LTT called out

[kieran_read]

Reading some of the comments in this thread. I actually want to ask people what size company they work for.

Do these people need to CC the CEO or their direct line manager in every email they write? Are they simply not trusted with making decisions in the companies they work for?

You make a valid point, but at the same time if i was to start auctioning items my company owned off for charity i'd have to run that past someone senior. For an event like LTX it's guaranteed that someone senior would have have to approve those items for auction and I would think he would be aware or at least show an interest in certain elements of the show. Considering how much "pride" he himself talks about LTX you can bet he runs his eyes past everything, might not write it, might not be in control of it sure, but he would have at the very least seen it.

You can pass the missed/ignored (however you wish to interpret it) e-mails off as a employee error sure, but the auction doesn't qualify for the same "pass" that's on him.

 

[Twinz]

So Billet labs was dealing with some unnamed person at LTT. Said unnamed person at LTT messes up. When this news gets to Linus' ear via the GN video, Linus attempts to correct the situation by reimbursing them the cost of the prototype.

Okay.

And then Linus responds to the GN video with misleading language:

"To Steve, I expressed my disappointment that he didn't go through proper journalistic practices in creating this piece. He has my email and number (along with numerous other members of our team) and could have asked me for context that may have proven to be valuable (like the fact that we didn't 'sell' the monoblock, but rather auctioned it for charity due to a miscommunication... AND the fact that while we haven't sent payment yet, we have already agreed to compensate Billet Labs for the cost of their prototype).

Could have asked for "context"...the fact that we already...."

Linus didn't "already" anything until AFTER the video went live.

This is scummy behavior, and the response was even scummier.

 

[pc-guy]

I hope Linus finds the members of staff and fires them.

Then name drops Steve in a video, i.e. thanks to Steve diligence the member of staff responsible for this situation has been fired.

It seems to have been resolved as soon as Linus found out about it with the company stating they've received a offer of either the item back or monetary compensation.

I wonder how much this is down to Linus being too busy and not micro managing enough

They probably need to fire more tha. Just one bloke.

You got the bloke in the original video saying “LMG testing was better than GN and HWUB and don’t need to retest”. Which drew comments from HWUB first then Linus trying to cover it all.

Then you got the bloke or blokes responsible for the prototype

The you got the blokes who are responsible for all the rubbish data being in post production

Then you got that bloke who is constantly spewing out rubbish on camera.

By the time you trim the fat, you get what - Linus and his wife. The. Who do you blame.

Original LTT had a decent team around him doing research and knew tech stuff. It doesn’t seem to be the case any more

 

[ChrisD.]

Plot twist, Steve from GN was the buyer of the block, imagine that.

 

[kieran_read]

They probably need to fire more tha. Just one bloke.

You got the bloke in the original video saying “LMG testing was better than GN and HWUB and don’t need to retest”. Which drew comments from HWUB first then Linus trying to cover it all.

Then you got the bloke or blokes responsible for the prototype

The you got the blokes who are responsible for all the rubbish data being in post production

Then you got that bloke who is constantly spewing out rubbish on camera.

By the time you trim the fat, you get what - Linus and his wife. The. Who do you blame.

Original LTT had a decent team around him doing research and knew tech stuff. It doesn’t seem to be the case any more

You have the same thing that happens to me, dump as much as you can on employees, keep giving them more and more to do and then worry about fixing the problems when an issue occurs.

 

[jaybee]

They did a follow up video, fully monetised that was way more likely to hit all of the YT KPIs.

You mean his general news video that he does weekly and it only added the response to Linus response cause that response was so bad yeah?

I was going to point this out as well. The monetised follow up is a general news post with other content in as well. The Linus follow up is one of many topics discussed. Steve played that game well you have to give him that.

 

[jaybee]

UPDATE

For full transparency, Linus contacted us this evening saying it's likely he can get the block back from the buyer.

We have declined this offer, and asked for the previously agreed monetary value instead for the following reasons:
1) we have already spent a significant percentage of the value of the block in the last few days on replacement parts to build a new block, assuming we'd never see the original one again.
2) we do not know if the original block is still in good working condition, and how much money will be needed to fix it if it's not.
3) we don't know if any of the bespoke fittings are missing, each of these costs money to replace if they are.
4) LTT have had our 3090ti without using it for 9 weeks, so we have lost confidence that they will return items quickly.
5) LTT isn't currently in possession of the block, they've only said that they can get it back. We therefore don't know when we'd get it back, and time is of the essence.
6) LTT has confirmed that the block is with a private individual rather than a rival company, so lost IP is much less of an issue.

We wanted to state this publicly just in case anyone has any issues with the fact that the block has potentially been found, and we chose to take the money instead. We hope you understand our reasoning here. We can have our new block that we're currently making ready in the next couple of weeks, and we are sceptical that we would have the original block back in fully working condition in that amount of time – it would be a gamble at the very least.


So the company had the opportunity to get their prototype back but went for the money instead of the prototype??

7) We told Linus the prototype was worth £1479 lolz. So we took his money and made a few more.

 

[pc-guy]

You have the same thing that happens to me, dump as much as you can on employees, keep giving them more and more to do and then worry about fixing the problems when an issue occurs.

Leadership issue init. The buck needs to stop at the top. Don’t blame your troops.

Anyway, let the trolls troll ey!

Ignore button is there for a good reason

 

[Minusorange]

The GN follow up is basically a double tap to the corpse of LTT

 

[Tom B]

Why I watch LTT: "Let's see if we can make this stupid watercooling system using some weird combination of stuff that isn't designed for it" not their reviews. LTT has, at least in the last 10 years, been more like top gear, over the top fun stuff just because they can and light on informative content.

Linus attitude in all his videos is always "Let's just get it done!" corner cutting , you see it constantly in his "Let's do this crazy thing to my house!" projects and for those it's fine but it's stupid for his "I have no idea how to correctly set up a server so lost all my data again LOL" videos and misleading for anything pitched as informative. That attitude clearly feeds into his staff and from what his employees say they have ridiculous deadlines. Those deadlines come from the top.

Repositioning his company with a lab and all this testing equipment opens himself to this kind of scrutiny and I'm not sure as a person he's mature or competent enough to deal with it. I'd like to think he'd take the criticism on board and improve but I doubt it will happen, he's not that kind of guy.

 

[kakarott]

UPDATE

For full transparency, Linus contacted us this evening saying it's likely he can get the block back from the buyer.

We have declined this offer, and asked for the previously agreed monetary value instead for the following reasons:
1) we have already spent a significant percentage of the value of the block in the last few days on replacement parts to build a new block, assuming we'd never see the original one again.
2) we do not know if the original block is still in good working condition, and how much money will be needed to fix it if it's not.
3) we don't know if any of the bespoke fittings are missing, each of these costs money to replace if they are.
4) LTT have had our 3090ti without using it for 9 weeks, so we have lost confidence that they will return items quickly.
5) LTT isn't currently in possession of the block, they've only said that they can get it back. We therefore don't know when we'd get it back, and time is of the essence.
6) LTT has confirmed that the block is with a private individual rather than a rival company, so lost IP is much less of an issue.

We wanted to state this publicly just in case anyone has any issues with the fact that the block has potentially been found, and we chose to take the money instead. We hope you understand our reasoning here. We can have our new block that we're currently making ready in the next couple of weeks, and we are sceptical that we would have the original block back in fully working condition in that amount of time – it would be a gamble at the very least.


So the company had the opportunity to get their prototype back but went for the money instead of the prototype??

Linus is that you?

But seriously, some of your posts about nexus was quite reaching but this post just seals it that you're a die hard Linus fan. Did you not comprehend why they no longer want it?

 

[jaybee]

I think the fact the actual points raised in the video (not to do with Billet) are largely not being argued about says a lot. Almost like a deflection by LMG focusing in on the Billet thing.
That's going to really hurt the entire LMG and Linus himself because he knows it is true. The video evidence is out there in his own videos. You can't dispute it. They have made poor content with inaccuracies and potentially influenced decisions of consumers. They have a conflict of interest there with Noctua/Asus and other companies. It is damning frankly and they need to do better.

Linus will know the truth and it will hurt that they have let things slip and are creating to much churn, with a lack of quality. Linus knows his stuff. He went from a PC salesman and builder/enthusiast right to the top of a company and did it with hard work. He may be totally clumsy and awkward, but that's part of his character. I don't think we should be personally attacking him at every opportunity. He has made some business mistakes in the way he has handled criticism and has let his ego run away without a voice to rein it in.

 

[Dicehunter]

They have made poor content with inaccuracies and potentially influenced decisions of consumers.

This is why it's constantly said to always read and watch as many reviews on a product as possible before buying or even locking in your opinion on it.

 

[pc-guy]

I think the fact the actual points raised in the video (not to do with Billet) are largely not being argued about says a lot. Almost like a deflection by LMG focusing in on the Billet thing.
That's going to really hurt the entire LMG and Linus himself because he knows it is true. The video evidence is out there in his own videos. You can't dispute it. They have made poor content with inaccuracies and potentially influenced decisions of consumers. They have a conflict of interest there with Noctua/Asus and other companies. It is damning frankly and they need to do better.

Linus will know the truth and it will hurt that they have let things slip and are creating to much churn, with a lack of quality. Linus knows his stuff. He went from a PC salesman and builder/enthusiast right to the top of a company and did it with hard work. He may be totally clumsy and awkward, but that's part of his character. I don't think we should be personally attacking him at every opportunity. He has made some business mistakes in the way he has handled criticism and has let his ego run away without a voice to rein it in.

To be honest that’s journalism in the modern form. Sensationalist draws the clicks.

Maybe they deliberately do those things wrong to dramatise the effect to draw in viewings…and to get certain products talking about.

I mean 300% perf gain from 4090 to 3090ti in CB2077. That sure will get the conversation going

I wonder how many 4090s were bought on that chart. And 4090 remains the most popular 40 series card…

 

[robgmun]

Plot twist, Steve from GN was the buyer of the block, imagine that.

I would absolutely love it if he got his hands on it and did a proper test of it to spite LLT

You can almost be certain GN will get the second prototype

 

[jaybee]

To be honest that’s journalism in the modern form. Sensationalist draws the clicks.

Maybe they deliberately do those things wrong to dramatise the effect to draw in viewings…and to get certain products talking about.

I mean 300% perf gain from 4090 to 3090ti in CB2077. That sure will get the conversation going

Yeah and to be fair, it's not like Linus (I assume he was voice over/narrator for a lot of these videos?) was the one sitting there running the benches/tests for all these. He would have been handed the data so a lot of staff members will have contributed to this problem with mistakes. As pointed out, sounds like the deadlines were too much.
Really sad to hear of the one employee in the video saying he rarely is proud of a video they put out, but I understand it. It's always at a level to get it done, but not perfection. I guess it's the way of youtube to an extent.

 

[Minusorange]

So the company had the opportunity to get their prototype back but went for the money instead of the prototype??

Did you just choose to ignore the 6 reasons why they don't want it back ?

 

[Abraxaz1]

I would absolutely love it if he got his hands on it and did a proper test of it to spite LLT

You can almost be certain GN will get the second prototype

I doubt Steve will come out positive from this.

He's now got a reputation of stabbing people in the back.

He already struggled to get collaborations before this, I doubt he'll be viewed favourable after this.

 

[Quartz]

He has to stop digging a hole and twisting words and just come out and apologize and aim to do better.

This. All he needed to do was say that he really screwed up, he's sorry, etc.

Yeah it sucks and as a business if they needed the funds, equipment back sooner or in full etc etc,

I wonder if the funds issue is secondary? How does this affect Billet's ability to file for a patent?

 

[kakarott]

I doubt Steve will come out positive from this.

Linus could have just put his hands up and apologised and not triple down. Now he's made this into a bigger issue when he could have done some damage control.