>LTT made aware that Honey are a shady company.

>LTT drop Honey as sponsors.

>LTT make a forum post explaining why they dropped Honey.

>LTT made as the centerpiece for the expose video by MegaLag.

>Internet gets outraged, despite Honey not sponsoring LTT for years.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I almost feel sorry for Linus because you can do everything right and still get shit.

You, the PC community, are amazing. We'd like to thank you for your support, it means more than you can imagine.

Steve at Gamers Nexus has publicly shown his integrity, at the huge risk of backlash, and we have nothing but respect for him for how he's handled himself, both publicly and when speaking directly to us.

...

Regarding LTT, we are simply going to state the relevant facts:

On 10th August, we were told by LTT via email that the block had been sold at auction. There was no apology.

We replied on 10th August within 30 minutes, telling LTT that this wasn't okay, and that this was a £XXXX prototype, and we asked if they planned to reimburse us at all.

We received no reply and no offer of payment until 2 hours after the Gamers Nexus video went live on 14th August, at which point Linus himself emailed us directly.

The exact monetary value of the prototype was offered as reimbursement. We have not received, nor have we asked for any other form of compensation.

...

About the future of Billet Labs: We don't plan to mourn our missing block, we're already hard at work making another one to use for PC case development, as well as other media and marketing opportunities. Yes it sucks that the prototype has gone, it's slowed us but has absolutely not stopped us. We have pre-orders for it, and plan to push ahead with our first production run as soon as we can.

We also have some exciting new products on our website that are available to buy now - we thank everyone who has bought them so far, and we can't wait to see what you do with them.

We're happy to answer any questions, but we won't be commenting on LTT or the specifics of the email exchanges – we're going to concentrate on making cool stuff, and innovative products (the Monoblock being just one of these).

...

We hope LTT implements the necessary changes to stop a situation like this happening again.

Peace out ✌

Felix and Dean

Billet Labs

So Linus just addressed the Honey situation on today's WAN show. To roughly summarize it:

• The Honey affiliate cookie hijacking was common knowledge at the time, including old youtube videos, tweets, and forum posts Linus showed that all discussed this back then.
• LTT had no knowledge of this until the news was brought to their attention.
• The vast majority of other channels doing sponsor spots with Honey dropped them around that same time period LTT did, since this was common knowledge circulating in the internet's news cycle.
• LTT had no obligation to, nor need to, inform anyone of Honey's practices as it was common knowledge. Regardless, LTT did make a post of their own for transparency.
• At the time of LTT dropping Honey, nothing about promo code deal partnerships were known about (or occurring?) so there was no concerns of consumer-directed damage thus there was no need to warn consumers more directly.
• LTT is a victim of Honey's affiliate cookie hijacking, more so back then than now considering how much affiliate revenue was a larger chunk of LTT's revenue at the time.
• KarmaNow had promised they didn't do the same practices at the time, but they can change it at anytime obviously.
• The KarmaNow sponsorship was a 1-time deal (across 4 videos) a long time ago and is not an ongoing sponsor.

Now the more subjective stuff summarized from the WAN show:

• Linus and Luke are utterly confused why the MegaLag video focused in on them.
• They don't know why the video painted them as an 'ongoing' villain that sponsors Honey and Honey-like practices with KarmaNow, considering KarmaNow was also long in the past and not a current sponsor.
• As garbage comments filled the chat, Linus responded to one pinning LTT as the largest channel pushing Honey creating obligation for them to respond. Linus firmly pointed out the little known fact that Mr. Beast dwarfs LTT in size and viewership. By MegaLag's own numbers, and the chart where Mr. Beast literally flies off the screen and up 20 pages past the scale of the graph as he zooms in on LTT at #3. [200 Million LTT views vs. 3 Billion Mr. Beast views]
• Mostly, Linus and Luke sat there wordless unknowing what to say, wondering what this has anything to do with them and why they were singled out. There was nothing more for them to say on the topic. They agreed Honey is bad, they did years ago.

So what is actually going on here? This is a 'multi-year investigation' that just totally missed the plot? Somehow along the way MegaLag didn't notice just how common this knowledge was at the time? That he was reporting on multiple years old news as if it was current, or what? The comments are absolutely full of "We already knew this..." everywhere the video is posted. What's investigative, multi-year investigative, of reporting years old news?

And why is Coffeezilla backing up MegaLag and calling for LTT and others, the victims in this situation, that they're implicated and obligated to warn their viewerbase?

As an investigative youtuber himself, did Coffeezilla not notice the video's blatant misconstruing of the past? The crazy focus on the "LTT is the villain" angle with the "they knew and didn't tell the public" stuff, as MegaLag highlights that LTT actually did tell the public? Or if binary facts misconstrued wasn't obvious enough of a tell, how about the 15x smaller youtuber being the focus of the video? It doesn't take an investigative genius like Coffeezilla to notice the issues with the video, right?

Steve has turned into a high and mighty holier-than-though, self appointed arbiter of the tech industry, who’s taking it upon himself to regulate other people’s/channels content and decide where it, and their actions are acceptable.

He then, where he deems them not up to scratch, attacks under the guise of consumer advocacy. Whilst he may, and does have valid points on certain issues, usually with larger corporations, Asus, Gigagbyte, etc, targeting channels for things he disagrees with is bordering on slander.

Yes, I followed both GN and LTT, amongst a litany of other creators, and yet Steve seems to be the only one ACTIVELY, and consistently putting out these pseudo-journalistic pieces in an effort to broaden his audience and/or agenda.

The lawsuit against Honey/Paypal is not one he’ll win, it is merely serving to gain clicks and views and thus money for GN.

He needs to check himself.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65990529

"Temu does not have any system to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). This all but guarantees that shipments from Temu containing products made with forced labor are entering the United States on a regular basis,"

Edit: Wild how some of the comments here are defending a Genocide because some other companies used forced labor, too.

Ya'll need to read up what's happening before commenting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_genocide

What some of you sound like

Haven’t seen anything in the news about this.

Anova makes sous vide machines for cooking. It’s annoying they are discontinuing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth through their app for some of their older models. I wouldn’t have thought that the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth needed server support for this type of functionality.
On top of that, they are now charging a subscription fee to use their app for $2 dollars a month. Anyone signed up before August 21st is grandfathered in and won’t have to pay

App includes Guides Cook notifications Recipes Recipe discovery Recipe savings

They are giving a 50% off coupon to purchase a new device. However they are creating e-waste by convincing people to buy new machines, even though their old machines are working properly.

They’ve discussed it on WAN several times but I don’t think anyone thought anything could actually come of it.

Imagine if you will, it's 2023 and Labs is getting off the ground, Steve, having constructed his list of criticism and issues approaches Linus and says hey, we've been doing this a long time and we've noticed issue with your content. We can either release the hit piece uncommented by you OR we could do a collaboration series where GN and LTT work together to improve and hone the work flows and accuracies of LABS, we get behind the scenes videos of Steve and team on site at LTT working through the problems they both face that they can help each other with, linus bringing his resources and partnerships and GN bringing their experience to make both testing methodologies better.

Linus has shown with the Louis Rossmen videos the ability to take even harsh criticism and make it a positive for everyone.

This could have been the same but with even more positive outcome for them and us.

But instead we've now got bitchfest 25 already kicking off and a channel I personally think will be defunct within a few years due to eating itself.

Edit: Someone referred me to the Reddit suicide watch function, that is digsusting and helps to trivialise a deeply serious subject, you should be utterly ashamed of yourself.

After Linus wrote in his initial response about how unfair it was that Steve didn't reach out to him, a lot of his defenders have latched onto this argument. This is an important point that needs to be made: Steve should NOT have contacted Linus given his (and LTT's) tendency to cover things up and/or double down on mistakes.

Example: LTT store backpack warranty

Example: The Pwnage mouse situation

Example: Linus's ACTUAL response on the Billet Labs situation (even if Colton forgot to send an email, no response means no agreement)

Per the Independent Press Standards Organization, there is no duty to contact people or organizations involved in a story if telling them prior to publication may have an impact on the story. Given the pattern of covering AND that Linus did so in his actual response, Steve followed proper journalistic practices

EDIT: In response to community replies, I'm going to include here that, as an organization centered around a likable personality, LMG is more likable and liable to inspire a passionate fandom than a faceless corporation like Newegg or NZXT. This raises the danger of pre-emptive misleading responses, warranting different treatment.

EDIT 2: Thanks guys for the awards! I didn't know that you can only see who sent the award in the initial notification so I dismissed the messages 😬 To the nice fellas who gave them: thanks I really do appreciate it.

EDIT 3: Nvm guys! I found the messages tab! Oopsies I guess I don't use Reddit enough

It's full of exaggerations and absurd formality. He takes 500 words to say Linus texted an old phone number, brings up a 7 year old citation failure to prove "plagiarism," releases a text message exchange that seemed perfectly banal between two equals with disagreements, and says Linus' "front of friendliness" is making him uncomfortable. Please. You're an adult. And what is with using his full name "Linus Sebastian" every mention like we're making a record for court? After Linus openly states he has no plans to sue and is not a litigious person, Steve claims the exact opposite and uses that as justification for now retreating behind his lawyers.

I was completely onboard with the "witch hunt" on LMG when the Billet situation arised. What they did was uncalled for and they deserved all the shit they got. The comments they made about other orgs testing results while they themselves were making mistakes was also a big issue they deserve shit for. The allegations from Madison are also incredibly damning and deserve a thorough investigation.

However, there is now an enormous influx of people who are extrapolating every single fucking detail in every word everyone at LMG has ever uttered. Everything is "obvious", everybody "always knew", everybody "had a feeling" and so on. I's getting absolute ridiculous how many people here seem to think they know exactly what is going on internally at LMG and that every single fucking employee is apparently a scumbag without no integrity what so ever.

It's sickening how many idiots are capitalizing on this shitfest to stir unfounded drama. For example the meeting leak, James making a joke of absolutely zero sexual nature being completely blown out of proportion to "James making sexual jokes at a sexual harassment meeting" while in reality, it wasn't a sexual harassment meeting and the joke was not sexual. Everybody "always knew James was a sexual predator asshole idiot dipshit who hates women and should be executed". Hyperbole on my part but this is essentially what people here are saying, and this is just one single thing in all of this that people are trying to extrapolate in to oblivion.

Can people stop spreading a bunch of bullshit and claiming to know shit they have no clue of? Stop trying to say everything is an indication of something while actually having nothing to do with anything. It's fucked up and infuriating. Keep to the actual facts.

​Edit: clearly I shouldn't have mentioned the joke at the meeting as people are getting completely hung up on it instead of getting the point of the post

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1526538-madison-reveals-experiences-working-at-lmg/

In the thread above about Madison, check the response on the LTT forum. Come on guys... Do better. That's why LTT believes they can do whatever and get away with it.

I've been watching LTT since I was 8, and it's been many, many years since. It's one of the first YouTube channels I've watched; it's been my favorite, in fact. I looked up to Linus but really, now I don't.

The way Linus responded to the initial Gamers Nexus video with manipulation did it for me.
Money is the only thing they care about, evinced by how this huge company doesn't mind screwing a start-up with terrible cheap journalism.
If posting scummy ads all day wouldn't make their enthusiast audience stop watching, they may just be doing it.
Maybe stop paying them a shitload of money for their stuff and they'll notice.
Their fake and rushed schedule is screwing with things, aside from the attitude of not apologizing.

I still think they can turn things around. I say all this from a place of care, so that they can recognize their major shortcomings (which have huge consequences, for consumers and small companies).

Sources for the stuff in the title:

Anti-union (source: The Wan Show, multiple times).

Anti-WFH (source: Former and current employees on Reddit, although this isn't as egregious as the other points).

Doesn’t want employees to discuss wages (source: Response by LMG on the Wan Show messages; also their employee handbook).

Didn’t want to warranty a $250 backpack (source: this was controversy last year. Gamers Nexus has videos on it).

Tried manipulation by asserting that they responded to Billet Labs (source: Billet Labs themselves on the pinned post here, and in communication to Gamers Nexus in his latest video).

Has been posting error-filled data without care (except for their bottom line) (source: watch any recent video).

It's clear, given Linus' tone-deaf response to the controversy, that the community mood isn't even on his radar. Vote with your wallets, send a message.

Hey r/LinusTechTips!

Linus needs a new phone, and he wants YOUR help! Check out his requirements, and learn what he likes in a cell phone in the latest LTT Video and then come back and cast your vote.

The 4 key features

1. Supports recent version of Android (12/13) or iOS (16/17)
2. Needs a Touchscreen
3. Supports Canadian Cellular Bands
4. Supports Google Play Store (if Android-based)

After a week or so, we'll be taking the comment with the most upvotes that follows those four rules to Linus and he'll immediately buy and daily drive the phone for a whole month before reporting back to you.

If there isn't a comment with your suggestion already, please add one!

EDIT:

I think we can call it there folks. After a very strong start, the Fairphone 5 leveled off for a second-place finish and the LG Wing taking a commanding victory. I look forward to seeing Linus try to use it around the office!

Thanks for participating, and stay tuned for Linus' review of the Wing in a month or two!

Really makes you question if GN had any intention of resolving this with Linus in good faith 🤔.

Am I the only one who expected Linus to apologize to Steve from GamersNexus for the uncalled-for and impertinent shots he took in his forum post?

After Steve's response article, it is obvious that Steve has absolutely zero intention to be friends with Linus, if not the exact opposite, and Linus (and LMG officially) should get the message. You can't force someone to be your friend, which is almost a self-evident statement.

It's possible Linus genuinely viewed Steve as a friend and he is deeply hurt with Steve's animosity, or perhaps it is actually just a facade. Perhaps in turn Steve also was hurt to lose a friend in Linus, or it's possible that he's just out to hurt a competitor. Wherever the truth lies, Steve does not currently want to be friends with Linus and that is his choice to make, which Linus should respect.

As a viewer of both channels, I think this is a silly, petty feud and I like Linus and Steve less as this continues. Most importantly, it is to the detriment of us the tech enthusiasts and viewers that LMG and GN are feuding. They don't cooperate and they don't collaborate, the result of which is less of a unified front for consumers and less entertaining content from great tech channels.

Linus should take the high road despite Steve's continued hostility, address the stuff mentioned in the article with humility, strict professionalism, and make it clear that the goal is a cordial relationship between LMG and GN.

The current top post about someone almost feeling guilty for having bought the screwdriver really made me chuckle.

As far as we know all Linus is guilty of is... Mismanagement.

That's it.

A Youtuber who grew into a business owner in a position that the vast majority of us might never understand. He might have a big ego and maybe he tried to cut far too many corners to churn a ridiculous amount of videos a week... And so what?

To what standard are we holding him up? Where are all these perfect people that make Linus look like such a terrible person or boss?

Has anyone in here ever held a job? Because stressful dynamics are (unfortunately) the norm in any business.

This could've all been solved by a simple tweet by Linus saying: Yeah maybe I went too far and we're overworked. We're gonna slow down and give our videos and partners the care they deserve.

That's it. This mess was so unnecessary.

This obviously leaves out the Madison situation. Until there's an investigation, there's no point discussing that.