Take It With A Grain of Salt

Apple Matters is the third Mac-centric website that I have had the joy to published on. This is a very nice site with fairly intelligent and articulate readers which makes it very fun to post here. However, I have noticed that people who read my articles and comment on them (both here and on other sites that link to my pieces) tend to view me differently. In fact, they fall into two main categories, those that agree with me for the most part and feel I offer a valid point of view and those who think that I am a psychotic-Mac obsessed-raving lunatic-baised-idiotic-fan boy. (cough Bee- cough cough -ble- hack cough spit -brox)

However this trend goes beyond me and extends to quite a few people who write on websites that cater mainly to those who use Apple’s products. Those Apple-minded writers are often times ignored, jeered, insulted, belittled and otherwise not taken seriously. Now before some of you get your panties in a knot let me say this, quite a few of us bring it on ourselves. I, for one, have been raked over the coals for many of my posts and that is due to the fact that I tend to be an arrogant, condescending, self righteous, uncompromising jerk. I am aware that I can come across that way and I plan accordingly.

However several things have happened recently that might cause me to rethink my approach. After a few days of my posting of an article I google it to see who might have linked to it. Unfortunately not everyone who links to, or comments on, my articles leaves a trackback link. Thus quite a bit of useful comments are posted on other sites, and since I want to know what all of those people are saying I have to look around and read their post. After doing that enough I began to see an annoying pattern: people who aren’t fans of Apple have a hard time accepting most of my claims. Is this news? No. Is it annoying? Hell yes.

And here is why it bugs me so much. I have posted an idea that gets ridiculed on other non-Mac sites. Then, when a more general computing site posts the same idea people respond with lots of head nodding and praises. A good example of this was when I posted two Linux articles explaining my views on why Linux fails on the desktop. One of them got picked up by LinuxToday and it was criticized by most everyone on there. And yet two weeks later another Linux site picked up a story that basically said the exact same things. The only difference in the two pieces was that in this case it came from someone “inside” the Linux community and as a result it was praised as being insightful to the problems that Linux faces today. We both made the same point but I was insulted while the other author was lauded. Now, some might argue that the Linux user has more experience with Linux than a Mac user (true) and that his claims would carry more weight with the Linux community as a whole (also true). Or that I came across to harsh and combative (very true), but at some point you would expect that they would at least give me credit for something, wouldn’t you? I may not be a meteorologist but I can tell when it’s raining. So I ask again, why don’t I get the credit? Some credit? Any credit?

Part of the problem I have already mentioned, namely my attitude. Since I am not exactly coming across as a humble writer but instead as an arrogant Mac user I can understand many people’s hesitation to accept my views on blind faith. Of course, there is the additional stigma of being a “Mac User”. I have seen it many times online and encountered it aplenty at my job. People think that because you use a Mac you must be working on a “Fisher Price Computer”. Thus you don’t really know how a “real” computer works. Using a Mac means you don’t have any choices in software and of course whatever you run it on is going to be quite expensive. Now, all of that is a steaming pile of horse pucky but it does accurately reflect many of the outdated stereotypes that still exist. Another hurdle to cross is Microsoft. Just about every Apple writer that takes anything more than a lukewarm approach to criticizing anything Microsoft is cut down for being “out of touch” with the “real world”.

So, how can your average Apple writer be taken seriously on other tech sites not known for their friendliness to those who “think different”? Well, I suppose the biggest thing to do would be to drop (most) of the attitude and tone down the condescending tone we all too often find ourselves using. Maybe that would keep people from instantly disregarding whatever point we are trying to make. Of course there is still a mountain of ignorance when it comes to Apple but maybe if we try hard over these next few years we can do something about that. It is a very exciting time to be an Apple user and so now is the time to get the word out and try to inform others of all the great things Apple is doing. I suppose we will just have to do it calmly and hope for the best.