[The Final Dakar]

If you let someone produce your flagship show for that long with their heart "not in it", you're terrible at running your network.

[Jawbone54]

Leo's sinking his own ship, one hole at a time. Ridiculous.

I'm tempted to blame everything on CEOLisa, but Leo has had this petty side to him as long as I've been listening to him.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Who in the hell actually watches or listens to TWiT anymore? His numbers have to be tanking hard.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Leo's sinking his own ship, one hole at a time. Ridiculous.

I'm tempted to blame everything on CEOLisa, but Leo has had this petty side to him as long as I've been listening to him.

Can't blame her for everything, he enables her. And I can't blame his dick for letting all of this happen.

[subego]

And at this point, Leo's obviously on board with gutting the network.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by subego 

And at this point, Leo's obviously on board with gutting the network.

Yes. I have to assume their financials are horrific.

[subego]

There was an Inside TWiT yesterday. One of the questions was why there wasn't an ad on the last iPad Today. Lisa got immediately defensive. Five minutes later she had walked off the show.

Leo felt compelled to ask if he was sleeping on the couch tonight.

He continued on with chat, where he mentioned in regards to a question about the impending lease expiration almost everything in the studio is "detachable".

[The Final Dakar]

Is Inside Twit a podcast? From the name and the past year of moves it seemed incongruous.

[ort888]

That's the thing, what the hell was he thinking? There can be a lot of money in podcasting if you keep it lean and mean, and don't do stupid things like borrowing millions to build huge studios. What do you even need a studio for? That was a pure ego movie.

He could have rented some space in an industrial court somewhere and built a little studio or two for a fraction of what they spent building his ridiculous podcasting xanadu. The most ironic part of which is that at least 75% of the guys just teleconference in. I always laugh when I watch TWiT and it's Leo and he's surrounded by three TV screens. Money well spent folks.

[subego]

Re: Inside TWiT (née TWiTWiT)

Not an official podcast.

I get the impression it's recent use has been damage control.

I haven't watched in ages. I only came across this one because I was curious how they were going to play firing Chad.

[subego]

Originally Posted by ort888 

That's the thing, what the hell was he thinking? There can be a lot of money in podcasting if you keep it lean and mean, and don't do stupid things like borrowing millions to build huge studios. What do you even need a studio for? That was a pure ego movie.

He could have rented some space in an industrial court somewhere and built a little studio or two for a fraction of what they spent building his ridiculous podcasting xanadu. The most ironic part of which is that at least 75% of the guys just teleconference in. I always laugh when I watch TWiT and it's Leo and he's surrounded by three TV screens. Money well spent folks.

I think it would have worked out if they could have kept people, specifically Tom, on board. The original plan was for a bunch of different people doing their "own" thing. If you have Leo, Tom, Sarah, and Iyaz all doing their own thing (3-6 shows a piece) it's totally reasonable to want some room to maneuver.

[subego]

Now I'm past pissed and onto pity.

Before TWiT, Leo was unironically wondering why it's become so hard to get guests.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

It's hilarious that he deleted Facebook and Twitter from all his devices, due to all the blowback he was receiving for being a dick, and then he wondered why no one was trying to contact him anymore. Now he's nothing more than a cautionary tale.

[The Final Dakar]

He is a gigantic little bitch about social media.

[subego]

I couldn't stomach the flack Leo gets on Twitter. That said, I go out of my way not to be an asshole.

Take Chad, for instance. I love Chad, he's awesome. That said, if you scroll back a dozen pages or so, you can find a post where I say letting him do his own show is the beginning of the end for him at TWiT. If you give someone whose duties are primarily off-air an important on-air gig, their off-air performance suffers. Seen this happen at least three times I can recall.

I'm guessing this didn't surprise Leo. He has to understand the industry better than I do, as well as realize Chad has the chops. In fact, he may have done it as a means of intentionally limiting Chad's future with the company. He had reached the point, which I assume they anticipated, where it wasn't possible to make him do more work, so they were going to have to pay him more to do the same work at some point.

What baffles me though, is dealing with this situation from a management perspective isn't rocket science: you convince the person leaving is their idea. You point out how good they are at their show, and how clear it is they're happy and fulfilled doing it. You point out how the divided attention is hurting the main job, and that's hurting the rest of the team. You point out you know hurting the team is last thing they would want to do, because they are awesome.

We want you to be happy, you want us to be happy... we need a transition, let's figure out a way to make this transition work for you.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by subego 

What baffles me though, is dealing with this situation from a management perspective isn't rocket science: you convince the person leaving is their idea. You point out how good they are at their show, and how clear it is they're happy and fulfilled doing it. You point out how the divided attention is hurting the main job, and that's hurting the rest of the team. You point out you know hurting the team is last thing they would want to do, because they are awesome.

So, did we have these stories before they moved? Because if we haven't, stress can **** people up and make them do dumb out of character things.

Again, not excusing his behavior, but I will try to figure out why he seems to have changed in recent years.

[subego]

None of these are TWiT stories, they're all from radio.

The psychology makes perfect sense. Being on-air is a massive ego stroke. Compare that to pushing buttons for the guy getting his ego stroked.

[The Final Dakar]

The stories of Leo being asshole, not your stories.

[subego]

Regardless of what's floating out there, we have this story:

Eileen worked directly under Leo, IOW, in direct sight of the sausage being made, and her husband quit his gig to come join up.

That's about as good a "boss performance review" as you can get.

[The Final Dakar]

So I might be right. He's become completely unhinged from the situation. Shame.

[subego]

Back when I was listening, Leo said something I thought was very telling about his relationship with Lisa. The gist was Leo considers himself a pushover, and he loves Lisa because she's not, and helps makes sure he stands up for himself.

I imagine "pushover" Leo was the guy people wanted to come and work for.

[The Final Dakar]

He may be a pushover, but he's also prone to rash decisions, good and bad.

[Jawbone54]

Leo didn't strike me as a pushover — just more as a "get along with everyone" type.

He would be pro-Mac on MacBreak Weekly, pro-Microsoft on Windows Weekly, and pro-Android everywhere else. Perhaps more chameleon than pushover. At least he was amiable.

Lisa, on the other hand, just seems like a bad person.

[subego]

The only consistently "nice" thing I hear about Lisa is she's direct, and you know where you stand with her.

[The Final Dakar]

Its sad but all this leaves me wondering what Leo's ex-wife's personality was in comparison.

[The Final Dakar]

I realize I'm superficial, but it doesn't help me take the case against title II seriously when the guy looks like he should be shacked up in the mountains with loads of ammo, and his savings converted to gold, writing his manifesto as he waits for the collapse of society.

Conversely, the pro-Title II guys was disturbingly well dressed and slick.

[The Final Dakar]

No one, eh?

[subego]

I feel bad not having a response, but of course, I didn't watch it.

[The Final Dakar]

I figured, slacker.

[subego]

I'm still looking for a good weekly show after the Vergecast died.

I'm lukewarm on the GFQ.

[ort888]

Vergecast is back.

It's not the same without Topolsky but I like it. They have this new guy named Chris Plante on there who is pretty dang funny.

Accidental Tech Podcast is still my fav.

[starman]

The same Chris Plante that got eaten alive on Twitter for shaming one of the most brilliant people on the planet for having bad taste in shirt?

https://twitter.com/plante/status/533302459129933825

[ort888]

That's the guy.

I read his original opinion piece on the shirt and I thought it was pretty fair and toned properly to the offense in question. I did not follow any of the aftermath or response.

He didn't make a huge deal out of it, just said he thought it was a distraction and pretty sexist... which it was.

[starman]

Originally Posted by ort888 

That's the guy.

I read his original opinion piece on the shirt and I thought it was pretty fair and toned properly to the offense in question. I did not follow any of the aftermath or response.

He didn't make a huge deal out of it, just said he thought it was a distraction and pretty sexist... which it was.

The problem is, in England, it's not sexist, and the shirt was made for him as a present by a female friend. But of course everyone here gets all offended with cleavage.

[ort888]

It's not the cleavage, the way the women are depicted in the shirt is just over sexualized to the point of ridiculousness. As if they are just sex prizes for men. Again, me personally? Not offended. But I do think it's in poor taste. It sends a bad message out to the world. I don't really give a hoot myself, but I do think it is sexist and at best a huge distraction and shows pretty poor judgement on his part.

Is it worth having a big stink over? No. Does it diminish any of the amazing stuff he accomplished? No. Should he have worn that shirt on the biggest day of his life? Probably not.

I do see the other side of this argument as well. This could be the most non-sexist dude in the world who just likes to wear outlandish things. People can be too sensitive...

That said, all it was was an opinion piece. He didn't skewer the guy. He just put his opinion out there.

[starman]

Originally Posted by ort888 

I don't really give a hoot myself, but I do think it is sexist and at best a huge distraction and shows pretty poor judgement on his part.

Is it worth having a big stink over? No. Does it diminish any of the amazing stuff he accomplished? No. Should he have worn that shirt on the biggest day of his life? Probably not.

The thing is, two years ago, I don't think anyone would have given a rat's ass. Now the internet is nothing but a shaming machine.

[The Final Dakar]

I just don't get who would wear that in a professional setting that will also be broadcast.

[starman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I just don't get who would wear that in a professional setting that will also be broadcast.

Someone who can say "I put a probe on a comet. What did you do today?"

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by starman 

Someone who can say "I put a probe on a comet. What did you do today?"

Illuminating argument, as usual.

[subego]

Originally Posted by starman 

The thing is, two years ago, I don't think anyone would have given a rat's ass. Now the internet is nothing but a shaming machine.

Says the guy bitching on the Internet about how other people should feel bad for their behavior.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by ort888 

That's the guy.

I read his original opinion piece on the shirt and I thought it was pretty fair and toned properly to the offense in question. I did not follow any of the aftermath or response.

He didn't make a huge deal out of it, just said he thought it was a distraction and pretty sexist... which it was.

I so want that shirt, it's like class 10 modern feminist repellent.

[subego]

The best way I can put this is to (appropriately, for this thread) use an obnoxious Silicon Valley buzzword, and an analogy. The buzzword is "influencer". The analogy is your (perhaps hypothetical) little brother or sister.

Shirt dude is an influencer, and the "public square" is like his younger sibling. They look up to him, use him as a model of how to behave, and most importantly, lack the context age provides. Basic, obvious shit isn't so obvious to them because they haven't been around the block enough times yet, and the last thing you want to do is send them around the wrong block.

[starman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Illuminating argument, as usual.

Am I wrong?

[subego]

Did he dispute your accuracy?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by starman 

Am I wrong?

Your factual statement is correct. Your inferred argument that this justifies his behavior is debatable.

[subego]

Sarah Lane just bailed.

[The Final Dakar]

Hah. All of last year I was thinking, I will probably stop watching it this year. In short term I think I'll tune in for select episodes with either good topics or cast.

[subego]

I dallied with the GFQ, but I'm still tech podcastless.

[starman]

The New New — sarah lane.

[The Final Dakar]

Sounds more pleasant than most of the partings, but we'll see how fast Lisa shitcans her from iPad Today.