this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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Literally none of their "stirring up shit" videos (like the ones for msi, gigabyte, newegg, etc) have been neither unwarranted nor discredited. They've also all led to positive outcomes for consumers.
If you don't find it entertaining, don't watch it. I personally think that it's great to have people like them looking out for consumers.
Dude makes money calling people out. He's not here looking out for consumers, he's here for the paycheck. Don't be deceived. Ragebait makes money and they know it.
They make money because people watch their videos and/or contribute directly to them by buying their products. I honestly see absolutely nothing wrong people supporting a channel that they like. Especially when they're not only producing content but also potentially burning down bridges with brands/sponsors when they need to call them out. If you look at Linus, on the other hand, he deliberately chose not to call out the issues with Honey over fear or repercussions. To this day I still don't understand why he would think that informing their viewers that they were being scammed would have any negative impact at all. Except, maybe, he wasn't thinking about his viewers...
It's really weird that you'd accuse GN of going after profits when Linus has repeatedly said, and shown, that that's precisely all he cares about.
Wasn't the issue with honey that the creators were being scammed? They were replacing the codes being used with their own, so that honey was getting the affiliate money and not the creators themselves?
To the end user, the issue would be moot. The users themselves weren't even being impacted, unless they were trying to specifically use the affiliate code to support their favorite creator.
If they realized it was an issue and cut off their sponsorship because it was negatively impacting their own business and not the viewers, they have no reason to tell the viewers about it. On the same note, had they stated their reason publically for discontinuing the partnership and made an erroneous claim which, if you believe GN, they are very likely to do, it could open them up to a lawsuit with honey, and ultimately PayPal, who has a lot more money than a relatively large YouTube entertainment company.
As you said, Linus had claimed that their primary goal is making money. They're a business with over 100 employees, you have a responsibility as a business owner to ensure you can keep paying those people. He also has said that their primary channel creates edutainment and pure entertainment content because it's the only thing that can maintain their viewership at a level high enough to support LMG.
I can't see GN as anything but the annoying, self righteous redditor type who stands on his soapbox claiming everyone else is doing wrong and getting a sense of superiority out of it. Their content isn't anything particularly special, so they have to drum up the view count by creating drama. It's okay to like it, but at least hold them to the same scrutiny you would the channels they call out.
I think you haven't watched MegaLag's video (at least not all of it) or other channels that covered this properly. As you can see in this section of MegaLag's video, Honey also hurt consumers because it claimed that there either weren't any coupons available when there were or it gave you a coupon that wasn't the one with the highest discount.
Exactly. This also "hurts" consumers because, if I use an affiliate link, I want the channel I got it from to get that kickback so they can keep making content.
They do because the issue impacted both parties. Also, this is very cliché but also true, "if you see something, say something".
If you watch MegaLag's video, you'll also see that LTT then partnered with "Karma" (kinda ironic) which also does at least some of the same shady stuff Honey does. Here's the timestamped video.. They also ignored/refused to answer many of the questions MegaLag had.
GN, a smaller channel, is taking Honey to court so I don't see why a lawsuit would've scared them. They're also not alone, other creators and lawyers are doing the same thing. Honey will lose because there's undeniable proof that they've been stealing sales and offering coupon's that weren't actually the best to their consumers (if they offered any at all).
While that's true, it's also true that the end doesn't always justify the means. Ethics are very important. Not only for yourself as the owner of the company but also to your employees and the audience.
Again, you say this upsets you but can you point at a single case where they called out a company/product and were wrong? I really don't understand why you'd be upset about someone literally fighting and looking out for you.
Please name other channels that review hw as well as they do. GN and Hardware Unboxed are the only ones that I know of that are actually decent. I don't see how you could consider them "not special". Considering not only their reviews but also all of their methodology videos, technical deep dives with industry workers and/or experts and factory tours.
I do, not sure why you'd say I don't. Is there anything specific you're referring to? Afaik, they have literally no problems with other youtubers and no one (that I know of) has generated any content denouncing them. The only thing I could criticize is that Steve seems to be a bit of a workaholic but, at least according to him, that's not something he demands of his coworkers.
Truthfully, I'm not that invested in the stoty and I was under the impression that the honey issue was solely on the creator side, so knowing otherwise does change my perspective some.
That said, I don't think we know if LTT knew the entire story at the time. If they did, I also believe they should have said something. AFAIK they haven't come out to say they knew of the whole story at the time of dropping the sponsorship, just that they knew of some of the issues. Without doing a deep dive like other creators have, I still think they would rather avoid the publicity for fear of retaliation, like they stated.
Ultimately, to each their own on whether you like GN or LTT. I still think GN goes out of their way to stir drama, whether it's called for or not, and it sure seems like he just has an issue with Linus overall.
This is also discussed in MegaLag's video. They did know at least about this issue affecting them, financially. So, they brought it up with Honey, who refused to make any changes. After that, they ended their sponsorship. If they didn't figure out the full extent of the issue, it's because they didn't want to. I doubt you seriously think they didn't have the resources to investigate further.
From who? Honey? If so, that's a very mistaken mentality. They basically decided to stay quiet about something that was demonstrably hurting creators and consumers out of sheer selfishness. Coming from linus, who seems to be rather narcissistic, that doesn't surprise me. It does suprise me that this excuse would be accepted by their viewers, who were negatively impacted by this decision. Again, if you see something, say something.
Once again. Has there been an instance where it wasn't called for? I think they just have a very strict moral compass and they respect that regardless of any financial hit or extra work it might cause them. That's something I respect, a lot.
Did you read their post? Wouldn't you have a personal issue with someone who says you're autistic, quotes your work without actually quoting you, reaches out to your personal phone over random tweets because they think they're about them and also misrepresent you publicly?
For example, after the GN video, Linus said he reached out to Steve and was ignored. What actually happened was that linus sent a message to Steve's old phone, which they hadn't used for over 2 years. If you want more examples and details, you can read GN's post.
Honeys issues are two fold:
Honey steals/replaces affiliate links/cookies meaning 100% of the commission earned by creators goes to Honey instead.
Several small creators have come out to say this has essentially bankrupt their channels as the entirety of their affiliate revenue just disappears overnight, then their sponsors pullout because it appears they are generating no traffic.
Honey also collude directly with retailers to control exactly what coupons are made available to you, explicitly preventing you from getting a better deal; while telling you they've gotten the best deal possible and convincing you to not even bother with other coupons or other sources. They even have a mechanism to 'submit' coupons they hadn't applied to be distributed to other customers, to convince you you're helping others get a good deal; but those submissions NEVER go to customers.
This happens on every transaction within a browser that has Honey installed; even in cases where Honey knows before trying, that they don't have coupons to offer. It will still popup, tell you they don't have anything to offer, then replace the affiliate connection with their own.
Through this they are stealing both from the customer and from any creators/affiliates that sent that customer to the store.
I briefly fact checked myself before my comment but the first few articles I saw didn't mention the issues beyond creators. Good information and definitely changes my perspective of the overall problem. Thank you!
I know this barely means anything but it really is refreshing to have an interaction with someone who not only treats others respectfully but who is also able to admit they didn't know a part of the story.
It's obviously totally fine if you still don't agree with what I said or have other reasons to dislike GN or prefer LTT, but this type of attitude is precisely one of the things Reddit lost a long time ago.
That's all. Thank you <3