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[-] jamon@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

I started the video shocked that GN would do a video like this at all. I was 100% ready to blame GN for being petty. As I watched and listened, though, he made really good points, and I can't help but agree. Especially on the points where Linus doubles down on really bad takes instead of doing the right thing, insisting it doesn't matter (there are loads more examples than just Billet).

The one thing he didn't say that I wish he had, though, is to remind people that he's focused on industry journalism, not just hardware itself. This isn't a hit piece, it's an information piece, where he holds industry players accountable. Not unlike his journalism on Newegg and Asus. No, it's not positive, but it's honest, and it informs and benefits consumers.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

I got the sense that he didn't really want to have to do a video like this. He kind of said as much a couple of times. And in one section he mentioned he has kind of tip-toed around directly calling out LTT on specific screwups for some time. Like posting his results that contradicted theirs with the hope that people would notice but without directly going "looks at LTT's bogus numbers wtf"

I kind of felt like he got to a point where he couldn't in good conscience ignore it any longer because the pile of fuckups had gotten too big and too egregious with this billet labs fiasco.

I'm glad he did the vid because, yeah, he has done a good job of holding others accountable as you said, and this is exactly the same ethos. It's tough because I imagine you don't want to be seen as just doing hit pieces against the competition. There's an inherent conflict of interest at play. But given sufficiently good evidence and enough of it, I think that puts those concerns almost entirely to rest.

The kind of person to be doing reviews is someone who values the truth -- accurate results and sound conclusions -- over money, ego, fame and popularity, etc. Someone with a great deal of curiosity, skepticism, mental flexibility, and humility. Sounds like that is the near polar opposite of Linus.

I find it hard to believe, sometimes, that fully grown adults exist who cannot admit their mistakes which just reminds me of how damn lucky I am to work where I do, with a culture that encourages fessing up and fixing rather than covering up and blaming. Where the overwhelming majority of people I have ever worked with is about doing the right thing with an eye primarily on the goal rather than their own ego and ambition.

[-] noobnarski@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, he didnt do a video to roast LTT and he also didnt insult him.

He just stated what he sees as going wrong at LTT and how it could be fixed.

I stopped watching LTT a long time ago because of similar reasons, it was just so frustrating to see them start a project, barely finish it, release the video and the not finish it.

Other times they made a big mistake in the middle and continued with the video "because we dont have time to fix it".

I prefer Youtubers that may have months between videos, but when a new one is out, I nkow its going to be a good one.

And if they do a project, when it has an issue, they either continue the video until it is fixed, or they read it in the comments and someday we will get a follow up.

[-] leyland1989@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

LTT has lived long enough and grown large enough to see themselves being the villain. I suppose fame and wealth can corrupt a person easily, the arrogance in the response from Linus is disappointing.

LTT hasn't been a serious or informative tech channel for years, you don't watch their video for information but for entertainment. They try to right the course by creating the Lab team but miss the point when they don't change their mindset.

It's like Top Gear vs Fifth Gear back in the days. You don't buy a new car base on the reviews on Top Gear, likewise if I want useful consumer advice, LTT is the last place I look.

[-] sverit@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago

Here is his response: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1526180-gamers-nexus-alleges-lmg-has-insufficient-ethics-and-integrity/page/16/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=riEm65zw7EleA5UJEi3eN8ZaHnVo6Smg27vxUlGW5uk-1692115262-0-gaNycGzNDGU#comment-16078641

My take on it:

We know that we’re not perfect. We wear our imperfection on our sleeves in the interest of ensuring that we stay accountable to you. But it’s sad and unfortunate when this transparency gets warped into a bad thing.

Yeah, well, that’s one of the main issues addressed in this video: You are not transparent about this, when you swap out videos without notice or bury corrections in a non-pinned comment.

Listing the wrong amount of cache on a table for a CPU review is sloppy, but given that our conclusions are drawn based on our testing, not the spec sheet, it doesn’t materially change the recommendation.

If the listing is wrong, who guarantees the lab tests on which the conclusion is based on are not wrong?

The thoroughness that we managed on our last handful of GPU videos is getting really incredible given the limited time we have for these embargoes.

Take the time it needs to produce correct reviews then. Who wants fast but false results?

[-] aaaaaaadjsf@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Do people still watch Linus for actual reviews? The amount of times him and his team get basic facts wrong makes it unwatchable for me, from that standpoint.

At this point it's just an entertainment production, watching Linus Tech Tips for actual tech review content would be like watching the original UK Top Gear for actual car reviews. Which makes LTTs foray into more data/fact driven stuff all the more puzzling. They had a good thing going with the more entertainment focused angle, hired some people that were funny, but I don't know what happened to that.

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ever since they started their "labs" they've been trying to push themselves as actual reviewers and no longer casual tech reviews.

[-] aaaaaaadjsf@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Which makes little sense to me. They carved out a very nice place on the internet being entertaining instead of half the video being spreadsheets and stats about computer hardware. Seems as if they want their fingers in every pie now.

[-] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

Especially since you already have established places with good methodologies (gamers nexus for computer parts, hdtvtest/other professional calibrators for TVs, rtings for TVs, monitors and most electronics).

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[-] Vengefu1Tuna@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

The issue with the water block is massive to me. Testing a prototype product on a GPU that it wasn't made for, giving it a negative review, doubling down on that negative review when called out, promising to return the prototype to Billet Labs, then SELLING the prototype to the public at their LTX expo. As Steve points out, if a competitor gets their hands on that prototype, it could put Billet Labs out of business. This is wild, and LMG should absolutely be called out like this.

[-] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

There should be actual, legitimate, law enforcement involvement.. Cause its literally theft at best, corporate espionage at worst.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] anticommon@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

A $100million dollar company should be able to reclaim that property even if it means paying through the nose to get it back to the rightful owner. Losing a mass production GPU is one thing, that can be fixed with a check. A one of a kind prototype though? And who would make the decision to give something like that away, especially without consent? Things like that should come with a letter of endorsement of the charity sale, or at least have a (year plus) pause before just giving it away.

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[-] eltimablo@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I've had beef with LTT since his series of videos where he tried to use Linux as a daily driver while making absolutely zero effort to understand any of the differences between it and Windows, then proceeded to whine about how it's not Windows. The part where he broke his system after it explicitly warned him he was about to break it and asked for rather thorough confirmation that he wanted to do so was where I stopped watching him for good.

There's being ignorant and then there's being stupid. I fault nobody for being ignorant of how something works when they first encounter it. I do, however, fault them when they demand changes be made without actually understanding the implications of those changes.

[-] SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

But that's how the typical user behaves. I love Linux and what you can do with it, but it's so tone deaf to think oridanry people are going to behave any diffeent than Linus did. People just don't have the time to take that effort you expect of yourself, only enthusiast have this kind of time. Other people are enthusiastic about other things. We need to all respect this.

Ugh, it's so frustrating. Linux will continue to be irrelevant to consumers as long as this attitude of "just put in the effort to understand" persists.

[-] unknown@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Yes! The Linux coverage from LTT is positive and encourageing UNLESS Linus is in the video then he looks for any excuse to raise his voice and yell "this is stupid" or "its going to break on me in 5 minutes". Emily's very good coverage of PopOS back in 2019 ish got me into Linux and I have not looked back. Its disappointing to see how with many things (not just Linux) how Linus will change the direction of a video to be more entertainmenting/clickbaity at the cost of good information and quality.

[-] Rakn@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think what becomes clear when watching a lot of videos is that Linus is more of a tech fanboy that is good at all the high level stuff and can sell it in an entertaining way. He is not however someone who is super into the weeds of a specific technology, tool or system beyond applying his „I’ve worked with technology before“ knowledge.

They have other folks on the show for that.

It that being said. I wouldn’t fault him for his experience with PopOS!. That was totally on the OS and not his fault.

[-] unknown@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Totally agree on the first part though, he is a total tech fan boy.

He is constantly taking his surface level knowledge of item X and extrapolateing it out to create new assumptions but he saying it with enough confidence that it sounds like a fact.

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[-] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The problem with LTT:

  • Linus is insanely unfunny, spends half the videos shilling shit merch and makes dumb clickbait video thumbnails with soypoint-2 face.

Other than that it's great!

[-] Horsey@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Holy shit lol. I can never watch another Linus video again without thinking about this criticism.

[-] deFrisselle@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

Guess this is why GN and a few others were not at LTX

Billet Labs has a good case to sue LMG

[-] MrSebSin@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago
[-] gamer@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Damn this is eye opening for me. LTT was always my most trusted source for tech reviews. I noticed that they’d make little mistakes every once in a while, but didn’t realize it was part of a larger problem. I actually made a Ryzen 9 7900 buying decision recently because of this video which made it seem like the best value (especially compared to their very confusing 7950x3d review). After watching this GN video though, I feel stupid for not even thinking to check other channels before making a buying decision.

(Although honestly this is a major upgrade over my previous hardware, so even if it wasn’t the best possible option, it’s still a net positive for me.)

I really hope LTT takes this criticism seriously. It’s always gratifying to see misbehavior have consequences on the internet, but these independent reviewers are pretty much the only people on our side as consumers. I’d rather see a course correction than a crash, especially since LMG in particular has a uniquely powerful position and can have real impacts on manufacturers that benefit consumers.

[-] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

LTT used to be fun because they'd get a bit more creative than other youtubers and weren't to cringewrothy (I'm talking back in the house with the kitchen set) and occasionally would go on some bonkers home engineering projects that were just stupid fun. But as my IT career grew I learned just how disconnected they are from enterprise IT and just how focused on gaming hardware they are (and just how boring gaming computers are) and now that I have a degree in networking and they've been struggling to level up their networking game I really just shake my head.

I watch them for entertainment purposes but anytime they look at server-y stuff I'm more watching to see how bad they are than to learn anything or see anything cool.

Its fine that they have their niche, its fine that they're trying to expand out of it, and I wish them the best, but they've got a concerning cultural problem that needs to be addressed before they can effectively grow more

Edit: wow this seemed so big when it was just a accuracy and integrity issue but now that seems so small with the new revelations from Madison. I wish everyone working the grind at LTT the best and hope everyone who sexually harassed and groped can find a nice thorny cactus as their new office chair

[-] Streptember@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

They're not even the only ones doing server/enterprise grade hardware anymore. And they're obviously incapable of competing in that area with more knowledgeable channels (outside of a few employees who can't carry a whole LTT video by themselves).

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[-] ineedaunion@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Dude sold out forever ago. ALL INFLUENCERS ARE JUST CORPORATE MOUTHPIECES.

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this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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