Stop the fanboyism, please!

[IJ Reilly]

I agree; the word fanboy should be treated as a personal insult.

And you're right, it's also used inappropriately. It's not uncommon for someone with a legitimate claim to be labeled as a fanboy, just because someone else disagrees with their opinion. Granted, there are some cases where the fanboy label is probably quite apt, but rather than calling them a name, they should simply be ignored (and reported, if applicable).

If someone is making a counterfactual argument, then that argument should be responded to with a factual argument. The flaws in the poorly-reasoned argument should be pointed out. Calling someone a "fanboy" is an argument substitute. The person using the term probably doesn't even know why they disagree, they just do.

See, what I think you guys are missing... and in most cases it is because you are coming from a platform that was never in any danger of disappearing, is the fact that the biggest danger to a minority platform is apathy on the part of the users.

I wonder how many people here remember EvangeList? Or MacMarines?

 

[iMpathetic]

This thread has been an interesting read.

First of all, "MS started it", "they criticize us" and "well PC users think that they are all that so we fight back because they won't admit Macs are better" are childish ********. I should know. I'm a child. This, as yg17 has already stated, is just petty 5-year-old strategy. I learned long ago that whining and bashing MS are not the ways to promote Macs. My Mac-bashing friends mindlessly bashed Macs before I cared about computers, and what sort of forum do I belong to? Exactly. (OK, I am on thinkpads.com, but my T41 was nice...)

Teh secret, I think, is platform openness. I am about to trade my Powerbook G4 Titanium for a Compaq R4000. My Mac friends will go: "Oh, you retard! WTF did you do that for?!?!?!?" That's what my PC friends do when I go from a PC to a Mac. The point is, loyalty to a company's products on this level is just unhealthy. I need a faster computer, and I sure as hell am not going to earn money for a MacBook if it is going to take me 6 months. Can't go without a computer for so long.

Now, to see what you fanboys out there will do about this:

Macs are more expensive than PCs. PCs are more power for less money. Get over it.

I am sorry if I offend anyone. Macs are very nice. Us Mac users just need to accept certain good things about PCs. PC users need to be more open to platforms other than Macs.

However, one truth is constant and will remain forevermore: Steve Ballmer is a monkey.

 

[MikeTheC]

OMG MACS RULE MICROSUCK SUX!!!11111

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, yg17.

But how do you realistically define fanboyism? And don't you realize that, as with so many other issues, we probably all individually define it differently?

I mean, just look at the commentary made whenever a new Apple ad comes out. Some people think that the Mac is just a snarky, smart-mouthed ******, and others feel differently. That right there should tell you there's really no solidarity even here.

Also, and I'm certain this thread was started with all good humor, but don't think for a moment the majority of us will tolerate so-called "thought police" on this board who would seek censure comments because they thought those comments weren't politically correct or sanitized enough.

Microsoft is what they are as a result of what they have done to get there. I don't hate them because they're rich, nor because they're influential. I hate them for past and continuing bad acts, none-the-least of which are producing software which serves as a security liability for hundreds and hundreds of millions of people and tens of thousands of businesses around the world.

So don't lose sight of the "reason for the season" when it comes to any of us going after Microsoft, whether vituperatively or for fun.