🖕 Fuck PayPal

And fuck Linus Tech Tips for intentionally keeping quiet about this after they found out.

    • archonet@lemy.lol
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      5 days ago

      Am I the only one who, upon seeing his videos for the first time, immediately thought he was an annoying little pinhead?

      Like, I’ve watched his channel(s) surge in popularity over the years, and this entire time I’ve just been wondering why, and the issues that have come out about his little empire since have only confirmed my initial prejudice.

      • stardust@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        Their entire video is an ad filled experience of shilling not only their sponsors but themselves. Incredibly obnoxious and cramming in every YouTube stereotype from begging for likes and subs to clickbait titles and then insisting they have to do it so they can have their cake and eat it makes them even more obnoxious than if they just did it without wanting to be forgiven for it.

        • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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          5 days ago

          It’s getting worse, I can’t remember who but I was watching a video just the other day and their ad segment was the fucking ltt ratchet driver. You know, the one they supposedly made because they were tired of the market and the low quality rip-offs all the companies were just trying to make profit off of (it’s a shitty plastic screwdriver for 70$, link to pic and it’s being sold at fucking walmart now). They sold it as such a heart string story in the beginning, it’s just another mini-wannabe corporation.

          I don’t particularly feel bad at this point for their continued reputation downfall and the people responsible. Everyone has their own personal story of their favorite company which has turned to complete shit (Blizzard is one of mine). They didn’t come out strong but doubled down corporate style when everything started. That’s fine, but anyone staying and putting up with the stressful workplace knows what they’ve gotten themselves into.

          • frezik@midwest.social
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            4 days ago

            That’s actually a very nice screwdriver. Nice ratchet screw drivers do cost that much. I have one, but given where LTT is these days as a company, I don’t recommend buying it.

            I would be very happy if creators were able to fund their operations off their own merch rather than outside advertising. That seems to be what Gamers Nexus does, or at least heading that way. What LTT does, though, is use it as an additional revenue source on top of their other advertising sources. Doing it right means resisting the urge to consume more and more, and LTT is not capable of that.

            • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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              3 days ago

              It’s the corporate doubling-down that you have to worry and look out for. As you say it’s a revenue source for them. In fact, they spent over 100k (as stated by them in their own shows) for “Marketing” to get this screwdriver out there, for something that’s a revenue source for them.

              It has to be such a lucrative deal for them that they are pulling resources from other revenue to prop this up. Prepare for the slow enshittification of his tools. They order them from a manufacturer, parts will become cheaper, bulks will slowly have less quality control, and they’ll “move on” to later versions that pocket them more cash. They really don’t have to worry about their reputation as a “Tool manufacturer”, they’ll just pass the blame off onto another party while sweeping things under the rug and continuing on whistling like nothing happened.

              I might need a !remind me on here in 10 years.

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            4 days ago

            Oh please attack them on actual grounds rather than a made-up nonsense. The screwdriver is actually decent product if you care about that sort of thing. No one’s getting scammed there, It’s an actual product that’s of relatively good quality.

            If you don’t care about screwdrivers then you’re probably not interested in the product anyway and if you are a frequent screwdriver user you probably understand why it’s a good product.

            • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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              3 days ago

              Definitely could describe me as a frequent screwdriver user. Currently restoring 2 John Oster vintage drill drivers, tradesmen, electronic repair tinkerer (unfortunately for everyone else in my life as well, it’s always overwhelming), just basically always have a screwdriver in my hand every day.

              I think if I were to reevaluate my statement, I would put it as:

              “It’s a shitty-looking-plastic Screwdriver, for 70$”

              You can claim the inner mechanisms and their elevated teeth count “makes it a vastly superior product”, but as someone who owns several ratcheting screwdrivers, I wouldn’t recommend this out of the blue for someone. If someone has “particular gripes, all of which are solved with this product”, then it might be a good match for you.

              If you want to support them, the 70$ isn’t a bad price ticket for what you get. It’s like a donation with a really cool grab bag that you actually want. If you’re telling someone who doesn’t have a ratcheting screwdriver to first pay 70$ on this? You’re just shilling for the company.

              I can’t believe I have to say this near the year 2025 of our lord and saviour president musk, but don’t buy your fucking tools from a tech tip influencer. These are a MegaPro patent from an actual tool company. They are lower in price, rubber grips, and actually look better. If you don’t care about the look, spend an extra 10$ and get the Snapon with a LIFETIME WARRANTY. It’s the same one Linus used before he created this gimmick, he didn’t replace it because it had “sentimental value” apparently.

              I could go on and on, but obviously anyone that’s actually looked into it would know that this isn’t such a grand prize as those who want to push LTT merch make it out to be.

              edit: meant to say shitty looking plastic, not shitty plastic.

          • CybranM@feddit.nu
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            4 days ago

            I have a few gripes with LTT but the screwdriver is legit good. A bit overpriced because of the branding sure but definitely not a throwaway product

            • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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              3 days ago

              Honestly, I just dislike the product more for it being a middle-of-the-road type of product then what I thought it was going to be when they were hinting at it plus the company and shit going on behind the scenes. I was a big linus guy back in the day, used to even put the WAN show on in the background during work. Guess this is what the Tesla people feel. Probably more jaded thinking about what the people behind the scenes are going through, while the money fucking rolls in for the top.

          • snooggums@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            I used to think the importance of leadership at the top of a company to be overblown since they succeed based on the work of all of the employees, but it is pretty amazing how fast a change to shitty leadership can run a successful company into the ground.

      • toynbee@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Because of his name, I thought he was a pro-Linux channel. I was swiftly disappointed.

          • toynbee@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            I have nothing clever to say here, so normally I’d let my upvote express my feelings, but that feels inadequate in this case. I just wanted to use my words to let you know that this comment amused me a great deal and to thank you.

        • Canadian_Cabinet @lemmy.ca
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          4 days ago

          He once bricked his OS during a “run Linux for a week” challenge. He tried to do apt install steam or something and ignored a bunch of warnings. Of course he then bashed Linux because he didn’t pay attention

          • toynbee@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            Yeah, I didn’t see that video, but I recall reading about it. Apparently the package manager warned him that something would be potentially destructive and he ignored the warning, then blamed Linux for it when it was destructive.

            • whats_all_this_then@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Edit: that wall of text really got away from me sorry. Tried so hard to not be misunderstood 😅

              I really don’t wanna defend Linus here buuuut…

              I can see someone who’s switching over from Windows making the same mistake, especially if they’re good with Windows but new to Linux. You get so conditioned constantly telling Windows to take off the fucking training wheels and ignoring all its bullshit warnings that I can see you making the same assumptions on your first(ish) time using Linux. Plus you don’t expect something as benign as installing Steam to destroy your desktop manager.

              His biggest criticism if I remember correctly was also that widespread adoption won’t be feasible until <whatever distro> is idiot proof and I agree. Ease of use is there these days but the things that make Linux so powerful can also be the things your average Windows user (deletes desktop shortcuts by accident and panics thinking they uninstalled their apps level of technical) can use to break their install, especially if they blindly follow one of the many (sometimes out of date) tutorials out there that tell you to run some random commands in the terminal.

              With that said, it’s still his mistake. He should’ve read the damn instructions, and owned up to it more. He’s technical enough to know you can’t go in assuming you know how to use something you’re new to.

              Obligatory I fucking love Linux and hope it becomes the default someday not just because fuck Windows and fuck Microsoft, but because it’s genuinely amazing in its own right.

              • toynbee@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                No worries about the WoT, I’ve often been there myself.

                Thank you for the clarification. As I said, I didn’t see and don’t plan to watch the video, so I didn’t know the details. I don’t know what it would take for Linux to be widely adopted or whether it could be considered “ready” but I wish it would.

          • toynbee@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying here, so I apologize if I’m misinterpreting, but - while I have many potential complaints about Linus - I don’t blame him for his name resembling the word “Linux.”

      • HornedMeatBeast@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        I got that creepy feeling from him the first time I saw a video of him. Every photo of him I saw set off alarms. I’ve also never understood why anyone even likes the guy.

        This was years before all the issues came to light.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 days ago

        I’m with you. I heard of him on Reddit forever ago and couldn’t get through a single video.

    • Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      What annoys me the most is since his last drama, Linus HAS to be the face in every video now! Wtf it used to be a bunch of them took turns making videos, and it was fun seeing everyone work on different things. He has to be front and get all the attention, it just feels weird now.

    • deur@feddit.nl
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      5 days ago

      Especially anything from NullDrive, they’re a very scummy group.