I disagree. Macrumors is a brand-centric forum catering to mostly people with interest in Apple and its products, and by its nature it's only natural to assume the forum tend to be filled with favorable sentiments toward Apple.
2 Things:
1. As someone who tries to see all things Apple as objectively as I can, I think this forum
is filled with favorable sentiments toward Apple. Too often, I read posts that ignore any shortcoming and seem to go to any rationalization spin possible to cast anything in a favorable light. Sometimes it gets so ridiculous that I believe some posters must work in Apple PR. Blind devotion is what leads to the application of "drinking the kool-aid" and similar.
For example:
iPad 1 with no facetime camera was a point of aggravation for some of us (an otherwise terrific new mobile device that lacked a great feature we wanted to use while we were on the road). Here, we were generally beat over the head with posts about how stupid it would be to have a front-facing camera in an iPad. "Why would I want people seeing the hairs up my nose?", "How would the viewer on the other end be able to see me given the lack of stability when I'm holding it?", etc. The overwhelming, "Apple can do no wrong" chorus thought a front-facing camera was stupid, "makes no sense", etc. Then, iPad 2 rolls out with facetime and some of these same people gushed about how great it will be to video chat with friends & family. Why wasn't Apple just as stupid for putting in something into "2" as some of us were for wishing they put it in into "1"?
Another: 720p in
TV was "good enough" right up until Apple endorsed 1080p in
TV3. Prior to "3", there was enormous rationalizations like "national bandwidth couldn't handle 1080p", "file sizes", "the chart", "'I" can't see a difference so you can't either", etc. Then, out rolls "3" and all of that rationalization evaporated. I've hardly seen a post by the "720p is good enough" crowd railing against Apple for subjecting us all to the misery of 1080p. And the Internet hasn't crashed either.
Right now, there are threads finding iPad 3 "obsolete" because it is not "latest & greatest" while there are other threads finding iPad mini "good enough" without retina. We must have retina when compared to other company's devices that lack it, but we don't have to have retina if Apple has decided that some products should be launched without it. Passionate arguments wanting "latest & greatest" (but only from Apple) vs. "good enough" are being made right now... seemingly in support of whatever it appears Apple wants us to think about such products.
What we have is hypocrisy and flip flopping with an heavy bias to going with whatever Apple says. Even when Apple itself flips flops (why would anyone want to watch video on an iPod -> introducing iPod with video), the majority of this crowd supports the view then flips right with Apple. I sometimes wonder if most of us would become single if Apple decreed that our significant other was undesirable: "they
are undesirable", "why would I ever want someone like that", "what was I thinking?", "die SE die", etc. (just joking... sort of)
2. If we could wave a magic wand and eliminate all of those who can offer critique of Apple stuff- ranging from the "trolls" to those who just have something negative to post some of the time- these threads would get very boring quickly. Try to imagine that kind of thread. There would be some kind of gushing post followed by a bunch of "Yes!", "Exactly", and "This" posts. Someone would add something the first gusher left out followed by a bunch of echos. Someone else would add something else positive that was left out. Echos. In a short amount of time, every thread would be the same (just sub in a different Apple product name where a product is referenced).
It's always the
varied opinions- including the critical ones- that makes the "conversation" interesting. If one is looking for opinions & thoughts about any new product, they usually want the pros & the cons. All pros- or all cons- doesn't tell us much. Either the product is perfection (to warrant all pros) or we need to go somewhere else- where objectivity is allowed- to form a real picture. Go over to Amazon and look at Apple products. You can easily filter for only the 5-star "reviews" or only the 1-star "reviews". What good is either in isolation? I often find myself looking at the 2, 3 & 4-star reviews to try to get a sense of the good and the bad before I buy.
Frankly, I appreciate the cons. When the cons are ridiculously negative, I simply discount them... just as I do when the pros are ridiculously positive. If I could wave the magic wand, I'd screen out the raving fans & foes and only leave those in the middle: those who can objectively recognize the good AND THE BAD in Apple products. In my own case, it helps me decide if the product is a fit for me or not. All gushing praise or all hating bashes would be practically useless for my own purposes.
