Hardware channel Linus Tech Tips defended itself following a competitor’s claims about its “accuracy, ethics, and responsibility.”
I don’t want to let them off lightly for their journalistic quality – lots of their fans genuinely believe they know their shit and they don’t live up to that – but the fact they sold that prototype is more shocking to me.
Even if they’d get a million bucks for it and donated twice as much to charity, that is just not a thing you can do.
- It’s not their property. Why are they auctioning that to begin with?
- When auctioning, you need to tell people what they’re buying. Surely, at that point, you’d realize it’s a prototype.
- That’s just a massive violation of journalistic integrity. That prototype may have cost £XXXX to produce, but if it falls into the hands of a competitor, the financial damage is significantly higher. Why would any hardware manufacturer send LTT exclusive hardware previews after this?
Yeah, lot of people really do trust LTT. Became apparent to me when prior to this event I came across a comment on lemmy talking about how LTT sponsored segments are ones they trust to not recommend crap. I had thought the default approach was to not trust sponsored segments regardless of who, what, or where it is from.
So some people dismissing this saying LTT is just entertainment to them doesn’t mean everyone sees it as entertainment, but a reliable source of recommendations and news.
The whole ‘entertainment’ angle is so ironic when considering what LMG is trying to become and how much money they are spending on that plan. They want to be seen as experts with objective, reliable data, but can’t afford $500 of employee time to test things properly?!
This sure is a blow to that desired reputation.
To me, it feels dismayingly close to how Fox News argues the same thing. They emphasize entertainment over objective news.
Agree. As a casual viewer, I find LMG enjoyable as entertainment, but you can tell they’re playing it fast and loose. I’ve never had an inclination to rely on their reviews or opinions, there’s already so many better sources for that.
The more I read about this fiasco the worse it gets. That non-apology letter Linus posted was embarrassing as hell, and in other comments on his forum he seems to just be deflecting left right and centre.
They also lost the video card that the same company sent to them (they recently found it apparently) which is why they used the wrong video card for the “test” of the prototype which was such a poor execution they really did that company dirty.
I guess when you get too big or rich it becomes harder and harder to admit you can be wrong or have made a mistake. The letter had big u/spez energy and I have lost an insane amount of respect for Linus and the LTT brand.
I’m never watching another video from them, and have gone as far as to block their channel on my browser to prevent temptation.
which is why they used the wrong video card
Something that has stuck with me from the original video is how Linus reacted to his own employee when finding out they used the wrong card. He immediately took the guy to task for not realizing it was a 4090 instead of 3090TI. So they are incompetent with tech on top of being incompetent with normal communication/logistic stuff.
And these are supposed to be the experts?
I’ve legitimately never understood the appeal of his channel. Linus always came off as smug to me – not in the way he talks to the camera necessarily but in the way he talks to his guest / colleague / other person on screen. And based on what little I have seen, the ego certainly doesn’t seem justified. Plus there are a multitude of other “gadget / tech” channels available (that don’t interrupt every 3rd sentence to hock some overpriced merch).
But there’s no accounting for taste so, to each their own I guess.
I’ve thought for a while that something was funny with LTT, because all the stuff they talked about which i knew about, I could find issues that ran from small nitpicks to major problems.
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