Fanboys tend to be Haters

Thank you, Airborne Gamer blog.

Weariness of fanboys led met to drop my membership in a certain Second Life Third Party Viewer (TPV) in-world group some time ago. The utility of the group for assistance with problems was inversely proportional to the size of the membership. "That viewer sucks so bad it makes me throw up." "I can't believe the sh*t they put out. No wonder Second Life is dying." "My dog can code better than that."

A few days ago I started being as vehemently nasty about a certain TPV after trying to help a frustrated noob that was talked into using it a few really horrible incidents of my own  -- like not being able to detach anything, particularly viewer-required attachments and a documented inventory loss -- just to see how it felt. "They put in so many bloatfeatures trying to show how clever they are that they forgot that non-basment dwellers use SL, too!" "If its about choice, why do I have to let the viewer do (fill-in-the-blank)?" "So many noobs I meet have been told to use this viewer to learn SL that they get confused and leave."

((sigh))

I didn't like it. I can't be that sort of person, a fanboy. To me, fanboys (or fangirls) are usually haters at heart. Curmudgeonly haters.

If you want to use a viewer other than the Official Viewer, fine. But don't unfairly criticize my choice to disagree. Don't spread vitriol based on your preference over verifiable facts. Most of the arguments I hear are from people that are afraid of change or too set in their ways to change. Sorry, but Change Happens. Deal with it. Adapt or leave. Found your own company or your own world or code your own viewer. Stop whining. Stop hating. You aren't being productive.

Mat Honan of Gizmodo (a site that I feel features fanboys not journalists, actually), put it rather nicely in a post about the backlash against the Windows 8 OS:

If you're not intrigued by Windows 8 and Metro, if you can't recognize that it's a big leap forward, if you're not excited about what it means for you, personally then you don't really care about technology; you care about brands. You care about platforms. You care about politics. You're a fanboy.

Look, we all lean certain ways. I have my own set of preferences. I tend to vote for Democrats and buy Apple products. But that's because they tend to support my priorities, not vice-versa. If the Democrats suddenly turned their backs on science, or Apple began pushing out products with buggy cluttered interfaces, I'd look elsewhere. I don't really get those who treat brands like sports teams, offering blind allegiance over self-interest. That's just zealotry. God bless that file system; my platform, right or wrong.

After considerable problems with Windows machines I tried an Apple and found it works with far fewer problems. Sure, I've blown more hard drives in Apple products than I have Windows machines, but generally, things are better. I haven't had to reinstall the OS once in 5-something years. The only Death Beachballs (the Apple equivalent of the Microsoft Blue Screen of Death) have occurred when I've done something stupid or various Second Life viewers have killed the system. I'm very happy with my iMac (and iPad and iPod Touch). But I don't consider myself a fangirl (Fact Check: I do have Apple t-shirts in Second Life but not in Real Life). I'm just someone who found something that works for her and found someone else to pony up the bucks to buy it (I love my brother!). I don't hate Windows and, by extension, Windows users.

As fond as I am of the Official Viewer for Second Life, I don't hate the other viewers (one in particular comes close, though) nor their users as others seem to hate me and/or my choice. Their hate makes me tired.