The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics, & Responsibility
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 พ.ค. 2024
- This video is not monetized. This video covers our serious concerns regarding the data accuracy of Linus Media Group, including Linus Tech Tips, ShortCircuit, and TechQuickie, particularly as it relates to rushing content out the door to favor -- by staff's own admission -- quantity over quality. As the company continues to expand into its LTT Labs direction, the importance of accurate data increases; however, even as 'only' entertainment, there are still certain responsibilities to the consumer and the manufacturers to report fairly (and to have defined corrections processes in place). We tried to approach this as objectively as possible and hope that viewers are able to listen to the evidence we present, particularly as it relates to significant and frequent data errors that now present in nearly every technical review video.
Linus Tech Tips responds: • HW News - Linus Tech T...
Mentioned in the video, you can find our policies on corrections and errors here: gamers.nexus/ethics-statement...
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - The Last 2 Weeks
01:40 - LMG is Rushing Too Much: Establishing the Premise
03:48 - LTT's Own Employees Agree
06:58 - This Isn't "Drama" & Risks
09:05 - Bad Data from Linus Tech Tips
10:12 - GPU Review Errors
15:02 - CPU Cooler Test Errors
19:09 - PSU Review Errors
19:53 - CPU Review Errors
22:39 - Asterisked Errors
26:15 - Ethical Concerns: Irresponsible Actions & Conflicts
28:21 - Ethical Concerns: The Review of Billet Labs
34:49 - Ethical Concerns: 'Not-Review' of Pwnage Mouse
36:53 - UNACCEPTABLE & The Community is Disturbing
39:22 - Unfair to Consumers, Manufacturers, & Reviewers
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This was a difficult video to make. We ask that you listen to our concerns, commentary, and statements with an open mind. We would not have made this video if we didn't view it as important and necessary. Thank you. Update: Linus has posted a response. Here it is and here are our comments (you'll need to watch this first video before though to have the context): th-cam.com/video/X3byz3txpso/w-d-xo.html
You guys are the best, I bet Linus is sweating reading these comments! GN has titanium balls.
(Edit: spelling)
I love this channel in the end when I want serious testing that is unbiased upfront and accurate I come to Gamers Nexus plain and simple. You guys do a great job keep hitting it out the park Gamers Nexus.
Phew, looking forward to how this plays out.
While you’re at it, I’d also like to know your take ok Hardware Unboxed.
I find them quite biased, pick and choose and high nosed.
Not reliable source for factual information but rather opinion pieces with a bit of test data here and there.
I 100% agree with your points and have been saying this for a while.
You would imagine that the personal relationships would cause you to keep each other more accountable.
Linus' statement he is not willing to spend 500 dollars to not destroy someone's business is just disappointing.
$500 is most likely pennies for them given the amount of money they spend on products in videos _and_ the videos themselves.
@@filip9587 It is, but that kind of "cheapskate" behaviour is also one of the ways they've been able to grow so large as to spend so much on videos in general. The money they haven't spent on being more thorough instead gets spent on growth.
Meanwhile, stealing and reselling their best prototype.
Big brain time.
Not returning the prototype is actually just straight criminal lol, agreeing to return it then failing to do so is promissory estoppel at the least.
His character has been obvious since the all in one watercooling thing. He could have bought airconditioning so his staff didn't have to work in an extremely hot envrionment, but instead he tried to do it on the cheap and also make content out of it. His solution would never work.
One of the biggest double downs I've ever seen was on a WAN show episode where Linus misspoke and said 108060p. Instead of just saying he misspoke he dug his heels in and went on a tangent about how he's correct.
This isn’t drama or an attack. This is peer review. It’s necessary and professional.
Yeah I'm sure it has nothing to do with reaching LMGs audience either
@@huskers1278 the audiences already overlap.
Yep, its called Check and Balances.
Yup anything less but be encouraging unaccountability
@@CosmicCleric Brooooo. 15 million subscribers is definitely a little different than 2 million. That's 700% different. And if you want some proof this video has been out for roughly 6 hours. Has like 600k views and GN has an average view count of 400k. Whether or not it's monetized means nothing when you can pick up future viewers lol.
The Billet Labs bit wasn’t just upsetting, that was infuriating. They sold out what was probably a few people’s hopes/dream project.
I still can't get over them just stealing a piece of review hardware and selling it. Surely theft and sale of stolen goods lands you in front of a judge in Canadia(?)
@@theodricaethelfrith they didn’t sell it, they auctioned it. xD
@@Nanox0 a distinction without a difference in the law
and countless hours of RnD
A judge in Canada is about as useless a cop in Canada@@theodricaethelfrith
plus i doubt Billet wants to spend the next 4 years awaiting a trial
I feel bad for Billet Labs especially...
They should sue, then Linus might rethink that comment about not wanting to spend that $500 to properly test the product and then AUCTION IT OFF.
GN always has my full respect for not being afraid of backlash or reprisal from any burnt bridges they make to reveal the truth to us all. Thank you for your constant great content.
You feel bad for them... o really? While displaying a hammer and sickle...? The symbol under which millions died. Please come out of whatever self-righteous hole you are in and check yourself.
The Billet Labs thing was vile. They didn't follow the instructions from BL, tested on a different card, and didn't contact BL before releasing the video. Then they publicly shamed BL for issues caused by LTT's own mistakes. And if that wasn't enough, they sold the prototype even though they agreed - twice - to return it. The whole "it was for charity" excuse makes it seem that they don't believe they can be held accountable for their actions.
I think a lawsuit would disagree with that "it was for charity" stance.
Time to recommend a few lawyers looking for an easy payout
@@inkredebilchina9699probably hard for a small company to come up with that kind of cash for a lawyer considering they just lost their product with all their hard R&D probably setting them back at least 6 months or more.
Sue there corporate ass
Ltts i don't need to look at the Manual attitude really needs to stop it's embarrassing
Their treatment of billet labs is absolutely unbelievable. Not only does it disqualify them from being taken seriously as reviewers. But the fact that they would sell their prototype after agreeing to send it back after spitting in their face...... That's insane
That should merit a lawsuit at the very least.
Theft and defamation
Indeed. I had not heard about that incident until this video. My mind is rather blown.
That's not insane... that's EVIL!!
If a competitor does bring a similar product to market based off reverse engineering the prototype they never should have had, LMG is going to pay out big time via lawsuit.
I stopped watching LTT a long time ago based on what you've shown here and the personality deficits. The making of THIS video is long overdue! Thank You.
Wait so did you stop watching LTT a long time ago or after this video was posted? Your statement makes no sense. GTFO. LTT FTW.
@@pwd1134 The original statement makes sense. He stopped watching LTT a long time ago due to their poor video quality, and that is what was covered here. I stopped watching LTT ages ago because their videos went down hill or Linus was flogging his channel for free stuff on his mansion. The poster then says this video was overdue to be made. big channels that are supposed to be informative need to be called out when they fuck up, well LTT has been fucking up for years. I have been telling people to not trust them for about two or three years. KentGrey was very clear, I think maybe you're just a blind fanboy.
@@pwd1134Your reading comprehension sucks. He stopped watching long ago based on the same things talked about in this video. Not saying he stopped because of this video. Bozo.
LTT was my first tech tips channel and was my go to for several years. Unfortunately, even I began to notice errors and inconsistencies, some of which I pointed out in comments. I recently unsubscribed from LTT and it's sister channels as I no longer trust their reviews. Thank you and your crew for the hard work and dedication to honest unbiased reviews.
Exactly, after closer look, you begin to notice their BS. I have unsubscribed way before this incident.
It's the nature of content mills. Same thing happened with Illuminaughtii right before she fully collapsed in on herself.
The quality of their worked stopped being good enough for me to watch after they left the kitchen.
Same, LTT was my go to for a long time, I am still subbed, but i use them purely for entertainment, if i need to actually know something or learn something i watch Gamer's NExus, Jayz2cents or even DanKamYouKnow who does some entertaining but informative videos on pc builds and settings.
Same. I was a massive LTT fan, watched everything they were doing for years. I even applied to work for them at one point. Just went down hill in a weird way, kind of became bigger than they should've it feels
As a big LTT fan, the fact that they auctioned off the prototype water block that Billet labs very much needed AFTER they promised to send it back is despicable TBH. Absolutely zero excuse for doing that.
Made my blood boil purely because it's a prototype. On top of the fact that they didn't even use it properly, then criticized it. Crazy!
Billet? EK water block for the win. Also support big corporations I am a Corp slave at the bottom.
I noticed there seems to be a lack of communication in LTT since they got bigger... I didn't know this... or who approved that...
If I was BilletLabs I would absolutely sue them out the wazoo for that one. Without even addressing the legality, selling prototypes of preproduction products is just so immoral and should absolutely be seen as a direct attack against BilletLabs business.
Linus legit just talked about the unacceptable behavior of one of their own prototypes ending up in a consumers hand but THIS is how they treat others' prototypes? Yikes
2M + views in 24 hours is big. Steve solo writing, hosting, and editing so no one else on the team could be under fire is also exactly the type of move you want to see from a leader.
And not taking a cent for it either…
@@rogerfinch7651 But at the same time deserving all the donations from people here
@@rogerfinch7651you don't know that just because say something doesn't mean it's true
@@chriswright8074the video is not monetized and he didn’t do a sponsor. how could he be making money?
@@spitfire3311 He's making money from Super Thanks.
I'll be honest, I don't know anything about tech, so half this stuff goes over my head.
But I do have a degree in statistics.
And their decision to retest the same things over and over again *and ignoring the past data* is absolutely insane.
That's straight up just ASKING to make mistakes.
It is a fundamental flaw in their *entire process* that'll basically doom them until they change it.
It's no wonder they're always getting their numbers wrong. That's what happens when you test something too often and ignore *the vast majority of the data you've collected*.
Someone needs to go in there and start slapping everyone in management.
@@CantStopTheSignal337 doing a new test every time and ignoring all of previously collected data every time is a guaranteed way to *ensure* error.
Retesting *is* good. But it isn't good if you throw away all of the prior data every time. That's how you get the ridiculous outliers and errors they did.
Had they actually done any sort of basic data analysis or QC checks with the historical data, they'd *instantly* figure out that their values were off, and they'd know they'd need to figure out why.
If you keep the old data, you can straight up *automate* your outlier/error/change detection. It wouldn't even be particularly difficult.
What they're doing/did is a textbook case of stupid experimental design.
as much as i hate them, PCs are so crazy different each time depending on the OS, BIOS, DRIVER , every single thing could deviate
mmm sorry but knowing the subject you apply statistics makes the difference: old data must be kept for sure but with all the hw they use than replace and reassemble it's quite hard they can test for instance a new video card on the same exact configuration they tested the others and just a little change can compromise the comparison..so - I don 't know that channel that much, I'm guessing from the comments and the few videos I've seen so far -if you imply he should test a new components and compare it with the competitors just by reading the older data you might be wrong. it depends on the fact he kept the same exact configuration and even that way something could have change in the way it works due to some component like the psu that might degradate it's efficacy or the ssd etc.
@@blackimp4987 doesn't excuse discarding the data, having test points on various different setups with a common component makes for good data, they are seemingly intentionally discarding this concept for the sake of throughput.
@@blackimp4987I'll chime in as an engineer who did alright in my university statistics.
You keep the previous data and trend the ever-loving shit out of it *because* things vary due to minute changes. By keeping a good log of how those things change you can begin to correlate how much variability you should expect from what kinds of changes, and what kind of variability looks like a step change caused by an error. e.g. what does poorly applied thermal paste look like versus what is normal variability in temperature under load, versus when is it impossible to distinguish. And when do any of those variations appear to actually matter for performance elsewhere. It's basic design of experiment stuff, and when they were setting up the labs it sure sounded like they had people that understood all that.
It seems very much like production pressure is getting in the way of the utopia of trusted results Linus was trying to sell us all. The sad thing is that while, yes, they have an incentive to produce content, it's nit like they're facung the kinds of production pressure engineers at powerplants face when they have to delay startup at a million dollars a day to get things right. Being a scrooge aout a few hundred dollars to rerun a test to get fair results is ridiculous for a a company worth as much as they are. I wonder what the dollar figure the damage to their brand is valued at.
Given their position as a major player in the industry, I sure hope they realign their goals and ethics.
the asterisk key at LTT is the busiest member of their staff
Linus' attitude for the guys who made this prototype watercooling system is just outrageous.
Massive ego
Yeah, especially them selling THEIR prototype. That's just bs, they trashed them and made Money out of it
Not defending the situation because Steve is still correct, however he did cut out the reason why Linus said that, which was due to the price alone. He stated that regardless of outcome, the “conclusion” would be the same because the cooler was something like $800, thus doesn't make sense to buy other than for looks. They then went on a rant about if pricing can make something a bad product, that's where Luke's comment came from.
I do wish that bit was left in for context, however yes I do agree the situation to begin with was stupid.
This doesn’t even get into how that prototype got auctioned, which is actually appalling. In this I am only offering context for people to inform their own opinions with. You could watch that segment of the show if you want the entire context, I would suggest people do that in order to inform themselves further. I suspect your opinions won’t change (as mine has not), but being fully informed is always better than not.
@@tomaszzalewski4541*for charity but sure
I'm a huge fan of LTT and that one was especially hard to watch. Super disrespectful and unprofessional. They should track down whoever bought it and pay them whatever they want to buy it back so they can return the property that was never theirs.
The stuff with Billet is actually so incredibly fucked up
To have their prototype grossly misrepresented, slandered based on that misrepresentation and then to have their best prototype essentialy stolen and completely fucking up their R&D is honestly beyond words. LTT legitimately deserve to be sued for that
It could even be criminal.
Do note however. That although it's claimed that the company communicated the theft. No evidence is shown for this
I was thinking the same thing, absolutely disgusting and I won't be watching anything coming from LMG again.
Good luck as a start up suing a $100million company.
@@DragonNexusand that's the most fucked up thing in all of this.
My heart goes out to Billet Lab. Each of these points individually would have been bad enough.
Misrepresenting the product because they used it on a part which it wasn't designed for.
The audacity for a company of this size to not correct their wrong test results because "it's too expensive".
So many disrespectful comments to a startup and their product which is still in active development. Even if they came to the same conclusion after doing the test correctly these comments would be very mean and frankly unacceptable. They, in all their glory and with their years of "technical knowledge" should be capable of constructive feedback. Nothing wrong with saying that in it's for a niche or enthusiast market and clarifying that it's still in the prototype stage.
And then having the glorious idea to auction a prototype of a product that's in active development, without a single word to the owners. It's baffling how anyone came up with this. Even if they didn't need it back, the idea to sell actively developed prototypes is criminal.
I hope Billet Labs doesn't get impacted too much over this.
If I were Linus and this happened. (Only about the sold prototype) I would take every possible action to get the prototype back as fast as possible and return it back to BL together with a huge apology, and probably a hefty compensation for the unacceptable actions of my company. Plus the offer if they would like to make a new video where someone of their team comes over and demonstrate the product as intendiert. If they would even still be interested with working with LMG.
Very good video and super important to show all of this.
Thanks Steve and thank you Gamers Nexus team!
I mean the harm is less if its a trash cooler. If it IS a really good design then getting a bad review from a huge channel during prototype and having a competitor get a hold of your designs, will DESTROY the company. Very careless crap. Also Billet Labs apparently also SENT THEM the 3090ti to test it on so they straight up lied when they made the excuse "they had no way to properly test it."
4 months past, i didn't watch LTT since.
Virtue singaling works wonders.
@@PurpleCh4lkconsidering OP has nothing to gain reputation-wise, it shouldn't bother you.
The only way it does is if you saw absolutely nothing wrong with how Linus was acting throughout the entire situation.
@@StrikeWarlock still nothing to be proud of or worthy to share. I doubt anyone even care
@@gabler7992 Do you know how youtube comments work? This is literally related to the topic of the video, and people upvoted his comment so people clearly do care. There are tons of people in this comment section saying how they unsubbed, or don't like LTT anymore. Tell me your a Linus fanboy without telling me you're a linus Fanboy. Sounds like you are just trying to cope hardcore.
@@lunova6165 oh my... I become Linus fanboy cause I don't giva a fuck if people are unsubscribing from them. go outside and get real
"I'm not willing to spend money to correct mistakes"
Mistakes cost money. You make a mistake, you should be willing to pay to correct it. If you can't afford it, do it right the first time. Some of these mistakes, I suspect, will eventually end in a lawsuit that they will try and crowd fund for.
I definitely see that happening. That and their whole trust me bro attitude towards everything reeks of supreme arrogance with the crowd. But given LTX sold out "whale" tickets at 10k a pop there are a lot more fools with money that would gladly help support him than not.
All that crap he said is just that, crap.
It's code language for I'm a POS and do not care.
It isn't about the money. Or the time. It's about just not giving a F and being terrible.
Linus is becoming the Apple of the tech journalism sector. They're more worried about the paintjob than the product.
Ironically these mistakes and the lack of correction will now cost him not just even more money but also his reputation.
@@Law0fRevengewe can only hope
The fact they sold a small company's best prototype just breaks my heart
It made me unsub from them
How is that even legal? If the agreement was for them to review it and send it back, selling it seems like it should at least be illegal as it is proprietary tech.
I'm a big fan of LTT but they just opened themselves to a rightful lawsuit. Sad to see this happening.
It's not legal to sell someone else's property, but what are they going to do? They probably don't have the time or money to fight LTT in a court room which would take months to resolve. @woodcutta6461
@@woodcutta6461it isn't but Billet Labs looks too small to afford to fight LMG.
Demonetized a video that got over 5.4 million views. I am impressed.
Demonitized it at zero views, so not that impressive at all. Just a policy decision
@@KainsAddiction what's impressive is their continued commitment to journalistic ethics and integrity that led to the policy to demonetize what was likely going to be one of their most popular videos
@ryanhanauska8883 Naw. Just trying to dodge the inevitable accusation that they are creating drama for profit. EVERYTHING is CYA and liability dude. This idea that they're "good moral people" and "noble and altruistic" is laughable.
@@ryanhanauska8883 Imagine starting the video by going "we won't monetize the video" then once it gets views they start monetizing it again. Not doing that isnt impressive but doing it would be egregious and destroy trust, especially on a video like this.
@@MrSkme Except, that hasn't happened. You and Kains are making scenarios up in your head to cope with LTT getting chewed out 💀
The irony of LTT naming specific channels and then going "some people in the creator space didn't handle it very well," is certainly something.
LTT's Linus clearly likes to make his money with lots of MONETIZED video releases. It's why Linus released that video saying that people using adblockers are committing video piracy. I feel Linus stresses the churning out a large quantity of monetized videos. I remember the "old days" when there were fewer ridiculous topic videos and videos were more practical and informative instead of being entertainment.
@@naekosl3059I clearly misjudged him when he said he is an ahole in the past, I would never expect it to show itself soo true, it seems he became the kind of figure he pretends to be outraged about, upon his come up as content creator he realized his desire to become an owner of a successful company and as I eluded before, sacrificed the ethics he likes to preach about. I may be overreacting since I'm prob looking too deep into this, nevertheless. Big disappointment
@@naekosl3059 the videos have more variety nowadays. They do more educational type videos _and_ more silly stuff that gets views (but that can bring you some interesting information along the way too). The older videos with limited budget had worse production quality and depth to it. It's maybe the way that it's presented does not make it look professional. I mean the early ltt videos were just talking about the specs of a product then showing some cobbled together benchmarks and overall not showing it from a lot of different angles and constructive and generalizing criticisms.
Steve and crew, I waited to watch this video until after finishing my creative for the day so I could go into it with a clear open mind. As someone who has made many many mistakes and honestly am working hard to limit them as much as possible have to say that I genuinely appreciated your attention to detail regarding examples and the insight not only from your perspective and expertise but the insight presented in various clips from LMG... but also your offering of advice on how to be a better reviewer overall. As someone who simply cannot provide the level of detail that you do it gives me something to constantly strive for. I sincerely hope that LMG doesnt take this as an attack but a real eye opener on a broader problem they may not be as evident from their end.
As the Walmart Greeter to the tech world, Im glad you are managing the Service Department!
Lol, your Nvidia GPU advices are sooo much better...
Well said.
I really hope they take it as the wake up call that it is, reflect, and course correct. They can do it.
good reply jay, and youre a personal fav of mine.
The TH-cam tech side is just one big Walmart.
This video is peer review at its best. No personal attack, only facts and the deep desire for everyone to be better - all for the consumer.
Just the kind of thing we need in this kind of industry, independent reviewers not only checking the manufacturers claims but also cross checking other reviewers to make sure no one is full of shit. It is kinda sad that it is necessary but misinforming the customers will only hurt the whole industry in the long term.
We DESPERATELY need more of these. It only benefits us as viewers/consumers
Which, TBF, is kinda GN's whole schtick. "Look, here's what we know about a situation/product. No unnecessary drama, very little opinion (and what opinion is provided is backed up with extensive experience and data), just what we know to be true about the situation at hand."
Of course, will people see it as such? Some will, for sure. Many, even. But there's bound to be that ever-vocal minority of fuckwits who just don't get it and need to make themselves heard.
Well we watched a completely different video. There was shade thrown through the entire thing and bitching about insignificant errors. Nothing in the test errors would have hurt the overall reviews and didn’t hurt any customer
@@Ttamlin The worst part of that ever-vocal minority is those who are currently absolutely raiding and dogpiling on LTT channels with non-constructive hate comments. It completely undermines the intentions this video. It's a bit of a shame that GN doesn't explicitly denounce and discourage such behaviour. Considering GN's attitude, they clearly don't endorse it.
Steve thank you for having the courage to do this, i know it's not easy. Stay strong my brother! I have bought GN merch all the way to Indonesia to support what you do!
It's amusing to me-I'm a 53-year-old who has been an avid TH-cam viewer since its early days. Despite being a small creator with minimal success (which isn't my main point), I find it curious that I've never encountered your videos on TH-cam. Videos from LTT always populate my homepage. While I'm subscribed to LTT, I haven't actively searched for their content. TH-cam simply suggests their videos, and I watch, like, and subscribe. Yet, why haven't they recommended your content? That's my first query.
Moreover, after listening to your insights, I've realized that many creators are actually companies employing numerous moderators. Some of these moderators can be remarkably rude and unfair. I encountered a significant issue with a large creator/company where, if you comment something they disagree with, your comment gets deleted. That's fine, but they reported it as spam, prompting a severe warning from TH-cam. It felt disproportionate, as though I'd committed a serious offense. My comment wasn't against their content but simply expanded on a topic they mentioned. I'm still unsure what they disliked in my comment, yet it led to this unexpected reaction."
Experiencing such events has made me fearful of commenting anywhere on TH-cam. It's disheartening that seven years of hard work as a small creator could be erased in an instant just because someone doesn't agree with something I've said. I've always maintained a respectful approach in my comments, simply adding information or pointing out something that might have been missed. Yet, I fear the repercussions. Thank you for this video; it echoes sentiments I've harbored for a long time regarding LTT. However, I feel powerless to voice my opinion against such a big creator, fearing TH-cam might silence me without allowing any defense. I genuinely appreciated your entire video and thank you for expressing what I've been feeling for so long.
I just found his videos last week. Glad I found him.
Insane that Linus admitted that a few hundred bucks kept them from doing a proper test
THAT blew my mind. They're apparently a properly large company that does a lot of work in the tech sphere. Linus is rich enough that he invested $200,000 of his own money in a company. He was unwilling to invest at most $500 to properly test something, which is what his company was built on. And the thing is, it's the company's money he's talking about, and that I'm sure has even more money in its budget than his personal finances.
I've worked for shows with low-to-mid 6-figure annual budgets and they've been more willing to spend $500 on things to get stuff right.
It likely had more to do with the production schedule or not wanting people to work OT to redo the shoot and some company policy associated with OT. I'm sure he phrased it about as poorly as possible which is his MO.
I think he was more implying that he feels the product is so worthless that spending any more time and money on it would be impossible to justify. If they messed up the numbers for a major Nvidia drop, they'd absolutely pay to re-test. Problem is, Linus was in no position to judge the quality of the cooling block because they tested it wrong in the first place.
@@davidhickey8613 That doesn't make any of it any better in any way
Bro easily spends a small fortune on an industrial climate controlled temperature stress test chamber, but won’t drop a few hundred on properly testing a prototype product without fucking it up 💀
The Billet Labs story was devastating to hear especially as someone who knows first hand how giant companies stomp all over small startups trying to provide new innovative products. Linus’s casual dismissal of actually trying to properly test the product by saying “it’ll cost money” is the most asinine thing I ever heard.
the "it costs money" is always relevant, it being GN, LTT and especially small channels that dont have much to spend in the first place. if you dont consider the cost you wont make money wich means the channel/business cant exist.
@@SupremeRuleroftheWorldltt is not a small channel. Quit shilling ffs
I think the scarier thing is that they auctioned off an active prototype. Imagine this was a company like Nvidia or amd. There would be lawyers and lawsuits lining up left and right if they even remotely did anything even remotely close to what they did with billet.
The real problem there is the LTX auction of the Billet Labs prototype. All their time and effort could easily be for nothing if a larger competitor bought it and released a cheaper clone of it to market before BL could - especially considering the R&D cost that BL will have had to go through to get to that point. I could see that ending up in front a judge under loss of earnings, breach of contract and trade secrets issues depending on what NDAs etc were in place around the LTT testing piece.
He chose the Fast and Cheap options on the triangle...
My time in the pc building social media space has been greatly improved since dropping LTT entirely when I watched this video when it came out
Thanks again
That bad, huh?
You'd have to call this the video of the year.......no one has had a bigger impact on the tech community than this one video.......that helped raise the standard again.
@@deejrdee1 So LTT pushing out content that was factually wrong, month after month after month......then actually acknowledging they did so, and changing it to improve their systems, and even going so far as to say, if a video isn't right, they won't publish it until it is.....isn't raising the bar? Are you stupid? LTT are on record that they fd up and have to do better.
@@deejrdee1 How is making a comment that this is the video of the year harassment? If you don't like free speech, you might want to get off the internet. If words hurt you, you might need to see a doctor.
@@deejrdee1 Are you abit thick in the head? LTT is on record saying Steve was right..they might not have agreed with EVERYTHING he discussed....on the whole he was right.....and because he was right, they made company changes to improve their content. Nothing to do with bullying.
If words hurt you, you might want to retire from the internet.
Are you twelve years old?@@deejrdee1
LTT can't spend hundreds to correct a video but Steve can make and release a video that's gonna get millions of views and not even monetize it in any way and get paid for his bold efforts. Truly exceptional.
Ethics and Values are hard to find these days
He still getting money off the video you can’t demonetized a video
@@CR7Ashironaldothese TH-camrs make millions and millions of dollars ya know but you can’t demonize a video TH-cam doesn’t give you option when you upload video if it’s gets monetized or not I upload videos and get 1000s of views but they don’t do that so he still getting paid
@@user-dz3sq9bf6swhat are you talking about? Turning off ads for a video is as simple as clicking a button in the upload page.
@@user-dz3sq9bf6smy guy, what in the world are you talking about. You obviously can remove advertisements on/from videos. Both by dodging a paid advert, and by disabling normal TH-cam ads.
As a huge LTT fan. This video was sorely needed and professionally brought attention to stuff i didnt even notice. Ive felt something has been off with ltt but paid no mind. Stellar video.
agreed, especially the billet situation is INSANE to me and Billet should definitely take legal actions against LMG for selling their prototype aswell as slander chargers for knowingly using their product incorrectly.
I go to them for entertainment, not objective data.
I think they put too much effort into appealing to a younger crowd (no problem with that at all), and trying to get involved in WAY too many things... Selling tons of merch, expanding the test lab, the company has rapidly expanded rather than matured and gotten better in what they do, if you get what I'm saying.
i have been an LTT fan for some time and its hard to see that it feels like a Rooster teeth event about to happen..
Linus is a total fraud and always has been. Watch his first year of videos. Total joke. He started as a clueless little spoiled rich kid who thought he could show off his “knowledge” of the stuff daddy bought him.
I just don't understand how they auctioned off a prototype. That has to be illegal, it was never theirs. And to think a competitor may have bought it...
I ended up sinking money into a laptop they recommended and basically got a laptop that spends more time being broken and sent in under warranty to be fixed then actually used by me for anything other then trying to re-install applications before it breaks again.
Love the little cut out it's perfect 26:47
Been watching LTT for about ten years. Went from learning to build my first PC from them to becoming a cpu design engineer at AMD. In the past year or so, I had felt like that content had started to go down hill, but couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. This video does a good job summing up information in the least inflammatory way.
#lmgcaneffrightoff
@toarocky do you work with the cpu's for the Frontier supercomputer?
What did you take at school to become a cpu design engineer? What masters?
@@burrybondz225 just have my undergraduate degree in electrical engineer
took the words right out of my mouth
I dont care if I've been a linus fan for a long time, accountability is important. thank you for bringing this to light.
Agreed the bullet labs thing made me unsubscribe.
You could've done a lot better with $20 than giving it to a corp
@@iceman5117 What he does with his money is his business. Even if he wants to support Kayne it has no affect on you.
@@iceman5117, bruh, you mad that Linus got a reality check? The whole tech community is better for it. I watched Linus for almost a decade and having him slip into disinfo and butthurt takes when people call him out is heartbreaking. Linus was supposed to be one of the trusted sources and now he started turning into what we hated about tech TH-cam back in the day. He should be thanking Steve and not butthurting over his faults that affect countless consumers.
@@jirinaforever I don't care about Linus in the slightest
They used to be decent but I noticed the quality dipping around the time they started with the reaction image thumbnails. If a channel has to resort to gimmicks, it tends to mean their content alone isn't quality enough to draw attention.
I've binge watched LTT from time to time over the years and have found this video rings true with what I've suspected for some time. I have been watching LTT for a couple days after not watching him for several years and I commented to my 22y/o nerd son that his channel has changed and that I found his old material much more trustworthy; I had this conversation with him before watching any video commentary such as this. I even told my son that Linus is a grown man with a slightly post pubescent maturity level; nothing personal, it's just what I see in him. I guess pushing 60y/o gives one an experiential perspective, haha.
Bravo to you for speaking the truth.
Yeah, Linus it grown up, but still tries to put on that goofy / playful college kid persona. It's weird to me.
The fact that they not only kept but auctioned the prototype that they bashed is actually horrific.
Would like to add that Billet also sent them the proper GPU to test the cooler with. Apparently that is also MIA.
Sounds like theft at the end of the day.
and theft, they should have been sued immediately.
After this I would think twice to send LTT any Prototype or EA without a contract stating to send it back to the owner.
@@ploed After this I would think twice to send LTT any Prototype or EA
fixed that for you
The Billet Labs situation is simply inexcusable. Like I can let a lot of other stuff slide, but they not only screwed up the testing and refused to acknowledge it, they illegally sold the prototype.
And acted like total pricks on top of that.
WTF is the deal?
Yh this is the most egregious to me, Linus can be a prick, (like any of us tbf) and he's quite stubborn sometimes, (again also true of myself) but this one he needed to reflect and for some reason couldn't obviously more to this story
Agreed - I don’t care how much it costs, they need to get the block back. If the block landed in the hands of a competitor or malicious Chinese product cloning company… holy shit, they’re in hot waters.
LTT is the company who often says "We like there to be more competition" ... but new startups pop up and get broken down like that. I really wished they would have taken proper time to make the video with the gpu it was intended for and gave that company more of a fair shot.
To be fair Linus has responded directly saying this was an accident and they weren't aware that the company wanted the part back and will pay them for the agreed price of the prototype.
It's Linus's true colors on display for all to see. This isn't new, but now it's just gotten way more serious. You can be a moronic asshole when it's just "for entertainment", but if you're doing legit reviews, that shit won't fly and can get you into real legal trouble.
This video needs more views. The spread of inaccurate information needs to be addressed and stopped. Also the responses from LTT were disgusting
What they did to Billet Labs was just disgraceful, and highlights to me there's a fundamental problem with how the company's run. I haven't watched any of their content since I found out about it. Watching this vid, well wow, I can't trust any of their reviews, so that was a good decision on my part. Thanks for getting this out there.
MY heart sank when I heard that they auctioned off the prototype of the cooling block. A small company can die with mishaps that they had no control over and communicated several times that the protype needed to be sent back.
Only for it to end up in a new gpu design in a couple of years🙃
that would have been their right to do ... linus tech tips is shit. glad i stopped watching years ago
@@letmelick
@@letmelick Probably ASUS....
@@letmelick yup. It seems the inventory control system if one exists at LMG seems to hapzard at best with no one logging whether products are loaned out and returned etc no chain of custody so to speak. The requirement of the block being returned should of been included in this inventory control system. When an item is destroyed or sold that item should be removed from the inventory control system and should of raised a Red flag and prevented that item from leaving LMG possession and being auctioned off.
I hope nobody trusts LMG for reviews ever again. Itll just be the companies they have connections with and then they will become a meme.
As a fan of LTT, this video was a real eye opener for me. Thank you for your effort in holding the industry and community accountable. The Billet Labs situation is heartbreaking, and I hope they will be able to obtain some legal help to combat this injustice. You’ve gained my respect and I’ll definitely be tuning into your content more often.
They won't be able to afford legal help
based
Dear Billet Labs, if you'd like I'd be willing to help fund your legal battle. I can go without another fursuit for a while I think.
@@shocktnc True, but hopefully this’ll inspire a tech-passionate lawyer to take this on as pro-bono case.
Edit: I’m sure a good part of the community would be willing to help fund a lawsuit if Billet Labs would allow it.
I couldn't of said it better myself. I watch lmg videos daily, and even bought the screwdriver. I am extremely disappointed with lmg. I hope lmg can satisfactorily explain themselves, correct the situation, and get on the path of being the channels I remember them being. The rose color glasses have faded and i will be looking at lmg much more critically from now on. I think I will wait for an appropriate response from lmg before I watch their content again.
14:07 thank you for pointing this out.
*im not the most technical guy out there, and this had me worried about my new 8gb video card because i didn't have "re-bar" or something
Saw it coming. LTT was always about churning out tech "entertainment" videos super fast, not in depth analysis.
The billet labs situation sounds like a massive lawsuit to me. A company loaning a proprietary prototype under assumption and assurance of getting said prototype back. And then finding out, after 2 separate promises to return it, that it has been sold off on auction to a potential competitor?? Might be multi million dollar lawsuit.
Doubt they had a comprehensive legal framework signed being just 2 guys starting up less than a year ago, probably was sent on trust. Now they know.
Good thing that in civil court you don't have to prove anything, you just have to show that the damage to the brand/startup was likely.@@m4nt1c0r3s
Lawsuit? it's a crime. Given the value it likely has, it's a felony. They can sue and likely (depends on the state) is entitled to 3 times the value.
@@tarstarkusz it's not about the value of it, it's about the possibility it fell into the hands of the competition. all that R&D done, for nothing
@@m4nt1c0r3spretty sure they still have a case to be argued considering the fact that they have VIDEO EVIDENCE of them using the prototype, and not sending it back. Which at the very least they can argue that their unfair review dealt significant damage to their startup company
The timing on this video is really interesting since Linus just talked about, on the LAN show, how content creators don't get held accountable for unethical behavior because their fan base enables them to live in their own little echo chamber.
Incredible. And what does he do when called out? Runs to his echo chamber, doubles down, and plays victim. Talk about a lack of integrity
i mean he already pulled linus on their forum saying that the video is right but that is not that bad. he says they havent sold the prototype but auctioned it off for charity, as if that would be any better.
@@chasedooley6237Narcissists are experts at spotting the flaws that they are themselves guilty of.
@@Ginkoman2 A very Linus answer. Thing is still gone regardless, don't know why he thought it'd make a friggin' difference *how* it was sold off.
@@Ginkoman2 thats still stealing and selling it ?
I would have liked to see Gamers Nexus try to recreate supposed downfalls of the items that were "unboxed" by LTT like the mouse or watercooler if possible.
Sólo puedo decir que Steve es un ejemplo a seguir. Si esta actitud, detalle en la crítica, buena y positiva argumentación fuera mucho más habitual por parte de todo el mundo que se expone públicamente, evolucionaríamos mucho más rápido y de forma mucho más sana. La crítica bien hecha es la mejor gasolina para superarte.
I can only say that Steve is an example to follow. If this attitude, detail in criticism, good and positive argumentation were much more common on the part of everyone who exposes themselves publicly, we would evolve much faster and in a much healthier way. Criticism done well is the best fuel for self-improvement.
The irony of Linus admitting he would like more time to make quality content, and then actively denying someone that exact thing when requested.
I said NO! 😅😅😅
"But $100-500 is a lot of money guys, it would be a waste to go back and do things right!" -Multi-million dollar media company
Linus: “I need more time”
Employee: “can I have more time?”
Linus: “no get back to work pay is too expensive”
.
.
Also Linus: *renovating and kitting out his entire house with tech and latest and greatest gadgets*
@@Ravnican127 Recession hits everyone differently. I had to bang fat chicks for food stamps now.
Linus says whatever will play with people at any given time. He's become very good at currying sympathy from the people he's fucked over. The guy seems like a weasel.
This is tragic for the guys at Billet Labs. Hopefully they can recover from all of this.
I hope the Streissand Effect hits them with a vengeance.
They have grounds for a lawsuit. Defamation and theft. Sadly, two small guys can't afford what it costs to defend themselves in court.
Actually made me mad seeing how they got treated..
Have to agree with this. With how fickle consumers are these days, who knows just how many wrote them off completely and will NEVER give them a chance because of the classic saying "You never get a second chance at a first impression" and their first impression has been wrecked pretty hard, plus with their prototype being auctioned off that probably now is already at some fab being reverse engineered to be cloned.
I wish them the best and hope they can recover in some way from this, perhaps at least on the part of not having card access GN might have some connections to possibly help them get a high end card like a 4090 or something for their lab to at least help with that, replacing that best sample prototype though is going to be hell.
Honestly, out of everything in this video this was by far the worst for me. They bashed a small company based on using it with the wrong product, kept the product so no other reviewers or media could also use and test, then turned around and stole an expensive prototype and sold it into the wild potentially for a competitor to buy. That is crazy.
Very professional and informative video. Thank you for integrity and for taking the time to compile and present this in an objective way.
i remember a friend way back directing me to linus for pc related insight and from a very early stage my response was that it seems very much uninformed and kinda cringy in respect to it being an acted video rather than a true technical video. Thanks tech jesus you and jay are the only two i truly trust
This is a very much needed video to encourage Linus to face what he's been encouraging us to do for years. To call out companies for wrongdoing and misrepresentation.
Guy is an absolute hypocrite
Had not thought of the irony about it but it's damn true!
I knew that pitchfork I got on Prime Day would come in handy, I knew it 😡
But he doesn't want to spend time/money to undo their wrongdoing because 100, 200, 300, 400, or even 500$ to pay someone isn't worth their time.
You didn't find out his a hypocrite with the "trust me bro" shit
The auctioning of the watercooling prototype had my jaw on the floor. That's utterly insane. I doubt they'll ever get cooperation from startups after this (unless like framework Linus owns a stake in them).
this is an interesting point I imagine GN likely would have wanted to cover if they felt they could- it's clear LTT at this point will only publish positive reviews if there is profit in it! everything else they will be more inclined to be harsher to in order to make it seem like they are a harsh but fair company or just to generally keep a balance in order for it to not be too obvious. At the end of the day their opinion is up for auction to the highest bidder!
Lol don’t get ahead of yourself. Companies can get huge exposure from them.
This brings up a legality question. Not sure if Canada has stolen property laws, but in the US this would tread that territory easily. It was on loan, not a gift or for sale.
I thought their review was way too harsh considering they didn't even have the intended GPU for testing, but I didn't know they sold it off. That is messed up.
@@magsec5 Does it matter if your tech literally GETS STOLEN BY THEM?
the fact that billet lab did not sue ltt should let them know that they got off lucky
Selling the cooling block without consent and potentially giving it too their competitor all the while they sent it too you in the first place under good faith is such a deep cut. They just killed someone else's idea and potential lively hood because they couldn't be fucked giving a damn.
It was a crap move, after berating them (and not testing properly) they sold it off to a 3rd party who would / could clone it.
Sounds like an easy lawsuit if they kept receipts. Linus really fucked up hardcore.
@@burrfoottopknotThey sold someone else's intellectual property. That could, and should, be costly.
Extremely surprised that such things happen. Ok I guess for a normal series product but for a prototype.....
100%! Bad move LMG
Holy crap the situation with Billet labs is insane. Horrifying how terribly Billet labs were treated hope things have turned around for them.
holly s*** that was infuriating to say the least...was bad enough to test the thing wrong but sold a prototype without any permission to potential competition...what the actual fu**!
LMG should be charged with theft
Why tf would they sent their "best" prototype, sounds like a dumb move.
@@Kytori95Why WOULDN'T you send your best prototype? Who the heck would send their 2nd best prototype to be tested by a big reviewer?
@@Kytori95 if your product is going to be reviewed by a large tech outlet, and that is the most publicity that your small startup is going to get, it wouldn’t make sense for them to send a sub-par prototype for review, no? Given LTT’s general reputation and size, I’m sure they trusted them to handle their prototype with care, and not do something like “auction” it away lol
The one with the water block was the worst. That is being copied somewhere now.
I used to love LTT but after watching correction after correction come up as a simple "*" on screen, I began to realise that they aren't doing retakes. If you are looking for data and reading one set of points while they are saying another set of numbers makes it difficult when you think they are being accurate and diligent.
Also, him not doing the billet labs test correctly or even trying to get it right while doubling down just makes me want to order a block from billet labs to support them since I trust them more then I do LMG now. There are countless examples why as you yourself pointed out quite excellently.
The billet labs chain of events was infuriating to watch. Can't believe they were that irresponsible with a startup's prototype.
I feel sorry for Billet Labs
#Justiceforbilletlabs
I think we should hold our horses on that story, who would just send away their irreplaceable prototype without which you can't continue product development to some youtuber (even a big one).
Not having the proper legal contracts and such I can see at a small 2 person company but from a engineering side you never ever let someone film your prototype unless you got the patents and everything and much less you're giving it outhouse. (unless you're super desperate for some funding and your project is basically dead in the water)
Chill, they got cash, but GN "forgot" to mention it due to their amazing "investigative" journalism @@Itzryan288
@@kunicrossgaming Bro, stop victim blaming, try to think if a big brand like Asus give Linus their $1000 GPU for them to test I would doubt his team would trash talk it after doing a faulty product representation then sell it away. What Billet Labs should have done should not be the center of discussion, what Linus has done should be.
I never looked at LTT as more than infotainment, but I never paid close enough attention to see how bad they actually are. Kudos for bringing up such an important issue in tech journalism despite how uncomfortable it must have been to do.
These guys do not get uncomfortable confronting the BS lol
Yes, they do fun projects, but for getting real information HUB or GN (and many other smaller creators) are the better address.
There are only a few trustworthy channels, GN being one of them. That said, I think it's better people do their own research and not rely too much on any reviews or reviewers.
I think LTT do a fantastic job and I think gamers nexus is right to bring this up and address it I think we need to support them all
Sadly you kinda need to let go of that if you want the health of the PC community. LMG is like a gateway channel into the PC/tech enthusiast space. Meaning people see them as an authority and trustworthy. A channel will only have cause to improve if the audience leaves. Unsubscribe and tell youtube to not recommend their channels. That’s all we can do. If not, people will enter the space with bad information. IMO that’s worse than if they never get in at all. Unless you want to say that learning to recognize Linus’ BS is an important step in the community.
It's like LTT/LMG have gone "The Verge" route...
that's not good.
LTT is the family guy of new tech / reviews on yt.
People watch it but i hope nobody takes their advice as law.
The segment where they have AUCTIONED the one-of-a-kind Billet Labs prototype block makes my blood boil. I can understand them forgetting it in their warehouse, but the fact that they SOLD IT AT THEIR CONVENTION is absolutely inexcusable. It's really fucking sad to see what Linus and his company did to a small startup just trying to bring a niche product to market.
Absolute sickening. I've noticed for the past 12-18 months or so I've been watching very few LTT video. Been on a decline for me for while. This seals the deal for me to unsub. Haven't been watching anyway, not I actively want to avoid them. Plenty of good other channels out there.
A bit of context or somewhere to start looking into this please? I'm kind of curious. Not sure if it's covered in this video but I just started it and saw your comment so I'm curious.
Agreed, it's very upsetting to hear this. How crushing it must be for Billet Labs. Hopefully they can recover for the damage LMG inflicted.
yo chill no need to vent in the comments
Scumbag move
The way this video has blown up in just 24 hours tells me this is something the community felt / was aware of in varying degrees but couldn't quantify. You've laid it all out here. Thank you.
People love drama too, I'm also grabbing the 🍿 lol
@@evaone4286I'm a sucker for drama.
The community response (at least from the LTT sub-Reddit) seems to be mostly in agreement with the video. It seems like something like this was a long time coming.
Anybody who has ever watched any of LTTs "projects" could tell you this was coming from a million miles away. For having so many engineers on staff now there really is no excuse for having such terrible quality engineering solutions for *ALL* of their projects, unless they are only hiring engineers that no engineering firms would touch. They have turned it into a joke now about how bad all of their projects are, but that's just embarrassing when they have literally never made ANYTHING that is actually impressive.
It’s not that big of a deal you guys are just crying over nothing
The biggest problem is they’re always trying to sell you a 70 dollar screwdriver
and a 250dollars backpack hahaha what a joke
I used to enjoy LTT, especially in its early days. However, like any growing company, as more people become involved, a variety of characteristics are introduced to the organization. Consequently, the quality of work becomes less predictable, and some aspects may be overlooked. With the expansion of LTT, there's a greater likelihood of dilution in the depth of expertise or consistency in their content. As a result, while their videos remain entertaining, I find it challenging to place complete reliance on their test results or recommendations. It seems that as LTT has grown into a larger content creator, the focus may have shifted from rigorous testing to producing engaging content for a broader audience. Moreover, I witnessed this firsthand when I started a company with another partner; some quality measures had to be let go to accommodate growth and diverse inputs. Thus, while I still enjoy their videos, I approach them more as entertainment rather than a definitive source for technical assessments.
The Billet Labs bit was absolutely outrageous. How on earth can Linus defend selling someone else's prototype despite agreeing twice they'd return it?!
I don't really care much for technology, but how this startup was treated is unfair and highly pretentious, it reeks of privilege. I find it offensive. It's time for some humility. They should change their ways. Steve is really some consumer advocate. A real honest video.
Selling someone else's prototype after absolutely demolishing it in their video for its "worst value" and then doubling down on their mistake is just scummy.
@@gramma677 That throwaway comment was just further evidence of a bad attitude on the part of one member of Labs. The real mistakes were in the terrible test results which were portrayed as accurate despite being fundamentally flawed. Deliberately putting out videos based on the shoddy testing and causing viewers to make misguided decisions about significant purchases is just unprofessional, for any tech channel and especially one with such a huge following.
It's disgraceful, especially for a small company trying to make quality products, then Linus butchers the whole thing, doubles, then triples down saying a Multi-Million dollar company can't be bothered to use the right GPU and it may cost him $100-$500 to rectify it, no ethics there and blatant disregard for Billet Labs that could seriously damage them financially. Shame on LMG.
Ooh the average Linus stan
Its strange that they justify misinformation by saying "nobody should buy it anyway" like that's LTT's choice to make.
TBF saying nobody should sounds more like opinion than making a choice for someone, sure as big as linus is his word is influential. that being said misinformation isnt a good look either
Also hence their trust me bro warranty. Ltt or lmg are asshats anyways.
Regaurdless of if someone will buy it, they clearly built it as a marketing tool for their other products. It's kinda like when an auto manufacturer builds a crazy concept car and has reviewers to look at it and show off their capabilities. Testing the product incorrectly defeats the point of the entire exercise.
@@parker73724they are clearly skilled guys looking at what they made, so this could ruin their whole business down the road.
@@theconsigliere8463 His opinion is what people base their purchases on. He is not like you (a rando on the internet) whos opinion people have 0 reason to listen to let alone allow it to impact them.
I honestly come to GN for in-depth analysis. This is probably the only channel that goes into a deep dive on all products they review. Thank you GN for everything.
The problem is LTT has said several times that their business is entertainment. Accuracy is secondary.
doesn't matter when they position themselves repeatedly as a tech review company and give strong recommendations citing their "cutting edge data." that just means they are knowingly deceiving people.
@@logandarnell8946 I agree. My point was that they position themselves as “tech experts” to their audience but say their main business is entertainment, not accuracy, whenever they get questioned about stuff like this.
LTT doesn't feel like a TH-cam channel anymore, it's just a corporation now. And for journalistic integrity, having cooperate connections isn't an asset, it's a drawback.
I know exactly how you feel - LTT comes off as fake and hyper-commercialized; their best days are over.
I think you nailed it.
Oh, I thought the entire channel was just an advert for LTT store!
Corproation and integrity is something that never occurs in the same sentence.
yeah Linus is watching too many self help run a corporation with buzzwords here and there and diversity bs. that life is lame and getting woke
The way Linus handled Billet Labs prototype is beyond fucked up.
yeah, if he wasn't the brains behind the company he's have been fired.
FUBR Beyond Repair
soon another "competitor" will appear and he will say good things about it. watch and see.
Arrogant POS, he's a millionaire that took a small companies prototype, trashed it to his massive audience destroying their reputation, and then didn't even have the decency to give it back to them.
Not trying to be on anyone's side here but Linus didn't handle the prototype, he has a company of over 100 people and other people would have been handling it. The way Linus Media Group handled it was poor.
too bad such things are already forgotten in two weeks
I am only 7 1/2 minutes into this video and I already want to leave a comment.
Thank you so much for doing this. There are a lot of times that I will go to LMG and watch their videos and just take what they say as word. I knew that there had to be mistakes made because in some of their videos, they do make mistakes. However, some of those mistakes they do fix on camera while they’re doing what they’re doing. But even someone with as many channels as LMG has, mistakesare made and it’s good to see somebody paying attention.
Good call, fellas. You have a new subscriber today.
@@deejrdee1 how nice for “everyone “to have you for their sports person.
However, as of this comment, 5.5 million people have watched this video. If I was a betting man, I bet you you were wrong and someone does care.
Drama aside, I think it's important that competing reviewers hold each other accountable for the sake of the consumer.
Something that concerns me is that Linus's reply to this basically says "Steve didn't follow journalistic practices by contacting me and letting me rebut these claims before publishing". Does this mean Linus thinks "proper journalistic / professional practices" include notifying your buddies about something bad you discovered about them and let them downplay it before your piece even comes out? What school of journalism did Linus go to? He is confusing professionalism with buddy buddy relationships and perhaps that is permeating the entire structure of his organization.
@@johngoodman5094 Well in a lot of cases you do ask the entity you're writing about to make a statement just before you publish, to give them a chance to comment on allegations. Now it doesn't have to be that way, but in this case I probably would have said it would have been better had GN done it.
@@johngoodman5094on top of that, Linus doesn't follow any of those practices himself.
there is no drama
@MarNieCo maybe but did linus reach out before publishing the video on the water block? And if he thought the price was its big problem and no amount of performance improvement would change that stance why make a video on it at all? Also does he reach out to computer manufacturers before uploading his secret shopper videos? Same sort of journalistic coverage, does he give them a chance to defend themselves before posting a video putting them on blast for any number of reasons?
When Linus addresses this on WAN show, he better have already taken steps to rectify the situation with Billet Labs. That was beyond egregious, especially auctioning off the prototype.
Can they, even? I don't have the faintest idea how you'd unscrew that pooch.
You sweet Summer child...
yeah they should at the very least buy it back at their expense to send over. It's insane that this happened in the first place
That was probably a miscommunication between departments, but such a miscommunication is pretty bad. They really need to STOP GROWING and optimize their current size.
I suspect that is legally actionable. Depending on what agreement or NDA LMG and Billet Labs had in place regarding the review of the prototype.
I liked Linus’s content from around 2015, when it was just him and his buddies driving around Vancouver building PCs from cheap parts they scrounged.
First video of that guy i saw was him installing something improperly, therefore it worked improperly, and his conclusion was that he does not recommend it, because it does not work properly. Although it was all his fault from the begining, and he was not even hiding it. Couple of years later i saw him gaining 10million subs and i was like yo wtf how is possible that a pure lame guy becomes a "pro-tech guy" just by not stopping making videos. Since then i never trust any youtuber/influencer/orwhatever just because of his/its popularity.
I love how it’s always obvious when Luke realizes Linus is going off the rails.
This is honestly the best part of the wan show.
I could feel the anguish in his face as linus was speaking. Poor luke being dragged into all of this
@@agrisimfarming He's always so respectful about it too. Luke is a good and loyal man.
Luke always has been the more critical one. I just wish he'd speak up more on WAN show, although I suppose that after all this years he has given up going head to head with Linus.
Linus doesn't deserve Luke.
My heart goes out to Billet Labs. Completely fucked over by Linus' lack of care towards anything but his company's bottom line
I don't think Linus gives a shit. What he cares about is sucking up to Asus.
No single man gets as over powered as him without being kinda trash. Just a pattern I've noticed
Fully knowing that Billet can't sue LTT because the outrage and following harassment from LTT's stans would ruin them...
Disgusting.
@@L1ft0ff If they have no other choice, maybe they should trying suing.
I wonder if they could send LMG a massive invoice for the missing prototype...
Watching Linus is still fun, not gonna make me quit lol. I will say, gamers nexus has the goods. You guys get props from me, your reviews are very well put together, and I don't feel you guys go out of your way to do harm. The information you give out is always very professional, and watching you in your interviews also come off as very professional work. Keep up all the good work you guys do, everyone needs to get scrutiny from time to time, to help keep their heads from getting too big
L
When Linus used on a video a free copy of OCCT. On same breath, "Ad blocking is piracy!"
such a disgusting take too, like you are legally required to sacrifice your time for ads in his diseased little corporate mind.
@@logandarnell8946 he lies all the time, when he set up Pi-Hole, for ad-blocking using Raspberry Pi, it blocked ads on phone, TV, PC, all good, but the lie was TH-cam. You cannot block YT ads via Pi Hole. Such a lie
No words can describe the anger and disapoinment I felt when hearing about Billet Labs' waterblock. I can't begin to imagine how those guys felt..
Yea I honestly surprised really hoping this won't shut them down just because of laziness or incompetence
Linus did say they compensated them, but there are some things money can't replace, especially prototypes.
This is the first I've heard of it. I'm flabbergasted. Are there any legal actions they could take as, I would assume, that was their proprietary IP? LMG should be held accountable for their actions, it's shocking
@@filip9587 Not to mention the harm to their reputation due to a lazy and incompetent review no "token" figure of compensation can fix that. If it was in the US they'd be able to sue for "punitive" damages and probably win given the situation.
@@filip9587especially since there were people from other companies there that specialize in coolers.. they may have sold off a prototype that wasn’t their property to a corporate rival. Insanity
I'm long time LTT fan, and I fully support and agree with Steve. This is tough love, but this kind of video is exactly what the tech community needs. Constructive criticism and honest assessments push the industry forward and prevent companies from becoming complacent. Steve's willingness to speak his mind shows his dedication to the field and his desire to see it thrive. Keep up the great work!
Wow. I have made numerous decisions based on LTT but sadly no more. JTC hit the nail on the head. Stating that your company is worth $100 million and you aren't willing to spend an infinitesimal amount of money relative to that to do something PROPERLY is simply poor business.
Been watching LTT for years and while I’ve noticed several small inaccuracies, I had no idea there were this many, nor so many grossly exaggerated ones. And the cooling block was just sad. 🤨
The odd thing about them raffling off the Billet Labs prototype is in the latest WAN show, Linus was complaining about someone giving out their prototype LMG backpack as he said it's a "misrepresentation of the product" and can damage their brand if someone who gets that prototype thinks it's the actual product. lmao
Linus and bad takes, name a more iconic duo. The guy lacks some supreme self awareness.
Lie-nus Hypocrisy Tips
I think what's even worse is the Billet Labs prototype possibly being sold to a competitor
Linus potentially ruined the lives of the founders of a small startup because he is a monster. The fact he is so flippant about protecting his own bottomline while costing other people theirs, is just disgusting.
He's also explained a number of times on the channel how valuable pre-production prototypes are.
Let's face it: The waterblock thing borders on criminal. How can they just not give it back and probably sell valuable R&D like in a garage sale?
especially it was a prototype....
The really sad thing is that Billet probably doesn’t even feel comfortable pursuing it. If everything Steve said is true, seems like Billet should be able to sue LMG for losses. But can you imagine the backlash that tiny company would get if Linus didn’t immediately say he was wrong? They’re between a rock and a hard place.
Probably is criminal
And with a very real possibility of it getting into the hands of a competitor, this is pretty outrageous.
They bully small companies while giving great service to large established companies. Money talks again
I could listen to you for hours.
It helps that I learn something every time, but you got a good voice for this.
It's quite simple, I view GN as the old school Discovery Channel and LTT as the current Discovery. There for entertainment, but the days of learning anything are long gone.
So a small two man company gave LTT their best prototype for review, LTT installs it on the wrong video card, then proceed to trash the company and product for it not working right when it's LTT's own fault. Then LTT auction off the prototype so rival companies can steal the tiny company's intellectual property even after they asked for it back? Wow! That's the scummiest thing LTT could have possibly done. How is that even legal? I feel bad for those guys. I guess LTT knew the small company probably couldn't even afford to take legal action so no skin off their back! That really is infuriating.
Tbh it's probably not I'm guessing they just know their going to have far more for the legal team then the little guy.
You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain I guess.
I am appalled. It's abhorrent behavior.
It's bad but it was actually a charity auction and they made a mistake. They didn't do it on purpose or make profit from it.
Still a series of collasal screw ups
@@shanez1215whether it's for charity or not, that still illegal
we need a lawyer here to review this case seriously. hopefully they didn't sign a waiver.
*This is peer-review.*
About time it made its way into the technical review world as well.
Well said. Strongly agree.
You're peer review.
@@steelsteez6118your face is peer review.
The technical reviews have way too many parallels with academia at this point, might as well borrow some of the checks they use as well.
this is pee review
about time it made its way into the technical review world as well.
Appreciate the time and courage taken to make this video. Actually was not all that familiar with you guys prior to this, but you've earned a sub. Really disappointed in LTT for all this.
Just hearing about the Billet Labs situation and I'm heated. That's so wrong and unprofessional of LMG. I can't imagine how the guys at Billet Labs felt having to deal with that. Damn...
Mad Respect for being what they gamers actually need. A well spoken, highly attentive, and critically eyed consumer advocate.
@@ytv6770cope.
@@ytv6770 lol Hey bro, how is the therapy for your mommy issues going?
@@ytv6770glad you're not in charge then. Gaming is a fantastic way to relieve stress, enjoy stories, and improve hand dexterity/visual acuity.
Yet why now? Why wait? The ammount of stuff revealed here is is so huge.
@@trowawayacc likely assumption of error until proven incompetent, and there were likely back channel convos about "this issue" or "that issue" with bad communication and follow through that piled up. We do have to remember this IS a fairly adhawk space, so screw ups are probable, not just plausible. But at a certain point the degree/regularity of misguided behavior becomes a part of the convo, at that point you have to be less forgiving of failure and start addressing how common its becoming. A useful term here is "normalization of deviance bias" and it resulted in the Challenger space shuttle blowing up, I think he's trying to save some astronauts.
Damn as a small business owner the waterblock part hit hard . I can’t imagine them seeing that video. They must of been so damn happy to get LTT to make a video and then they see what they did and never talked to them … wow.
Yeah that shook me. I actually was mouthing to my self oh my god that’s messed up.
Linus and his YT are a joke anyways. It's for entertainment, not value. And it took me a week of watching his videos to realize it's like listening to a Canadian Pee-Wee Herman half-ass product reviews. It's that obvious.
Yeah, the fact they even continued to record the video once they realised they didn't have the correct GPU (which Billet Labs had also sent them) was bad enough, but to then double down on their conclusions is unforgivable as these were all conscious decisions that they made and not just mistakes.
@@Farmer_G. I have a friend who works for a major player in the PC accessory market, and after LTT absolutely trashed one of their products, I reached out and was like, "WTF?"
My buddy called me, said that they sent him the review product and worked with his team on some of the script (specs and stuff) in order to get an honest review... almost a year before the video was made. LTT/LMG apparently started demanding certain things, for the company to sponsor X number of videos at $X0,000 for the year, and they said "No, we can't do that."
So, they released a really quick "review" where they simply called the thing garbage and told people not to buy it... and then listed one of the company's competitors as the sponsor for that "episode."
Absolutely ridiculous.
Yeah that's what bothered me most. It really sucks. They have always seemed to be better. I hope they can figure stuff out and bounce back.
LTT: Numbers, just put down who would care.
GN: Well!!
This.
This is why you deserve respect.
Rigorous work standards and uprightness are just academic concepts until someone has the courage to uphold them when it's uncomfortable -- especially when you can irritate you own users and your bottom line can potentially suffer. Like you just did.
And most content creators would have jumped on this opportunity to turn controversy into profit by monetizing this very. Not profiting from this particular video is further evidence of your ingegrity.
The fact there are still a few people like you left out there swimming straight in this swamp of clickbaits and snake oil merchants keeps me hopeful.