Technology

It's not just the Billet Labs thing, GN showed a pattern at LMG of rushing out bad test data and therefore wrong conclusions to keep up the frankly ridiculous volume of videos they put out.

Woah woah woah woah!

I dunno how many times this has to be said!

He didn't SELL it! He AUCTIONED it!

That's a distinction that needs to be made!

Solid summary, yep. I will say though that while I understand your anger and certainly share in your disappointment, Linus has a pretty good (but not spotless, not by a long shot) track record of doing the right thing and being a decent dude, and I think he deserves a bit more grace than the more vitriolic comments have been giving him. Saying he's a piece of shit is a bit much, in my opinion.

As a long-time viewer, it's hard to see. I hope he sits and thinks on this whole situation, and comes around to apologise to Billet, to GN, and to the community he spent so long building. In the absence of that, I really hope someone from LMG outlines the steps they'll take moving forward to address the points raised in the GN videos. I love LMG's content, it would be a shame to lose them over all this.

Really makes me think they need a union. Also makes me wonder what all Linus learned from this guy who "taught me everything about management" if this is his style of management.

This post should be pinned. I went in not liking her because to be she came off on camera as unlikable (giving you this context so you know my mindset going in to the read).

By the end, I was sickened, disgusted and appalled at the treatment she got. I have obviously unsubbed. I was going to wait this out to see how LMG solved this but fuck them. I wish her all the best and as swift a recovery as possible.

The saddest thing is, reading that post, you can tell exactly when she's quoting linus even when she doesn't mention him.

Is Madison the one that became popular in the community after being snarky in a video while they were building a new PC for her? I think I remember her getting a job there afterwards. If I remember correctly, she was really funny.

I get that some people like working, and that business founders can be very emotionally invested in their baby.

But to imagine having $100 million waved in my face and saying “nah, I think I’ll just wake up and go to work tomorrow” is crazy to me. But I guess you can’t be a billionaire if you “settle” for nine figures and an absurdly comfortable life with nothing but free time to find new interests and see the world.

Same, that's why i never liked that twat

But you are supposed to reach out and ask for a comment before running a story.

In certain cases yes. This is not one. What comment could Linus have given that would contextualize the story in such a way to excuse factual information?

Steve was absolutely vindicated in refusing to ask for comment due to Linus's behavior. Had he asked for comment, Linus would have contacted Billet prior to the release. Instead, Linus makes a statement that heavily (if not outright) implies that had Steve asked for comment he would have context to know that an agreement had been made between LMG/Linus and Billet Labs before the video dropped. Because Steve did not reach out for comment we now know that this was a lie or an attempt to obfuscate the truth.

If you are extolling factual information you do not owe the subject a comment. If your work could be damaged (see above) by doing so you do not owe the subject a comment. If a person has already commented publicly you do not owe the subject a comment.

Steve reported objectively factual information that cannot be excused with any context. The story that was written at the time would have been damaged had he asked for comment. Linus has a public presence and has made his feelings known about previous scandals before, and his actual response was entirely telegraphed in tone, if not also content, by long time viewers.

There is not some ethics masterclass that would have come to the conclusion that Steve violated journalistic integrity by running this story without comment from Linus. You may not like it, but you're also not some ethics in journalism arbiter.

You ask for a comment regarding an accusation, this wasn't something to get a comment for, it was the details and evidence itself which is not refutable.

If there was a claim against someone of an event that cannot be shown, you would ask them for their version of events, if the news had a clear video of an irrefutable event they would not require comment for what the video itself would clearly demonstrate.

Steve's video was demonstrable information through explicit evidence, it wasn't something that a comment would have shed light to as the only appropriate comment that could be made be a public response.

The content of the video could not have been changed and given what was demonstrated, it did not serve the viewerbase to wait for the response of the larger platform with greater reach.

Linus Tech Tips has the reach needed to be seen by at least as many viewers with their response.

I agree it's generally good practice to ask the subject for comment, and Steve seems to know that because he explains at length why he didn't here. I criticized him for this when the last video came out, but I thought his explanation in this new video for why he didn't contact Linus first is pretty good; I'm not sure why you're being downvoted here, but since you are a former reporter I'd be interested in hearing specifics on why you disagree with it.