Stuck-up, smug, elitist snobs. How did we get this reputation?

[bousozoku]

It's just like with everything else, a vocal minority defines us, though I still don't consider myself purely a Mac user. I'll use practically any computer put in front of me, as long as it works properly.

There are a lot of Mac-o-lytes, even here, who make life difficult for the rest of us. I really just don't understand how you can be so engrossed in any product that you could elevate its status to religious levels.

 

[whooleytoo]

We are NOT elitist.

The peasants just think we are...

 

[iSaint]

Steve is cooler than Bill.

true dat...


Just yesterday, a friend who is ordering a MacBook (finally switching) made a similar comment about our being so smug. Three of us have been riding him about getting a Mac. The only reason he is, is that he can dual boot Windows so he can work from home sometimes. He'll be smug, soon.

 

[edesignuk]

The only reason he is, is that he can dual boot Windows so he can work from home sometimes.

Since when do we know that for FACT?

 

[Counterfit]

Steve is cooler than Bill.

Pff, I have tweed sport coats that are cooler than Bill.





Okay, they're not mine, but my father's. CLose enough eh?

 

[2nyRiggz]

what are you talking about Bill is cool, look at all the great products he brought to us like the.....and the.....oh never mind he's cool


Bless

 

[Deepdale]

... I've been reading some coverage of MWSF elsewhere and the threads are littered with the same old tired refrain of how snobbish Mac users are...

Personally, I've found the Mac community to be extremely welcoming.

How did we get this awful image and why does it persist?

It is a welcoming community with a twist ... sort of like having others say to you, "Join in, participate, share your thoughts and before long you will be shown the error of your ways." Also, paying a premium for any item does help to subtly reinforce the fact that you are somehow better for having done so, whether you could really afford it or not. Mac owners are what they are and no more likely to change than defense attorneys are apt to become seekers of the truth at the expense of those who pay well for being represented.

Since last May I have come to respect the impressive knowledge of many posters here and wish I possessed a fraction of their technical abilities, but I do sense an air of superiority evident in a fair number of messages. I doubt that most really care what the perceived opinion of them is, and it does not matter that much since people are primarily concerned with their ability to share experiences and receive timely replies to problems being encountered.

 

[revfife]

Yeah Bill keeps paying the Killers to do shows for him so he can be cool. Werent they good about a year ago?

 

[pseudobrit]

I really have no idea.

True story:

I once had a co-worker who was a dick and treated me like crap. I got fed up one day and told him he didn't "have to be so condescending."

He blinked and stammered something about me using big words.

My reply:

"Con-Dee-Send-Ing. Look it up if you have to."

The sheer irony of the twist sends me into paroxysms of joy to this day.

 

[pseudobrit]

Point:

Stuck-up elitist snobs are often that way for a reason. Because they're somehow better than most of the suckers out there. Such is the case with Mac users.

 

[maya]

I am just a blank sheet of paper, and I learn what Steve Jobs teaches me via his comments and body language towards the competition.

You just see it on Steve Jobs manner and says, "I am better than all of you and if you are using a Macintosh you feel the same way."

 

[revfife]

You pretty much can walk into any Apple Store and see Stuck-up, smug, elitest snobs because they sure aren't at Best Buy or Circuit City. Apple owners know they have it good so they can feel better about themselves.

 

[danny_w]

I switched to a Mac early last year, and until then I had the impression that the Mac community was elitist and arrogant, but I quickly learned otherwise. They have been nothing but welcoming and helpful to me with all of my stupid newbie questions. On the other hand, I tried to get into Linux for several years off and on, and had a very different experience there. The people on the forums where I tried to get newbie help were the most arrogant, elitist, and downright mean spirited people I have ever dealt with; I'm sure they are not all like that, but the vast majority on the forums were certainly that way. Perhaps that is part of the reason that I expected the same treatment from the Mac community. When I was welcomed so freely and was given so much great help, I swore to NEVER take up Linux again! The Linux (and Windows for that matter) communities could learn a great deal about how to treat people from the "Mac zealots".

 

[maya]

I switched to a Mac early last year, and until then I had the impression that the Mac community was elitist and arrogant, but I quickly learned otherwise. They have been nothing but welcoming and helpful to me with all of my stupid newbie questions. On the other hand, I tried to get into Linux for several years off and on, and had a very different experience there. The people on the forums where I tried to get newbie help were the most arrogant, elitist, and downright mean spirited people I have ever dealt with; I'm sure they are not all like that, but the vast majority on the forums were certainly that way. Perhaps that is part of the reason that I expected the same treatment from the Mac community. When I was welcomed so freely and was given so much great help, I swore to NEVER take up Linux again! The Linux (and Windows for that matter) communities could learn a great deal about how to treat people from the "Mac zealots".

So you are trying to acquire "brownie points" by mentioning this in a Mac Forum. I hear you.

 

[nihilisticmonk]

I switched to a Mac early last year, and until then I had the impression that the Mac community was elitist and arrogant, but I quickly learned otherwise. They have been nothing but welcoming and helpful to me with all of my stupid newbie questions. On the other hand, I tried to get into Linux for several years off and on, and had a very different experience there. The people on the forums where I tried to get newbie help were the most arrogant, elitist, and downright mean spirited people I have ever dealt with; I'm sure they are not all like that, but the vast majority on the forums were certainly that way. Perhaps that is part of the reason that I expected the same treatment from the Mac community. When I was welcomed so freely and was given so much great help, I swore to NEVER take up Linux again! The Linux (and Windows for that matter) communities could learn a great deal about how to treat people from the "Mac zealots".

True dat!

I work for an ISP, and a large percentage of the linux team are some of the most arogant people I have to deal with in my day to day job.

 

[pseudobrit]

I switched to a Mac early last year, and until then I had the impression that the Mac community was elitist and arrogant, but I quickly learned otherwise. They have been nothing but welcoming and helpful to me with all of my stupid newbie questions.

You only say that because you don't hear the old guard talking about you behind your back... stupid newbie...

On the other hand, I tried to get into Linux for several years off and on, and had a very different experience there. The people on the forums where I tried to get newbie help were the most arrogant, elitist, and downright mean spirited people I have ever dealt with; I'm sure they are not all like that, but the vast majority on the forums were certainly that way. Perhaps that is part of the reason that I expected the same treatment from the Mac community. When I was welcomed so freely and was given so much great help, I swore to NEVER take up Linux again! The Linux (and Windows for that matter) communities could learn a great deal about how to treat people from the "Mac zealots".

Thanks for the cautionary tale. I know now where I must go to ascend higher into the ranks of snobdom.

I was thinking about becoming one of those Terminal snobs, you know? The Mac user who will spout off lines like, "did you try to rm -r sudo it after you cd/ lft'd it? No, you have to go into /bin first... siiighhh, nevermind..." but that doesn't seem quite petty and bitter enough.

SuSE, here I come, baby!

 

[MacNut]

Not just arrogant. Mac users are always portrayed as bigtime lefties too. Which seems rather true on this board.

I always thought that Windows fanboyism was more arrogant anyway - it's like being a Yankees fan, rooting for the overdog.

Anyway nobody can beat the hardcore Unix/Linux gurus for platform arrogance. They may not have a life, but they've forgotten more about computers than we'll ever know.

No, being a Windows fan means that you are unable to change and like to listen to what others tell you is good, where as Yankee fans are smart and know who the better team is, So in fact Mac users are more like Yankee fans.

 

[clayj]

As someone who used to REALLY hate the Mac because of its snobbish, smug, elitist users, I think you can pin a lot of the blame on people like SteveJack*, the opinion guy over at MacDailyNews.com. He used to frequent MSNBC's old Technology and Computers BBS and crap all over PC users for being Bud-drinking, Ford-driving, Wal-Mart-shopping genetic inbreds. Never mind that many PC users (such as myself) drink wine, drive Audis, and wouldn't set foot in a Wal-Mart if we had a gun pointed at our heads. (And we're NOT genetic inbreds.) I never used to buy Macs because I chose not to.

It's negative portrayals of PC users by Mac users that cause PC users to HATE Mac users.

That, and the evangelical nature of many Mac users to feel a need to "convert" PC users. People don't like being told that they've made a bad choice, and often when they are told such they will react defensively.

* Despite his best efforts to keep his identity a secret, SteveJack screwed up one time at MSNBC and posted from his work address. From that, we were able to determine his real name and occupation: Chris Neher, webmaster of WRGB-TV in Schenectady, New York. Go check out the WRGB web site to see his Mac-biasedness on his company's web site.

 

[revfife]

No, being a Windows fan means that you are unable to change and like to listen to what others tell you is good, where as Yankee fans are smart and know who the better team is, So in fact Mac users are more like Yankee fans.

No, it just means Yankee fans like having WS bought for them instead of earning them. Couldn't resist (coming from a Red Sox fan!)

 

[brepublican]

Fellas, please. Any idiot can buy a computer. We're not living in 1987 here.

 

[XNine]

As someone who used to REALLY hate the Mac because of its snobbish, smug, elitist users, I think you can pin a lot of the blame on people like SteveJack*, the opinion guy over at MacDailyNews.com. He used to frequent MSNBC's old Technology and Computers BBS and crap all over PC users for being Bud-drinking, Ford-driving, Wal-Mart-shopping genetic inbreds. Never mind that many PC users (such as myself) drink wine, drive Audis, and wouldn't set foot in a Wal-Mart if we had a gun pointed at our heads. (And we're NOT genetic inbreds.) I never used to buy Macs because I chose not to.

It's negative portrayals of PC users by Mac users that cause PC users to HATE Mac users.

Quite true. But, again, I'm somone who came from the other side, four years ago now? Anyway, Teh PC forums are definately a lot more difficult to be a part of with all of the "N00B" comments. Not once had I ever seen someone welcomed and helped out in those forums without being harrassed .

PC users I think don't really know what loyalty is to a particular brand. IT's unthinkable, to them, that anyone would speak so vocally about a product, let alone pay the "hefty price tag" on a Mac (which has been proven time and time again to be MUCH cheaper than owning and maintining a PC for years). Thus we are snobs because they are ignorant.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Fellas, please. Any idiot can buy a computer. We're not living in 1987 here.

But only an elitist snob can afford a Mac.

To modernize on Marie Antoinette, "Let them compute on a Dell."


Lethal

 

[Airforce]

Quite true. But, again, I'm somone who came from the other side, four years ago now? Anyway, Teh PC forums are definately a lot more difficult to be a part of with all of the "N00B" comments. Not once had I ever seen someone welcomed and helped out in those forums without being harrassed .

Anandtech has a good forum if you need help.

PC users I think don't really know what loyalty is to a particular brand. IT's unthinkable, to them, that anyone would speak so vocally about a product, let alone pay the "hefty price tag" on a Mac (which has been proven time and time again to be MUCH cheaper than owning and maintining a PC for years). Thus we are snobs because they are ignorant.

I think the loyalty with people who use PCs usually falls between AMD/INTEL, not a premade computer.

 

[greatdevourer]

To be honest, I get a lot more attack from Windows users than anyone else. The Linux guys are OK (even though one guy refers to us as magpies - "Oooh! Shiny!" ), but the Windows users are just annoying, bullcrap-spouting jerks a lot of the time.

 

[GroundLoop]

I think that this pretty much explains it....

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/12

Hickman