Madison talks about her experience at LTT (CW: self-harm, sexual assault)
There are a couple more tweet that can be found here.
There are a couple more tweet that can be found here.
I’m surprised that an outspoken anti-labour anti-union employer would be abusive towards their employees. Truly astonishing.
I hope she’s doing better now, and working someplace that appreciates her.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741?refresh=1692174340
To read new stuff without Twitter login ^
Damn this is catastrophic. I'm not sure how you come back from the last few days
Sounds like her immediate manager really hated her. Repeatedly ignored her requests, told her to figure things out on her own then reported her to upper management for doing what he told her to do.
No. It sounds like her line manager was every single untrained techbro manager at a startup.
Everyone hates HR and managers. And there are a lot of reasons to. But taking someone who is "good at technical work" and expecting them to understand how to manage people is a mess. You almost immediately find out about all their "under the surface" biases and they genuinely have no idea how to work around those.
Like, it is good that people are acknowledging how massively fucked this is. But people should really understand that.. this is "normal" for women in tech. And you get the occasional "Oh god, that is horrible. Good thing things aren't like that here" as your co-worker screams internally because she learned that rocking the boat at all is a good way to never get promoted again.
This is why I'm so glad that there are open union campaigns occurring at my tech company. It has promoted a speak out culture where people say something when they see a problem. Management won't listen to us, but at least we're there for each other and empathize even if we don't sympathize. Coworkers have told me that the support that we provide makes them feel validated, even if the law does not agree with our assertions.
Her manager was a piece of shit who didn't know how to treat other people properly and who had zero respect for her and (reading between the lines) didn't have the slightest grasp of misogyny in the workplace (or actively perpetuated it) and had no idea how to manage anyone effectively.
They should've been fired the second or third time they utterly failed her. But when upper management are also douchebags they see nothing wrong and even encourage that bullshit.
Work for a decent place for a few years and you see the stark contrast very clearly...
I don't know why, but somehow I can really picture James saying to Madison "calm your tits!" with his annoying smirk.
Don't think so any more, they had one as an April fools (LinusSexTips) and it stuck around for a while for the memes. But I imagine there were lots of horrible things sent to that account
It's funny how all the shithole places to work where top management are psychopaths who abuse their employees and tolerate (or encourage or perform) sexual assault and encourage and model deeply toxic work interactions also are companies that chase dollars over everything including truth, quality, ethics, and proper basic respect for customers (viewers).
The world would be so much better if these types of fucked up toxic people weren't here or at least were shunned and always failed downwards.
Linus has always struck me as fake as FUCK. He acts like every manager I've ever had that completely changes their attitude when behind closed doors. He also seems like his favorite thing in the world is one more penny in his bank account.
Whenever he speaks about the business side of things, work conditions or unions you can feel it, he's a soul crusher. Heck he mentioned something along the line of "Although we don't necessarily respect labor laws all the time, we know we've got good work conditions and if an employee wants to start talking labor laws... Well, two can play this game."
I never felt the need to threaten my colleagues who wanted to see their rights respected and I never felt the need to not respect labor laws.
Is that why you were asking?
Reading about the situation in general as they unfold makes me more and more disappointed with LTT.
I applaud her for coming out with this at this time, maximizing the scrutiny they'll have about it. Assuming all of it is true (which I'm inclined to believe, aside from the observations), this is very fucked up to the point I don't even know what kind of resolution I want, aside from hopes of Madison being able to be at peace instead of being harassed by terminally online people.
After I came forward about being assaulted, Someone accused Linus of inappropriate conduct on twitter.
He came over to my corner and started BERATING HER. Calling her insane, mentally ill, an attention seeker, and just digging into this poor woman who had felt wronged by him.
o.0 what a hell hole. company is run by woman haters. zero respect for women.
This is terrible. I hope LTT is done for and this can be reckoned with. Also, some of this might be better turned into a criminal case.
... I suppose the only way to move forward is to see how LMG/LTT responds... Untill then, I've halted all FP subscriptions and unsubbed from all channels. Especially considering the response to GN's piece.
If it's true that all they care about is their bottom line, unsubbing is the best thing you can do.
Sadly Idk how many subs they're gonna lose due to both this and the GN piece. It might not be enough to send a strong enough message.
Halting all payments is the best thing you can do. But subscribe count hasn't really mattered for a long time now. Not a bad thing to unsubscribe but just wanted to point out it's not the best thing you can do.
View count is what matters so simply stop watching, less watchers means less ad revenue
The only response that's appropriate and sufficient is firing everyone who has contributed to this unethical, actively hostile environment including the CEO and Linus himself, and instituting zero tolerance ethics and inclusion policies and an ethics group to stamp this toxic culture into dust. Nothing short of that will have any effect.
Because these problems start and end at the top of the org.
IDK if the new CEO has even been there long enough to have had a major effect on the company culture. Unless I'm very mistaken, Madison quit waaay before he came on the team. Unfortunately, it looks like Linus bears a lot of the responsibility here...
That's bad. I could look over the idea that the thing with billet was just stupid mistake after stupid mistake leading to a bad outcome. I saw the weird ways Linus expresses himself in his forum post and hoped he would address it in a video rather than WAN show. I thought he might do right by us, learn from it and continue to strive to being better. But this goes way too far. I boight the Screwdriver and I was going to spend lots of money on the store once the cable management system is out. That's not going to happen anymore. I'm really disappointed.
Seeing all these groupie tech bros in the comments bending over backwards to justify what LTT has done makes me understand why she was afraid to come forward.
I already had dwindling respect for the company, now it's zero, it's disgraceful and a horrible asset to the tech world
I hope Madison is in a good, safe work environment now. The few episodes she was in were amazing, such a likeable, funny person. Stay safe out there.
... I'm shocked.
I'm honestly, utterly shocked.
I cannot imagine that this is how LTT is from the inside. I still don't believe this. Wow.
I'm still hoping that all of this is just a HUGE misunderstanding that came about.
I even internally am still justifying it as her just maybe pouncing on this opportunity, but it doesn't make sense why she hasn't before.
Ah man, fuck... what the hell, man...
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I'll be honest, I actually relate to Linus' troubles as someone who has tried to manage a team before. And as a result, I never really felt he was "full of shit", but rather just way over his head with the CEO stuff.
I understood that LMG is his baby and he wanted to make sure it's all working like he envisioned... But I feel like when you reach a particular level, you just need to reassess your priorities as well as your role to ensure the organisation is functioning properly.
And that's why I was actually pretty happy to hear him step down. Vision Officer is perfect so that he can float ideas and provide his input for his vision, while making sure that there's someone else to refine the remaining details.
His impulsive responses are terrible, tho. And that's something that he SHOULD have vetted before he says anything. If he didn't have time or if it's a very recent incident, DON'T say anything. Let Luke take care of it or just stay silent.
But now with this from Madison, I'm kinda shocked NGL. As I said before, I still REALLY wish this was just a misunderstanding or bad luck or whatever else, but if this is how it is inside, I'll never be able to see another LTT video...
I can't get over the idea that if LMG is really this bad, other people would have gone public by now. Not everyone is afraid of Linus or his influence.
I'm not discounting what Madison said, only saying that it's probably not the norm.
I think ex employee colton confirmed it on twitter.
Also maybe just me. But nothing is about linus directly. It is always "upper management" and maybe that upper management person is super psychotic and manipulated linus into believing nothing happened (I know how easy that can happen). Still doesn't excuse him but that means there can be a reformation.
She also talks about wanting it to turn out well for her old colleagues. Meaning she still has hope, what also means linus can't be the worst.
I just want to say to the kids at home, you can do anything you want to do in life... because Linus gave you that platform.
Sad story. I hope getting it off your chest has helped, bottling things up is never good.
I've been a fan of the LTT crew for years and watched Linus evolve, or rather, succumb to the pressure he was never able to cope with, change him. The massive responsibility for the business he has created and all those people's jobs obviously weighs heavy on him. He needs to fully step back, be proud of what LTT is, and let experienced management take over. I'm hoping the new CEO will maker the right changes but this drama is very bed timing.
Edit: This place reminds me a bit of the Yogscast dramas with individuals doing things they shouldn't, while also making the place a bit toxic. They seem to have turned that shit around. I hope LTT can do the same.
He's already recently no longer the CEO, I've unsubscribed and cancelled my floatplane. Waiting to see how this is addressed further but it's not looking good.
If this is true this is bad. Like, really bad
I say "if" just because I don't really know what the facts are, I just know what some people are claiming
To be clear, I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm just saying that, at the moment, it's just Madison saying these things did happen and Linus essentially saying they didn't
My question is if she had such a bad experience, why hasn't anyone else said anything, or at least put a negative review on Glassdoor or something? Did she just have a awful experience that was unusual, or is everyone/a large number of people treated like this? I don't think it's the second or it would've come out already and from more than one source (and the turnover is pretty low for LMG if I'm not mistaken, so that also doesn't make sense), but I don't really know. That's really the crux of the situation, is I just don't know. I'm glad they got an outside investigator though; hopefully that'll clear everything up
Honestly, when you're being massacred at your job and leave it the last thing you want is to talk about it. Also your judgement is clouded and you have an insane fear that your employer could ruin your chances of ever getting a new job again at the same field of work - specially one as jug as LMG.
Think about it, management ruined your life while dealing with them everyday. Why wouldn't they ruin if they could without even needing to see you again?
The thing is, you'd espect more people to leave the place if it's abusive. Hopefully they will be able to clear the air and enact some real consequences.
Nothing is black and white, man. People endure abusive abuse places if they grow into it, or if they can’t see any other clear option. It’s a little easier to jump if you just arrived, because that thing becomes absurdly apparent.
I guess you're right. The contrast between people raving about working for Linus in the past and some of the information coming to light now is just too dissonant to process for me.
You can read the same texts better here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
Oh wow, so dumb on so many points
First of all, squeezing that essay into whatever number of chars twatter allows and reading it is dumb. Get a real blog or something.
Second - great, time at ltt was bad, you got paid and you dont work there anymore. You hated your job, boohooo, i hate mine too. I still can't wrap my head around that "huge amount of work", few fucking videos, couple social posts. It's a fucking job, don't like it, quit it.
Third. Yes, a worthless drama.
The thing is when someone moves country for a job, they are usually not too eager on giving it up. Especially not when visas are involved.
Also I wouldn't call it 'worthless'. It brings up some serious issues that need to be addressed. This company now employs over a hundred people, if one of them was mistreated like this, then continuing to consume LTT content without the well-being of these people being ensured first is unetical at the very least, I would say.
You can take a job offer and find out it's not what you expected, or you can not take it, and potentially miss out on a great job opportunity.
In this case LMG surely seemed like a great place to work at, but was later found to be not that ideal. Of course by this time all those other issues kicked in.