Glad you like it! 🙂
Feedback in this forum played a big part.
Does the existence of the " Alternatives to iOS and iOS Devices " Forum pretty much prove that Apple has something to fear? It sure seems like it because 1) Alternative product discussions tend to be fads based on cool new products and 2) Apple hasn't really done anything worth talking about lately. So the idea of discussing competing/alternative devices to the ones we own should be encouraged rather than hidden away in a corner in order to protect the feelings of people who refuse to look at the changing world around them.
Just sayin...
It's hardly hidden away, we've made a forum-wide announcement to let everyone know about it. 😉
Announcement? I didn't see anything.
Edit: never mind I see it now.
Yeah, the problem with announcements is that even though you can make one in all forums at the same time, they're at the very top, where no one looks!
Or do an announcement in the white area centered at the top of every page like when MacRumors was looking for new writers.
...My theory has been that there's a small but extremely vocal group of people that have been taking some sort of joy out of dropping non-Apple topics right into the midst of Apple conversations, on an Apple board.
e.g., trolls.
Now, without an opportunity to present their message and viewpoint to the Apple audience, mostly they'll be gone.
There's also been a small but vocal group who have consistently made it difficult to discuss competing products, by posting off-topic comments in threads ("why are you posting this here?", "go find an android forum", "this is macrumors, not androidrumors" etc).
That's also a form of trolling, and I'm hoping it will also stop now. 😉
I think it is pretty decent of Macrumors to give Samsung/HTC/Google/ whatever shills access to the forums.
I wonder how many android forums have an "alternative to android" section? Just guessing, but I'd say zilch.