This has been tried and tried again, and it never catches on. Computer interfaces that are completely detached from physical 3D space are just much more flexible and easy to use.

They also seem to think that continually spending money to do mundane things in a virtual world is not a problem for regular people who actually have to watch their spending.

If computer interaction benefited from being more ‘like reality’, then Microsoft Bob or any of the countless other attempts to create a reality- and/or 3D-based computer interface, would have caught on long ago.

Sums it up nicely 👍

So it’ll end up being a platform of trolls and bigots just screaming into the void and paying for the privilege. What a fabulous idea.

This. If you need anything more complex than that, there’s nothing wrong with creating an organization.

Typora also supports it, it’s a great low-overhead tool overall.

There are degrees of monitoring. This is basically my approach:

• no smartphone before 12yrs old
• no computer, tablet, smartphone or similar in their bedroom before 16yrs old, specifically at night.
• family link (android) installed, with tighter controls the younger they are. This is discussed and also explained as a measure to protect them
• if they are under 16, we create social media accounts together and discuss what is appropriate, what can/should be public/private etc.

That is basically it. A lot of it is being around, available and approachable. It’s not perfect, but it has several layers of protection, and is built around creating trust and teaching valuable media skills.

If I had to pick one, I’d say the ‘no internet devices in bedrooms’ would be the most valuable one. Because of that, I know what games my kids play, they can deconnect at night, and it’s fairly easy to enforce.

Edgelord points.

The sad/tragic thing is he probably doesn’t realize that and he is surrounded by people who reinforce that. He never had any business running a company this size.

I don’t think he cares about the money all that much, he just wants to be the nr.1 tech YouTube guy. If he was in it for the money, he’d be doing something else. He wants to be validated above all, and he has little regard for other people’s needs. That’s a dangerous cocktail.

Something Linus doesn’t/didn’t seem to understand is that if this sort of thing happens, it’s his job as CEO to be aware of it and to be doing something about it.

I would advise against making that judgement on how a person looks.

Another ‘friend boss’ thing is also being completely blind to your own position of power. He thinks he can ‘chum around’ with anyone at the company, make ‘jokes’ about the quality of their work, etc. like he could with an equal. He doesn’t realize how scary that actually is, and thinks anyone who would say such a thing is just oversensitive. Validated by the fact that hardly anyone ever dares speaking up instead of just awkwardly smiling and nodding.

“We’re like a close-knit family here. Except I pay you and I have a contract that says I can tell you what to do for eight hours a day.”

tbf, you don’t know that. Linus is probably also the guy you can call at 3AM in an emergency, and he’ll be there for you. Which might explain the loyalty he gets from early hires.

The personality traits that made Linus a very successful YouTuber are probably the exact same personality traits that make him unable to deal with this kind of backlash in a healthy way, or to run a 100-person team for that matter.

Yeah, but from those videos it’s unclear whether that’s an act or real. Iirc there have been Reddit AMAs about ‘what it’s like to work for LTT’ and the tone there was always ‘It’s intense’ and ‘His YouTube persona is not an act’ but never anything really damning. The ex-employees there seemed to respect him, but did see it as a place with a harsh work culture and little space for a personal/family life.

I think the fast growth accelerated some bad tendencies in the culture, and now it’s all a complete mess that got away from them. The CEO change in hindsight seems quite ominous, now.

He has a grating loud attitude that works well on YouTube and has served him well, and I never found his videos to be obnoxious. But his talents obviously do not include running a 100-person team, that much is certain. I hope he turns it around and makes amends, but given his recent comments and his general attitude, I doubt it.

What I would expect:

• Don’t start the meeting by apologizing for being ‘boring and corporate’ as that sends out the wrong message.
• Don’t blame employees for bad company culture. A workplace where people are belittled, bullied, harassed, etc. doesn’t just spring into being, it emerges due to neglect of basic HR needs.
• Information on how you’ll evaluate and change procedures, because they obviously aren’t working.
• Some sort of acknowledgement of psychological harm that has been done by bullying, gossip, etc., instead of just describing it as ‘personal problems’.
• Don’t emphasize your own stated powerlessness. If you’re the CEO, that’s a devastating message for employees. If they get the impression that you’re not in control, they will absolutely not feel safe.