this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
369 points (85.8% liked)
Technology
59404 readers
3336 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
There's nothing wrong with hoping an unethical company goes under.
I don't think they're beyond redemption. My hope is that Linus can take a step back and let the CEO work on improving the workplace culture. No idea if he's up to the challenge but time will tell
Beyond redemption, no, but refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing doesn't paint a pretty picture for the future. In the days since I've heard "we couldn't have done any better", "yes we messed up but it wouldn't have made any difference if the numbers were right", "no one could expect us to spend 500 dollars to redo a messed up review"
Not once did I hear a mea culpa or we'll try harder to do better in the future. Not a good look.
Linus:
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
After digging into this whole fiasco and it’s various aspects, I’m coming to think that this is a leadership problem, pure and simple, and that the leader that allowed these pretty egregious situations to exist and metastasize is Linus. So sure, good for him for basically bootstrapping a company up to a ~$100M valuation… but that is absolutely not an excuse for, and in no way justifies the internal and external ethical lapses.
The best case here is if the new LMG CEO forces a sharp, top-down culture shift that enables more sustainable working practices, better employee treatment and culture, increased rigor in the data they present, and an explicit public acknowledgement that their previous high-handed interactions with some creators and brands - and ethical conflicts of interest with others - did, in fact, occur, and will be seriously investigated in the interest of not repeating those failures in the future. But given Linus’s continued “woe is me”/borderline gaslighting, I’ll believe change is coming when I actually see it. For now, I’ve unsubscribed.
Well put, I agree
Maybe, but spare a thought for the ordinary people who would lose their jobs as a result.
Well they said let good people leave the company and then the company to go to hell.
My thoughts go to the dependency on jobs for survival but that leads into a conversation about AI, the end of enough jobs for humans and the need for universal basic income. Job loss doesn't much affect my choice to interact with a corporation or wish for it to change (which may affect jobs).
They seem to have an excess of testosterone and are too sloppy, but unethical and worthy of cancellation is typical internet outrage over reaction.
Being invested in a company and giving glowing reviews to their products and only offering critiques of their competitors is pretty fucking unethical