HW News - Linus Tech Tips' Terrible Response, ESMC, & Starfield x AMD GPUs

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

Woah woah woah woah!

I dunno how many times this has to be said!

He didn't SELL it! He AUCTIONED it!

That's a distinction that needs to be made!

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

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

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

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

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

Is there an archive of the chain somewhere? I dont have twitter/x, and it won't let me see anything other than the main tweet

Can't read past the opening tweet without logging into twitter. Could you summarise or link to an article containing the info?

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

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

All I want is just good hardware reviews

Same. Seems LTT and Short Circuit is out. As demonstrated, they aren't a reliable source.

Same, that's why i never liked that twat

I really only ever followed any tech channels for cool videos and news, reviews are nearly pointless to me until I'm trying to actually buy or recommend something.

But outside of an occasional great video or at least great topic (like the 48kW fan), LMG barely offers anything special in that space anymore, despite still being the biggest outlet. GN has news down pat (along with reviews), Storage Review and STH cover enterprise stuff that Linus has only exceeded once with the million dollar (or whatever it was) setup, and plenty of channels do guides.

I feel like the point of that video though was to point out how a common user using linux would just make these kind of mistakes which do happen and are legitimate. That's one of the reasons why I enjoy Linux Mint so much really. Simple to use and not too much of a hassle while also slightly helping you understand some of the easier aspects of Linux.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yea, I think that and a few other nitpicky things are the only flaws in GN's argument. Otherwise, the testing results and Billet's response speaks for itself. LTT is going too loose and fast and while that's bad, it's understandable if you're a fledging company. That's all LTT had to point out. And instead of being humble and retrospective they put out this PR nightmare of a response.

I used to be a regular watcher of LTT, but really noticed their latest videos have declined in quality and it's apparent that they're just pumping out as much videos as possible.

I didn't find this to be overly dramatic or sensationalized. I enjoy knowing when one of the people I regularly watch are in fact assholes. Note, he didn't say they were assholes. He merely repeated what they did and called out issues. He said he wouldn't be covering the channel anymore after their response. Just decent journalism in my opinion.

They came from a tech journalist forum before doing reviews, covering bad practices in the industry, most notoriously MSI, and Linus being the face of PC hardware with so many inaccuracies is just another topic.

Yes, facts are drama, for sure.

Understandable, but I think many people (including me) are fine with a little drama every once in a while as long as it's warranted and doesn't damage the substance of the content. Unnecessary drama can certainly be a problem, but unnecessarily making dramatic things boring is not necessarily the solution.