And what do you call it when HAL9000 runs around tagging every Microsoft thread with the keyword "lowqualitycrap". Not some of them - ALL of them. You don't find that just a bit insulting? Where are you on that score? It's hardly a secret that he does it, but none of you manage a single peep on that score.
I would call that a prank, if true.
However, General, when I did a Keyword Search for "lowqualitycrap" here is what came up:
Microsoft to add 'black box' to WindowsThat's just the FIRST 25... there are a lot more... and the majority of these are Mac threads. Only 12 (24%) of the first 50 were NOT Mac threads. And of those 12, four (8%) were Linux threads. However, Windows threads with that keyword do appear (16%)... as well as the Linux and, several pages later, Wal-Mart threads. What makes you think that Hal9000 has done it? Why would he tag every Mac thread with this? Or is that you?
Apple CEO Again Gets $1 Salary for 2004
Motorola cites Apple for non-show of iTunes phone
A mini-guide to Mac OS X for new Mini owners
Mac Mini Price Significantly Less than DIY PC
Apple planning High-Definition Video Network via satellite and Internet?
Microsoft advises against iPod shuffle?
Apple desktop market share on the rise; will the Mac mini, iPod help?
Macintosh / Apple blog
Apple virus contest canned
Cinema HD proves bigger truly is better
CNET editor's take - iPod Photo Rates 9 out of 10
Macintosh Security: No Need for Perfection
The (Mac) Tiger Report: Should You Consider Upgrading?
Softgadgets for Your Macintosh
Tiger on Track for Mid-April Release
Mac OS X Tiger to ship April 29
Mac mini, iPod help drive Apple's profit higher (Net income up 530%)
Revealed: New Power Mac G5, iMac G5, eMac Specs
Trent Reznor Rules - Nine Inch Nails new single released in Garageband format
Tiger's Out This Week. No Bull.
iTunes Mobile 1.0 slated for June, iTunes 4.8 Mac/Win expected soon
Apple paid tech guru $15K to praise iPod on local news shows
Why doesn't Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV?
Study: Apple leapfrogs Toshiba in US PC shipments
You don't find that just a bit insulting?
No. One cannot insult a piece of hardware or an Operating System ... one insults a person or a group of persons! Why should a statement about a basically inert object or set of instructions affect YOU? Do you get insulted if someone criticizes the make of car you drive?
...but I'm certainly not going to let such nonsense slide to the point that others might come to actually believe such garbage.
Think about that... It may tell you a lot about why Mac users respond to mis-information which is targeted to people who are ignorant about the Mac. We have had many years of such mis-information. Mis-information includes uttering "facts" from ancient history as though it were still true today... from BOTH sides... especially when it comes repeatedly from the same people who have already been informed their "facts" no longer apply, repeatedly.
No, you didn't, because you insist on setting yourself up as the arbiter of good taste and decorum here on FR. Well, no offense, but who are you? And look, what a suprise, the arbiter of good taste and decorum decides that the people he's affiliated with are never in the wrong, and the people he's not affiliated with are always in the wrong. What a surprise, eh? You being a completely neutral observer and all. Awfully convenient how the bounds of good taste just happen to fall your way, don't you think?
Who am I? I am a person who works daily on and with Windows PCs (for pay) and Macs (because I prefer it). I am a person who can read critically and recognize argumentum ad hominem when I see it. I did not set myself up as the "arbitrator of good taste", I merely read through threads and made a mark on a text editor column if a particular comment included a reference to a Mac in Windows threads, Windows in Mac threads, personal attacks either way in both sets, and posted my findings. I did not care one way or the other if a particular post was Mac or Windows... but rather WHERE it was... and whether it was a personal attack. The findings speak for themselves. I documented Mac users being insulting to Windows when I found it. I documented Mac comments when I found them in Windows' threads and Windows comments in Mac threads. I described my criteria:
"Those which I deemed "mild" were those in which a platform advocate made reasoned commentary about their preferred platform and compared it to the subject platform. Those that commented denigrating the subject platform with ignorant or outdated mis-information, I deemed "moderate". Finally, comments attacking or denigrating the users of the subject platform, I deemed "Insulting". These judgments were subjective on my part... but I attempted to be totally fair."
You somehow find fault with this. If so, criticize the placement of comments in the three categories. Instead, you falsely accuse me of deciding, contrary to the facts in evidence, "that the people he's affiliated with are never in the wrong, and the people he's not affiliated with are always in the wrong." You accuse ME of not reading what you post... yet you make that statement in the face of my report documenting Mac users invading Microsoft/Windows threads and even a case of a Mac user tossing an insult toward Windows' users. I reported what I found in the 18 Mac and 18 Windows threads. Nothing was omitted except the comments that were on-topic, but even there I reported the total number of comments.
I'll say it again - if you don't want other people jumping on Mac threads, stop doing it yourselves. It's that simple.
No, it's simpler than that, General... just leave out the insults and slurs against the users of BOTH platforms. Keep the discussions open.
How convenient. Once again, the neutral arbiter of good taste and decorum weighs in. LOL.
One cannot insult a piece of hardware or an Operating System ... one insults a person or a group of persons!
Once again, it is not your place to determine when someone else should or should not be insulted. It's really quite insulting to have one's judgement called into question like that, and you call it a "prank". I guess that's all we need to know about how serious you are about elevating the tone on these threads. Sorry, but you don't get a free pass, not from me. You want the tone to change? Start with a mirror.
It may tell you a lot about why Mac users respond to mis-information which is targeted to people who are ignorant about the Mac.
And why, pray tell, do you think that your deponents respond thus? Is it not at least slightly possible that they feel as strongly about misinformation with respect to their choices as you do about yours? Are you the only one here who's allowed to object to misinformation?
Mis-information includes uttering "facts" from ancient history as though it were still true today... from BOTH sides...
Have I not said as much, repeatedly and forcefully? Do I like how pro-MS people conduct themselves? In some cases, no. In some cases, I don't care for how the pro-Apple people conduct themselves. I look at both sides, and I see culpability all around, so when I see one faction or another branding itself as the innocent victim, I feel compelled to speak up. So here I am, speaking up.
You know, this could have ended a long, long time ago, with just a simple acknowledgement that nobody here is perfect, that sometimes people get out of line or say things they shouldn't say, or say things in a way they shouldn't have. That's all it would have taken, and then I'd have STFU and left, but instead I got repeated protestations that nobody over here would ever do such a thing, no sirree. Maybe distance lends perspective or something, I don't know.
I did not set myself up as the "arbitrator of good taste"
Oh, yes you did, the instant you started criticizing someone else's unmade bed, without tending to your own dirty dishes first.
If so, criticize the placement of comments in the three categories.
No, I'm sorry. The best you're going to do is decide if you'd be insulted. Well, once again, who are you? Who are you to say what someone else should find "mildly" or "moderately" insulting. You are not an objective judge, and you cannot be an objective judge, because it is the target of such things who should decide whether or not to be insulted. You are not empowered to decide for them.
No, it's simpler than that, General... just leave out the insults and slurs against the users of BOTH platforms.
Hey, there ya go. We may even be making some sort of progress. I agree with that. How 'bout that? ;)
Ah, so it WAS you on the Mac threads.
And the Linux threads. I just kind of felt like helping out with the old tracking project. Am I not a nice guy, extending the usefulness of such keywords?