Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#1

Post by shawndumas » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 4:32 PM UTC

Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image
arstechnica.com

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#2

Post by bediger » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:02 PM UTC

There's also a persistent rumor/concept among Linux aficionados that some or all of the worst profanity spouting, knuckle-dragging, "Sodomize Microsoft!" fanbois are actually paid-for "reverse shills". That is, some vague conspiracy finances trolls to make the rest of Linux advocates look stupid. This rumor seems like an example of "Poe's Law" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poes_law) in action.

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#3

Post by krluna22785 » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:11 PM UTC

Thanks for this. It makes a lot of sense. I even take it personally when a brand I love holds an event or a specific sale that is accessible to everyone, even people who are not in love with the brand as much as I am.

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#4

Post by cooldeal » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:19 PM UTC

bediger wrote: post #2

There's also a persistent rumor/concept among Linux aficionados that some or all of the worst profanity spouting, knuckle-dragging, "Sodomize Microsoft!" fanbois are actually paid-for "reverse shills". That is, some vague conspiracy finances trolls to make the rest of Linux advocates look stupid. This rumor seems like an example of "Poe's Law" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poes_law ) in action.

You mean ones like this?

http://it.slashdot.org/story/07/07/19/1231216/Mac-Worm-Autho...

MS could get into a lot of legal trouble if they're caught faking death threats against Mac researchers. There are people who actually believe this?

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#5

Post by athst » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:27 PM UTC

They use the word "fanbois" to sound pejorative, but isn't this a good thing? It basically means that people are passionate about your company and its products. It means you're relevant. It has always been like that with rivalries like Mac vs. PC, Nintendo vs. Sega, and now Android vs. iPhone/iPad.

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#6

Post by bluekeybox » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:33 PM UTC

athst wrote: post #5

They use the word "fanbois" to sound pejorative, but isn't this a good thing? It basically means that people are passionate about your company and its products. It means you're relevant. It has always been like that with rivalries like Mac vs. PC, Nintendo vs. Sega, and now Android vs. iPhone/iPad.

It's not cool to be passionate. It's always been cool to be intelligent though.

EDIT:

I did not mean to say that being passionate is bad. I meant to say that in most social situations, appearing overly passionate is often bad. Right now, I am struggling to maintain passion for the project I'm working on and I know that I will fail as soon as I stop being passionate about it -- so I know there are hard times when passion is necessary. However I think that my point about appearing "cool" holds -- more people get excited about my projects when I put up an impression of total control and slight lack of passion rather than the other way around.

One has to know how to program both oneself and others.

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#7

Post by molecule » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:41 PM UTC

Self-image, affiliation? Branding, indeed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_branding

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#8

Post by rbanffy » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:41 PM UTC

athst wrote: post #5

They use the word "fanbois" to sound pejorative, but isn't this a good thing? It basically means that people are passionate about your company and its products. It means you're relevant. It has always been like that with rivalries like Mac vs. PC, Nintendo vs. Sega, and now Android vs. iPhone/iPad.

> It means you're relevant.

It also means you are attracting nutjobs.

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#9

Post by bgurupra » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:43 PM UTC

bluekeybox wrote: post #6

athst wrote: post #5

They use the word "fanbois" to sound pejorative, but isn't this a good thing? It basically means that people are passionate about your company and its products. It means you're relevant. It has always been like that with rivalries like Mac vs. PC, Nintendo vs. Sega, and now Android vs. iPhone/iPad.

It's not cool to be passionate. It's always been cool to be intelligent though. EDIT: I did not mean to say that being passionate is bad. I meant to say that in most social situations, appearing overly passionate is often bad. Right now, I am struggling to maintain passion for the project I'm working on and I know that I will fail as soon as I stop being passionate about it -- so I know there are hard times when pass…

No great thing was ever accomplished without being passionate.Even the research field which is all about intellectualism needs you to be passionate about your ideas and ploughing away at them even though they are just untested hypotheses till it gets proved

Re: Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

#10

Post by gruseom » Wed, Aug 17, 2011, 5:45 PM UTC

Humans treat criticism of favorite anything as threat to self-image.