longofest said:
Alright folks, time to fess up. Some users have been kind enough to realize that rumor sites are not infalible, nor do they have magical gifts of forsight (though most of us have strange tingling feelings in our left knee that we consider magical). However others have been harsher and blasted us for not getting this one right.
This seems like an attempt to get people who are dissatified to temper their remarks. While I personally think understatement & satire are the best ways to voice dissatisfaction, I also think that the site's research for this case was shoddy, and that people who are upset, or feel misled, should be able to "blast" away, provided such content adheres to the rules of the site. I also think that juxtaposing thanks to people who aren't upset (followed by jokes) against the observation that other people were upset implies a lack of justification in the positions of those who are unhappy with MR's prediction. --To be totally fair, nobody here has ever done anything to make me feel this implication was intentional. --
longofest said:
With it being 10am EST and still no Apple Store refresh, I think it's safe to say that the MacBook is indeed not slated to come today. We predicted wrongly based on the submissions and reports we got (also, remember that the story was originally a page2 story before Apple's website had the
MacBook thing on it). In the rumor business, you win some and you lose some.
The decision to move this story from page2 was a poor one IMO. (I think I posted about this on a thread already, but I never elaborated so here goes) The lack of even a loose connection between the page 2 article and the link (on apple.com) for the apple store ibook class could have been established with a simple call to the florida store, "Hey, this is Joe Schmo. I bought my iBook a few months ago and was planning on coming to your iBook class on the 10th. But the website was a bit confusing. Is this right for me or am I being thick?"-- I doubt if the employee on the other end of the phone is going to be vague on the off chance the call might be from a reporter or rumor site --
Also, boxes that say do not open until X date, do not constitue substantiation of any rumor. Every retail chain in the world gets date sensative material continually. If companies the size of Apple did all their shipping for displays, fixtures, products, accessories, packaging, supplies, etc. all immediately b4 deadlines the place would have 78 stock associates on every shift and 3 ppl working the floor.
longofest said:
Rumors tend to be a mix of puzzle pieces thrown together, and you are trying to just make one of those puzzles. So, you have to pick out just the right puzzle pieces and then fit them together in the right way. Many times, you may only get part of the picture. That being said, if the puzzle that you are building is of the most beautiful portrait ever made, isn't it still worth getting an early look at?
That's why we're in this business, and why we love it. Thanks for all of your continuing support, and stay tuned for any other updates that may come as we get them.
p.s. Please never take anything as 100% "We're positive this will happen". While we may feel more confident about certain stories over others, we don't have that magical forsight power, so NOTHING can be 100%.
My criticism may be harsh but it's because I think that the defense of THIS particlar prediction is very vulnerable. Of course rumor sites are sometimes wrong. I expect RUMOR sites to be wrong. I just expect a small amount of FACT CHECKING b4 things go from speculation in a thread to front page news (so to speak, er write).
I really like MR and without exception the people here have been helpful and friendly (@ least to me). But I do feel like this one was a botched job.
Ok end of rant.
Boggle.
