to your name… Could only be more accurate if you were TechJesusCultist. Everyone involved here are socially inept, self absorbed, wannabe journalists and not a single party here have a good track record for ethical journalism historically. Anyone here for journalistic integrity is barking up the wrong tree. They should both shut the fuck up and go back to making their money and getting free tech products for the reviews they put out and stop with this YouTube drama bullshit.
So big mad.
Just finished reading. In summary: everyone loses here.
Linus made some silly but understandable mistakes, had some very poor word choices in private communications, and got Steve on the defensive by publicly mentioning he didn’t want to sue but implied he could. LMG is also (in the youtube world) a large company and is likely always working on process improvements, and the improvement Steve seems to want to happen that they are definitely lacking in, is to update old content with corrections or omissions.
Steve poorly or never communicated what he thought were satisfactory resolutions to past comments or incidents and is upset that those resolutions didn’t happen, and is only escalating the situation further by softly threatening legal action, while also hinting that they have way more evidence they are just conveniently leaving out despite their current evidence being mostly empty (specifically receipts 1 and 2).
They both run very different channels with different focuses and staff sizes and production values, and each has made mistakes. None of this spat should have been public, but it seems both parties are just bad at communicating with one another and it has only escalated due to LMG actually publicly responding to public allegations by GN.
If I had to declare a winner so far, Steve is looking worse for wear to me given the poor examples provided as receipts and the continued threat of legal escalation, but again - everyone loses here. Everyone looks worse and this should have been handled privately. Maybe LMG should appoint someone other than Linus to handle fellow media contacts, because it doesn’t seem like he’s the best for that job.
Steve poorly or never communicated what he thought were satisfactory resolutions to past comments or incidents and is upset that those resolutions didn’t happen.
Steve very clearly says he would be happy with being attributed in a pinned comment on the video in question. Linus agreed to do that, then… didn’t do that. Steve is justified in being upset with the lack of action here, he isn’t Linus’s dad, he shouldn’t have to ask more than once for such a simple request.
and is only escalating the situation further by softly threatening legal action
If someone with as much money as LMG threatens legal action against you, it’s prudent to lawyer up and prepare a case/countersuit.
while also hinting that they have way more evidence they are just conveniently leaving out
Because when you’re preparing a legal case, it’s generally a good idea to not give your opponents all the materials you’re building your case with.
despite their current evidence being mostly empty (specifically receipts 1 and 2)
How are those examples empty? They may not be very extreme examples, but they clearly illustrate the type of behavior GN is claiming LMG engages in.
None of this spat should have been public
I can agree with you there.
If I had to declare a winner so far, Steve is looking worse for wear
Lol you lost me again
Everyone looks worse and this should have been handled privately. Maybe LMG should appoint someone other than Linus to handle fellow media contacts, because it doesn’t seem like he’s the best for that job.
Motherfucker pulled me right back in lmao
At least to respond to the first segment here, the pinned comment on the VOD does attribute their GN’s reporting for the segment. It does exactly what Linus said he would do in communication with Steve.
Does the pinned comment do a great job? Absolutely not, but it does what Steve agreed to, and he should have spoken up sooner if he didn’t like it.
They didn’t attribute on the clips channel cut, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the result of poor internal communication at LMG (likely by Linus since he likely handled the request on the VOD) to remember to include that attribution in that upload. Again, it would have been good if Steve let them know about it and asked for them to be more careful in the future. Its hard for a large group of people to be organized in that way and reminders are helpful. To bring it up years later in a legal threat is poor form, even if he is technically in the right.
To add onto my last comment though, I like watching the content from both of these creators and will continue to do so. My interpretation is neither is evil nor bad, but that there has been a series of poor communication and differing standards and expectations between them.
LTT needs to treat Linus like SpaceX treats Musk.
built a wall of yesmen around him to agree to everything he says, and executes none of it.
Linus is just insufferable. Life has been great with his channels blocked for years and not paying a cent of attention to him. Everyone should try it.
Yeah; I only ever see his content when the drama spills into other channels now.
I miss the days of small-time LTT doing silly projects like whole-room water cooling. :/
To me LLT is basically best when it is somewhat similar to old Top Gear, where they do silly projects (which increased in scope with the companies growth).
For actual reviews on the other hand I’d never really trust them and would always look to other sources like GN or Hardware Unboxed (who e.g. seem to do great monitor reviews) for example.
But I’ve also scaled back watching the channel to maybe looking at it once or twice in the last year.
Same. I feel like once Luke started taking more of a back seat content-wise and letting Linus get in front of the camera by himself more is when things started going downhill
I have a funny feeling Luke was the only one willing to talk at Linus behind the scenes to control some of Linus’s worse impulses… and once Luke was gone and having to focus on float plane…
Well, so much for ditching the R-slur from his vocabulary. It’s like everything Linus says is in bad faith. What a douchebag. And also texting while driving, class A shit-4-brains specimen.
Linus is dropping hard Rs again? 😜
Not defending and I don’t have the full context of both in my memory but when was the text sent and when was the promise made to never use it again?
Call me when GN explains how having an engineer sent by an incumbent monopoly holder provide exclusive content right before a massive launch is not a massive conflict of interest.
I too would ditch low input advertisers like NZXT for clout if I was making the same money GN makes from NVIDIA alone.
From its inception, GN has been covering for EVGA and for NVIDIA. He’s the origin of the story “it’s user error” when it’s obvious for anyone to see it was a design fault (including the consortia that published the specs and revised the 12V-2x6 connector because it was a shit connector).
It’s easy to be strong vs small companies when one has the backing of one of the wealthiest companies on earth. Let Steve publish the contract he has with NVIDIA if he’s so keen on ethics and transparency.
Till then, it’s just a competitor throw shade at another competitor for the sake of clout and audience. They’re both the same marketing arms of technology companies. Note that Linus is one the bigger YT advertisers for AMD and both companies are just releasing a new gen…
This whole writeup reads like an angsty high-schooler. It’s all about personality conflicts and petty BS, even the plagiarism email shows that GN appeared to be happy with the response, but now they’re acting like they never were.
Gaslighting all around.
even the plagiarism email shows that GN appeared to be happy with the response, but now they’re acting like they never were.
LTT never made any corrections or proper attributions, like they said in the email (which is what GN was happy about - that LTT agreed they were due credit and said they’d give it to them). LTT never followed through so it’s pretty justifiable that GN’s initial feelings would sour.
Honestly I’d have liked to see a very short response where they took the high road. By Internet attention spans it’s just mudslinging that drags them both into the mud. There’s some really damning nuggets buried in that long response but the shear fact that it’s such a long text response hurts optics significantly
I would not want to be butting heads with Steve. The guys a powerhouse and meticulous. Linus is entertainment and little more.
GamerNexus seeks out this kind of drama and it’s non-stop. Really an insufferable channel
Ah yes, a lovely little trap.
First its all “GamersNexus should just stop acknowledging LTT! So insufferable!”
Then if that happens, it quickly becomes “What, so GamersNexus cant even report on LTT? PFft, so much for integrity and advocacy!”
More like trying to make their name off of the backs of LTT, ankle biting and the like
Sure it is buddy.
Cause Dear Leader can do no wrong.
Just a great big mean ol conspiracy.
Ok lol I don’t care about Linus, I find Steve’s constant drama bait annoying. Literally just trying to take advantage of other people’s investigative journalism and ride the wave. It’s not just LTT, it’s something new every week.
"Im TOOOOOTALLY not a follower of dear leader. I’m a super independent thinker who is just coincidentally pushing the same narrative and spewing baseless hate for the guy Dear Leader wants attacked.*
Linus is saying this too? lol I didn’t even realize I assumed Linus was all “we’re humble and also did nothing wrong”. If he’s straight up just pointing out how low rent the tactic is then yeah I guess we’re coincidently aligned
Edit - For the record I’m sure Steve is right about his claims, I’m just saying it’s a pattern that he tears people down every week in an effort to look like a “journalist” and I find that part tacky. I enjoy good reviews
Man we need new tech reviewers that don’t make drama by talking past each other in pedantic ways to no ones benefit and go back to talking to the audience and in simple terms so that new people can find an in to join the community.
This is pathetic. I’m so tired of both massive corporate Linus and Gamer’s Nexus.
How is gamers Nexus corporate? Genuinely asking because I find their coverage refreshingly pro-consumer
Corporate was meant to be solely attached to Linus not Gamer’s Nexus. I just find their coverage to be not approachable and not consumer friendly. They often over pedantic into the weeds and don’t even properly talk about the massive tables they casually throw up on the screen.
I’m sorry if my adjective was misattributed to GN
Weird, I’m a complete idiot and I have no problem getting enough from their review videos to understand basics and make informed decisions.
You can learn addition from reading an algebra textbook too. Doesn’t make it efficient or welcoming to most.
Why do people like gamersnexus? All I ever see is them stirring up shit for views.
Do they even make real content that isn’t just “I called out entity x for reason y and now everyone should be angry”?
Literally none of their “stirring up shit” videos (like the ones for msi, gigabyte, newegg, etc) have been neither unwarranted nor discredited. They’ve also all led to positive outcomes for consumers.
If you don’t find it entertaining, don’t watch it. I personally think that it’s great to have people like them looking out for consumers.
Dude makes money calling people out. He’s not here looking out for consumers, he’s here for the paycheck. Don’t be deceived. Ragebait makes money and they know it.
They make money because people watch their videos and/or contribute directly to them by buying their products. I honestly see absolutely nothing wrong people supporting a channel that they like. Especially when they’re not only producing content but also potentially burning down bridges with brands/sponsors when they need to call them out. If you look at Linus, on the other hand, he deliberately chose not to call out the issues with Honey over fear or repercussions. To this day I still don’t understand why he would think that informing their viewers that they were being scammed would have any negative impact at all. Except, maybe, he wasn’t thinking about his viewers…
It’s really weird that you’d accuse GN of going after profits when Linus has repeatedly said, and shown, that that’s precisely all he cares about.
Wasn’t the issue with honey that the creators were being scammed? They were replacing the codes being used with their own, so that honey was getting the affiliate money and not the creators themselves?
To the end user, the issue would be moot. The users themselves weren’t even being impacted, unless they were trying to specifically use the affiliate code to support their favorite creator.
If they realized it was an issue and cut off their sponsorship because it was negatively impacting their own business and not the viewers, they have no reason to tell the viewers about it. On the same note, had they stated their reason publically for discontinuing the partnership and made an erroneous claim which, if you believe GN, they are very likely to do, it could open them up to a lawsuit with honey, and ultimately PayPal, who has a lot more money than a relatively large YouTube entertainment company.
As you said, Linus had claimed that their primary goal is making money. They’re a business with over 100 employees, you have a responsibility as a business owner to ensure you can keep paying those people. He also has said that their primary channel creates edutainment and pure entertainment content because it’s the only thing that can maintain their viewership at a level high enough to support LMG.
I can’t see GN as anything but the annoying, self righteous redditor type who stands on his soapbox claiming everyone else is doing wrong and getting a sense of superiority out of it. Their content isn’t anything particularly special, so they have to drum up the view count by creating drama. It’s okay to like it, but at least hold them to the same scrutiny you would the channels they call out.
Wasn’t the issue with honey that the creators were being scammed?
I think you haven’t watched MegaLag’s video (at least not all of it) or other channels that covered this properly. As you can see in this section of MegaLag’s video, Honey also hurt consumers because it claimed that there either weren’t any coupons available when there were or it gave you a coupon that wasn’t the one with the highest discount.
unless they were trying to specifically use the affiliate code to support their favorite creator.
Exactly. This also “hurts” consumers because, if I use an affiliate link, I want the channel I got it from to get that kickback so they can keep making content.
If they realized it was an issue and cut off their sponsorship because it was negatively impacting their own business and not the viewers, they have no reason to tell the viewers about it.
They do because the issue impacted both parties. Also, this is very cliché but also true, “if you see something, say something”.
If you watch MegaLag’s video, you’ll also see that LTT then partnered with “Karma” (kinda ironic) which also does at least some of the same shady stuff Honey does. Here’s the timestamped video.. They also ignored/refused to answer many of the questions MegaLag had.
it could open them up to a lawsuit with honey, and ultimately PayPal, who has a lot more money than a relatively large YouTube entertainment company.
GN, a smaller channel, is taking Honey to court so I don’t see why a lawsuit would’ve scared them. They’re also not alone, other creators and lawyers are doing the same thing. Honey will lose because there’s undeniable proof that they’ve been stealing sales and offering coupon’s that weren’t actually the best to their consumers (if they offered any at all).
you have a responsibility as a business owner to ensure you can keep paying those people
While that’s true, it’s also true that the end doesn’t always justify the means. Ethics are very important. Not only for yourself as the owner of the company but also to your employees and the audience.
I can’t see GN as anything but the annoying, self righteous redditor type who stands on his soapbox claiming everyone else is doing wrong and getting a sense of superiority out of it.
Again, you say this upsets you but can you point at a single case where they called out a company/product and were wrong? I really don’t understand why you’d be upset about someone literally fighting and looking out for you.
Their content isn’t anything particularly special, so they have to drum up the view count by creating drama.
Please name other channels that review hw as well as they do. GN and Hardware Unboxed are the only ones that I know of that are actually decent. I don’t see how you could consider them “not special”. Considering not only their reviews but also all of their methodology videos, technical deep dives with industry workers and/or experts and factory tours.
at least hold them to the same scrutiny you would the channels they call out
I do, not sure why you’d say I don’t. Is there anything specific you’re referring to? Afaik, they have literally no problems with other youtubers and no one (that I know of) has generated any content denouncing them. The only thing I could criticize is that Steve seems to be a bit of a workaholic but, at least according to him, that’s not something he demands of his coworkers.
Truthfully, I’m not that invested in the stoty and I was under the impression that the honey issue was solely on the creator side, so knowing otherwise does change my perspective some.
That said, I don’t think we know if LTT knew the entire story at the time. If they did, I also believe they should have said something. AFAIK they haven’t come out to say they knew of the whole story at the time of dropping the sponsorship, just that they knew of some of the issues. Without doing a deep dive like other creators have, I still think they would rather avoid the publicity for fear of retaliation, like they stated.
Ultimately, to each their own on whether you like GN or LTT. I still think GN goes out of their way to stir drama, whether it’s called for or not, and it sure seems like he just has an issue with Linus overall.
That said, I don’t think we know if LTT knew the entire story at the time.
This is also discussed in MegaLag’s video. They did know at least about this issue affecting them, financially. So, they brought it up with Honey, who refused to make any changes. After that, they ended their sponsorship. If they didn’t figure out the full extent of the issue, it’s because they didn’t want to. I doubt you seriously think they didn’t have the resources to investigate further.
they would rather avoid the publicity for fear of retaliation, like they stated.
From who? Honey? If so, that’s a very mistaken mentality. They basically decided to stay quiet about something that was demonstrably hurting creators and consumers out of sheer selfishness. Coming from linus, who seems to be rather narcissistic, that doesn’t surprise me. It does suprise me that this excuse would be accepted by their viewers, who were negatively impacted by this decision. Again, if you see something, say something.
I still think GN goes out of their way to stir drama, whether it’s called for or not
Once again. Has there been an instance where it wasn’t called for? I think they just have a very strict moral compass and they respect that regardless of any financial hit or extra work it might cause them. That’s something I respect, a lot.
it sure seems like he just has an issue with Linus overall.
Did you read their post? Wouldn’t you have a personal issue with someone who says you’re autistic, quotes your work without actually quoting you, reaches out to your personal phone over random tweets because they think they’re about them and also misrepresent you publicly?
For example, after the GN video, Linus said he reached out to Steve and was ignored. What actually happened was that linus sent a message to Steve’s old phone, which they hadn’t used for over 2 years. If you want more examples and details, you can read GN’s post.
Honeys issues are two fold:
Honey steals/replaces affiliate links/cookies meaning 100% of the commission earned by creators goes to Honey instead.
Several small creators have come out to say this has essentially bankrupt their channels as the entirety of their affiliate revenue just disappears overnight, then their sponsors pullout because it appears they are generating no traffic.
Honey also collude directly with retailers to control exactly what coupons are made available to you, explicitly preventing you from getting a better deal; while telling you they’ve gotten the best deal possible and convincing you to not even bother with other coupons or other sources. They even have a mechanism to ‘submit’ coupons they hadn’t applied to be distributed to other customers, to convince you you’re helping others get a good deal; but those submissions NEVER go to customers.
This happens on every transaction within a browser that has Honey installed; even in cases where Honey knows before trying, that they don’t have coupons to offer. It will still popup, tell you they don’t have anything to offer, then replace the affiliate connection with their own.
Through this they are stealing both from the customer and from any creators/affiliates that sent that customer to the store.
I briefly fact checked myself before my comment but the first few articles I saw didn’t mention the issues beyond creators. Good information and definitely changes my perspective of the overall problem. Thank you!
I know this barely means anything but it really is refreshing to have an interaction with someone who not only treats others respectfully but who is also able to admit they didn’t know a part of the story.
It’s obviously totally fine if you still don’t agree with what I said or have other reasons to dislike GN or prefer LTT, but this type of attitude is precisely one of the things Reddit lost a long time ago.
That’s all. Thank you <3
Yes they do, and its good content too.
Youll be happy to know theyve split up the 2 content too.
Gamers nexus will be tech reviews and news while their investigations moves to another channel because they noticed people like yourself dont like the content while others (like me) do. This way we both get what we want.
Before reading: knowing Linus and GamersNexus, I think Mr. Nexus is in the wrong here, but won’t admit it
…just a bunch more insinuations, some avoidance and irrelevant stuff. I’m not going to bother further
I know gamersnexus isn’t the more thorough guy, and it appears like that hasn’t changed much
Lol. Is this a /s post. I think it’s very clear to any human being with eyes that can read. GN is much more thorough in literally all ways.
You’d think Linus would know better than to ask GN for receipts.
I responded elsewhere in this thread with more commentary and I’m also not done reading yet, but how is receipt 1 anything at all? It seems both parties closed that email chain satisfied with the resolution outlined by Linus. If GN was upset with the resolution, maybe they should have said something?
Edit after further reading: How is receipt 2 anything at all either? Steve literally says in the opening of his email that the information is intended to be useful for future attempts. If he wanted LMG to edit old videos or provide extra detailed information then maybe he should have asked?
Receipt 3 is rough for Linus though, he has to do better when it comes to communicating. Not only with the choice of language but when it comes to understanding the the intent and body of a message before responding himself (the latter not too surprising given his history of wan show live responses to misunderstood chat messages).
He genuinely believes that he’s above all of that now, or almost too successful to fail. If the last huge controversy hasn’t put a dent into his cult of personality, not too many other things will
I dunno. I haven’t watched another episode since I heard that girl’s story about sexual harassment and toxic culture while working there.
Those allegations were proven to be false by an independent third-party investigation
No, it found no evidence one way or the other. It also found that LMG didn’t ignore things and followed their policies, which seems to imply something was being reported. They certainly presented it as absolving them while threatening a lawsuit, but it didn’t prove anything.
I stopped long before then because the content had turned into garbage. There’s too many tech content creators out there to watch his company’s click bait crap.
If I hadn’t already, I would have stopped then though.
You are a drop in the bucket. LTT is at 16 million subs to GN’s 2.5 million. That story was investigated by a third party with no wrong doing found. LTT isn’t going anywhere.
I don’t care.
Ok, thanks for letting me know?
I’m team Suop. Linus is a cunt.
Yeah he seems like a real dick.
Never heard this do you have a link or something?
I had read Madison Reeve’s post somewhere but it was in Twitter I think. I can’t access it anymore without an account it seems. So here’s a couple it articles.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/linus-tech-tips-youtube-controversy-1.6940087
Thanks I actually started searching myself too and found this https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
Edit I also found this
Quote from Madison: I purposefully cut my leg open so badly I would have to go to the ER to get it stapled back together. It was genuinely the only way in my mind to take a day off without being harassed for a reason why.
I think I would leave a crappy job way earlier than even considering commiting self harm.
Thanks for providing these links.
Same! I stopped watching any of his company’s content
I’ve unsubbed from all but the main channel a while before that, but this was the last drop in the ocean too. Even if half of the accusations were false, they way how their response was completely soulless, and full of dumb jokes, was unheard of
I blocked all their channels on YouTube after that too.
I just checked out r/pcmasterrace and Linus might be right then. Most people over there seem to be parroting Linus excuses and down voting anyone who says otherwise.
How many times do we need to teach you this lesson, old man?!?
