At least, some of the recent controversies.

  • DJDarren@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Big shout out to them leaving the links to LTT merch in the description. Venal fucks.

      • Aasikki@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        They definitely have a default description set. Bitching about that kind of small detail is pointless when there are plenty of more serious things to talk about.

          • Chariotwheel@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, people keep making excuses for them.

            “There isn’t enough time, they have to eat and drink and sleep”

            Then delay the video until it’s done. That’s part of the core issues that kicked this whole episode off. Them rushing out videos without care.

            • Aasikki@sopuli.xyz
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              1 year ago

              Not trying to make excuses for them, I just think that picking on a low hanging fruit like the description which is more or less exactly the same for every video, feels a bit cheap to me. There are plenty of examples of them being in the wrong with far worse impact than that.

        • QHC@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          How about the multiple merch plugs in the video itself or that the video was monetized, in direct contrast to the original video from GN not being monetized?

        • DJDarren@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Perhaps, but I see it as indicative of the problem in general. A slapdash attitude where they don’t pause for a second to consider what they’re actually doing, which, you’d think they might try and do under a 20 minute video where they grovel and scrape and beg forgiveness.

      • Chozo@kbin.socialOP
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        1 year ago

        100% this. Whoever is in charge of uploads is almost definitely using a macro to auto-fill every description. If you look, the description credits the intro/outro music which weren’t even used in this video at all.

        Most YT channels do this, very few big channels actually put anything besides their own links in descriptions.

      • Fuck Yankies@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        EDIT: did not know about the allegations from the former employee and it just saddens me. I was only aware of the cooling block and it’s auctioning when I wrote this.

        This thread you made is cringe. Grow tf up and try to have some understanding for once in a while.

        Big corporations will always pull fake apologies and complain that consumers are beligerent little hotheads who’s opinion doesn’t matter in the long run. You’re proving their point right now.

        But if say LTT actually does pull out of this amicably and their words are followed by prompt action that remedies the situation, we can in turn look at Intel, AMD, Nvidia and the likes and say “see? That’s how it’s done”.

        As tech jesus himself said in his expose video is that we all make mistakes.

        Do not attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity, and the way LMG has been working has been stupid.

        Don’t give the bastards an inch, I understand. But let us be clear about who the bastards are and I still don’t think LMG has gone over to the side of evil.

        Now they’re stepping back, taking the time to make amens (I hope they really give that company they shafted a much needed boost for instance, as a bare minimum) and we should be here for that.

        If you’re just here to whine, fine. But don’t think you’re adding to the conversation or saying anything meaningful, because you are in fact just trolling.

        Again, try and have some understanding. It’s very important for us to do that, because secterianism and feudes will in the end hurt the community, and also the consumer, because we have to stay on top of this.

        • prole@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Ooohhh fanboys doing (presumably) unpaid PR work in the comments!

          Does this mean lemmy has “made it”?

  • Scary le Poo@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    So I just watched the entire team apologize for Linus and then Linus proceeded to attempt to gaslight everyone watching.

    Fuck this guy.

    • flora_explora@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, I feel now it is out that he is a narcissist and it just feels so obvious. He is gaslighting everyone and people try to clean up after him, that’s just symptomatic. He won’t change, he will maybe get managed better by the people around him to reduce the damage. But there isn’t anything else to hope for.

  • Animortis@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    From the majority of the team, this is a pretty good and textbook PR mea culpa. “Here’s how we screwed up, here’s how we’re fixing it.”

    The pushing the merch was tone-deaf and the defensive whining from Linus was NOT on-point, though. I appreciate it ended with “how I’m going to fix it,” but he should keep the defensive shit to himself.

    • erwan@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      It would be better if the CEO could learn to read a prompter so it looks like he’s not reading one.

      This is pretty annoying to watch with his eyes looking above the camera and going left and right constantly.

    • vegetarian_pacemaker@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Glad to see this video, even with some of the drawbacks mentioned in the comments. I think everyone needs a path to redemption and LMG should get a chance. I think that this “reflection” should be more regular. LMG is no longer a small company and like it or not, they need to regularly be ahead of these situations. I really hope that they will take a week ever month or two to review any new screw ups and remedy them. Process will not solve everything, ensuring a company culture that has key values will triump process. It takes time however. I wish them the best.

      • fckgwrhqq2yxrkt@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        I run a small company, at what size do I need to start worrying about treating people respectfully? My belief is companies shouldn’t get a pass, no matter the size. Why are we ok with it happening at all at this point? It’s not 1960 anymore.

        • vegetarian_pacemaker@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I was referring to what was stated in the video. The issues with poor benchmarking and the billetlabs issue (email sent to the wrong recipient). I am not sure why you think any of it implied that it is ok to treat people without respect if the organisation is below a certain size. I was referring to ensuring that a company culture of being humble, responsible and accountable via a monthly or bi monthly review. It could have potentially caught the issue with billetlabs and even several issues with the benchmarking. This is perhaps easier done in a small company but needs to be nurtured and reinforced in a bigger one. I hope my position is more clear.

  • thingsiplay@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    @Chozo The end of the video:

    But Dbrand did offer

    … is basically advertisement for the brand, packed into “a joke”. Why would they mention it otherwise?

        • CleoTheWizard@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Believe it or not, I think he has a point and isn’t at all a hypocrite. He’d show you how to pirate and torrent stuff (and has before) while also telling you he doesn’t recommend stealing. What he was saying is that the content isn’t meant to be free. The ads pay for the content. So not watching ads means the producer doesn’t get paid. Its a soft form of piracy but he wasn’t telling you what to do about that. He just said “Be aware you’re not giving people anything for their content”. I don’t know why thats controversial, he’s not even suggesting its illegal or even immoral. I never understood the arguments here but I also dont visit twitter

          • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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            1 year ago

            Piracy I associate as an illegal act that carries penalties of fines and imprisonment. Like real piracy…

            As blocking is legal and something even the FBI recommends. This is more a website shortcoming than an act of piracy. Which if blocking ads is piracy then at that point the word just becomes diluted, and at that point who even cares.

            • Chozo@kbin.socialOP
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              1 year ago

              Which if blocking ads is piracy then at that point the word just becomes diluted, and at that point who even cares.

              Isn’t “taking something without paying” what piracy is? With YouTube, the “payment” is your time spent watching an ad. If you bypass that “payment”, are you not effectively pirating the content?

              It doesn’t seem that diluted to me. I actually agree with Linus’s take that adblocking is piracy. It’s just a much more socially and legally-acceptable form of piracy.

              If anything, I feel like adblocking on YouTube does even more direct damage to content creators than pirating blockbuster movies does to movie studios, honestly. If ten thousand people pirate a new Marvel movie, Disney’s not going to hurt too bad from that. But if ten thousand people adblock a YouTuber, that can significantly hurt their income by damaging their ad impression ranking. Advertisers on YouTube set their rates based on the engagement they get from a channel, and drops in engagement will typically result in drops in CPM.

              It’s the reason I pay for YouTube Premium, myself. I use YouTube pretty much all day long, and I want the creators whose content I spend my day watching to get paid for their work. And if not for YTP, I would 100% be adblocking YouTube, otherwise.

              • klubsanwich@beehaw.org
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                1 year ago

                If I tune into an NFL game using an OTA antenna, then turn off my TV during commercials and turn it back on for the game, would that be piracy?

              • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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                1 year ago

                That’s a whole lot of words for what in the end is not piracy with no laws being broken. There’s a difference between a moral argument and law breaking.

              • ditty@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                It’s not illegal to look away from a billboard or to close my eyes during a trailer at the movies, which seems more akin to using an adblocker in a browser.

                • Chozo@kbin.socialOP
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                  1 year ago

                  “Not acknowledging” and “directly interfering with” something are two different things.

          • snaggen@programming.dev
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            1 year ago

            I do not block ads. I however use Privacy Badger to block tracking cookies, which means that I don’t see ads. I will see all ads that are not tracking me, which seems to be none. Is protecting my privacy also piracy?

            • CleoTheWizard@beehaw.org
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              1 year ago

              It is, yes. It’s a separate conversation of if it should be illegal or immoral to keep your privacy this way. But as long as you are violating the intended method of revenue for the content you’re viewing, that’s piracy to me.

              I think most people hear piracy and think it’s immoral or illegal, but there are very valid reasons to pirate content such as game and movie preservation.

              • Boozilla@beehaw.org
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                1 year ago

                Yup, illegal does not mean immoral or unethical. It just means some rich or powerful person doesn’t like what you’re doing. There’s a lot of overlap, of course. Many illegal acts are also immoral or unethical. But it’s not a 100% overlapping Venn diagram. Also YT is kind of evil, so it’s piracy against an evil corporation as much as the content creator. The smarter content creators have sponsors and embedded ads and don’t rely on YT for anything.

              • snaggen@programming.dev
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                1 year ago

                The implicit contract is to show an ad for a service, but they are actually violating the contract by attaching other things to the ads. They then use the ads to steal information that they then sell without my consent. So, if anything we are discussing honor amongst thieves.

                • CleoTheWizard@beehaw.org
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s not like you see the ads that have trackers, they get blocked. So it’s still part of the agreement sort of. And you’re also aware that it’s revenue for them. People assume it’s a moral argument, it’s not. You can pirate from absolutely evil people, but it’s still piracy. That’s why I don’t view it as worth arguing over for the most part. I WANT people to realize that it’s piracy but that they’re actually doing something ethical.

  • HurlingDurling@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I loved LMG and watched their videos for years, but if you are going to put out false or exaggerated data knowingly, or auction off a one of a kind prototype, would pass me off but I might tune in from time to time for the entertainment.

    But if you are called out on this and instead of trying to do the right thing you double down and even straight up lie to try to make a case where you aren’t the bad guy, then I am done with LMG channels as I can not support a company with this clown.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Other than the Madison Reeves post I just read, I am completely out of the loop on the LTT controversy. That said, I made it about 1/3 of the way through the video before I had to stop it. I know very little about these guys but that video is infuriating.

    • kek_w_lol@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Short and sweet summary as called out by Gamers Nexus:

      1. Testing methodology sux and results are not sanity checked, thereby misleading consumers.
      2. If errors are caught, they are corrected poorly and acknowledged with asterisks or in description, which does not put enough of a spotlight on it.
      3. Trashing on a small company (billet labs) that makes dope coolers for performing poorly due to improper testing and not retesting because “I don’t wanna spend 500 bucks”
      4. Not returning the prototype which was sent to them by billet labs for testing and AUCTIONING IT OFF (allegedly to a potential competitor) at LTX.
    • boonhet@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      You can watch the Gamers Nexus video on the LMG for context. Steve highlights a lot of errors that they’ve made.

    • Chariotwheel@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Their action was to monetize the apology video, which is especially funny after Gamers Nexus explicitely didn’t monetize their video. They advertised their shop and floatplane and teased a new product. Just incredible.

  • Animortis@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I know Linus was pushing back REAL hard on getting a fact checker. And it would’ve likely prevented this situation entirely.

    Edit: Other than the pushing of merch… Sigh… This is a pretty good PR mea culpa. At least from the rest of the team. I guess I should finish it. Pretty textbook. “We screwed up, here’s how we’re fixing it.”

    Edit 2: Nevermind. I got to the part with Linus. FFS.

  • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Oh my god i am so tired of seeing posts about this, PLEASE can we give it a rest? i want to leave this trend hounding shit on reddit

    • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      It feels like we need an extra level of aggregation for posts. It would be great if all posts for a certain topic could be grouped together. Maybe hashtags or something.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        Yeah it’s honestly very strange that they don’t implement a proper tag system, i can’t imagine it would be difficult (like bro it’s an extra array for every post) and it would give a ton of flexibility to the ecosystem.

        It’s also a feature reddit has…

        • Chozo@kbin.socialOP
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          Kbin supports hashtags (and I included a few when I posted this), but there’s no filtering option yet (that I’m aware of, at least), so it’s still mostly just for discovery purposes.

    • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      People did move here from reddit after all. That’s why I recommend apps like lemmy connect on Android with keyword filtering. You can’t control what people post, but you can regain control by controlling what you see.

  • NoiseColor@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    Relax. So they made some mistakes. Cringe mistakes that could easily be avoidable (a lot like much of my life has been). Either they do better in the future or they die. People are getting so upset and enraged it looks like this is something that matters. They are still fun, I like them. Im rooting for them to improve!

  • jkmooney@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I don’t know, Linus is still trying to excuse and justify. It would seem taking him out of the driver’s seat was the right call. As for the rest, they are responding because their backs are against the wall. Time will tell if they will really make any changes.

  • BeesToTheFace@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Just recently a creator I watch talked about how YouTubers sometimes create drama between each other to gain more relevance. Then they go for drinks together. Is this the case here? No way to realistically know for sure.

    • Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Probably not from Gamers Nexus’ side of things. Their video is very professional, and focuses on the damage done to other companies featured on the channel, and challenges LTT and LMG to be more professional. They also said in their followup that they won’t be making any more videos on the topic, their goal was to raise awareness, and now it’s LTT’s responsibility to decide what to change, if anything. Is LTT playing it up as drama? Maybe, but I think it’s more likely that they want it treated as drama rather than legitimate criticism so that they can ignore it and move on, rather than to increase attention/ relevance.

    • ken27238@beehaw.org
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      I don’t think Gamers Nexus would do something like that, they have a good history of calling out companies for bullshit they try and pull. doing that would damage their reputation.

    • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Calling out the integrity of a channel after that channels spent millions trying to shed the perception of them as just an entertainment channel as opposed to a trustworthy and reliable review channel by investing in the lab? Who comes off here thinking LTT is even more trustworthy when it comes to their reviews which weren’t trusted in the community to begin with.

      If this were just some personality driven non tech recommending channel I could agree, but LTT is a channel reviewing hardware like Intel and amd to name a few alongside their wacky lets build a teleporting PC. There’s just some channels where hits to reputation would hurt them as opposed to help.