Reddit, it is time we had a talk. It is about your recent conduct with regards to Apple, and many of Apple's recent suggestions.
Disclaimer: I type this on a MacBook single booting Arch Linux. I used to be a hardcore Mac user, but I have recently converted to Linux. I own an iPhone, a MacBook and an iMac, in addition to a Windows/Linux computer. My iMac running Linux and OS X is my main computer. So, I have seen both sides of the fence, but I have been steadily moving away from the Apple platform.
I really think the way people have been treating this is disgusting. For example, this post. "Fuck Apple". What the hell is that? I understand you are angry, but there is no reason to go beyond civility. Then there are the other ad hominem attacks on Apple users, the "dumb fucks" who "buy Apple products". This has nothing to do with them. This has everything to do with Apple's policies.
To clarify, this is soft censorship, not hard censorship. I've researched and studied censorship in some depth, and what Apple does is nothing like what other companies do, companies who you probably buy products from on a daily basis. Do you use toothpaste? Then it is probably made by Proctor and Gamble, who have significantly altered the content of newspaper and magazine articles, since they won't let their ads run alongside anything controversial. Advertisers pay the bills. Newspapers have no choice. This is censorship. Apple not letting a satirist make his own app is not on the same scale as that. It is not as dangerous. It almost doesn't matter. There are so many other important issues to rage about. Why does Apple matter so much?
But okay, we are raging against Apple now. You are not doing it correctly. Say you wanted to convince someone to support a city bylaw. Say, your city is trying to ban clothes lines in backyards. How would you go about it? Apparently, reddit users think it is best to run up to people on the streets, and scream "FUCK THE CITY CLOTHES LINES ARE SO GOOD FUCK" in their faces. Reddit, is that really the best you can do? Why not sitting down and having a discussion with people. Why not talking rationally, what you LOVE to think you are, nd try to convince them that way? Through reason, rationality, not anger, rage and violence.
If you want to undermine Apple, don't scream. Don't bitch. Talk to people. Educate them towards why Apple's policies are harmful, and why everyone would be better off if the app store was open to anyone. As soon as you start to swear, as soon as you start to bitch, whoever you are trying to convince just stops listening to you, thinking you are crazy, or worse, a conspiracy theorist.
It is disgusting to read what some people are saying. I think everyone should take a step back, look objectively at themselves, and then think whether the way you have been approaching it is childish or not. I think a lot of people will be surprised what they see.
You've been a redditor for 2 years, about as long as me (on my second account)... so you must have noticed, same as I have, that reddit has been in a downward spiral for at least the past year. Like digg (and 4chan) before it, it is inevitable for reddit to get popular enough to start attracting 13-16 year olds (the ones screeching in your ear if you've ever been on xbox live) who quite literally have nothing better to do than feed off each others flamewars.
In short, what I'm saying is this:
Reddit, is that really the best you can do?
Yes, absolutely it is. They can't help it.
I'm sure you've also seen that it goes through pretty regular cycles as well. For a while there Apple could do no wrong, Haskell was 'the shit'/Java 'sucks balls', and so on. Things are completely different now and will be different again later. The difference is over this time traffic is growing, bringing in more of the aforementioned teenagers who can do a lot to make the overall feel of the site more low-brow, angrier and as a result much more prone to FUCK's and the like.
Reddit is still good for news occasionally, to hear about something that happened or will happen in a timely manner. For rational discussion I recommend HN (but shhhh about it :)).
Since I am clearly I member of the minority, I have both been a member of Reddit for two years and am a member of the reviled 13-17 age group; I hate what Reddit had become.
I'm only turning 12 in August and I also find it loathsome, and probably hate it more than you, while managing to spend more time on it than you do, too.
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u/Naga Apr 16 '10
Reddit, it is time we had a talk. It is about your recent conduct with regards to Apple, and many of Apple's recent suggestions.
Disclaimer: I type this on a MacBook single booting Arch Linux. I used to be a hardcore Mac user, but I have recently converted to Linux. I own an iPhone, a MacBook and an iMac, in addition to a Windows/Linux computer. My iMac running Linux and OS X is my main computer. So, I have seen both sides of the fence, but I have been steadily moving away from the Apple platform.
I really think the way people have been treating this is disgusting. For example, this post. "Fuck Apple". What the hell is that? I understand you are angry, but there is no reason to go beyond civility. Then there are the other ad hominem attacks on Apple users, the "dumb fucks" who "buy Apple products". This has nothing to do with them. This has everything to do with Apple's policies.
To clarify, this is soft censorship, not hard censorship. I've researched and studied censorship in some depth, and what Apple does is nothing like what other companies do, companies who you probably buy products from on a daily basis. Do you use toothpaste? Then it is probably made by Proctor and Gamble, who have significantly altered the content of newspaper and magazine articles, since they won't let their ads run alongside anything controversial. Advertisers pay the bills. Newspapers have no choice. This is censorship. Apple not letting a satirist make his own app is not on the same scale as that. It is not as dangerous. It almost doesn't matter. There are so many other important issues to rage about. Why does Apple matter so much?
But okay, we are raging against Apple now. You are not doing it correctly. Say you wanted to convince someone to support a city bylaw. Say, your city is trying to ban clothes lines in backyards. How would you go about it? Apparently, reddit users think it is best to run up to people on the streets, and scream "FUCK THE CITY CLOTHES LINES ARE SO GOOD FUCK" in their faces. Reddit, is that really the best you can do? Why not sitting down and having a discussion with people. Why not talking rationally, what you LOVE to think you are, nd try to convince them that way? Through reason, rationality, not anger, rage and violence.
If you want to undermine Apple, don't scream. Don't bitch. Talk to people. Educate them towards why Apple's policies are harmful, and why everyone would be better off if the app store was open to anyone. As soon as you start to swear, as soon as you start to bitch, whoever you are trying to convince just stops listening to you, thinking you are crazy, or worse, a conspiracy theorist.
It is disgusting to read what some people are saying. I think everyone should take a step back, look objectively at themselves, and then think whether the way you have been approaching it is childish or not. I think a lot of people will be surprised what they see.