Well said. If you're a publication the respects itself, you don't react like this.
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Nilay Patel of the Verge Twitter temper tantrum after criticism of his watch review
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Well said. If you're a publication the respects itself, you don't react like this.
For getting a chuckle out of someone becoming unglued for no good reason and acting like a complete tool? I dig the guy, I think he's hilarious.
That's Jean-Louis Gasée, something of a Silicon Valley legend. Remember the glorious, expandable Macintosh II? His team's work. He drove around the Valley with the license plate "OPEN MAC"... for a while there he was the anti-Jobs.
He's a lovely guy, warm and gently funny, and a successful private investor these days. He writes a thoughtful and informative blog, "Monday Note" (http://www.mondaynote.com) that is always worth a read.
Pretty much everybody likes Jean-Louis, and for good reason. In no way does he deserve to be on the receiving end of Patel's petulant flailing.
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You assume wrong. He specifically notes he never wants to wear or fit into a suit.
In any case, he owes Gasée an apology for his childishness and boorish behavior. Then he needs to go away.
So tell me, had he not reviewed the Apple watch in a negative manner, would you have posted that interaction on here? Did you even know who Patel was before this?
If he would have been wearing a Hello Kitty shirt and then complained about Apple sending him a silly pink, blue, or green band... This would have the same result.
It's not that he complained about the metal band.... He complained while wearing that bracelet... Makes it ironic and funny... Just last the other thread on here from last week.
It's not that he complained about the metal band.... He complained while wearing that bracelet... Makes it ironic and funny... Just last the other thread on here from last week.
Are you referring to this
"I felt ridiculous wearing the Milanese Loop, so I didn't."
That's personal opinion, I also believe its feminine, I've tried it and would feel ridiculous wearing it, are you saying I and others are not allowed to state this?
If you read that as him openly critiquing apple for their fashion, you read it wrong. And that's half the issue, cause suddenly a bunch of MR readers started attacking patel over his studded band, cause they failed to read what he wrote.
Or am I missing something, and somewhere else in the review he bags the watch in relation to the design, cause frankly that is one part he liked.
I could give a flying F if he gave the Watch a positive or negative or positive review. Did you not read the words you just quoted me on?
Oh man I was cringing hard while reading those tweets. You can't wear something that out of fashion and then expect to not be criticized when you try to give fashion advice. He can wear what he wants, but what you shouldn't do as a grown-ass man is personally attack other people, go on a whiny rant and start spewing off racist remarks.
I kind of wonder if he's having some sort of breakdown. Maybe he can't accept that he is aging? That can be a tough thing to come to grips withespecially when your whole job is about keeping up with fancy new gear and technology trends. He seems to have some sort of deep-seated insecurity that if people perceive him as old and out of touch, then he won't be relevant in the tech scene. But there are plenty of older tech journalists like Mossberg that people respect and listen to. And Mossberg doesn't go on whiny racist rants.
He also needs to learn that he doesn't need that bracelet to remind him of who he is or where he came from. It seems like he places too much emphasis on material objects to define who he is. That's what always cracked me up about goths in middle school. They were all about non-conformity, but there were so many of them that conformed to each other's look. I also considered myself a non-conformist, but I just wore whatever I felt like on any given day and didn't have some agenda. I was in no clique, just kinda got along with everyone. I don't understand how everyone thinks being a non-conformist means that you need to be angry and hate the world. As cheesy as it sounds, I just considered it being myself and doing what I want. I guess if you're an inherently angry person then it makes sense, but it's just weird that so many of them seem angry like Nilay and lash out over trivial matters.
It's too bad about The Verge too. It started out as this bright alternative to Engadget, with a fresh voice, interesting video content and a shiny new site design. Then over time it has degraded. Even the site itself sucks and frequently crashes my iOS devices. I stopped visiting there a while back, but even before I stopped it was rare that I read their content. It's only a matter of time before they disappear. The whole industry is ruthless. I did a short stint on 9to5 back in college because I love writing about Apple and technologybut I'm no reporter. Those guys were ridiculous in their pursuit of stories and finding them first. I could never keep up with them and didn't have the time to try. So glad I didn't go down that road! Seth is pretty fair about sharing ad revenue and some of them actually make pretty good money but the stress and nearly round-the-clock schedule just to find something I could post wasn't worth it for me.
I kind of wonder if he's having some sort of breakdown. Maybe he can't accept that he is aging? That can be a tough thing to come to grips withespecially when your whole job is about keeping up with fancy new gear and technology trends. He seems to have some sort of deep-seated insecurity that if people perceive him as old and out of touch, then he won't be relevant in the tech scene. But there are plenty of older tech journalists like Mossberg that people respect and listen to. And Mossberg doesn't go on whiny racist rants.
He also needs to learn that he doesn't need that bracelet to remind him of who he is or where he came from. It seems like he places too much emphasis on material objects to define who he is. That's what always cracked me up about goths in middle school. They were all about non-conformity, but there were so many of them that conformed to each other's look. I also considered myself a non-conformist, but I just wore whatever I felt like on any given day and didn't have some agenda. I was in no clique, just kinda got along with everyone. I don't understand how everyone thinks being a non-conformist means that you need to be angry and hate the world. As cheesy as it sounds, I just considered it being myself and doing what I want. I guess if you're an inherently angry person then it makes sense, but it's just weird that so many of them seem angry like Nilay and lash out over trivial matters.
It's too bad about The Verge too. It started out as this bright alternative to Engadget, with a fresh voice, interesting video content and a shiny new site design. Then over time it has degraded. Even the site itself sucks and frequently crashes my iOS devices. I stopped visiting there a while back, but even before I stopped it was rare that I read their content. It's only a matter of time before they disappear. The whole industry is ruthless. I did a short stint on 9to5 back in college because I love writing about Apple and technologybut I'm no reporter. Those guys were ridiculous in their pursuit of stories and finding them first. I could never keep up with them and didn't have the time to try. So glad I didn't go down that road! Seth is pretty fair about sharing ad revenue and some of them actually make pretty good money but the stress and nearly round-the-clock schedule just to find something I could post wasn't worth it for me.
This is more about his Twitter comments more than anything. I'm not sure why you choose to ignore them. Even if he was one of my personal friends I would have to admit he stepped out of line and have a laugh about it
It's a little extreme to say that everyone was attacking him - most people were just poking fun because what was said is funny and true.
I understand there are those who are a little passionate and a little more aggressive than should be, but, that hardly makes it acceptable for such a lash out at someone like that. He said some things you don't say to people and that made him, and the people he represents, look pretty bad.
He could have easily ignored it, or if perturbed enough, shoot off a lighthearted one-liner and make it a positive experience for those directly involved. There are people who take much more slack than he ever will and face it all without so much as a frown; that makes a person respectable, not calling nasty.
Yes, this - I stopped visiting the Verge when it started publishing playlists of Rolling Stones songs and all that nonsense. Also the moderators are brutal about expunging anything they think is a criticism; their bias is clear and their review scoring baseless and inconsistent; and the comments sections only one step above YouTube these days.
Look...
What if you told someone that the Milanese was "ridiculous looking" WHILE YOU WERE WEARING A PROPELLER HAT??!! Would they be allowed to chuckle at the fact that your statement seems hilarious at that point?? You do get it, right??
Btw... my issue with the level of douche nozzle exhibited by Patel has nothing to do with his fashion choices. I didn't even register his wrist band when I watched his review a few days ago... However, the way he talked to that old man?? Wow. Says a lot. He's a bully. He's an ass. He's a piece of garbage. I have literally NO respect for him now. If I was in public & heard an old man comment "that bracelet looks silly, son" to a young man... and then the young man flipped out & started screaming "you're old! you're old & you're white (somehow race is relevant??) I'm glad I don't look like you, old man!, etc" I'd probably come to the old man's defense & kick the dogs**t out of the soft young man, puffing out his chest & bullying an old man WAY beyond what could be considered a valid response to the incredibly mild criticism he received.
But did he really need to say it? Seriously? It's obvious what he likes since it wasn't a radio broadcast. Everyone could see his wrist-wear preference is unconventional - so yes, a fine milanese bracelet would look ridiculous on him. That said, his choice doesn't invalidate anyone else's choice to buy and wear the milanese: It's not absolutely ridiculous, just relatively ridiculous.
And Gasée wasn't entirely innocent either. He was playing on stereotypes (namely, someone's ideas can be dismissed simply because they look different). I don't really think Gasée meant to be nasty or intellectually dishonest. It was more of an old codger's "just-look-at-the-young-uns-today" eye-roll. It then got out of hand but Gasée didn't try to finesse his way out of it. He just played along in a somewhat scolding manner.
Nobody came out looking good, IMHO.
You seriously don't see that Gassé took the high road? Were we reading the same series of Tweets?
I think Gassé had a valid (humorous) point. The larger point was that you can NOT be a critic and never expect to be criticized. If Nilay cannot take people ribbing him about his spiked bracelet, he needs to reconsider his profession.
Really happy to see Nilay Patel getting ribbed. He was just about tolerable (barely) in the Engadget/early Verge days when he was with Topolsky and Paul Miller. I quit listening to the Verge podcasts, or indeed visiting the Verge, ages ago.
Was borderline decent when Topolsky was in charge, but since Patel became the big man on campus he, and the site, have become truly intolerable. States opinions as facts, shouts people down in a "humorous" way and drowns out any opposition to his opinion. Crikey, what was once a half decent tech podcast is now an absolute barrage of injokes and lengthy, repeated uses of the meme of the day. He really lives in a bubble. Ramming opinions down peoples throats and claiming he can't possibly be wrong is not okay, and is particularly bothersome when his tech churn is completely inconsistent with those of us who don't write a glorified tech blog about a new phone/meercat for a living i.e. most of the audience.
I'm all for a bit of personality in a podcast, I've zero interest in a dry summation of the latest news and topics, but you're doing something wrong when it's 90% off topic. Sure, there are a number of podcasts I listen too that go all over the place and are almost exclusively off topic....but they don't pretend to be anything else. Plus, such podcasts rely on likeable, witty participants and Patel is none of these things imo. Some may like him, but witty? Hmm.
His minor spat with John C Dvorak was hilarious. Regardless of your opinion of John C and his more suspect opinions, it's hard to deny he's a great troll and Patel had a bit of a shock when John C blew holes in some of his arguments, not with petty insults, but fairly well documented evidence. Equally, some other guy, forget his name, utterly embarrassed Patel re: net neutrality.
Meanwhile, The Verge has gone from an okay tech/lifestyle site to a corporate shill (I thought it was a Bill Gates tribute site for a while), lots of pseudo science and now regularly resorts to awful, inflammatory headlines. The kind of headlines the Verge otherwise mock others for.
Kudos to Gasse, his responses make the whole affair resemble the big kid effortlessly holding his hand on the little kids head, the little kid punching wildly at the air.
Was borderline decent when Topolsky was in charge, but since Patel became the big man on campus he, and the site, have become truly intolerable. States opinions as facts, shouts people down in a "humorous" way and drowns out any opposition to his opinion. Crikey, what was once a half decent tech podcast is now an absolute barrage of injokes and lengthy, repeated uses of the meme of the day. He really lives in a bubble. Ramming opinions down peoples throats and claiming he can't possibly be wrong is not okay, and is particularly bothersome when his tech churn is completely inconsistent with those of us who don't write a glorified tech blog about a new phone/meercat for a living i.e. most of the audience.
I'm all for a bit of personality in a podcast, I've zero interest in a dry summation of the latest news and topics, but you're doing something wrong when it's 90% off topic. Sure, there are a number of podcasts I listen too that go all over the place and are almost exclusively off topic....but they don't pretend to be anything else. Plus, such podcasts rely on likeable, witty participants and Patel is none of these things imo. Some may like him, but witty? Hmm.
His minor spat with John C Dvorak was hilarious. Regardless of your opinion of John C and his more suspect opinions, it's hard to deny he's a great troll and Patel had a bit of a shock when John C blew holes in some of his arguments, not with petty insults, but fairly well documented evidence. Equally, some other guy, forget his name, utterly embarrassed Patel re: net neutrality.
Meanwhile, The Verge has gone from an okay tech/lifestyle site to a corporate shill (I thought it was a Bill Gates tribute site for a while), lots of pseudo science and now regularly resorts to awful, inflammatory headlines. The kind of headlines the Verge otherwise mock others for.
Kudos to Gasse, his responses make the whole affair resemble the big kid effortlessly holding his hand on the little kids head, the little kid punching wildly at the air.
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Personally? That word was the first sign the review had "narcissist" written all over it. So presumptuous and self aggrandizing.
Spiked bracelet or not, Nilay Patel's responses made him seem like a child, with no poise and straight out toolish. He could have played it off and move on. But instead he let it strike some cord and went off the deep end on social media. There was really no need for him to escalate it to the level he took it.
"You criticize, accept criticism." - Gassée
Yep. His review was pretentious (the scene in the bar, complaining about watch notifications...) and his tantrum was embarrassing. You know he's regretting that.
Yep. His review was pretentious (the scene in the bar, complaining about watch notifications...) and his tantrum was embarrassing. You know he's regretting that.
I can't be the only one who read the thread title as "Nilay Patel on the verge of a Twitter temper tantrum after criticism of his watch review..."
From what I saw, Patel started off criticizing a thing he was reviewing. Objective criticism is valid in that context - even though it seemed like he was saying it would look silly on him. He was mocking his own sense of style, IMHO. It was self-deprecating.
Gassé, tone deaf to that subtlety, then escalated it on his personal blog by attacking a person's appearance and using that to cast doubt on a person's credibility. Quite different - although I think he really did mean it in jest. He just misunderstood what "ridiculous" meant in the original context.
Admittedly Patel's remarks got childish thereafter, but Gassé (who started the direct personal attacks) made a weak effort at conciliation. When that didn't get him off the hook, he took a haughty tone and tried to unjustly claim the moral high ground.
They were both in the wrong. The whole sorry thing was a draw, IMHO.
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I think ribbing is perfectly fine between two people who have a prior relationship. Without that, it can be quite offensive.
Do they have a prior relationship? I really didn't know anything about either before now.
I do get the impression people don't like Patel very much. What's he done?