Talk:Linus Sebastian

Some primary sources for later use:

• https://linustechtips.com/topic/10954-my-story-how-i-became-a-professional-unboxer/#comments
• https://www.reddit.com/user/LinusLTT
• https://www.reddit.com/user/LinusTech

--WayToGooooooo (talk) 20:52, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

Things that can be added/fixed:

• how he got into tech/computer
• how his uncle encouraged him to get into business
• the wage that he received making videos at NCIX
• the sources for the play button year

--WayToGooooooo (talk) 02:24, 11 August 2025 (UTC)

...or maybe not. He said that "the truth is I've been thinking of retiring for quite some time now" at 8:52 of that video. I don't think anything in that video, including him saying that he half-joked about it or him concluding that he's not actually going to retire, invalidates that statement.

Even back in 2019, Linus already said that he had been thinking about phasing himself out but not actually quitting, he and Luke even talked about it at CES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE97qIGhV0Y&t=20m56s

@ProtoKiwi

--WayToGooooooo (talk) 02:22, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

The claim he was going to "retire from YouTube in 2020" got removed from the old article because it just wasn't true, and the original edit used a source that didn't even mention it. It's just not accurate to say that Sebastian was seriously planning on retiring from his work by 2020. It's a confusion caused by an impromptu live stream where he used the phrasing "I've been thinking of retiring". It was really about him reflecting on his achievements, goals, family and life trajectory and what he wanted, but not an indication he wanted to leave YouTube in 2020 or an indication of anything beyond what he had said. He immediately addressed this in the Jan 2020 WAN Show because it caused a misunderstanding with his audience.

We have to be careful not to take sound bites or old video quotes and try to construct a narrative in absence of other sources, particularly as there is already heavy use of primary sources, and Sebastian has a habit of saying things that later have to be clarified or corrected. It's not our job to tell Sebastian what he thinks when he's clarified otherwise.

If you feel strongly that the video is significant, it could probably be worked in with a more neutral angle, perhaps about how he openly reflected on his career in a video that caused speculation about his future on YouTube. ProtoKiwi (talk) 03:44, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

"The claim he was going to 'retire from YouTube in 2020'"

This was not the claim. The claim was he entertained retiring from YouTube in January 2020.

You seem to interpret the sentence "the truth is I've been thinking of retiring for quite some time now" and/or the phrase "previously entertained retiring from YouTube in January 2020" quite differently than I do. I definitely don't think that Linus "seriously planned on retiring from his work by 2020" like you said, but that he had considered the option of retiring (and chose not to do it in 2020).

At the very least I think the "I've been thinking of retiring" video should be mentioned together with the fact that he stepped down as CEO in some form, as Linus said at the end of the "I'm stepping down" video that the viewers could check that video to know the context of the decision.

--WayToGooooooo (talk) 06:28, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

We now know that Sebastian was speaking more broadly about his commitments to LTT, and not about retiring from YouTube per se. This is why I'm advocating that any mention of this avoids claiming what Sebastian thought, entertained, or otherwise intended; to work it in with a more neutral angle about how he caused speculation about his career with that video, if you think its important.

The subject of his livestream was about a sense of achievement, reaching goals, and questioning his motivation moving forward. Implying that he was genuinely thinking about retiring from YouTube at that time (he wasn't, he didn't), then connecting that to him stepping down as CEO years later, is an unsubstantiated narrative. And if he wasn't serious about it, then don't connect it to those events at all. He gave his side of the story on why he stepped down, and it was for entirely different reasons. Note that some people also believe it was connected to the workplace culture allegations at LTT. ProtoKiwi (talk) 08:47, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

So I found another livestream where Linus said "I was thinking about retiring". It's just 3 months after the "I've been thinking of retiring" stream.

Can I just write that in 2020 he said he had thought about retiring, if I don't link that to his stepdown in 2023?

--WayToGooooooo (talk) 22:10, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

"Sebastian was speaking more broadly about his commitments to LTT, and not about retiring from YouTube per se."

I just think both of these things were talked about in the same video, even if the former is definitely the larger part of the video.

"Note that some people also believe it was connected to the workplace culture allegations at LTT."

But the claim "He had previously entertained retiring from YouTube in January 2020" was added 3 months before the allegations became well-known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linus_Sebastian&diff=next&oldid=1155634247

Same goes for the source that actually did not support the claim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linus_Sebastian&diff=1155965656&oldid=1155928002

While the sentence still shouldn't be there without a proper source, the possibility of these additions being biased in any way because of the allegations is pretty low, because so few people would know about the existence of the allegations back in May 2023.

I think you may have been affected by hindsight here. I don't think you would have suggested me to "work it in with a more neutral angle" if you saw me adding the quote "the truth is I've been thinking of retiring for quite some time now" before the allegations became well-known. My intention here is just sticking with a view that someone else already had before Aug 2023. But of course, I can't change the fact that any of my edit has to occur after that, so feel free to think that I'm not being neutral.

The bottom line is, Linus mentioned the "I've been thinking of retiring" video in the beginning and at the end of the scripted "I'm Stepping Down" video. It may just be in passing, but these 2 videos are shown to be connected, even if our interpretations of the "I've been thinking of retiring" video may be quite different from each other.

But really, I think there're already too many interpretations occurring, and there're so many other things for me to add that may not involve that, I can just put this aside.

--WayToGooooooo (talk) 04:05, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

the subscriber count at the current time is incorrect Taskmaster1234 (talk) 18:02, 25 October 2025 (UTC)

@Taskmaster1234 WP:Be bold – LuniZunie ツ_(talk) 18:03, 25 October 2025 (UTC)