The recent criticism of Linus Tech Tips, explained::Linus Tech Tips founder Linus Sebastian has admitted to “sloppiness” in the hardware review channel’s handling of controversy that erupted over its recent review of a high-end watercool

  • Devccoon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Lately there’s been this weird undertone of discomfort in Linus’ videos, and I think I now understand why. He does a great job appearing to be a decent and relatable guy who’s just being mean for a gag, but it’s becoming more clear that’s not a bit. His relationship with the people he appears with on camera only seems to work because there’s a back and forth in their quips and insults. Whenever he’s on with someone who’s not a staple of the channel, there’s this sense that he’s untouchable, that he can dish it out but grounds for pushback are shaky at best. Communication overall seems to suck, and there’s never not a Disappointed Linus moment when he’s involved in a project. You can really feel the unnecessary stress he’s piling onto the situation, and if it’s that obvious on-camera, how bad is it when nobody else is around? Or for the employees who feel like a bit of a squeaky wheel? It’s been clear for a long time that Linus is a cheapskate (he openly complains about relatively acceptable prices for the silly stuff he’s doing in videos pretty often) but for some reason in the back of my mind I thought maybe he wasn’t so stingy as a boss, where it counts. Wouldn’t bet on it now.

    For someone who’s even a little bit out of place at LMG, I can 100% see how Linus has built a toxic work culture. It should speak volumes that nearly everyone, when given a chance to speak without Linus’ final say on the video, expresses much the same criticism toward his hustle culture. They don’t have the time they need to do good work, I don’t get the sense that they have a supportive and creative environment conducive to enjoying the process, and the output is clearly suffering.

    Linus’ initial response dropped the ball harder than anything he’s dropped in his storied career of dropping things. But even if his response was heartening, the further reports of toxic culture and fanbase are enough for me to keep my distance. I’m going to miss their flavor of “tech nerd fun” videos, but the “Linus is a bad guy” Pandora’s box is open, and it’s going to take a lot of goodwill before I can just enjoy their videos again. Sad to see another titan of Youtube let it all go to his head, but this just goes to show that success doesn’t make a man better, it just makes him more powerful.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      He does a great job appearing to be a decent and relatable guy

      I couldn’t disagree more. He’s always come across as a hateful asshole.

      … who’s just being mean for a gag, but it’s becoming more clear that’s not a bit

      Exactly. The guy’s a prick. There are so many good choices for this kind of content out there. I never understood how anyone could tolerate looking at Linus.

      I suppose younger guys might look at him and think “he sounds like he knows his stuff” or… maybe think he’s relatable, like you said above. Maybe?

      But as a grown ass man, my take on Linus has been “fuck this prick” since the beginning. He always looks and acts like he has never taken a shit in his life, and today’s the day it’s going to come to a head.