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Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

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Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#1

Post by _4msi »

I think it's apparent that discussions about Apple tend to be noticeably more polarising than similar posts about other Big Tech. I have got myself into some heated exchanges in the last couple of days. I was presented with the following claims (paraphrased):

HN commentary and commenters are biased in favour of Apple.

Only Apple has defenders in the community who counterclaim against negative assertions.

While I argue that this isn’t true, based on my (biased) opinion and minimal experience, I would like to know if others have experienced the same claim, wish to present evidence to back that claim, or could present a different take on the situation.

In responding to the original claim, I went rooting through posts on major tech companies looking for those favouring other giants, and I found some. Then I was reminded that I was looking for people speaking up in favour, to oppose detractors, and again I found evidence.

The search caused me to ask: can we prove, or disprove, that HN has a specific Apple bias? Whether it's positive or negative, whether it's stronger than bias around other tech companies?

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#3

Post by sigmaprimus »

I think there is a bias, I don't know if it is FOR or AGAINST or evenly balanced between the two camps.

The scary thought is could the whole for or against argument be created or atleast promoted by Apple itself in order to be the topic of conversation? I seem to recall a successful add campaign by Apple that did just that a long time ago. "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC"

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#4

Post by Spooky23 »

Apple is different because it’s a super-vertical. “I love/hate Apple” goes from the physical layer up to the entire platform and ecosystem. Apple is a shared experience.

Nobody gives a hoot about Dell, Lenovo, HP, etc because they are just commodity providers. People do very much care about Microsoft, but they do so on different horizontal layers — finance guys love Excel, IT guys love AD, developers love Visual Studio. But... there is no shared experience.

I think bias is the wrong characterization. End of the day, Apple is very good at communicating their position on things, and they do it across their portfolio. My nine year old son is somehow excited about the M1 chip. Some of the stuff that sounds like bias is really a reflection of people actually knowing what the company is doing.

Other than niche companies like Ferrari, I can’t think of anyone better at marketing and communications than Apple.

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#5

Post by dnh44 »

Apple has always attracted spirited conversation. I remember Apple computers being referred to as “toys” back in the 80’s because of the GUI and mouse. The discussions of Apple on HN have long and old roots. It’d be interesting to have a look at the old flame wars on usenet.

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#6

Post by st1x7 »

> The search caused me to ask: can we prove, or disprove, that HN has a specific Apple bias? Whether it's positive or negative, whether it's stronger than bias around other tech companies?

How are you going to tell apart bias in favour of Apple and just being in favour of Apple?

Maybe it's easier to prove in some of the positive cases if you notice that people are making demonstrably incorrect favorable statements. But I doubt that you can reliably prove that bias doesn't exist.

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#7

Post by rbrtl »

sigmaprimus wrote: post #3

I think there is a bias, I don't know if it is FOR or AGAINST or evenly balanced between the two camps. The scary thought is could the whole for or against argument be created or atleast promoted by Apple itself in order to be the topic of conversation? I seem to recall a successful add campaign by Apple that did just that a long time ago. "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC"

I agree. My position is that is a company is big enough people will have an opinion, and if there's an opinion to be had there's probably an opposition in there somewhere. I like the "reverse PR" theory, kinda the "no press is bad press" argument. Mac vs. PC ads are a great point! Definitely a polarisation at the time, I think Linux can be found in a lot of the most outspoken commentary around here.

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#8

Post by rbrtl »

dnh44 wrote: post #5

Apple has always attracted spirited conversation. I remember Apple computers being referred to as “toys” back in the 80’s because of the GUI and mouse. The discussions of Apple on HN have long and old roots. It’d be interesting to have a look at the old flame wars on usenet.

One of my favourite Usenet posts is Linus' tirade at Tanenbaum over MINIX.

Re: Ask HN: Apple Bias – Real or Imagined?

#9

Post by rbrtl »

st1x7 wrote: post #6

> The search caused me to ask: can we prove, or disprove, that HN has a specific Apple bias? Whether it's positive or negative, whether it's stronger than bias around other tech companies? How are you going to tell apart bias in favour of Apple and just being in favour of Apple? Maybe it's easier to prove in some of the positive cases if you notice that people are making demonstrably incorrect favorable statements. B…

It's a good question. I don't really have the data science chops to come up with the methodology. I was always a weak statistician...

I'm not looking to prove that there is no bias, I'm devilishly interested in whether actual bias is stronger around Apple, don't mind if it's favourable or not.

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