Fanboyism, it's going out of hand

[JujuShinobi]

With the introduction of the internet, many things have been created since then. Both good and bad. But there is one issue I would like to address right now which is fanboyism. What is it you might ask? Well it is basically the collective outlook and behavior of a group of people concerning a subject (movies, games, hardware, comic book characters, etc.) which when challenged results in an antagonistic, passionate, and unreasoned response. An example of a fanboy comment would be "If you didn't like the movie, you should'nt come here and trash it."Believe it or not, this also happens within the computer hardware sector.

How is this a major problem you might ask? Well I have seen this happening on many tech forums like Tek Syndicate and it is really getting control. The other day, we have a guy who we shall name "A" who was asking what would be a good video card for around $300USD. A guy named "B" said that a good value card at the time was a GTX660Ti and that a lot of people love that card and didn't regret buying it. He also said the the CUDA will help accelerate Adobe products he A uses them. He also gave an AMD alternative which was a HD7870 and explained the good points about it as well. Then... we have the fanboy named "C" who said "You should get the 6950 because it's good and it's AMD" and not giving any more information about the card. Unfortunately, A was naive enough to listen to C and bought a 6950. UNEXCEPTABLE. You can see now what I mean how fanboyism is a major issue which should be addressed and stopped ASAP. There are quite a number of people right now wasting their money on bad products thanks to fanboy trolls saying that the product is "good" without saying much else. It's also like saying get Beats because cool people wear it, which is hardly a valid reason.

What is my goal? I only intend to educate people about this rising problem and that you as a community help to put a stop to this madness and make the internet a better place to be. It would help if you report a constant fanboy to a moderator if possible as we need as little fanboys as possible on this amazing tech forum

Thank you for your time.

[Rhizo]

This kind of stuff removes my faith in humanity.

[JujuShinobi]

This kind of stuff removes my faith in humanity.

Society is going downhill whether we like it or not. We just need people to bring it up back.

[Rhizo]

This kind of stuff removes my faith in humanity.

But is it too late? It's gone so far, people are just spouting complete shit no matter if they know what they are saying or not, it's completely rediculas, especially when people listen to these people because they have X number of posts on a forum.

[Rhizo]

Just as an example, here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar.

Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now!

[JujuShinobi]

Just as an example, here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar.

Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now!

Thats more on the line of being ignorant. And I didn't know why you need a amp to dry high ohm headphones. I just own a standard Turtle Beach X12. And yeah... I have seen a lot of people buying expensive stuff just because it is and not because it is good. For example a badminton racket.. I used to play badminton on practically a daily basis and had a $12 racket and even though it did spoil eventually to the wires getting broken, I didn't really feel the difference compare to when using a more expensive racket.

It's more about personal taste in this case though

[Toby]

Just as an example' date=' here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar. Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now![/quote']

That reminds me more of mount stupid.

This happens with lots of things. Corsair/Seasonic PSUs, Ducky/Filco/Costar keyboards and Noctua fans come to mind

[JujuShinobi]

Just as an example' date=' here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar. Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now![/quote']

That reminds me more of mount stupid.

This happens with lots of things. Corsair/Seasonic PSUs, Ducky/Filco/Costar keyboards and Noctua fans come to mind

Well to be fair, Seasonic, Ducky and Filco as far as I know produce good products. So I wouldn't call it being a fanboy if people like it. Unless they defend it without good reasoning

[Aphexx]

Just as an example, here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar.

Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now!

well, that was me that mentioned the soundcard/amp for the headset. I don't have the 1300 but the 2000 version of the corsair vengeance headset. I only mentioned amp because there was one post on THIS forum as well 2 others I've seen elsewhere about the lackluster sound coming from the 1300. I always thought that it was because the 1300 had smaller speakers or something different inside it. but after looking around and seeing that the design is basically universal throughout the vengeance headset line I concluded that it was external power that was insufficient to drive them.

soundcard. do I really need to justify myself in suggesting a soundcard to someone?

headset vs headphone. I occupy both sides of this argument and if you look throughout my posts I do try to represent both sides of the issue. but outside the sennheiser pc series of headsets the headphones handily win out. I do fullheartedly vote for wireless headsets for MMO raiding because of the short amount down time there is with raiding for "water" breaks.

amp. I know that they are there for high ohm headphones but any headphone will benefit from a boost especially when I have little to complain about the 2000 version of this headset and seeing that the 1300 is comperable in design I have to suspect that power is to blame for the complaints about the 1300.

now, I've stayed out of the 7h headset threads and tried to stay out of the ones where I don't know about the subject at hand but I did venture into the vengeance thread because I do own a vengeance headset and since I picked it up I've lurked around the corsair headset forums for a while so that is where I've seen the negative opinions on the 1300

[Toby]

Just as an example' date=' here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar. Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now![/quote']

That reminds me more of mount stupid.

This happens with lots of things. Corsair/Seasonic PSUs, Ducky/Filco/Costar keyboards and Noctua fans come to mind

I was responding to Rhizo's point. They become "default" recommendations, to the point where they're recommended even to people who are looking for something they don't offer, or recommended by people who don't know why they're commendable - just that they are.

[dgtL]

I would like say... "Fanboy" and "Asshat" 2 totally different things. I know plenty of fanboys that are very helpful regardless of their allegiance to a specific brand. Asshats are just jerks that dont give any real substance to a conversation. Just my opinion.

[Puppet]

Completely agreed, Fanboyism can completely ruin a forum. Linus and co have put a lot of effort into expanding their operation recently, which is essentially based on the unbiased promotion of products. We owe it to them to have the same respect, every product has its place, quality should be the only thing up for debate

[Rhizo]

Just as an example, here is someone talking about someone buying some corsair vengence headset. "get a decent soundcard to go with it or at least a headphone amp to help drive the 50mm drivers" Not to mention any names, but this isn't fanboyism, but it related to it. This guy blatently doesn't have the slightest clue why you need an amp to drive high ohm headphones, and therefore just wants OP to waste his money. Roar.

Edit: Shit double post, forgot editing works now!

I am quite serious about audio, especially headphone wise, which made me slightly irritated by the 'you need an amp to drive the 50mm drivers' thing, especially because the size of the drivers has nothing to do with the power needed to power it, it just creates a higher dynamic range, it's the ohms that makes a can harder to power. Also, even the PC line of headsets is overpriced by a mile, complete waste of money, clip on mic with headphones will always be cheaper and better sounding.

Generally speaking, headsets are made to be driven off of low level sound cards or motherboard sound. If you were to get a high end headset/decent headphone, you would get a soundcard for gameplay audio, and if you were using it for music mainly, you would get an amp/dac. Amping a really shitty headphone/headset (under 100$) will have 0 benefit. What you are finding to be that extra 'boost' would be the DAC, that converts the digital signals into analogue much better than the motherboard sound would, therefore the sound is much cleaner.

Anyway, sorry for the slight rant, just don't speak silly stuff! And yes, you do need to justify yourself in suggesting a soundcard to someone ;)

[ericlee30]

This is the best thread I have read yet. I get what you are saying. I see it all the time on newegg on the reviews. Trying to buy the right parts for builds now a days is so hard because you always get mixed feeling about products. I don't trust the internet at all I always go with my gut feeling and it hasn't failed me yet. I like all brands from all different companies

[Cyanotical]

I know plenty of fanboys that are very helpful regardless of their allegiance to a specific brand.

i would put myself in that category, i have my favorite brands, and when i build a computer, i order from them consistently, but i don't run around preaching it, nor am i above recommending another brand

i will however try to shy people away from a bad brand, but that's usually only if they are looking at some really cheap junk that i know they will have trouble with

[christoi]

Unfortunately, I often find that it's usually not just fanboyism, but more of a lack of specific knowledge. With the example in the OP for example, the guy seems to be going with the "I have this card so you should too" type ideology, rather than actual brand fanboyism. In this case there's really not much you can do than swiftly correct them when possible, as we really shouldn't discourage new people from posting either.

Corsair/Seasonic PSUs' date='[/quote']

One of my goals on these forums is actually to correct this misconception, it seems like there aren't that many people who know much about power supplies as a whole either.

[ericlee30]

Unfortunately' date=' I often find that it's usually not just fanboyism, but more of a lack of specific knowledge. With the example in the OP for example, the guy seems to be going with the "I have this card so you should too" type ideology, rather than actual brand fanboyism. In this case there's really not much you can do than swiftly correct them when possible, as we really shouldn't discourage new people from posting either.

Corsair/Seasonic PSUs,

One of my goals on these forums is actually to correct this misconception, it seems like there aren't that many people who know much about power supplies as a whole either.

On that note. I'm not trying to change the subject but a lot of people that say corsair power supplies are better then seasonic power supplies. it's kind of funny when they say that because seasonic makes most of corsairs power supplies :) here is a article that tells you who makes your PSU http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/psu_manufacturers . This article is a good example as to why fanboyism is not good and mess leading to others

[Salmiakbal]

You're not going to change the internet any time soon. A lot of people are like this, and the only way to disrupt them is to overload them with proof of why his product of preference may not be the best choice. They are often just kids that don't know a lot yet (come on now, we've all been through that phase right?). I'm happy to see not all of this forum is like that though.

Seeing as there is no way to just ''stop'' them from being there, we should help them and either convince them that their theory is wrong, or just ignore them and move on.

The person A you were talking about, OP, was also pretty stupid for just following someones advice randomly. It's a two way problem. People giving advice should give good proven advice that is relevant to OP's interest and the OP shouldn't believe everything he sees on the internet.

[Night]

Uhmmm. This example doesnt really matter regarding fanboyism. If you are going to buy something purely because someone said it was good and didnt research further thats your own dumbass fualt.

And is there actually anything wrong with a 6950? Sure maybe its not as optimal for what A wants to use it for but saying that fanboyism is bad and then slapping the 6950 in the face.... Sounds like fanboyism to me. Thats kind of saying 7000 series are better regardless of anything else.

Just sayin ya know. We all have those things we just wouldnt buy and as a result get something else that works and would recommend in a heartbeat. Dominator RAM, ive got it, it works, you should get it. ???

[Cyanotical]

In one of his videos Logan mentioned the "because cake" argument, basically if your argument can be replaced with "cake" then it's not a valid argument ie, "the 7000 series are better" is the same as "the 7000 series are better because cake"

however, "the 7000 series are better because they use a smaller, more power efficient chip" is a valid argument

[Huskie]

Your font gave me cancer.

[Salmiakbal]

Your font gave me cancer.

That's not funny, my mom died of Comic Sans

[Puppet]

In my experience, the majority of disagreements spawn from incomparable products, for example, graphics cards aka Nvidia vs AMD. One person will argue PhysX whilst the other will argue more VRAM and completely ignore the poster asking for help, usually a simple question like what games do you play? or what resolution? will solve the problem... If enough information is provided there is always a best answer...and if they are still left with a choice then it doesn't really matter which way they go because the products must be equal...Driver issues occur on both sides and any reference to them should be ignored as they can nearly always be solved by removing/reinstalling or rolling back

I don't see that much fanboyism with regards to RAM, I think your often left with a wide choice and cannot really go wrong with the majority of branded items at the right speed or CAS, in fact I think the major role in deciding RAM is aesthetics...

I think its okay to be picky over PSU's, I'm sure many of us know what happens when they go wrong... There kind of needs to be discussions in this area, would be nice to have a sticky with a general list of the trusted brands as there isn't really that many to choose from...That way we can link members asking about them through, give them a recommendation about the amount of power they require and let them choose which they like based on budget or aesthetics.

One thing I definitely do not want to see is game fanboyism, I swear to god if I hear a COD/BF or DOTA/GW/LOL argument, I will flip the monopoly table... However console vs PC will be accepted providing that you are arguing for the PC...just kidding! :)

With regards to the example that the OP gave, any deliberate misinformation should put the member on the road towards a ban...sometimes mistakes are made so possibly a strike system? good moderation definitely comes into play!

[Paperchase]

Your font gave me cancer.

I didn't like the font either, but there is no reason to be rude about it.

On topic:

In my opinion person "A" is mainly at fault here because he bought a product just because it was recommended by some random bloke on the internet. (Which was recommended based upon no arguments). Instead person A could do some research on the product, and then decide for himself wether it's a good purchase or not.

[Huskie]

Your font gave me cancer.

I didn't like the font either, but there is no reason to be rude about it.

On topic:

In my opinion person "A" is mainly at fault here because he bought a product just because it was recommended by some random bloke on the internet. (Which was recommended based upon no arguments). Instead person A could do some research on the product, and then decide for himself wether it's a good purchase or not.

I'm sorry, I just can't take someone using that font seriously.