Linus testing and accuracy

Recently I found this video from Gamers Nexus and then a follow-up video and I would like to write my response to it. Please watch at least the first video because it will set the proper context for further discussion.

But before I start I would like to state that I watched a lot of videos on different LTT channels and I don’t like most of them. And there are multiple reasons for that. Most of those videos are too emotional instead of providing hard facts and I feel that they are intentionally designed to be this way.

This is a typical manipulative tactic is employed by many populist politicians or sleazy salesmen that try to sell you garbage and disappear before you realize that you did a mistake. I absolutely don’t like that style of the videos and it is one of the reasons why I stopped watching LTT channels.

The second reason is their advertising style. I understand that channel needs money from advertising and I don’t see any problem with it. But they not even trying to fit ads into the flow of the video. They are saying in your face: “Yes, we don’t care because you will eat it anyway”. And don’t like that lack of respect for their audience.

The last reason is their acting. Most of the people I watch on LTT videos look like case when people who cannot act start acting. I think they are bad actors and for me, it is kind of sad to watch it. I’m not sure that I explained it right but I hope you get it.

But while I don’t like most of their videos, I’m totally fine with other people watching them. They are entertaining and sometimes fun. I just would like to state that this style is not my cup of tea and I prefer a different style closer to the abovementioned Gamers Nexus or Hardware Unboxed.

Issues with data

Ok, back to the topic. I was watching Gamers Nexus for quite a while. I’m very carefully monitoring their data and so far I didn’t find any issues with any data or their conclusions. And this includes their first video about Linus. I carefully watched it and I didn’t find any logical issues in their facts.

And Linus is not denying any facts that Gamers Nexus provided. And what it tells us? Let's think about the reason people are watching his channels. I’m sure it is not because he is funny. It could be a secondary reason but I think the prime reason that people want to get information about some product.

And according to Gamers Nexus, there are systematic issues with their data. And again, Linus is not denying it. So if the primary reason is failing then why watch his videos at all? They are not that entertaining and there are way better pure entertaining channels on youtube.

Ethical issue

Next are ethical problems. Linus reviewed a product from some startup and reviewed it incorrectly. Then people pointed out that, he responded with extremely lame excuses. It looked very bad. He didn’t test it properly and refused to test it properly. It is hard to estimate the amount of damage he did to that startup. His videos are one of the most popular technical videos on youtube and most likely it will be the end for that startup.

And it is not because they produced really bad products or they are trying to scam its customers. All of that is because of incorrect testing done by Linus. And he stubbornly refused to do it properly. It looks very bad for every sane person. He did the mistake and instead of accepting and doing everything in his power to rectify it, he is only worrying about him looking good. And he didn’t even realize how much damage he did to that startup.

Blaming others

There are other issues with testing procedures for him and his team. They doing stupid and obvious mistakes. For example, didn’t remove a protective film on the bottom mouse and then claimed that the mouse glided badly. They installed the fan in the wrong direction and stated that the cooler had a bad performance. And both of these products are positioned as the top in their class.

So basically, there are two possibilities: those are scams, or something went terribly wrong. Those are relatively big companies so I would rule out scams. Another possibility is that they got defective products. Or that Linus and Co simply messed up. And any person with half of a brain will double-check their results, check that everything is set up correctly, will contact the vendor, check results with them, and maybe ask to send them another mouse or cooler to rule out a defective product.

And only when they tried absolutely everything and carefully rule out the possibility of a mistake from their side and after they didn’t get any explanation from the vendor, only then they can publish data. It is their responsibility to their viewers.

But instead, they rushed their videos and when people pointed to them that it is their fault they are do what they usually do: blame the others. They stated that it is not obvious and if they as professionals did miss it then regular people will surely miss it too. But I think they simply didn’t read the manual because they are “professionals”.

And this is also not a single issue but rather another systematic issue that happened over and over, again and again. They rushed the video, then people find issues in this video and they blame everybody but them.

Response

We are people and there is a chance that they could be very busy and they didn’t realize that they have systematic issues and when another YouTuber points to these issues it should be a wake-up call for them. And the proper response should be something like that: “Thank you for pointing to these issues. We are always trying to provide the best quality and clearly, we failed in some cases. We will investigate all of these issues and we will respond to you later”.

But instead, Linus provided an extremely childish response blaming Gamers Nexus by not contacting him directly, then fighting for the meaning of words and I think he just simply lied. So it wasn’t a wake-up call at least for Linus. He is sure that he did everything correctly and everybody else is wrong.

Conclusion

I think Linus lost connection with reality. It is a problem that many YouTubers and dictators have. They start thinking that they are flawless. People love them and they started to think that they are flawless and always right. And then came a wake-up call. Very often it came too later.

I personally decided that will stop watching any videos from the LTT group. After I saw what he did I don’t think I’m comfortable giving them any opportunity to gain any money from me. I’m sure that many people will fill the same way. And it could be the end of the LTT group. I saw it many times and this could just next YouTuber that got burnt and started to disrespect people.

I hope it helps someone.

Update 18 August 2023: You have time to watch this video is quite good at reviewing everything that happened. But it is long and some harsh language is there.

Next part is here.