Louis Rossman : the rot in influencer culture - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Simmed
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2025, 04:23:57 pm
content: a long 100:00:00 - intro00:00:39 - influencer culture is rotten00:01:19 - my community post00:03:20 - what is honey?00:05:40 - Part 1: linus & honey, self-image perception vs. audience well being00:06:41 - "would it have gone well for me?"00:07:08 - it's not about you00:07:35 - your responsibility as an influencer00:08:28 - thieves can't be trusted00:09:10 - browser extensions can monitor browser activity00:09:36 - steve burke's missing context00:09:45 - reading Linus' quote00:10:28 - the part steve burke left out00:11:05 - the "context" makes linus look worse00:11:10 - Linus' manipulation to escape accountability00:12:00 - what pisses me off00:12:45 - you took money for high visibility video, post retraction on the main channel00:13:02 - so post it00:13:35 - Accepting the premise of assholes: part 100:14:00 - responsibility to your audience is more important than your perception of your image00:14:30 - our audience should make our own decisions00:15:13 - linus' manipulative nature00:15:40 - louis loses it00:16:02 - if linus cared about his audience, what he'd do00:18:33 - why steve didn't include the context00:19:43 - accepting the premise of assholes: part 200:20:45 - real influencer vs. poser influencer00:21:20 - how steve got gaslit by accepting the premise of assholes00:22:05 - how steve allowed himself to change00:22:43 - steve updated his website for right to reply00:23:44 - ignore the tone police00:24:17 - what right to reply means to linus00:24:55 - none of you care about right to reply00:25:03 - right to reply: exhibit 100:25:30 - right to reply: exhibit 200:26:23 - right to reply: exhibit 300:27:00 - what right to reply means to linus00:27:22 - ranting about steve burke more00:28:15 - how to properly handle that situation00:30:17 - the iMac video - my personal experience with linus' manipulation00:30:40 - Linus' skeevy email to me00:31:24 - Linus' broken iMac storyline00:31:45 - i showed up while in canada00:31:58 - i was honest about not needing travel money when offered since i was already there00:32:39 - personality traits of a narcissist00:33:05 - my email reply to linus I'm 99% certain either jessa or anna wrote after stealing my keyboard & deleting a page of curse words00:33:30 - the cost ratio of the board to the video income makes this ridiculous00:35:15 - imagine if I pulled this on steve burke00:36:34 - imagine if I pulled this on paul daniels00:36:41 - deference to the king, paul daniels00:38:40 - Linus weaponized a joke 16 months later00:39:29 - I am not a Linus Media Group shareholder00:40:27 - businesses have loss leaders00:40:55 - loss leaders are the responsibility of the business owner00:42:10 - this is wrestling. it's not real00:43:05 - my back and forth00:44:23 - I can't behave like this to other content creators00:45:03 - Linus trust me bro warranty thing00:45:34 - A lost opportunity due to Linus' narcissism00:46:00 - warranties are being eroded every year00:46:33 - business owners that know it's not about them just make a warranty without throwing a fit00:47:01 - linus made it about him00:47:08 - linus monetized making fun of people who cared about consumer rights00:47:14 - linus pits factions of his audience against each other, all to protect his fragile ego, at the expense of an opportunity to bring people together on consumer rights00:47:50 - does linus run his business on trust me bro?00:48:10 - does LMG trust you bro to have discussions on your pay with coworkers?00:48:27 - does LMG trust you bro to not start their own youtube channels?00:48:45 - The missed opportunity00:50:08 - The right way to treat employees00:50:30 - What my employees did for me00:51:05 - Linus sends text message to the wrong phone00:52:48 - Linus portrays steve as callous while sending msg to wrong phone00:54:05 - we don't want to be like you00:54:47 - My question to Linus00:55:26 - the problem w/ people like Louis & Linus00:56:27 - Nobody checks us, at our level00:57:12 - Addressing people with similar experience00:59:18 - someone else has had your experience00:59:40 - i realize i am privileged in not having anything to lose01:00:00 - your products will continue to sell01:01:48 - a greenie for clinton

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2025, 05:49:22 pm
content: Is this really another hour long teapot tempest about honey doing exactly what every coupon code scheme has always been? Or is there some other tl;dr takeaway here?

author: John B
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2025, 10:25:05 pm
content: Quote from: abeyer on January 25, 2025, 05:49:22 pmAlthough Louis tries to make the video a larger point about the behaviour of influencers, it is very much about the conduct of Linus and his business.I rarely watch LTT stuff now. It does seem entirely like one giant advertisement. It's not so much tech tips, rather tech ads interspersed with Linus' new gimmicky approach to content creation.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2025, 10:33:19 pm
content: Instead of using the promo codes the honey browser extension (that Linus pushed) had harvested from Youtube video descriptions, as it claimed to, it actually used their own affiliates' promo codes even when the harvested ones were better.If they had used always the best one they knew of, they would have recommended Youtuber promo codes much more often, but of course then the kickback would have gone to the Youtuber, not the honey affiliate.Secondly, the honey browser extension license agreement lets them harvest everything you do on your browser, and keep and use that data for at least ten years.Basically, the extension lied and royally fucked over the users who signed over all their data (possibly including online banking info).It only lightly screwed over content creators that had the best promo codes, by instead using inferior promo codes affiliated to the extension makers, while letting their users believe those were the best available. Thus, something along false marketing, like saying "we're better than X", even though their own internal benchmarks show they're worse.The rot in the influencer culture is that they don't tell the people they influence when their affiliates pull this shit, at most put up a post somewhere nobody (less than 1% of those influenced) ever visits, and then claim it'd take a three-hour video to explain what happened. (Two minutes, tops, as Louis showed.)Hope this helps. I wish I could express the above more concisely; still working on that.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2025, 10:44:32 pm
content: Ah yes, the whole Honey debacle, with LTT having some prior knowledge about it and not widely disclosing it.It's the age old issue. Where exactly you choose to sit between the following two things.- Doing the right thing for the world as a whole.- Doing the right thing for your business to grow and make more profits.The right answer is obviously to always do the right thing for the world as a whole, and if your business fails because you did the right thing then so be it.But practically no one has the strength to go directly down that path without veering off to some degree.It's so hard to always do the right thing in cases where you know doing the right thing will cost you, and not doing the right thing will benefit you.I think Rossmann has some valid points in his video and LTT should have publicly disclosed what they knew on the main channel.But he, as usually, got too emotional and that lead to going too far the other way and figuratively blaming LTT/Linus for the sky being blue.I reject Rossmann's argument that (i'm paraphrasing) LTT intentionally used the wrong phone number in hope the txt message to Steve wouldn't get through in order to strengthen their position in an argument. A person who's that dishonest and deceitful wouldn't have been able to run LTT for this long. They would have been caught up in their lies and dishonesty way before now.

author: Simmed
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2025, 01:16:19 am
content: Quote from: John B on January 25, 2025, 10:25:05 pmyep there is nothing much worth the time on LTTlike fake glossy apples

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2025, 02:27:38 am
content: Quote from: Simmed on January 26, 2025, 01:16:19 amPersonally I always kinda felt like Linus, even before LTT became a media empire, felt kind of of forced and insincere. Never understood the appeal.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2025, 05:11:21 am
content: I have recently watched some of LR's videos and in the past I watched a few of LTT. But I found them not all that informative and so gave watching them away. But is LR saying he thinks Linus is a narcissist? Since trump came on the scene I have learned a bit about narcissists and now know, I, (like a lot of people) have had problems with them from time to time. It is easy with trump to spot the behavior but I am not so familiar with Linus.LR does make some interesting points in the pre christmas video he made about the influencer culture. But he talks too fast to be comfortably persuasive. This video at over an hour is not for the faint hearted.I don't understand how it is that narcissists can engender a response in others that will defend them when criticised. They use and exploit everyone equally unless they are useful in the moment. The example with trump as the worlds most widely known narcissist is the list all the people who were flung from his orbit.What has narcissism got to do with the rot in influencer culture. You can be either or both but human nature being what it is I doubt either will disappear anytime soon.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2025, 01:43:04 pm
content: The rot didn't grow in influencer culture. That was born rotten.The rot is in the culture (western/consumer/internet/youth whatever) that gave rise to influencers - not content creators but parasites whose only skill is becoming 'known'. Celebrity culture without even the justification of being celebrated for something else.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2025, 01:47:15 pm
content: Quote from: wilfred on January 26, 2025, 05:11:21 amLR was pretty good when he concentrated on repairs with the occasional rant about corporates, especially Apple.But since becoming a full-time ranter he's lost his way a bit.

author: Simmed
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 06:48:43 pm
content: Quote from: artag on January 26, 2025, 01:43:04 pmhaha yes"Celebrity culture without even the justification of being celebrated"

author: dferyance
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 07:31:14 pm
content: Internet advertising has been scummy as far back as I started using the Internet (1996-ish). There's the whole world of SEO where you modify your website in order to have more people find your store vs finding what they want. Banner ads have caused security problems. Marketing companies track and collect data on you. Spammers spam.So I see this as a bit more of the same. A new angle, but just more internet advertising.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2025, 07:39:14 pm
content: It should be fairly clear if someone is creating infomercials or content after watching just a few videos. It doesn't help in any way to blame an influencer for being a shill. It's their job. Their are paid for that. It's your exercise in media literacy!

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2025, 04:19:08 am
content: Quote from: madires on January 27, 2025, 07:39:14 pmNo, you're just jealous for their success and fame.(That is what the majority of people will respond to you when you point out a shilling influencer.)

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2025, 11:43:05 am
content: You're right, unfortunately. Those people also don't realize that they are paying influencers to tell them how delicious some corn flakes are (or whatever) when buying that brand of corn flakes in the supermarket.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2025, 01:34:11 pm
content: TLDR for Linus:- There was no need to do a public name & shame piece to protect other creators because it was pretty much common knowledge in those circles by the time they dumped Honey.- If I remember correctly, at that time Linus did NOT know that Honey would work with coupon issuers to make sure only lower value coupons would be "found". As a result, he didn't disclose it to the public because it would be perceived as self-serving (ie. creator tells followers not to use extention that saves followers money to protect his own income).My personal view is that Steve from GN is using this to perpetuate his beef with LTT based on the somewhat weird belief that he is the moral reference of creatorworld while at the same time walking a rather thin line himself as well.On a more personal note: I think he's being a bit of a dick both towards Linus and in general.Kinda sad he managed to get Rossman to join his little crusade (disclaimer: I didn't watch it).