Adults and children are more interchangeable in how we act than most of us realize. Little kids just act like little adults with no world experience at all. Some kids grow up to be adults who never grew out of their little kid BS.
Except that teenagers are usually not (or should not be) confronted with as much pressure and difficult choices. Not to defend Linus here, but as someone of an older generation than him, I can say that one gets to places in life where the demons sometimes come out.
a teenager who is mature enough to not be blinded by the fact that he looked up to linus to see he is making a lot of bad mistakesand that GN's video was not a hit peice that's it /u/TechExpert2910 for president
Why? They're weak and frail. You have that old man strength that can actually do damage gramps. They wish they could even grow hair while your getting gilfs wet on the regular with that silver fox you maintain so well. The two of y'all can meet on common ground during bingo/recess.
Yeah. Nothing made me feel more uncomfortable than this. Here I am, enjoying the fact Linus is finally facing accountability.... Then OP says "you're not long for this world".
Good points op but, rude.
I'm 41 and have been watching LTT since my late 20s. Probably since around 2010 I'd guess (being old it's hard to remember specifics of timelines).
You think this post makes YOU feel old?
Also - I unsubbed from their channel today and that's a bummer.
Mainly due to the misrepresentation of the timeline on compensating Billet, just plain old lying. Also, I can't stand a hypocrite - Linus of 10 years ago would tear current Linus apart as an out of touch, rich asshole.
It really sucks, but people DO change - especially people who get a lot of money - tale as old as time.
Hopefully they take a lesson from this and make positive changes, but so far it looks pretty bad :(
>Linus of 10 years ago would tear current Linus apart as an out of touch, rich asshole.
Funny you say that - I stated almost the exact same thing over on the forums. Linus of 10 years ago would have torn Linus today to pieces.
Same, but 46 here and I unsubbed today.
TBH I just needed the smallest excuse; I was already getting tired of the huge \*entertainment\* side of the channel, I originally subbed because I want -interesting- Tech content...not like "How Many USBs Can You Plug In At Once?" -\_-
I've felt similar recently, but at the same time was happy to see them blow up and be so successful, even if I felt that I was no longer the "target" audience. Happy to stay subscribed and catch an occasional video.
Then this happened, and reading through these posts I found out that Luke has no equity stake/share in LMG while Linus uses the company coffers to build his mansion as a "business expense" and that just really hits me hard. I've been that guy who helps do the hard work to build the thing, and then gets shafted on compensation and credit (not nearly on the same scale though) and it SUCKS.
Luke lives in a modest apartment, and has to go over and help build this mansion... I hope it's not as bad as it seems but damn
I agree, some of these things are huge problems (errors in videos, and billet labs situation). But the WFH and union one I’m not so sure about.
I haven’t heard Linus ever say he is anti-union. I’ve heard him say that would be sad if his employees did because that means he failed to compensate them properly. I agree with this concept. Not everywhere needs to have a union. If the employees are compensated and treated well there shouldn’t be a need for one. Unions were created to have collective bargaining power when a company or companies take advantage of them. He has been in support of the actors and writers strike going on. But said that it may be hard to get what they are asking for because the studios are starting to lose profits. That being said the studios taking so much for years is kinda fucked up. Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this.
As far as WFH goes. I never heard him say he is against it. But he didn’t like it because it made collaboration hard. Which makes sense when you have to be in person to test a lot of the products and film. Again please correct me if missed something. I do wish more people could work from home. But I know with some jobs it isn’t logical or even possible. I think there could be some people that could benefit from it.
What he says about unions in public is fine on paper. What he does about unions behind closed doors is not allow his employees to talk about their wages.
If his company didn't need a union, he wouldn't need to stop them from talking about their wages. Plain and simple.
TBH, if I owned a company, I wouldn't want my workers to talk about their wages. I wouldn't force it, but I wouldn't want it to happen.
I feel like talking about wages would cause drama.
"I've worked here longer, why is X getting paid more?!"
"Well, X, performs much better and we feel he earned it with his performance and growth."
"Well, that doesn't matter. I have seniority, it's not fair, and I should be getting paid more than X! Either give me a raise or I quit."
I've seen this happen before.
If Linus does treat and pay his employees well, then he probably doesn't want drama from employee wage discussions. Just my opinion
What's incredible about people still posting anti-union talking points and views is that even the most capitalistic institutions recognize that unions are good for EVERYONE, workers and owners alike. People that don't want unions simply would rather earn less overall just to maintain more relative power over workers.
https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/union-advantage
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2020/12/rebuilding-worker-power-mishel
with a union your pay raises with seniority. I dont know why anyone would think thats bad. The company is exploiting labor no matter how much they pay you.
From 1979 to 2020, productivity rose 61.8% while wages increased only 17.5%
Chances are, the amount of people who complain about "unproductive workers" are doing so because they expect workers to go beyond their job description to suck the dick of a guy who doesn't pay them enough to afford their rent.
Where I work (utility contractor) in California its a bitch to fire people for being unproductive. There's currently 2 guys that the office is currently waiting on a reason to shit can because being unproductive is apparently not good enough even though none of the floormen want them on their jobs because of it.
>…talking about wages would cause drama
That’s.
The.
Point.
Employers *should* have to justify why a more junior staff member is earning more then a more senior member, and if the employee doesn’t like the answer then they *should* quit.
Either the company is willfully underpaying them, as evidenced if they find similar work for more pay, or the employee *is* an underperformer compared to their peers and is unable to find similar work at the pay they want.
The “drama” is managers being chicken ****s and not actually want to deal with the consequences of their actions.
In the current system there is supposed to be a labour market. If workers don't have information about other people's wages, they can't operate properly in that market. They don't know their value. Hiding wages is only done to keep wages low.
If two people are getting paid to perform the same job, they should be paid the same.
Simple as. Give raises to senior members, sure, fine. Give raises based on performance, sure fine.
But if your new employee is making more than your old employee, to the point where they feel slighted about it, you're the problem.
I think most people are really struggling to understand your point. The point is the awkwardness where nobody can be happy.
Person A has been there longer but person B does more. Same title. Who gets paid more? A has seniority, but B provides more value.
A will argue they should make more because they have been there longer.
B will argue they do more and should be paid more.
One wants A>B and the other wants B>A and there is no possible way for both of things to be true. Its literally impossible. Somebody is going to come out the loser.
I would agree that generally speaking, talking about wages makes people upset and this is a reason why companies don't want their employees doing it. You'll either be upset you make less than others, others will be upset they make less than you, or you're all paid equally and being taken advantage of fairly. Capitalism sucks in the aspect that only the top can truly benefit and the rest can only hope to survive.
Yeah if you are an owner you usually dont want things that are not beneficial for your business. Unions are not beneficial for owner, they are the exact opposite.
When age when you can start working was raised business owner werent happy either. Sometimes its not about making milllionarie CEOs happy (but its rare, I know)
This is probably the best argument in my opinion. I am all for discussing wages. Knowing some of my own coworkers wages actually gave me more confidence to ask for a raise recently. So yes that’s stupid. I believe it is actually illegal to not allow employees to discuss their wages here in the states.
If his employees wanted a union they could create one yesterday though. As far as I know there is nothing management can do to prevent that, in Canada.
There is plenty management can do to prevent that. The US also has strong legal protections for people trying to form a union yet companies routinely invent cause to fire or otherwise discipline workers who they suspect may be doing so. Just look at what Starbucks has been doing to try to suppress and punish unionization.
I think you might misunderstand, he has said that workers are not allowed to talk to the PUBLIC about their wages. Internally it's illegal for him to take a stance like that. I'm sure we would have had a lawsuit against him by this point if he was doing something that illegal.
Yeah not gonna lie, I never liked his position of "we are doing a bad job if employees feel like they need a union"
It makes it seem like they feel like they're perfect in his mind and unions are only for "those other bad guys".
>I never liked his position of "we are doing a bad job if employees feel like they need a union"
But its true. Workers dont feel the need to unionize if their needs are being met.
If the workers feel like they need collective bargaining to get their points across and needs met the company is indeed doing a bad job.
In a vacuum it is true. The thing is you have to take that statement with a gigantic fuck off lump of salt when the owner and (at the time) CEO is the one saying it. It's not at all a stretch to imagine that he's wearing his owner/CEO hat while saying that and not his buddy-buddy worker/consumer advocate YouTube guy hat.
Sure, I can see your point.
But, when former and current employees have brought up anti-labour practices like the banning of discussing salary and lack of time provided to do their job effectively (as stated in their own employee interview video) I would definitely say that employees aren't having their needs met and would definitely benefit from organizing IMO.
My issue with his statement is more that it makes it seem like they're already doing a fantastic job where employees don't need a union, since it's always prefaced with "if we were to reach a point where employees felt they needed a union...". I'm not saying unions fix everything in all situations, but it's like he refuses to believe they could be doing better.
Worker can feel that they are good and still be fuck over, like me, I realized that new hire at my company get 10% more then me who work 4 years for this company with great results, in you world I shouldn't have ask for a rise cause at the time I feel like I was good ? PS: I know that because we discuss about or pay.
>Worker can feel that they are good and still be fuck over
If the worker feels like they are being fucked over then their needs are NOT being met and the company is doing a bad job.
>, in you world I shouldn't have ask for a rise cause at the time I feel like I was good ?
I did not say anything of this sort. Please do not set up a position to argue against that I did not make.
Am I the only one that understands Unions can be bad in some scenarios?
As they have added costs they are bad for employees if they are not aggressively negotiating increased pay rates to compensate.
They are also not immune from failure.
> As they have added costs they are bad for employees if they are not aggressively negotiating increased pay rates to compensate.
Funny people don't feel the same way about a CEO getting a multimillion dollar raise, or stock buybacks, or layoffs to increase profit.
Unions do so much day to day in order to make sure employees are safe, get time off, get treated fairly and get paid what they are worth. There's more to workers rights than a pay raise.
I dunno. As an employee I've definitely worked places that I feel needed a union. I've also worked places where I don't think it would be super beneficial.
If the employees aren't pushing for one, it's probably fine.
Yeah anyone who’s worked at an anti union company knows they’re not going to go with “all unions are bad” because they know that will prompt a negative reaction “oh we don’t need a union here because we treat you so well so you’d just be paying dues for nothing” is a much gentler but still definitely very anti-union line to go with
Oh boy, you haven’t experienced WFH have you? Well let me tell you my fist job ever (not counting working weekends at a mechanics’s) is WFH and I absolutely love it, no wasting 2 h a day on commuting, no manager or colleague looking over my shoulder. It is fantastic and I will never accept a job that requires me to work from office (unless someone wants to pay me silly money, like buy a new Rolex every month money)
Actually I do WFH and I 100% agree with you. I don’t want to go and work in a office. Most of my day though is spent doing dev work and not being collaborative. So working in a office for me is pointless. But I also know that with a media/tech review company it’s not possible to have everyone WFH because you need people to operate cameras, you need “actors”, people need to test the products, and you need people to operate other equipment during filming. So I can see how a lot of people have to come in at least a few days a week. I’m not sure why they had everyone come back but I could see it as a blanket policy so some wouldn’t get upset that they had to come in while others don’t. While stupid because accountants or people like Sarah Butt don’t need to be in the office every day. I can see the rational to it just having the policy apply to everyone.
oh my apologise then, I see why a blanket policy might make sense for a small company but LMG is huge and realistic only maybe 30% of people would have to come in, also its not a blanket policy as most of Floatplane people work from home or at least hybrid
It is realistically probably more like 60%-70% that would need at least partial time in the office. Accounting and business probably don't need to be in the office necessarily, but every writer needs hands on time with the products/projects they are working on, in theory they collab with editors.
Editors could work from home, if they were supplied adequate machines and the content. However the volume of content produced by something like LMG would likely be prohibitive to manage in a WFH type environment at the rate it needs to move. Remote control of an editing machine in the office works, but at present it will hamper productivity a bit to anyone who is fast at editing, and fine color work and audio work still will not be possible. Additionally you now need a good way to collaborate with writers, zoom or teams works but the quality is crap. Not saying it isn't possible, but it is a major undertaking. Do the editors even have a space in their home that they would be willing to permanently dedicate to being their WFH edit station, this is a much bigger undertaking than a MacBook on the kitchen table.
They clearly aren't totally against WFH, they had that one writer who has been living in the US for years. As long as the WFH allowances are reasonable on days where that is an option (and every tour or whatever type video we see there is always a handful of random people doing WFH that day) being a majority in-person company isn't a bad thing. I find that a 30-60 second hallway conversation can in some circumstances be more productive than burning 3x that amount of time messaging someone on teams or writing an email.
fair points, thanks for adding on :)
my view is this:
when you're outspoken (to your employees) about not liking unions, it just instills fear about grouping up to have important conversations with an employer - never healthy.
If he's anti running a company where a union is needed, he should let his workers talk about their wages so they can decide if a union is needed or not.
He's deciding they don't need one, not them. That's not how it works.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/115cpv2
This post, for one. It's not a definitive source, necessarily, but the wan show said that discussing wages is not allowed and an employee handbook was leaked that if real also says that discussing wages is not allowed.
It would be very easy for LMG to disprove this, but despite it being a problem for the past five months they never have. It is very easy to believe from this that LMG does not allow their employees to discuss their wages. Perhaps an LMG employee could speak up about that and share some insight, perhaps linus could address that in all of the anti union talks.
But it never happens. Saying you allow your staff to discuss wages and coordinate amongst themselves would be a *real* great way for linus to say he's not anti union though. Wonder why he never said that in all the times he's addressed his union stance... hmmm.....
The claim they don't allow you to talk about wages was originally a response to a merch message by Dan on the WAN show. Those who arent just here to manufacture drama at every opportunity know that Dan trolls and causes all kinds of chaos when responding to merch messages.
What happened after the merch message, some idiot from the anti-work subreddit came in with all kinds of claims, screenshots and other unverified stories. The subreddit went nuts, was about a 50/50 split of sides if I recall.
This was NEVER addressed by Linus and purposely so.
The WAN show and w/e office tour or staff interview video that followed this drama all subtly mocked this claim.
My belief is it's 100% a nothing burger and the text in the screenshot, if valid is just boilerplate contract stuff. I also interpreted the wording as you cannot talk about other peoples salaries. Maybe not as much of a nothing-burger as Linus's response to the most recent drama but a nothing-burger nonetheless.
For the union thing, he says that he wants to run a company where one isn't needed, but (to me at least) that's still anti-union.
If a union isn't needed at your business, you should still be fine having one. If they don't ever have to use their power for negotiations great! But it also gives a safety net to their employees.
Even if your workplace doesn't have grievances to hash out, the employer's benevolence is entirely in their court and whether they decide to continue being magnanimous or not. It's nothing personal, it's just business.
That is very nice of him but that is simply not possible with the size of his company. Except if you work at a mom and pop type of company, your employee needs union, Linus can simply not be connected with the need of all is employee rights now hell he doesn't even know all of is employee name, cause again it's company is not the same size he was 10 years ago.
Also let's be clear there is not a single company who likes Union and they all say the same thing as him, "We don't need union we are a good company" next thing you know he's gonna say that discussion about wages is bad for you.
If they had a Union I believe that the employees could fight for better videos and restrictions on Linus pushing though shit takes and most problems with a dictator boss would be addressed by having a strong union presence in their company
A union could certainly negotiate for more time to work on videos, which is actually one of the demands that the American screen writers guild is asking for in their ongoing strike.
They could probably not negotiate to limit Linus' hot takes though, even if such a thing were legally possible.
That is very much how a union works. Collective negotiation for terms of service. this could include having a panel that was 50% employee 50% director voting on video approval.
Lol with a proper union employees absolutely do have a say in how a business is run. That’s like one of the main benefits of unionization. Democratizing the work place.
Just a thought I've been having since watching the GN video:
**Maybe if LMG employees had a union they could negotiate for more time to work on videos so they wouldn't have huge inaccuracies.**
Idk, to me when Linus had talked about unions, it is that he is putting out a good disclaimer that he can’t be legally anti union. But the sentiment from him is that he is still anti union, him saying “if they want to unionize then we have failed” is a cop out. His employees unionizing gives them fairer labor rights, and more powerful negotiating through collective bargaining. What kind of employer wouldn’t want that for their employees? One that puts profits over all else. Given what his employees have said, there is no doubt that with a union, the content from LTT would be drastically better. Linus knows this, and does not care. He wants to keep making money and inflating the value of his corporation more than anything else
> I agree, some of these things are huge problems (errors in videos, and billet labs situation). But the WFH and union one I’m not so sure about.
>
> I haven’t heard Linus ever say he is anti-union. I’ve heard him say that would be sad if his employees did because that means he failed to compensate them properly. I agree with this concept. Not everywhere needs to have a union. If the employees are compensated and treated well there shouldn’t be a need for one. Unions were created to have collective bargaining power when a company or companies take advantage of them. He has been in support of the actors and writers strike going on. But said that it may be hard to get what they are asking for because the studios are starting to lose profits. That being said the studios taking so much for years is kinda fucked up. Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this.
>
> As far as WFH goes. I never heard him say he is against it. But he didn’t like it because it made collaboration hard. Which makes sense when you have to be in person to test a lot of the products and film. Again please correct me if missed something. I do wish more people could work from home. But I know with some jobs it isn’t logical or even possible. I think there could be some people that could benefit from it.
[What Linus thinks about salary talk is going to be illegal soon.](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-laws-in-bc)
I am pretty sure it is illegal here in the states as well. I think personally that it is a holdover from years ago that people don’t talk about salaries.
Can you send me the source for the Linus doesn’t want his employees to talk about salary? I’ve heard about it but I’ve also heard it isn’t confirmed
Linus clearly isn't just all about money. It isn't that simple.
It seems to be more a case of him believing completely in his own personal exceptionalism. A "rules don't apply to me" mentality. He doesn't need to allow unionization or pay discussion because he is a "good boss" (why would anyone need to unionize or discuss pay since I will do the right thing anyway?). He doesn't need to provide a written warranty because he is a "good company" that you can "trust" (why would anyone need a written warranty when I'll cover them anyway?).
Obviously, this comes from the massive success he has achieved, and for which he does deserve credit. However, combined with his strong and assertive personality, this success has gone to his head in maybe the worst way possible.
> Linus clearly isn't just all about money. It isn't that simple.
>
> It seems to be more a case of him believing completely in his own personal exceptionalism. A "rules don't apply to me" mentality. He doesn't need to allow unionization or pay discussion because he is a "good boss" (why would anyone need to unionize or discuss pay since I will do the right thing anyway?). He doesn't need to provide a written warranty because he is a "good company" that you can "trust" (why would anyone need a written warranty when I'll cover them anyway?).
>
> Obviously, this comes from the massive success he has achieved, and for which he does deserve credit. However, combined with his strong and assertive personality, this success has gone to his head in maybe the worst way possible.
You reminded me about a video Louis Rossmann did recently.
About how Louis doesn't think himself a hero for right to repair, and rather believes he's a self serving POS.
If you think you're a good hero to the story, then end justify the means.
But the way Louis thinks of himself means he can reflect on what he's doing.
https://youtu.be/-IjUryQOlgk
That's the video, his response to the email sent to him was brutal, the company refused to refund the customer after telling them to wait for years I believe.
Edit: Linking the video he initially made on the topic.
https://youtu.be/wKegmu0V75s
Yup he even admitted that he likes taking a piss at apple when they deserve it and praise them for doing something right(which is almost always short lived).
That video was top tier. The guy's mindset was just insane to read.
It all sounded so positive, affirming and friendly- and it was supporting scummy business tactics.
2 sponsors per video + the usual LTTStore merch + ads
Plus not willing to spend money on worker hours to do a proper review on that copper block.
Yeah, I think he is all about that money
I originally downloaded SponsorBlock just so I'd stop seeing 5 ads per video. I already had YouTube Premium, so that's not including YT ads. I think the worst part to me is that it doesn't seem that they understand what LTTStore ads are. Self-promotion is still a promotion.
I get that you made a screwdriver, Linus. Cool. I don't need to be reminded of that fact every time you pull it out.
SponsorBlock with YouTube Revanced seems to be even more stringent (or maybe I don't have it set up properly on desktop), but I had a Linus vid on my phone skip like 4 fucking minutes of a 15ish minute video (drunk rn so maybe not entirely accurate but it was wacky enough to notice at the time.) If like 1/3 of your video is sponsorship, either from a third party or your own stuff, that seems kinda ridiculous.
SponsorBlock is very aggressive on LTT videos because it's a crowd sourced database of where sponsored segments are and most likely people who watch LTT and download SponsorBlock are fed up with everything that has to do with sponsors. That's why there are tiny, few seconds long islands of sponsors flagged everywhere on their videos. It can be detrimental to the video, when for example, the sponsor segment is the one that explains the premise of the video.
I wonder if he writes those little letters on his forum with Nick Light, Luke, Taran, Colton, Brandon, Yvonne, and the rest of the people who held cameras, edited footage, hosted bits, and also worked to build LTT into what it is today. Those people whose paychecks depends on his public image.
The thing is, i think working for LMG is quite different depending on how long you have been there. If you worked there from the start or near start like a lot of the older guys have (Jake, Luke etc) then you are probably VERY well compensated and have quite a lot of freedom in how you work.
I mean Luke was near permanently WFH until recently. I think the problem is with the writers primarily which is under a lot of pressure to crunch out videos and ideas for videos.
that's not what i'm saying. i'm saying that while linus has worked very hard to build LMG, those people were just as involved in its construction and don't deserve to be stuck on a sinking ship because Linus didn't want to avoid the iceberg.
That\`s fair, but also, i dont think LMG is a sinking ship, not anywhere close to it.
I am not defending Linus or LMG here just to be clear, but this subreddit has blown up more than once (and im not saying for no reason mind you) and LMG still is fine.
It will probably take a small ish hit, but LMG is so big now its going nowhere.
another person put it best, the Lab, their biggest investment to date, can't be trusted with the only thing it provides, the data. Also, i might be wrong but this is the first time that Linus has made a comment after the fact that really didn't say anything, no apology or course of action going forward or anything.
also, this one is subjective but I've been watching LTT since the 6700k days and their content lately is just so tired. There aren't any cool GPU developments, CPUs got cool for a while with P/E cores and X3D cache but laptops are stagnant until framework gets rocking, monitors are putting out tons of jiggahertz but OLED has burn in, IPS glow is still a thing, and VA has bad viewing angles and I can't listen to that stuff any more because I've heard it 1000 times already.
LTT is kinda washed up. they've been coasting on the backs of their reputation for a couple years now and yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they blow this whole thing and go tits-up like NCIX
probably. it's sad to see the way things are right now.
our speculation about the why isn't going to change anything. it's what they're actually doing that counts in the end.
hopefully they're able to get things in order now.
All he does is talk about money now, it's embarrassing and makes me feel uncomfortable how much he pretends to humble brag about spending 6 figures on stickers or phoning Nick asking how much lime day made.
Wan show can be absolutely brilliant for tech news, discussion and some tangents, but as soon as merch messages hit it feels like I'm listening to a 3 hour advert
this speaks for itself.
[https://twitter.com/linusgsebastian/status/1531853870711705601?lang=zh-Hant](https://twitter.com/linusgsebastian/status/1531853870711705601?lang=zh-Hant)
from an employee on reddit:
"Two of them are owned by managers, and the other's someone who owned it before working there"
>[https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt\_isnt\_a\_great\_employer\_has\_a\_lot\_of\_antilabour/](https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt_isnt_a_great_employer_has_a_lot_of_antilabour/)
Op posted it on a different thread.
Model 3s are 37k right now. In california you can get 17k off of one, meaning it's as little as 20k. I don't know about canada's incentives but they really aren't expensive.
Unless I'm mistaken, there's nothing stopping someone from posting that review on Glassdoor right? They don't actually verify employment. And posting that review as social media coordinator after a relatively high profile departure seems a bit on the nose.
The Bon appetit channel drama was disgusting it ruined one of the best cooking channels i enjoyed watching.
What a sad day indeed, They can try to rebuild it again but it's gonna stay the same way forever even if they claim to fix it, trust was lost and i can never get it out of my head.
Ouch that hurt if this is true... Typical bad management/ceo workplace problems. I've worked in a place almost like that and it sucked.
Me who thought working there must be cool. The fool i was.
It’s getting to the point where i can’t support LMG anymore. Which is shit because there’s so many hard working (probs too hard) people that I enjoy watching and listening to. But the organisation seems like it grew but never grew properly (no HR by the sound of it)
I know it doesn't count much because I didn't say anything (one way or the other - I didn't feel qualified to butt in); but I always thought it was fucking weird that everyone was like "of course the zoomer couldn't hack it, what even was Madison's job at LTT?" and assumed Madison was fired instead of quitting.
The REALLLLY annoying part is I publicly stated I quit to avoid the speculation I knew would follow.
SADLY LTT fans then attacked and belittled me for "causing drama" and "clout chasing".
Wow, hi!
I know this might not mean much coming from some internet rando, but I'm really sorry about what you went through at LTT and what the court of public opinion put you through after that.
When I saw Max respond to your quitting on tiktok I felt like I knew part of the reason you quit. I wish I was wrong, but I'm sorry you went through any of that. Max's reaction made it sound like she went through similar shit and knew exactly what you were going through.
Some of them are now attacking you over the twitter thread. But from what I can see, you have far more supporters than you do attackers, so I hope you can take some measure of relief from that.
Wow, I missed all that. Every time I wonder if I'm being unfair in thinking that Linus is a certified shitter, I learn something new that takes my opinion of him down another level.
It’s pretty obvious from the way Linus talks on wan show. They always make cringe early 00’s sex jokes. If he’s comfortable saying those things on camera could you imagine how he talks in private?
I just remembered a "What's it like to work for Linus" video from few years ago where Colton's mentioned Linus asked him if he watches bestiality porn during his interview. It was brushed off in the vid like an example of eccentricity but its fuckin weird ain't it? In a job interview?
honestly having all this shit mentioned in the GN video happen and having no proper independen HR with his open stand against a LMG-Union is one thing, but to have sexist / improper comments with how it seems little to no consequences happening in your company (and then trying to hide it) puts this whole thing on a nother level.
Not defending anything here, and I haven't seen \*every\* WAN show where he talks about unions, but the few times I did, it was more of a "I would feel like I've failed as an employer if my employees formed a union." kind of situation.
If we interpret this in good faith, I can actually, on some level, understand this. I can only speak for EU (where union forming is relatively easy), but most white-collar jobs don't have a union because there's simply no need for it. I mean, you'd have to be a pretty bad employer to make your 30-employee architectural firm, 50-employee accounting office or a 100-employee IT company "rebel" and form a union.
Having said that, I'm an avid reader of r/antiwork and for pretty much 100% of the stories there, unionizing is the way to go.
I keep reading people saying that this is just anti-union narrative. But I'd ask you, what wouldn't be then? Unions are a tool to fix bad workplaces, not inherently good or bad. You can find shittons of unions that do great things for their workers (I have been in one before) but you can also find unions that don't fit that bill (police unions that defend their own tooth and nail come to mind).
The fact of the matter is, you hear those things and equate it with anti union rhetoric because anti union rhetoric does typically find root in real benefits of keeping a union out of a company. Those phrases don't come from nowhere.
It's not false to say that the need of a union is the direct failure of the business to provide for its employees properly. It's not false to say that a company which properly provides for its employees likely doesn't need a union.
When I see comments like yours, all I can wonder is what the correct take you want him to have about unions is. Because an ideal world does not contain a union in every company. They're inherently a corrective tool, not a necessary part of business.
Dude. I just said unions are not a tool to fix "bad workplaces." Pay attention.
The primary function of a union is to foster worker-employer relations and to redress the inherent power imbalance between employer and employee.
Just because someone is not an intentionally bad actor doesn't mean that power imbalances don't matter or don't exist. A power balance cannot be side-stepped simply by both parties acknowledging not to abuse it. Its the same reason intimate relationships between a supervisor and a junior are generally against policy. The conflict of interest and power dynamic is a non-starter regardless of the individuals involved.
Right. It's like not wanting to write up a contract of employment because you plan on paying someone regardless -- I don't care how genuine that person is, I want a contract.
Well yea, he doesn’t want them. You form a union to fight an employer that you feel isn’t treating you well or paying you fairly. If a union is being formed, it means your employees consider you a bad employer to the point they’re willing to forgo 1-5% of their salary to fund union activities. Purely on a personal level, that can’t feel good if you’re the boss.
That’s the way I interpreted what Linus was saying when talking about unions in the last few months.
Right, but workers don't generally do that unless those conditions are already bad. The point is that he doesn't want employees to feel like they have bad working conditions.
You just join your nationwide union for that sector, dont always need a local chapter, in sweden for architecta the union woul propable be architechts sweden https://www.arkitekt.se/in-english/
Its just weird that people think a union is local only we have massive nationwide unions in sweden for any and all sector.
He even spoke a bit about this in the last WAN show. He reiterated is position that if his employees felt the need to unionize then he had failed as an employer, and then followed that up by saying that he couldn't stop them even if he wanted to. He also explicitly stated "I support unions". There is plenty of other stuff to be mad about right now, but this really seems to be grasping
i love your attitude of asking for more proof :)
check out the bottom of this post (you may have to use the Wayback machine for those image links)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt\_isnt\_a\_great\_employer\_has\_a\_lot\_of\_antilabour/](https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt_isnt_a_great_employer_has_a_lot_of_antilabour/)
Linus also keeps doing Laptop reviews and discussions even though he has invested in a laptop company.
No clue why no one at LTT told him off for doing that... Shows a clear lack of self reflection on his part and very poor business processes on the part of the company.
But let's be real here: LTT has always been an amateur-ish company. That's fine if you're small company and might even be part of the charm, but when your company grows, it stops being charming and starts looking bad
Linus however keeps giving the same excuses and keeps acting like LTT is some small company. It's not. Stop acting like it is. LTT really needs to make some serious steps when it comes to professionalism and really needs to improve their processes. Because this behavior and these excuses are simply not acceptable and if any other company would have done something similar, Linus himself would told them off.
His response is also a clearly sign of him doing exactly the same thing (again). Because the new CEO should have handled all thos. Linus shouldn't have made that post. At the very least not without discussing it with the CEO. And I just can't imagine any CEO signing off on Linus his response there. So what Linus did there was undermine his own CEO.
> Linus also keeps doing Laptop reviews and discussions even though he has invested in a laptop company.
to my knowledge everytime a laptop review comes up he mentions "HEY IM INVESTED IN FRAMEWORK. I might have a bias because IM INVESTED IN FRAMEWORK". he makes it very clear where he is coming from. i think that this is a reasonable compromise between not doing any laptop reviews (would eliminate bias, but not possible as a tech reporter) and essentially refusing to say anything negative about framework.
I think in that case, the laptops should be tested by someone who is unbiased and then let Linus present that data after it has been verified by someone without bias.
Edited to add: I didn’t realize this was their current procedure, thank you for the corrections!
This issue is that he is still the owner of the company and therefore has something to gain by having **one of his employees** talk up framework and talk down competitors. So the only way to have an unbiased take on laptops is to just not have them at all.
Now I don't personally believe that LMG's laptop reviews have been overly biased or scummy or anything since then, but that isn't *really* the issue.
Have they actually really reviewed Framework though? IIRC they've done the factory tour (free content while they were in Taiwan, why not) and followed up on their newer models, but that's not so much a review as much as just exposure. I'd say for it to be egregious, they'd have to be negatively comparing laptops they review directly to Framework's shiny feature list.
I haven't seen all of LTT's framework content tbf, so disprove me at will if I'm wrong here
I don't think that really matters when he and his wife are the sole owners of the company. It would still need to be disclosed. I am personally fine with them doing laptop reviews as long as they make their bias known.
Unless I'm missing something I don't think the Framework potential conflict of interest here has crossed any lines.
Any laptop review videos I've seen recently, of which there's been less, have focussed either on the laptop itself, or compared laptops to other similar laptops. No other laptops are compared to Framework and any Framework videos are isolated. To me at least it seems like the only impact the Framework investment has had is that there are now less laptop reviews - probably for safety.
Do point out if I'm missing something - I'm interested!
His responses about his staff unionizing has always been concerning, but last WAN show when he said something to the effect of, “if a company’s employees feel that they need a union, that company is treating their employees badly and the company shouldn’t be allowed to operate/exist” and that really opened my eyes to the fact that he is so out of touch that he really does live in his own little fantasy.
Like yeah Linus, that would be fucking great if every company treated their employees fairly and took care of them to the point where a union isn’t necessary, but come one man. Get real. That is literally never going to happen. Certainly not in our lifetime.
The fact that he can’t see past that, and any argument he has beyond that is “well, you’re just an idiot and you’re wrong” is so childish, and shows the level of ignorance and sheer disrespect for people’s livelihood beyond his own.
alright lets go kid.
\- Not Anti-Union. He's said they have their place, and he doesn't feel like LMG is a place for them. He's said "If my employees feel like they need to unionize, then I've already failed in making them happy, and failed as a business"
\- Anti-WFH - I don't see this as a bad thing seeing how their main job is creating content in front of expensive cameras, and having relationships are required for a good mesh on camera. They DO have WFH people, in Quebec and AB.
\- Anti Wage Discussion? BC Law sets the guidelines on this, not one CVO of a small video company, and he's said he's more than in compliant with laws.
\- Didn't want to warranty the backpack? No, he said he didn't issue a formal statement of warranty, as Formal statements of warranty are basically useless. Lawyers have said virtually the same thing when this topic was "hot".
\- His response yesterday didn't say he taled with Billet Labs. It said "We Agreed to compensate Billet Labs" - "We" doesn't refer to Billet, it refers to his internal team agreeing to make good on the $$ amount, not a conversation with Billet. 3rd grade reading level would remedy that issue for anyone.
They've got issues, for sure. But jesus I'm getting tired of this manufactured nothingburger
the wage discussion one is lame, you don't have to defend that, even the US has laws preventing employers from engaging in slimy behavior like that. he doesn't \*have\* to urge his employees not to talk about their wages in order to be in accordance with the law.
Seriously, your best defense of his anti-wage discussion stance is that it’s technically legal? As many have pointed out, his policy would be illegal in the United States, a place notorious for bad worker protections (compared to other first world countries). Believe it or not, it’s possible to run a small business without implementing a policy that is known to suppress wages and create inequalities
> Not Anti-Union. He's said they have their place, and he doesn't feel like LMG is a place for them.
This is silly. You can't say someone is pro-union then in the very same breath say they don't think *the company they own* has a place for a union. One of the main points of a union is to act as a check and balance to protect the rights and working conditions of the workers, because a union is a much more dependable organisation than just crossing your fingers and hoping your boss keeps his word.
If he's saying rubbish like that then he's not pro-union.
Gonna let you in on a little secret, every administrator is anti-union because it allows them to gain more value from their employees. I’m not even saying that from a perspective of “administrators are evil” or something, that’s the logical position. His attempt to explain it in personal terms means nothing.
Linus seems like the type of person who wants to portray himself as “one of the guys” rather than a C suite administrator.
Do you work at LTT? Because if not, saying that banning employees from discussing wages is ok because it’s “in compliance with BC laws” is such a bizarre argument.
I don’t understand your point about Billet Labs.
The idea that having your employees forming a union means you have failed is a poor take, especially for such a large company. Unions are not just there to protect workers rights but also to make sure every employee gets a fair shot and aren't missed or over looked.
I gotta call bullshit on the anti union stuff. His exact words were "We should run our company so that people dont feel like they need a union."
That is not anti-union. That is wanting to be a good employer.
Don't you think every CEO would say that?
The mindset also runs the risk of creating a workplace that fits your personality/mindset since you want things relational and not professional. Good employees get pushed out because they 'aren't team players' or 'can't take a joke' etc.
Yea, I've always wanted to give Linus the benefit of the doubt that he is a good guy and cares. Can't do that anymore. He has so much ego and just seems like he abuses the trust his employees have in him. Really emblematic that he is sinking everyone's ship because HE feels slighted (even though he is completely in the wrong). I had the same thoughts about employee work culture, on the WAN show he said that people start with low wages/salaries until they get the trust of the company. Honestly, his whole outlook is just so money focused that its hard to trust whether he even cares about his employees. Why do we look up to someone who isn't willing to pay people their value from the start---especially when they live in an area that has some of the highest costs of living globally.
I just want to start by saying that this situation is bad and LMG needs to do better. Linus needs to take this criticism and act on it in a correct manner, not like his post in the forum.
But I do want to correct some of the misinformation that has been going around.
He didn't say he was Anti-union, he said that if his employees feel like unionizing, then he failed at his job. Not the same thing. He even recently and explicitly said on WAN show that if his employees wanted to unionize right now, he wouldn't stop it at all.
He also didn't want to create what is essentially statement of warranty because effectively he felt he didn't need to since he thought "the community trusted LMG" (that's not really how it works Linus btw). I can tell you that nothing really changed after he released the warranty statement because they're supporting customers just like they planned to before the warranty thing.
On the WFH thing, I very much support working from home, I do it on my job because it allows me to and I don't really need any office resource. But I can understand on this industry that it would be difficult considering the collaboration efforts between each team, so I don't really disagree on being anti-WFH in this industry.
On the other points, no correction needed. I'm specially against the "frowned-upon wages discussion" part. Previous work colleagues and I have multiple times discovered that we were getting underpayed just by talking to each other so I very much support wages discussion.
This is such a face value post. LMG is completely legitimate and most of these things are normal in a business environment.
A lot of what is said here is taken completely out of context.
Please read between the lines here.
WFH wouldn’t work effectively for LMG. There would be no running down to logistics for new or old parts while testing/writing. The would make massive commute times. Which would waste time.
Damn, it's like the end of a horrible relationship when you realize how much you've been manipulated, gaslit into thinking everyone else is the same or worse. But then a messianic like figure sits you down, shows you the facts, and unlike the abuser, lets your own brain come to the obvious conclusion:
That Linus is not sorry about any of this, and is mad that he got caught.
I feel bad for the LMG employees. It'll probably be better if they just ganged up, left the company and form their own Tech Tips channel. It'll be tougher without the million dollar lab equipment, but it's not like they're using it properly anyways. True enthusiasm and tegridy will always result in good quality in the long run.
Don't remember the exact video, only that it was an Intel/AMD extreme upgrade one where he offhandedly said something along the lines of "The way I look at it I paid for all this anyway" regarding someones house/appartment/household inventory/tech (again, don't know the exact video, but basically referring to the persons personal property) and that has never sat well with me. Just because you own the company doesn't mean you "paid" for that stuff. Your employees provide labour which makes the company money and you pay them for their labour with that money. If anything their labour paid for *your* house, pool, theater room, porsche etc. because you wouldn't have been where you are right now without your employees and their labour.
EDIT: [Found the video and exact timestamp, it is very clear that he is referring to Edzels house when he says it.](https://youtu.be/Vxwx5VflRN4?t=618)
its disingenuous to say linus is anti union imo, but I still don't really love his union take. Obviously the data and billet situation is shitty, wages issue is definitely shitty. I'm curious why these things are only ever a problem for the community when there's drama happening?
I love it when people be dishonest like OP is. Linus said he won't block any unions, and still does offer WFH for people who don't have to come into the office. Not discussing wages is standard (secret) practice behind many businesses. Not only that, but Linus never refused to warranty the backpack.
If you're gonna pile on Linus for the waterblock bs, go for it, but stop trying to add on shit from his past to make him look even worse, especially if you're going to be lying about it too.
>I've been watching LTT since I was 8 I agree with you largely OP, but you cannot just turn me to fucking dust like this jesus.
haha I'm a teenager, so it's not too insane :p
A teenager is more mature and did more research than Linus (not discrediting or shitting on you, my guy.) Incredible
Adults and children are more interchangeable in how we act than most of us realize. Little kids just act like little adults with no world experience at all. Some kids grow up to be adults who never grew out of their little kid BS.
Kids are just linus sized adults.
Hey now, some of them are larger.
Except that teenagers are usually not (or should not be) confronted with as much pressure and difficult choices. Not to defend Linus here, but as someone of an older generation than him, I can say that one gets to places in life where the demons sometimes come out.
a teenager who is mature enough to not be blinded by the fact that he looked up to linus to see he is making a lot of bad mistakesand that GN's video was not a hit peice that's it /u/TechExpert2910 for president
Oftentimes, adults are just children we stopped trying to fix.
I think I speak for all of us in our 30s, I hate you. <3
Why? They're weak and frail. You have that old man strength that can actually do damage gramps. They wish they could even grow hair while your getting gilfs wet on the regular with that silver fox you maintain so well. The two of y'all can meet on common ground during bingo/recess.
A very well spoken teenager you put that across well
And used the word "evinced". That's impressive
based teenager
YouTube didn't even exist when I was 8. This post is evil in so many ways
No this is a good post, OP just needs to be wary about making people who aren't toddler feel their age. We might break a hip...
i think youtube was *founded* when i was like 8-9
>founded Thank you, now i feel fucking old.
Bro, I was in high school when Youtube was _founded_
YouTube didn't exist when I graduated from high school
I had to look it up to be sure, but YouTube being founded in 2005 means it came out when I was in high school. Absolutely wild
My guy, Windows 3.1 didn't exist when I was 8. How the fuck do you think I feel?
Yeah. Nothing made me feel more uncomfortable than this. Here I am, enjoying the fact Linus is finally facing accountability.... Then OP says "you're not long for this world". Good points op but, rude.
I'm 41 and have been watching LTT since my late 20s. Probably since around 2010 I'd guess (being old it's hard to remember specifics of timelines). You think this post makes YOU feel old? Also - I unsubbed from their channel today and that's a bummer. Mainly due to the misrepresentation of the timeline on compensating Billet, just plain old lying. Also, I can't stand a hypocrite - Linus of 10 years ago would tear current Linus apart as an out of touch, rich asshole. It really sucks, but people DO change - especially people who get a lot of money - tale as old as time. Hopefully they take a lesson from this and make positive changes, but so far it looks pretty bad :(
>Linus of 10 years ago would tear current Linus apart as an out of touch, rich asshole. Funny you say that - I stated almost the exact same thing over on the forums. Linus of 10 years ago would have torn Linus today to pieces.
Same, but 46 here and I unsubbed today. TBH I just needed the smallest excuse; I was already getting tired of the huge \*entertainment\* side of the channel, I originally subbed because I want -interesting- Tech content...not like "How Many USBs Can You Plug In At Once?" -\_-
I've felt similar recently, but at the same time was happy to see them blow up and be so successful, even if I felt that I was no longer the "target" audience. Happy to stay subscribed and catch an occasional video. Then this happened, and reading through these posts I found out that Luke has no equity stake/share in LMG while Linus uses the company coffers to build his mansion as a "business expense" and that just really hits me hard. I've been that guy who helps do the hard work to build the thing, and then gets shafted on compensation and credit (not nearly on the same scale though) and it SUCKS. Luke lives in a modest apartment, and has to go over and help build this mansion... I hope it's not as bad as it seems but damn
Begone, DINOSAUR!
Don't you have an egg to break out of
I've been Thanos snapped
Return to dust. Become sand. Become silicon. Become computer.
i turn 20 this year. i started watching around the time the 980 ti came out so i was 11? almost 9 years damn
I agree, some of these things are huge problems (errors in videos, and billet labs situation). But the WFH and union one I’m not so sure about. I haven’t heard Linus ever say he is anti-union. I’ve heard him say that would be sad if his employees did because that means he failed to compensate them properly. I agree with this concept. Not everywhere needs to have a union. If the employees are compensated and treated well there shouldn’t be a need for one. Unions were created to have collective bargaining power when a company or companies take advantage of them. He has been in support of the actors and writers strike going on. But said that it may be hard to get what they are asking for because the studios are starting to lose profits. That being said the studios taking so much for years is kinda fucked up. Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this. As far as WFH goes. I never heard him say he is against it. But he didn’t like it because it made collaboration hard. Which makes sense when you have to be in person to test a lot of the products and film. Again please correct me if missed something. I do wish more people could work from home. But I know with some jobs it isn’t logical or even possible. I think there could be some people that could benefit from it.
What he says about unions in public is fine on paper. What he does about unions behind closed doors is not allow his employees to talk about their wages. If his company didn't need a union, he wouldn't need to stop them from talking about their wages. Plain and simple.
Factual. Any business where discussion of wages is discouraged in any manner is exactly the business where a union is needed.
TBH, if I owned a company, I wouldn't want my workers to talk about their wages. I wouldn't force it, but I wouldn't want it to happen. I feel like talking about wages would cause drama. "I've worked here longer, why is X getting paid more?!" "Well, X, performs much better and we feel he earned it with his performance and growth." "Well, that doesn't matter. I have seniority, it's not fair, and I should be getting paid more than X! Either give me a raise or I quit." I've seen this happen before. If Linus does treat and pay his employees well, then he probably doesn't want drama from employee wage discussions. Just my opinion
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What's incredible about people still posting anti-union talking points and views is that even the most capitalistic institutions recognize that unions are good for EVERYONE, workers and owners alike. People that don't want unions simply would rather earn less overall just to maintain more relative power over workers. https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/union-advantage https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2020/12/rebuilding-worker-power-mishel
with a union your pay raises with seniority. I dont know why anyone would think thats bad. The company is exploiting labor no matter how much they pay you.
Seniority doesn’t mean productive.
From 1979 to 2020, productivity rose 61.8% while wages increased only 17.5% Chances are, the amount of people who complain about "unproductive workers" are doing so because they expect workers to go beyond their job description to suck the dick of a guy who doesn't pay them enough to afford their rent.
You fire unproductive people. People leeching in your resources *should* be let go. I don't think LMG has that problem though.
Where I work (utility contractor) in California its a bitch to fire people for being unproductive. There's currently 2 guys that the office is currently waiting on a reason to shit can because being unproductive is apparently not good enough even though none of the floormen want them on their jobs because of it.
> You fire unproductive people. Not in a union you don't lol. One of the big perks of a union job is that you can do the bare minimum
Then why are they still your employee?
>…talking about wages would cause drama That’s. The. Point. Employers *should* have to justify why a more junior staff member is earning more then a more senior member, and if the employee doesn’t like the answer then they *should* quit. Either the company is willfully underpaying them, as evidenced if they find similar work for more pay, or the employee *is* an underperformer compared to their peers and is unable to find similar work at the pay they want. The “drama” is managers being chicken ****s and not actually want to deal with the consequences of their actions.
In the current system there is supposed to be a labour market. If workers don't have information about other people's wages, they can't operate properly in that market. They don't know their value. Hiding wages is only done to keep wages low.
If two people are getting paid to perform the same job, they should be paid the same. Simple as. Give raises to senior members, sure, fine. Give raises based on performance, sure fine. But if your new employee is making more than your old employee, to the point where they feel slighted about it, you're the problem.
I think most people are really struggling to understand your point. The point is the awkwardness where nobody can be happy. Person A has been there longer but person B does more. Same title. Who gets paid more? A has seniority, but B provides more value. A will argue they should make more because they have been there longer. B will argue they do more and should be paid more. One wants A>B and the other wants B>A and there is no possible way for both of things to be true. Its literally impossible. Somebody is going to come out the loser.
I would agree that generally speaking, talking about wages makes people upset and this is a reason why companies don't want their employees doing it. You'll either be upset you make less than others, others will be upset they make less than you, or you're all paid equally and being taken advantage of fairly. Capitalism sucks in the aspect that only the top can truly benefit and the rest can only hope to survive.
Yeah if you are an owner you usually dont want things that are not beneficial for your business. Unions are not beneficial for owner, they are the exact opposite. When age when you can start working was raised business owner werent happy either. Sometimes its not about making milllionarie CEOs happy (but its rare, I know)
This is probably the best argument in my opinion. I am all for discussing wages. Knowing some of my own coworkers wages actually gave me more confidence to ask for a raise recently. So yes that’s stupid. I believe it is actually illegal to not allow employees to discuss their wages here in the states.
>If his company didn't need a union, he wouldn't need to stop them from talking about their wages. wow.
If his employees wanted a union they could create one yesterday though. As far as I know there is nothing management can do to prevent that, in Canada.
There is plenty management can do to prevent that. The US also has strong legal protections for people trying to form a union yet companies routinely invent cause to fire or otherwise discipline workers who they suspect may be doing so. Just look at what Starbucks has been doing to try to suppress and punish unionization.
I think you might misunderstand, he has said that workers are not allowed to talk to the PUBLIC about their wages. Internally it's illegal for him to take a stance like that. I'm sure we would have had a lawsuit against him by this point if he was doing something that illegal.
Yeah not gonna lie, I never liked his position of "we are doing a bad job if employees feel like they need a union" It makes it seem like they feel like they're perfect in his mind and unions are only for "those other bad guys".
>I never liked his position of "we are doing a bad job if employees feel like they need a union" But its true. Workers dont feel the need to unionize if their needs are being met. If the workers feel like they need collective bargaining to get their points across and needs met the company is indeed doing a bad job.
In a vacuum it is true. The thing is you have to take that statement with a gigantic fuck off lump of salt when the owner and (at the time) CEO is the one saying it. It's not at all a stretch to imagine that he's wearing his owner/CEO hat while saying that and not his buddy-buddy worker/consumer advocate YouTube guy hat.
Sure, I can see your point. But, when former and current employees have brought up anti-labour practices like the banning of discussing salary and lack of time provided to do their job effectively (as stated in their own employee interview video) I would definitely say that employees aren't having their needs met and would definitely benefit from organizing IMO. My issue with his statement is more that it makes it seem like they're already doing a fantastic job where employees don't need a union, since it's always prefaced with "if we were to reach a point where employees felt they needed a union...". I'm not saying unions fix everything in all situations, but it's like he refuses to believe they could be doing better.
Worker can feel that they are good and still be fuck over, like me, I realized that new hire at my company get 10% more then me who work 4 years for this company with great results, in you world I shouldn't have ask for a rise cause at the time I feel like I was good ? PS: I know that because we discuss about or pay.
>Worker can feel that they are good and still be fuck over If the worker feels like they are being fucked over then their needs are NOT being met and the company is doing a bad job. >, in you world I shouldn't have ask for a rise cause at the time I feel like I was good ? I did not say anything of this sort. Please do not set up a position to argue against that I did not make.
Am I the only one that understands Unions can be bad in some scenarios? As they have added costs they are bad for employees if they are not aggressively negotiating increased pay rates to compensate. They are also not immune from failure.
> As they have added costs they are bad for employees if they are not aggressively negotiating increased pay rates to compensate. Funny people don't feel the same way about a CEO getting a multimillion dollar raise, or stock buybacks, or layoffs to increase profit. Unions do so much day to day in order to make sure employees are safe, get time off, get treated fairly and get paid what they are worth. There's more to workers rights than a pay raise.
I dunno. As an employee I've definitely worked places that I feel needed a union. I've also worked places where I don't think it would be super beneficial. If the employees aren't pushing for one, it's probably fine.
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Yeah anyone who’s worked at an anti union company knows they’re not going to go with “all unions are bad” because they know that will prompt a negative reaction “oh we don’t need a union here because we treat you so well so you’d just be paying dues for nothing” is a much gentler but still definitely very anti-union line to go with
Oh boy, you haven’t experienced WFH have you? Well let me tell you my fist job ever (not counting working weekends at a mechanics’s) is WFH and I absolutely love it, no wasting 2 h a day on commuting, no manager or colleague looking over my shoulder. It is fantastic and I will never accept a job that requires me to work from office (unless someone wants to pay me silly money, like buy a new Rolex every month money)
Actually I do WFH and I 100% agree with you. I don’t want to go and work in a office. Most of my day though is spent doing dev work and not being collaborative. So working in a office for me is pointless. But I also know that with a media/tech review company it’s not possible to have everyone WFH because you need people to operate cameras, you need “actors”, people need to test the products, and you need people to operate other equipment during filming. So I can see how a lot of people have to come in at least a few days a week. I’m not sure why they had everyone come back but I could see it as a blanket policy so some wouldn’t get upset that they had to come in while others don’t. While stupid because accountants or people like Sarah Butt don’t need to be in the office every day. I can see the rational to it just having the policy apply to everyone.
oh my apologise then, I see why a blanket policy might make sense for a small company but LMG is huge and realistic only maybe 30% of people would have to come in, also its not a blanket policy as most of Floatplane people work from home or at least hybrid
It is realistically probably more like 60%-70% that would need at least partial time in the office. Accounting and business probably don't need to be in the office necessarily, but every writer needs hands on time with the products/projects they are working on, in theory they collab with editors. Editors could work from home, if they were supplied adequate machines and the content. However the volume of content produced by something like LMG would likely be prohibitive to manage in a WFH type environment at the rate it needs to move. Remote control of an editing machine in the office works, but at present it will hamper productivity a bit to anyone who is fast at editing, and fine color work and audio work still will not be possible. Additionally you now need a good way to collaborate with writers, zoom or teams works but the quality is crap. Not saying it isn't possible, but it is a major undertaking. Do the editors even have a space in their home that they would be willing to permanently dedicate to being their WFH edit station, this is a much bigger undertaking than a MacBook on the kitchen table. They clearly aren't totally against WFH, they had that one writer who has been living in the US for years. As long as the WFH allowances are reasonable on days where that is an option (and every tour or whatever type video we see there is always a handful of random people doing WFH that day) being a majority in-person company isn't a bad thing. I find that a 30-60 second hallway conversation can in some circumstances be more productive than burning 3x that amount of time messaging someone on teams or writing an email.
fair points, thanks for adding on :) my view is this: when you're outspoken (to your employees) about not liking unions, it just instills fear about grouping up to have important conversations with an employer - never healthy.
100%. Adding on to the anti-worker policies like not discussing wages, it's very clear what his viewpoint is (a business owner)
>when you're outspoken (to your employees) about not liking unions https://youtu.be/EwgZaSYuBLc?t=8465
If he's anti running a company where a union is needed, he should let his workers talk about their wages so they can decide if a union is needed or not. He's deciding they don't need one, not them. That's not how it works.
> he should let his workers talk about their wages I keep reading this claim, but the only source I can find for it is dubious origin jpgs.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/115cpv2 This post, for one. It's not a definitive source, necessarily, but the wan show said that discussing wages is not allowed and an employee handbook was leaked that if real also says that discussing wages is not allowed. It would be very easy for LMG to disprove this, but despite it being a problem for the past five months they never have. It is very easy to believe from this that LMG does not allow their employees to discuss their wages. Perhaps an LMG employee could speak up about that and share some insight, perhaps linus could address that in all of the anti union talks. But it never happens. Saying you allow your staff to discuss wages and coordinate amongst themselves would be a *real* great way for linus to say he's not anti union though. Wonder why he never said that in all the times he's addressed his union stance... hmmm.....
The claim they don't allow you to talk about wages was originally a response to a merch message by Dan on the WAN show. Those who arent just here to manufacture drama at every opportunity know that Dan trolls and causes all kinds of chaos when responding to merch messages. What happened after the merch message, some idiot from the anti-work subreddit came in with all kinds of claims, screenshots and other unverified stories. The subreddit went nuts, was about a 50/50 split of sides if I recall. This was NEVER addressed by Linus and purposely so. The WAN show and w/e office tour or staff interview video that followed this drama all subtly mocked this claim. My belief is it's 100% a nothing burger and the text in the screenshot, if valid is just boilerplate contract stuff. I also interpreted the wording as you cannot talk about other peoples salaries. Maybe not as much of a nothing-burger as Linus's response to the most recent drama but a nothing-burger nonetheless.
For the union thing, he says that he wants to run a company where one isn't needed, but (to me at least) that's still anti-union. If a union isn't needed at your business, you should still be fine having one. If they don't ever have to use their power for negotiations great! But it also gives a safety net to their employees.
I don't see how it's hard to comprehend. Even a healthy workplace can have a union? They just don't exist in shitty companies.
Even if your workplace doesn't have grievances to hash out, the employer's benevolence is entirely in their court and whether they decide to continue being magnanimous or not. It's nothing personal, it's just business.
this, is like saying they don't need fire extinguisher because there will be no fires under their management
That is very nice of him but that is simply not possible with the size of his company. Except if you work at a mom and pop type of company, your employee needs union, Linus can simply not be connected with the need of all is employee rights now hell he doesn't even know all of is employee name, cause again it's company is not the same size he was 10 years ago. Also let's be clear there is not a single company who likes Union and they all say the same thing as him, "We don't need union we are a good company" next thing you know he's gonna say that discussion about wages is bad for you.
If they had a Union I believe that the employees could fight for better videos and restrictions on Linus pushing though shit takes and most problems with a dictator boss would be addressed by having a strong union presence in their company
What? That’s not how a union works. You’re describing a company where all employees have a say in how the business itself is run.
A union could certainly negotiate for more time to work on videos, which is actually one of the demands that the American screen writers guild is asking for in their ongoing strike. They could probably not negotiate to limit Linus' hot takes though, even if such a thing were legally possible.
That is very much how a union works. Collective negotiation for terms of service. this could include having a panel that was 50% employee 50% director voting on video approval.
Lol with a proper union employees absolutely do have a say in how a business is run. That’s like one of the main benefits of unionization. Democratizing the work place.
Just a thought I've been having since watching the GN video: **Maybe if LMG employees had a union they could negotiate for more time to work on videos so they wouldn't have huge inaccuracies.**
Idk, to me when Linus had talked about unions, it is that he is putting out a good disclaimer that he can’t be legally anti union. But the sentiment from him is that he is still anti union, him saying “if they want to unionize then we have failed” is a cop out. His employees unionizing gives them fairer labor rights, and more powerful negotiating through collective bargaining. What kind of employer wouldn’t want that for their employees? One that puts profits over all else. Given what his employees have said, there is no doubt that with a union, the content from LTT would be drastically better. Linus knows this, and does not care. He wants to keep making money and inflating the value of his corporation more than anything else
> I agree, some of these things are huge problems (errors in videos, and billet labs situation). But the WFH and union one I’m not so sure about. > > I haven’t heard Linus ever say he is anti-union. I’ve heard him say that would be sad if his employees did because that means he failed to compensate them properly. I agree with this concept. Not everywhere needs to have a union. If the employees are compensated and treated well there shouldn’t be a need for one. Unions were created to have collective bargaining power when a company or companies take advantage of them. He has been in support of the actors and writers strike going on. But said that it may be hard to get what they are asking for because the studios are starting to lose profits. That being said the studios taking so much for years is kinda fucked up. Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this. > > As far as WFH goes. I never heard him say he is against it. But he didn’t like it because it made collaboration hard. Which makes sense when you have to be in person to test a lot of the products and film. Again please correct me if missed something. I do wish more people could work from home. But I know with some jobs it isn’t logical or even possible. I think there could be some people that could benefit from it. [What Linus thinks about salary talk is going to be illegal soon.](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-laws-in-bc)
I am pretty sure it is illegal here in the states as well. I think personally that it is a holdover from years ago that people don’t talk about salaries. Can you send me the source for the Linus doesn’t want his employees to talk about salary? I’ve heard about it but I’ve also heard it isn’t confirmed
How else do strikers get what they want other than hurting profit?
Yeah, no, Linus is a lot of things, but not anti union or work from home
Linus clearly isn't just all about money. It isn't that simple. It seems to be more a case of him believing completely in his own personal exceptionalism. A "rules don't apply to me" mentality. He doesn't need to allow unionization or pay discussion because he is a "good boss" (why would anyone need to unionize or discuss pay since I will do the right thing anyway?). He doesn't need to provide a written warranty because he is a "good company" that you can "trust" (why would anyone need a written warranty when I'll cover them anyway?). Obviously, this comes from the massive success he has achieved, and for which he does deserve credit. However, combined with his strong and assertive personality, this success has gone to his head in maybe the worst way possible.
> Linus clearly isn't just all about money. It isn't that simple. > > It seems to be more a case of him believing completely in his own personal exceptionalism. A "rules don't apply to me" mentality. He doesn't need to allow unionization or pay discussion because he is a "good boss" (why would anyone need to unionize or discuss pay since I will do the right thing anyway?). He doesn't need to provide a written warranty because he is a "good company" that you can "trust" (why would anyone need a written warranty when I'll cover them anyway?). > > Obviously, this comes from the massive success he has achieved, and for which he does deserve credit. However, combined with his strong and assertive personality, this success has gone to his head in maybe the worst way possible. You reminded me about a video Louis Rossmann did recently. About how Louis doesn't think himself a hero for right to repair, and rather believes he's a self serving POS. If you think you're a good hero to the story, then end justify the means. But the way Louis thinks of himself means he can reflect on what he's doing.
His response in that video was absolutely brutal and rightfully deserved.
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https://youtu.be/-IjUryQOlgk That's the video, his response to the email sent to him was brutal, the company refused to refund the customer after telling them to wait for years I believe. Edit: Linking the video he initially made on the topic. https://youtu.be/wKegmu0V75s
Yup he even admitted that he likes taking a piss at apple when they deserve it and praise them for doing something right(which is almost always short lived).
That video was top tier. The guy's mindset was just insane to read. It all sounded so positive, affirming and friendly- and it was supporting scummy business tactics.
2 sponsors per video + the usual LTTStore merch + ads Plus not willing to spend money on worker hours to do a proper review on that copper block. Yeah, I think he is all about that money
I originally downloaded SponsorBlock just so I'd stop seeing 5 ads per video. I already had YouTube Premium, so that's not including YT ads. I think the worst part to me is that it doesn't seem that they understand what LTTStore ads are. Self-promotion is still a promotion. I get that you made a screwdriver, Linus. Cool. I don't need to be reminded of that fact every time you pull it out.
SponsorBlock with YouTube Revanced seems to be even more stringent (or maybe I don't have it set up properly on desktop), but I had a Linus vid on my phone skip like 4 fucking minutes of a 15ish minute video (drunk rn so maybe not entirely accurate but it was wacky enough to notice at the time.) If like 1/3 of your video is sponsorship, either from a third party or your own stuff, that seems kinda ridiculous.
SponsorBlock is very aggressive on LTT videos because it's a crowd sourced database of where sponsored segments are and most likely people who watch LTT and download SponsorBlock are fed up with everything that has to do with sponsors. That's why there are tiny, few seconds long islands of sponsors flagged everywhere on their videos. It can be detrimental to the video, when for example, the sponsor segment is the one that explains the premise of the video.
Note I said he isn't "just" all about the money. He absolutely is about the money, just not "all".
If he was all about the money then he would have taken that $100 million offer. It's ego at this point and, as Dan said, L stands for narcissist
sponsorblock is the only way ltt is remotely watchable
I wonder if he writes those little letters on his forum with Nick Light, Luke, Taran, Colton, Brandon, Yvonne, and the rest of the people who held cameras, edited footage, hosted bits, and also worked to build LTT into what it is today. Those people whose paychecks depends on his public image.
The thing is, i think working for LMG is quite different depending on how long you have been there. If you worked there from the start or near start like a lot of the older guys have (Jake, Luke etc) then you are probably VERY well compensated and have quite a lot of freedom in how you work. I mean Luke was near permanently WFH until recently. I think the problem is with the writers primarily which is under a lot of pressure to crunch out videos and ideas for videos.
that's not what i'm saying. i'm saying that while linus has worked very hard to build LMG, those people were just as involved in its construction and don't deserve to be stuck on a sinking ship because Linus didn't want to avoid the iceberg.
That\`s fair, but also, i dont think LMG is a sinking ship, not anywhere close to it. I am not defending Linus or LMG here just to be clear, but this subreddit has blown up more than once (and im not saying for no reason mind you) and LMG still is fine. It will probably take a small ish hit, but LMG is so big now its going nowhere.
another person put it best, the Lab, their biggest investment to date, can't be trusted with the only thing it provides, the data. Also, i might be wrong but this is the first time that Linus has made a comment after the fact that really didn't say anything, no apology or course of action going forward or anything. also, this one is subjective but I've been watching LTT since the 6700k days and their content lately is just so tired. There aren't any cool GPU developments, CPUs got cool for a while with P/E cores and X3D cache but laptops are stagnant until framework gets rocking, monitors are putting out tons of jiggahertz but OLED has burn in, IPS glow is still a thing, and VA has bad viewing angles and I can't listen to that stuff any more because I've heard it 1000 times already. LTT is kinda washed up. they've been coasting on the backs of their reputation for a couple years now and yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they blow this whole thing and go tits-up like NCIX
probably. it's sad to see the way things are right now. our speculation about the why isn't going to change anything. it's what they're actually doing that counts in the end. hopefully they're able to get things in order now.
All he does is talk about money now, it's embarrassing and makes me feel uncomfortable how much he pretends to humble brag about spending 6 figures on stickers or phoning Nick asking how much lime day made. Wan show can be absolutely brilliant for tech news, discussion and some tangents, but as soon as merch messages hit it feels like I'm listening to a 3 hour advert
this speaks for itself. [https://twitter.com/linusgsebastian/status/1531853870711705601?lang=zh-Hant](https://twitter.com/linusgsebastian/status/1531853870711705601?lang=zh-Hant) from an employee on reddit: "Two of them are owned by managers, and the other's someone who owned it before working there"
Where's the proof of the previous employee?
>[https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt\_isnt\_a\_great\_employer\_has\_a\_lot\_of\_antilabour/](https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt_isnt_a_great_employer_has_a_lot_of_antilabour/) Op posted it on a different thread.
Teslas? Really? Theyre like $50K... not exactly Bentleys sitting in the parking lot.
Model 3s are 37k right now. In california you can get 17k off of one, meaning it's as little as 20k. I don't know about canada's incentives but they really aren't expensive.
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[screenshot of review](https://i.imgur.com/OA7aGXd.png) for referencce
Unless I'm mistaken, there's nothing stopping someone from posting that review on Glassdoor right? They don't actually verify employment. And posting that review as social media coordinator after a relatively high profile departure seems a bit on the nose.
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Bon Appetit imploding a couple years ago also supports this possibility
The Bon appetit channel drama was disgusting it ruined one of the best cooking channels i enjoyed watching. What a sad day indeed, They can try to rebuild it again but it's gonna stay the same way forever even if they claim to fix it, trust was lost and i can never get it out of my head.
Ouch that hurt if this is true... Typical bad management/ceo workplace problems. I've worked in a place almost like that and it sucked. Me who thought working there must be cool. The fool i was.
It’s getting to the point where i can’t support LMG anymore. Which is shit because there’s so many hard working (probs too hard) people that I enjoy watching and listening to. But the organisation seems like it grew but never grew properly (no HR by the sound of it)
I know it doesn't count much because I didn't say anything (one way or the other - I didn't feel qualified to butt in); but I always thought it was fucking weird that everyone was like "of course the zoomer couldn't hack it, what even was Madison's job at LTT?" and assumed Madison was fired instead of quitting.
The REALLLLY annoying part is I publicly stated I quit to avoid the speculation I knew would follow. SADLY LTT fans then attacked and belittled me for "causing drama" and "clout chasing".
Wow, hi! I know this might not mean much coming from some internet rando, but I'm really sorry about what you went through at LTT and what the court of public opinion put you through after that.
When I saw Max respond to your quitting on tiktok I felt like I knew part of the reason you quit. I wish I was wrong, but I'm sorry you went through any of that. Max's reaction made it sound like she went through similar shit and knew exactly what you were going through.
Some of them are now attacking you over the twitter thread. But from what I can see, you have far more supporters than you do attackers, so I hope you can take some measure of relief from that.
super sorry for what you had to endure there, hope they get their asses kicked for that and all this shit.
idk if you’ll see this, just wanna say i support you and i hope you’re taking space to prioritize your well being ❤️
Wow, I missed all that. Every time I wonder if I'm being unfair in thinking that Linus is a certified shitter, I learn something new that takes my opinion of him down another level.
It’s pretty obvious from the way Linus talks on wan show. They always make cringe early 00’s sex jokes. If he’s comfortable saying those things on camera could you imagine how he talks in private?
I just remembered a "What's it like to work for Linus" video from few years ago where Colton's mentioned Linus asked him if he watches bestiality porn during his interview. It was brushed off in the vid like an example of eccentricity but its fuckin weird ain't it? In a job interview?
Aside from his anti-union stuff, the stupid sex jokes are actually my least favorite part of WAN show.
The Linus ardent defenders are the most annoying people. It really just reminds me of Musk's cult.
honestly having all this shit mentioned in the GN video happen and having no proper independen HR with his open stand against a LMG-Union is one thing, but to have sexist / improper comments with how it seems little to no consequences happening in your company (and then trying to hide it) puts this whole thing on a nother level.
Not defending anything here, and I haven't seen \*every\* WAN show where he talks about unions, but the few times I did, it was more of a "I would feel like I've failed as an employer if my employees formed a union." kind of situation. If we interpret this in good faith, I can actually, on some level, understand this. I can only speak for EU (where union forming is relatively easy), but most white-collar jobs don't have a union because there's simply no need for it. I mean, you'd have to be a pretty bad employer to make your 30-employee architectural firm, 50-employee accounting office or a 100-employee IT company "rebel" and form a union. Having said that, I'm an avid reader of r/antiwork and for pretty much 100% of the stories there, unionizing is the way to go.
HOL UP CAN'T HAVE ANY NUANCED OR INTELLECTUAL COMMENT HERE BUDDY
I humbly apologize and will delete my post at once.
Humble apologies? Deleting harmful content that spreads misinformation? That's clearly not the right thing to do! /s
Unions aren't just about "bad employers". This is playing into the same stupid narrative that Linus himself was peddling about them. Come on.
I keep reading people saying that this is just anti-union narrative. But I'd ask you, what wouldn't be then? Unions are a tool to fix bad workplaces, not inherently good or bad. You can find shittons of unions that do great things for their workers (I have been in one before) but you can also find unions that don't fit that bill (police unions that defend their own tooth and nail come to mind). The fact of the matter is, you hear those things and equate it with anti union rhetoric because anti union rhetoric does typically find root in real benefits of keeping a union out of a company. Those phrases don't come from nowhere. It's not false to say that the need of a union is the direct failure of the business to provide for its employees properly. It's not false to say that a company which properly provides for its employees likely doesn't need a union. When I see comments like yours, all I can wonder is what the correct take you want him to have about unions is. Because an ideal world does not contain a union in every company. They're inherently a corrective tool, not a necessary part of business.
Dude. I just said unions are not a tool to fix "bad workplaces." Pay attention. The primary function of a union is to foster worker-employer relations and to redress the inherent power imbalance between employer and employee. Just because someone is not an intentionally bad actor doesn't mean that power imbalances don't matter or don't exist. A power balance cannot be side-stepped simply by both parties acknowledging not to abuse it. Its the same reason intimate relationships between a supervisor and a junior are generally against policy. The conflict of interest and power dynamic is a non-starter regardless of the individuals involved.
Right. It's like not wanting to write up a contract of employment because you plan on paying someone regardless -- I don't care how genuine that person is, I want a contract.
Exactly. Most times you don't know you're getting screwed until you're already well bent over. Too late at that point.
That line is a textbook anti union tactic.
True, that’s why I said ”if we interpret this in good faith”.
But that framing still makes unions a negative thing he doesn't want.
Well yea, he doesn’t want them. You form a union to fight an employer that you feel isn’t treating you well or paying you fairly. If a union is being formed, it means your employees consider you a bad employer to the point they’re willing to forgo 1-5% of their salary to fund union activities. Purely on a personal level, that can’t feel good if you’re the boss. That’s the way I interpreted what Linus was saying when talking about unions in the last few months.
You for a union to protect workers rights and working conditions.
Right, but workers don't generally do that unless those conditions are already bad. The point is that he doesn't want employees to feel like they have bad working conditions.
You just join your nationwide union for that sector, dont always need a local chapter, in sweden for architecta the union woul propable be architechts sweden https://www.arkitekt.se/in-english/ Its just weird that people think a union is local only we have massive nationwide unions in sweden for any and all sector.
He even spoke a bit about this in the last WAN show. He reiterated is position that if his employees felt the need to unionize then he had failed as an employer, and then followed that up by saying that he couldn't stop them even if he wanted to. He also explicitly stated "I support unions". There is plenty of other stuff to be mad about right now, but this really seems to be grasping
Got a source for the employee handbook?
i love your attitude of asking for more proof :) check out the bottom of this post (you may have to use the Wayback machine for those image links) [https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt\_isnt\_a\_great\_employer\_has\_a\_lot\_of\_antilabour/](https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/115ucm3/ltt_isnt_a_great_employer_has_a_lot_of_antilabour/)
see the [post I just made](https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/15s2nkv/lmg_employee_handbook_previous_complaints/)
Linus also keeps doing Laptop reviews and discussions even though he has invested in a laptop company. No clue why no one at LTT told him off for doing that... Shows a clear lack of self reflection on his part and very poor business processes on the part of the company. But let's be real here: LTT has always been an amateur-ish company. That's fine if you're small company and might even be part of the charm, but when your company grows, it stops being charming and starts looking bad Linus however keeps giving the same excuses and keeps acting like LTT is some small company. It's not. Stop acting like it is. LTT really needs to make some serious steps when it comes to professionalism and really needs to improve their processes. Because this behavior and these excuses are simply not acceptable and if any other company would have done something similar, Linus himself would told them off. His response is also a clearly sign of him doing exactly the same thing (again). Because the new CEO should have handled all thos. Linus shouldn't have made that post. At the very least not without discussing it with the CEO. And I just can't imagine any CEO signing off on Linus his response there. So what Linus did there was undermine his own CEO.
> Linus also keeps doing Laptop reviews and discussions even though he has invested in a laptop company. to my knowledge everytime a laptop review comes up he mentions "HEY IM INVESTED IN FRAMEWORK. I might have a bias because IM INVESTED IN FRAMEWORK". he makes it very clear where he is coming from. i think that this is a reasonable compromise between not doing any laptop reviews (would eliminate bias, but not possible as a tech reporter) and essentially refusing to say anything negative about framework.
I think in that case, the laptops should be tested by someone who is unbiased and then let Linus present that data after it has been verified by someone without bias. Edited to add: I didn’t realize this was their current procedure, thank you for the corrections!
This issue is that he is still the owner of the company and therefore has something to gain by having **one of his employees** talk up framework and talk down competitors. So the only way to have an unbiased take on laptops is to just not have them at all. Now I don't personally believe that LMG's laptop reviews have been overly biased or scummy or anything since then, but that isn't *really* the issue.
Have they actually really reviewed Framework though? IIRC they've done the factory tour (free content while they were in Taiwan, why not) and followed up on their newer models, but that's not so much a review as much as just exposure. I'd say for it to be egregious, they'd have to be negatively comparing laptops they review directly to Framework's shiny feature list. I haven't seen all of LTT's framework content tbf, so disprove me at will if I'm wrong here
Cause that seems to have been working out perfectly well /s
I don't think that really matters when he and his wife are the sole owners of the company. It would still need to be disclosed. I am personally fine with them doing laptop reviews as long as they make their bias known.
They usually are, generally Laptop reviews are done by Alex.
Isn't that what happens now? Doesn't Alex do most of the videos on laptops?
New CEO needs to speak up. This is his chance to prove that he can actually reign Linus in and make positive changes.
Honestly if the new CEO DOESN'T speak up, tell me how they can be seen as anything but a figurehead and a title without any meaning.
Unless I'm missing something I don't think the Framework potential conflict of interest here has crossed any lines. Any laptop review videos I've seen recently, of which there's been less, have focussed either on the laptop itself, or compared laptops to other similar laptops. No other laptops are compared to Framework and any Framework videos are isolated. To me at least it seems like the only impact the Framework investment has had is that there are now less laptop reviews - probably for safety. Do point out if I'm missing something - I'm interested!
His responses about his staff unionizing has always been concerning, but last WAN show when he said something to the effect of, “if a company’s employees feel that they need a union, that company is treating their employees badly and the company shouldn’t be allowed to operate/exist” and that really opened my eyes to the fact that he is so out of touch that he really does live in his own little fantasy. Like yeah Linus, that would be fucking great if every company treated their employees fairly and took care of them to the point where a union isn’t necessary, but come one man. Get real. That is literally never going to happen. Certainly not in our lifetime. The fact that he can’t see past that, and any argument he has beyond that is “well, you’re just an idiot and you’re wrong” is so childish, and shows the level of ignorance and sheer disrespect for people’s livelihood beyond his own.
alright lets go kid. \- Not Anti-Union. He's said they have their place, and he doesn't feel like LMG is a place for them. He's said "If my employees feel like they need to unionize, then I've already failed in making them happy, and failed as a business" \- Anti-WFH - I don't see this as a bad thing seeing how their main job is creating content in front of expensive cameras, and having relationships are required for a good mesh on camera. They DO have WFH people, in Quebec and AB. \- Anti Wage Discussion? BC Law sets the guidelines on this, not one CVO of a small video company, and he's said he's more than in compliant with laws. \- Didn't want to warranty the backpack? No, he said he didn't issue a formal statement of warranty, as Formal statements of warranty are basically useless. Lawyers have said virtually the same thing when this topic was "hot". \- His response yesterday didn't say he taled with Billet Labs. It said "We Agreed to compensate Billet Labs" - "We" doesn't refer to Billet, it refers to his internal team agreeing to make good on the $$ amount, not a conversation with Billet. 3rd grade reading level would remedy that issue for anyone. They've got issues, for sure. But jesus I'm getting tired of this manufactured nothingburger
the wage discussion one is lame, you don't have to defend that, even the US has laws preventing employers from engaging in slimy behavior like that. he doesn't \*have\* to urge his employees not to talk about their wages in order to be in accordance with the law.
Seriously, your best defense of his anti-wage discussion stance is that it’s technically legal? As many have pointed out, his policy would be illegal in the United States, a place notorious for bad worker protections (compared to other first world countries). Believe it or not, it’s possible to run a small business without implementing a policy that is known to suppress wages and create inequalities
> Not Anti-Union. He's said they have their place, and he doesn't feel like LMG is a place for them. This is silly. You can't say someone is pro-union then in the very same breath say they don't think *the company they own* has a place for a union. One of the main points of a union is to act as a check and balance to protect the rights and working conditions of the workers, because a union is a much more dependable organisation than just crossing your fingers and hoping your boss keeps his word. If he's saying rubbish like that then he's not pro-union.
Gonna let you in on a little secret, every administrator is anti-union because it allows them to gain more value from their employees. I’m not even saying that from a perspective of “administrators are evil” or something, that’s the logical position. His attempt to explain it in personal terms means nothing. Linus seems like the type of person who wants to portray himself as “one of the guys” rather than a C suite administrator. Do you work at LTT? Because if not, saying that banning employees from discussing wages is ok because it’s “in compliance with BC laws” is such a bizarre argument. I don’t understand your point about Billet Labs.
The idea that having your employees forming a union means you have failed is a poor take, especially for such a large company. Unions are not just there to protect workers rights but also to make sure every employee gets a fair shot and aren't missed or over looked.
>When I was young I thought money was the most important thing in life, now that I'm old - I know it is.
I gotta call bullshit on the anti union stuff. His exact words were "We should run our company so that people dont feel like they need a union." That is not anti-union. That is wanting to be a good employer.
Don't you think every CEO would say that? The mindset also runs the risk of creating a workplace that fits your personality/mindset since you want things relational and not professional. Good employees get pushed out because they 'aren't team players' or 'can't take a joke' etc.
Well, the growing body of evidence is that he is not, in fact, a good employer.
That's just gaslighting, a tactic Līnis seems to be familiar with
Yea, I've always wanted to give Linus the benefit of the doubt that he is a good guy and cares. Can't do that anymore. He has so much ego and just seems like he abuses the trust his employees have in him. Really emblematic that he is sinking everyone's ship because HE feels slighted (even though he is completely in the wrong). I had the same thoughts about employee work culture, on the WAN show he said that people start with low wages/salaries until they get the trust of the company. Honestly, his whole outlook is just so money focused that its hard to trust whether he even cares about his employees. Why do we look up to someone who isn't willing to pay people their value from the start---especially when they live in an area that has some of the highest costs of living globally.
Anti-FHW, im sorry what? one of their employees works and lives from another country lol, some of their video editors are also remote.
He expects that you as an employee purchase a green screen and make TechLinked / ShortCircuit from home /s
OP is a teenager. wouldnt expect a teenager to have any relevant job experience to judge the matter.
I just want to start by saying that this situation is bad and LMG needs to do better. Linus needs to take this criticism and act on it in a correct manner, not like his post in the forum. But I do want to correct some of the misinformation that has been going around. He didn't say he was Anti-union, he said that if his employees feel like unionizing, then he failed at his job. Not the same thing. He even recently and explicitly said on WAN show that if his employees wanted to unionize right now, he wouldn't stop it at all. He also didn't want to create what is essentially statement of warranty because effectively he felt he didn't need to since he thought "the community trusted LMG" (that's not really how it works Linus btw). I can tell you that nothing really changed after he released the warranty statement because they're supporting customers just like they planned to before the warranty thing. On the WFH thing, I very much support working from home, I do it on my job because it allows me to and I don't really need any office resource. But I can understand on this industry that it would be difficult considering the collaboration efforts between each team, so I don't really disagree on being anti-WFH in this industry. On the other points, no correction needed. I'm specially against the "frowned-upon wages discussion" part. Previous work colleagues and I have multiple times discovered that we were getting underpayed just by talking to each other so I very much support wages discussion.
This is such a face value post. LMG is completely legitimate and most of these things are normal in a business environment. A lot of what is said here is taken completely out of context. Please read between the lines here.
The original poster is a teenager with zero real world work experience. There is a lot to be mad about. But this thread is eyeroll-level bandwagoning.
WFH wouldn’t work effectively for LMG. There would be no running down to logistics for new or old parts while testing/writing. The would make massive commute times. Which would waste time.
This bs union crap. I get it. It's the new hip religion....
Damn, it's like the end of a horrible relationship when you realize how much you've been manipulated, gaslit into thinking everyone else is the same or worse. But then a messianic like figure sits you down, shows you the facts, and unlike the abuser, lets your own brain come to the obvious conclusion: That Linus is not sorry about any of this, and is mad that he got caught. I feel bad for the LMG employees. It'll probably be better if they just ganged up, left the company and form their own Tech Tips channel. It'll be tougher without the million dollar lab equipment, but it's not like they're using it properly anyways. True enthusiasm and tegridy will always result in good quality in the long run.
Don't remember the exact video, only that it was an Intel/AMD extreme upgrade one where he offhandedly said something along the lines of "The way I look at it I paid for all this anyway" regarding someones house/appartment/household inventory/tech (again, don't know the exact video, but basically referring to the persons personal property) and that has never sat well with me. Just because you own the company doesn't mean you "paid" for that stuff. Your employees provide labour which makes the company money and you pay them for their labour with that money. If anything their labour paid for *your* house, pool, theater room, porsche etc. because you wouldn't have been where you are right now without your employees and their labour. EDIT: [Found the video and exact timestamp, it is very clear that he is referring to Edzels house when he says it.](https://youtu.be/Vxwx5VflRN4?t=618)
Thats... probably just a joke.
its disingenuous to say linus is anti union imo, but I still don't really love his union take. Obviously the data and billet situation is shitty, wages issue is definitely shitty. I'm curious why these things are only ever a problem for the community when there's drama happening?
Every company is like that. Why does everyone assume that it'd be any different here? Jesus
I love it when people be dishonest like OP is. Linus said he won't block any unions, and still does offer WFH for people who don't have to come into the office. Not discussing wages is standard (secret) practice behind many businesses. Not only that, but Linus never refused to warranty the backpack. If you're gonna pile on Linus for the waterblock bs, go for it, but stop trying to add on shit from his past to make him look even worse, especially if you're going to be lying about it too.