Actually, I don't think that 'everyone is a smartass' on this forum, far from it. Not only are most tech fora much more - ah, uninhibited - in how opinions are expressed, most news media (even the serious, so-called 'quality', newsprint media) are, too.
On this forum, the places where excessive emotion, arrogance, intolerance and corrosive contempt hold sway tend to be the areas I would consider the 'usual suspects', namely, sub-fora and threads which discuss anything to do with highly popular and technologically advanced Apple products (the iPhone is the obvious example here; I expect the iWatch threads and sub-forum to be home to such ardent creatures in due course as well).
Now, whether this merely amplifies the flaws of the internet in general I do not know and cannot say.
However, a number of explanations for such behaviours suggest themselves: These include the cloak of anonymity afforded by an online existence whereby some individuals believe that normal social conventions concerning etiquette and manners need not apply; the young age of many (above all, the young age and obvious immaturity allied to the strong technological proficiency of many adolescent male) posters on those particular fora; the fact that etiquette has not kept pace with technological advances on the internet and that ways of how to behave in an online environment have yet to be agreed upon; the fact that any remark about a New Apple Product which is less than adulatory may lead to an explosive and incendiary reaction from some of those who have invested a considerable amount of their sense of emerging identity in these products and thus have an emotional investment in these products seeing an attack on (or a debate about) the product as an indirect attack on themselves….
Nevertheless, and notwithstanding what I have written above, I doubt very much if MR can be classed as the sort of place where 'smartasses' are tolerated, let alone welcomed. It strikes me as one of the more civil, civilised, and interesting corners to be found in the online world; for one thing, it is well moderated, and for another, it is usually quite interesting.
However, I do take the precaution - sensible in the circumstances - of giving a very wide berth to the bonkers iPhone (and similar) threads. I have no dog in that fight, and nor do I wish to enter one.
I will say, however, that cults make me very uneasy; and the adulation afforded to the late Mr Jobs is something I have long been uncomfortable with. Some of the excess emotional investment (and consequent reactions) seem to me, to be best explained as expressions of outrage to what are perceived as violations or attacks on an individual's (cherished and carefully crafted) sense of identity, and/or their concomitant membership of an 'imagined community', this one, in this instance, the membership of those who admire the products made by Apple, which has been made public by membership of MR, a forum dedicated and devoted - in its initial incarnation at least - to the discussion of all things Apple.
