In Defense of the Fanboy

Ummm... by Golias · 2006-12-16 01:51 · Score: 4, Funny

Where would my own useless mental database of knowledge about Green Lantern and Mobile Suit Gundam be without fanboys?

I think you can stop talking about them in the third person.

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Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

Re:Ummm... by mordors9 · 2006-12-16 03:08 · Score: 1

SHHHH! He thinks the voices in his head are real people. Don't trigger a violent episode.
Re:Ummm... by nametaken · 2006-12-16 06:18 · Score: 1

Worst. Summary. Ever.

We're discussing it over on alt.nerd.obsessive
Re:Ummm... by fadesbane · 2006-12-16 12:14 · Score: 1

If Descarte had had broadband, the line would have been: I think obsessively about complex fringe elements of pop-culture, therefore I am a fanboy.

Perhaps... by Dersaidin · 2006-12-16 02:10 · Score: 1

Some things are awesome and deserve fanboys. But some of those fanboys are way off...

Re:Perhaps... by bedonnant · 2006-12-16 03:10 · Score: 1

indeed. us rigtheous fanboys are belittled by them. The true fanboy retains some moderation in fanboyism. Isn't that what fanboys are all about?

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~~~ Paf. Le chien.
Re:Perhaps... by BakaHoushi · 2006-12-16 04:24 · Score: 2, Insightful

I believe fanboyism is fine, like most things, in moderation.

I'm an obsessive gamer. And Otaku. And... well, okay, I'm a lot of varieties of nerd/geek. And I do spend a lot more time involved in these activities than most people would consider "normal," but I keep boundaries.

As much as I love some particular items that have come from the Japanese culture, I have no intentions of moving to Japan, learning the language (it'd be sweet to order things that won't come to America/get it early, but it's an extremely complicated and, in my opinion, somewhat archaic language. English may be complicated grammatically, but we still only use 26 characters, most of which are identical to Romance/Germanic languages. And, as a multi-lingual friend has said to me, other than our grammar, English's biggest problem, if anything, is that it's overly simple in structure.). I don't believe the Japanese are a superior race. (I believe they're people. Which means I believe them capable of amazing things, but most of them are still as stupid as the average homo sapien)

I guess what I'm saying is the difference between a good and bad fanboy is, at the end of the day, the good fanboy keeps his obsessive hobbies in check. He might like to dress up as a Jedi or a Star Fleet Commander for fun, but that's all it is: fun.
Re:Perhaps... by cp.tar · 2006-12-16 05:15 · Score: 1

I have no intentions of moving to Japan, learning the language (it'd be sweet to order things that won't come to America/get it early, but it's an extremely complicated and, in my opinion, somewhat archaic language. English may be complicated grammatically, but we still only use 26 characters, most of which are identical to Romance/Germanic languages. And, as a multi-lingual friend has said to me, other than our grammar, English's biggest problem, if anything, is that it's overly simple in structure.)

The only problem with the structure of the English language is that it gave birth to TGG.

But I'd like to know why exactly you consider Japanese language archaic... and do you consider it complicated for any reason besides writing.
I know it seems irrelevant, but I'm really interested.

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Re:Perhaps... by BakaHoushi · 2006-12-16 07:44 · Score: 1

I believe in this case it was a matter of poor wording. What I simply meant was that the language is far too complicated in a modern world. I've heard something to the effect of the Japanese language (in terms of writing) being so complicated that normally someone can't become literate until about the age of 9.

Ironically, the Japanese, IIRC, have one of the highest literacy rates in the world. However, that may be due to the culture of the country, and the priorities of the people in general (I.E. education valued more than in other nations).

So, what I'm sort of getting at is the difficulty of the written language, as well as its dissimilarities to other languages in this regard. (I.E. While not necessarily easy for just anyone, translations from Spanish to English, or English to French, or many other frequently spoken languages is relatively painless.)

I believe a worldwide language is sort of what the world is headed for. Thinking of what language would be best suited for a wide audience, I think a Romance language would probably be best. (Though English does work, though I may be biased, but a lot of the industrialized world is sort of slowly teaching it if simply for easier trade with the US/Canadian/British/Australian businesses)

But at the same time, IANAL (I Am Not A Linguist) and a lot of what I'm saying here is second hand from someone I know who speaks 3 or 4 languages. So, I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, I'm just essentially letting my mouth/fingers run. Bad habit.
Re:Perhaps... by joeljkp · 2006-12-16 09:41 · Score: 1

Let's not forget that our entire legal system is based on dueling fanboys (fanpersons?).

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Re: Perhaps... by Harry_Ballsak · 2006-12-16 10:51 · Score: 0

Some things are awesome and deserve fanboys... Look at me, every time I see a new release of Window$ it makes me squeal like a third grade schoolgirl :p
Re:Perhaps... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 14:09 · Score: 0
You're wrong on a good few points there. I used to live in Japan and work in Japanese schools, so I'll enlighten you a bit.
- Literacy in children progresses at a similar rate to in british schools (can't compare to US ones as I've never been there)
- Japanese grammar is no more complex than English, and has less exceptions to the rules (all verbs conjugate as part of only two types, with only *3* exceptions).
- Education isn't placed as highly as you'd suspect. Most Japanese schools are woefully underfunded, and what money there is tends to be badly allocated.
- Otaku doesn't mean what you think it does. It actually means someone who takes their obsessions too far, ie. someone who spends all their money on manga/anime merchandise, never talks about anything else. I know many people who are interested in Japanese popular culture, including myself, but I only know one real otaku, and literally every other word he says is Gundam
Re:Perhaps... by BakaHoushi · 2006-12-16 15:10 · Score: 1

Well, I suppose this just points out what they say, that people who aren't educated on a matter should keep their mouths shut (or at least double check their sources). But 2 notes:
1. I never meant to say Japanese spoken grammar was complicated. When referring to Japanese complexity, I'm speaking almost entirely of the written language.
2. I know what the actual Japanese definition of Otaku is. However, I believe the term has been adopted into the American lexicon, albeit with an alternate definition. Essentially, it's an Americanized bastardized version of the word. Some disagree with this, but I much prefer it to calling myself an American anime fan. Otaku is just much faster and, generally, the point is understood.

But yes, overall, I have no idea what I'm saying, so I'll quit while I'm ahead and take my leave.
Re:Perhaps... by Cyberax · 2006-12-16 15:47 · Score: 1

Have you ever tried to ask non-native English speaker about the complexity of English?

English is analytical language and it is very alien to people speaking synthetic (Arabic, Russian, Japanese) or agglutinating languages (Turkish).

I still don't get when I should use articles because my native language (Russian) lacks them comletely.
Re:Perhaps... by Hal_Porter · 2006-12-17 02:08 · Score: 1

You know, a language were 50% of the words are 'Gundam' has too low a word entropy to be a real human language.

See the Voynich Manuscript for more information. It's a mysterious manuscript that has never been decoded. Interestingly, it has the right statistical properties to be a real document, e.g (from the wiki)

Statistical analysis of the text reveals patterns similar to natural languages.[3] For instance, the word frequencies follow Zipf's law, and the word entropy (about 10 bits per word) is similar to that of English or Latin texts.

Now, if you look at computer to computer communication, there's a tendency to increased entropy over time. E.g. compare a 300 baud modem with a 8Mbit DSL one. The modulation has become more complex, and the modulated data looks more like white noise to someone who doesn't understand it. Even worse, techniques like Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum actually send a signal below the noise floor, before de spreading.

Which makes me wonder if we could even detect communications from ultra advanced civilisations, even if they happened to be still using wavelengths we have sensors for. Which doesn't seem likely either. E.g. a human civilisation would likely be unable to build sensors to detect a signal sent using technology from a hundred or so years in the future, and the likely difference in technology from an alien civilisation would likely be much greater than that.

Sorry, couldn't resist going off on a wild tangent, given the topic the article covers.

--
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Re:Perhaps... by cp.tar · 2006-12-17 02:14 · Score: 1

I've heard something to the effect of the Japanese language (in terms of writing) being so complicated that normally someone can't become literate until about the age of 9.

Well, at least not writing Kanji... it takes a little while to learn a few thousand symbols, just as it would take a child speaking any western language to learn how to correctly spell a few thousand words and phrases. Check the Slashdot audience, you'll see many people still have many problems - and I'm talking about native speakers here.

On the other hand, as impractical as Oriental writing systems may seem to us, they are tremendously practical once you learn them.
First of all, they are truly symbolic; two people speaking two different Chinese languages (or, several decades ago, even someone speaking Japanese) can communicate by writing alone. If they spoke without outlining the symbols in the air, they would probably fail to understand each other.
Furthermore, it's faster to read. Top-to-bottom direction is more convenient than side-to-side, and symbols themselves always occupy the same amount of space.

Now, I do not yet speak much Chinese or Japanese, though I plan to change that in a few years' time... but from what little I know, the writing system isn't too complicated for the modern world. It's just too error-intolerant.

So, what I'm sort of getting at is the difficulty of the written language, as well as its dissimilarities to other languages in this regard. (I.E. While not necessarily easy for just anyone, translations from Spanish to English, or English to French, or many other frequently spoken languages is relatively painless.)

Now, I am a linguist. And a translator.
And no translation is easy, except for, perhaps, technical translations between languages with well-established terminologies.

It even goes so far that I can translate English poetry to one Croatian dialect, but not to another one (although they should rightly be called languages, but that's yet another problem) - just because one is iambic, like English, while the other is trochaic.
Some things will take you hours or days or even more because they're so easy to say in the source language, but almost impossible to say in the target language. Sometimes an author will explain in detail a concept strange to the source language, and trivial in the target language... and you have to account for all that.

Besides, I may be wrong, but isn't Japanese more frequently spoken than French or Italian?

I believe a worldwide language is sort of what the world is headed for. Thinking of what language would be best suited for a wide audience, I think a Romance language would probably be best. (Though English does work, though I may be biased, but a lot of the industrialized world is sort of slowly teaching it if simply for easier trade with the US/Canadian/British/Australian businesses)

Actually, that would be Chinese.

If the world were heading for a single, unifying language, I think Chinese would be the best choice; however, I don't think it's going to happen.

Anyway, note the advantages of Chinese: simple grammar, no morphology, allegedly the most convenient language for computerised (phonetic) analysis. So the writing is a bit more complicated; that's actually a lesser problem.

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Re:Perhaps... by cp.tar · 2006-12-17 02:19 · Score: 1

2. I know what the actual Japanese definition of Otaku is. However, I believe the term has been adopted into the American lexicon, albeit with an alternate definition. Essentially, it's an Americanized bastardized version of the word. Some disagree with this, but I much prefer it to calling myself an American anime fan. Otaku is just much faster and, generally, the point is understood.

This kind of bastardized borrowing is very common and very interesting...
For instance, the English word friend was borrowed into Croatian, but the meaning has changed - it means someone more than an acquaintance, but much less than a true friend; say, someone you know and associate with, but nothing more than that.

Do you know of any more borrowed words like that in English? Especially from Japanese...

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Re:Perhaps... by tehcyder · 2006-12-18 04:15 · Score: 1

as a multi-lingual friend has said to me, other than our grammar, English's biggest problem, if anything, is that it's overly simple in structure.
English grammar is pretty easy as there's hardly anything to it, it's the vocabulary that's normally seen as the problem by people learning it.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:Perhaps... by BakaHoushi · 2006-12-18 07:05 · Score: 1

Well, that pretty much proved me wrong on just about every account.

As for the most spoken language/the language of business...

I've heard Chinese is the most spoken language in the world.
I've heard French is, too.

Honestly, I don't know what language is "most important." I suspect a great deal of politics may be involved in deciding such things. So, I'll just leave without anymore boneheaded predictions.

So....are you saying I'm OK now? by thomasdz · 2006-12-16 02:18 · Score: 5, Funny

My obsession with PDP-11 computers (well, actually, all things DEC) and Valerie Bertinelli is OK now?
So I can actually speak in public about my pilgrimages to Maynard Massachusetts, 31736 Broadbeach Road, Malibu, and 3361 Coldwater Canyon, Beverly Hills California?
ummm...not that I know those addresses by heart or anything... :-)

TDz.
1) hmmmm...I wonder...should I hit the "Post Anonymously" button?
2) yes, my wife does know about my obsessions
3) how many Slashdotters can guess my age from this post?

--
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.

Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by beakerMeep · 2006-12-16 02:23 · Score: 5, Funny

I was going to moderate your comment but I couldn't find the "+1 creepy" option.

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meep
Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by thomasdz · 2006-12-16 02:30 · Score: 1

I was going to moderate your comment but I couldn't find the "+1 creepy" option.
Valerie?? Is that you?!? How have you been since the breakup with Eddie?!!?!?

--
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by multipartmixed · 2006-12-16 03:54 · Score: 1

You were born around 1963.

Where do I claim my prize?

BTW, I heard a rumour that Van Halen is getting back together, with DLR as the front man.

--

Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 04:14 · Score: 1, Interesting

If you are a true DEC and PDP-11 Fanboy. then you will know what the following means

1) F342 - Odd Address or other Trap 4

2) The PDP-11/70 Front panel bootstap sequence.

If you don't know these then you can't honestly call youself a DEC Fanboy can you?
Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by Cylix · 2006-12-16 07:05 · Score: 1

3 DEC

--
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by MagusSlurpy · 2006-12-16 12:42 · Score: 1

Who's Valerie BertAndErnie?

--
My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
Re:So....are you saying I'm OK now? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 14:58 · Score: 0

Dude, you're freaking out all the 1,000,000+ Slashdotters, stop it, OK?

hey! by SuperStretchy · 2006-12-16 02:21 · Score: 1

Being a fanboy of Dark Angel is nothing to be ashamed of!

Re:hey! by stoolpigeon · 2006-12-16 03:19 · Score: 1

yeah it is. that show had such promise and proceeded to suck at unprecedented levels.

--
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Re:hey! by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 04:42 · Score: 2, Funny

And here we have an example of a fanboy vs whiner "debate".
Re:hey! by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 06:59 · Score: 0

You should try being a fan of the real Dark Angel.

Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 02:30 · Score: 0

http://marachan.comicgenesis.com/d/20040512.html

There are fanboys... and then there are FANBOYS.

How come there are no fanboys of soap and shampoo?

Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by cp.tar · 2006-12-16 02:54 · Score: 1

How come there are no fanboys of soap and shampoo?

Of course there are. They are usually called metrosexuals. Or gays.
Not to mention other names.

But see? every kind of fanboy, including soap and shampoo fanboys gets dissed by everyone else, including other fanboys.

Truly, we never grow up.

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Ignore this signature. By order.
Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by lastchance_000 · 2006-12-16 03:09 · Score: 2, Insightful

And you can be a fanboy of the Oakland Raiders and noone blinks an eye...
Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by cp.tar · 2006-12-16 03:17 · Score: 1

And you can be a fanboy of the Oakland Raiders and noone blinks an eye...

Check Google... ah, that's what I'd thought... a football club.

Though in Europe football is the name of a completely different game, let's pretend that they're the same for all practical purposes.

If I see a football fan, I usually immediately think "what a moron" or, more often, "what a bunch of morons".
Seeing quite a lot of people wearing war^H^H^Hface paint, honking like mad and singing badly and, most importantly, heavily intoxicated somehow doesn't put any nice imags in my mind.

So yes, there are people who not only blink their eyes, but sometimes even prudently take cover when that particular kind of fanboy comes in their general vicinity.

It's just that it's a minority, so it seems reversed.

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Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by stoolpigeon · 2006-12-16 03:23 · Score: 1

Seeing quite a lot of people wearing war^H^H^Hface paint, honking like mad and singing badly and, most importantly, heavily intoxicated somehow doesn't put any nice imags in my mind.

that's funny because nice images are exactly what i get. when the world cup was in the u.s. and i lived in chicago it was awesome having fans walking about in big groups, singing, honking, etc. i'd never seen anything like it and haven't since, it was a lot of fun. maybe seeing it too much is the problem. for me it was a really novel and cool thing.

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It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by cp.tar · 2006-12-16 03:29 · Score: 2, Insightful

that's funny because nice images are exactly what i get. when the world cup was in the u.s. and i lived in chicago it was awesome having fans walking about in big groups, singing, honking, etc. i'd never seen anything like it and haven't since, it was a lot of fun. maybe seeing it too much is the problem. for me it was a really novel and cool thing.

Well, I live in Croatia.

We have probably the worst-behaved fans in the world, second only to the English.
And the UK plays nice with the rest of the world, so they don't export their misbehaving fans.

But even without that, I don't understand football, and neither do many of my friends.
So whenever somebody starts talking football, we look at them just like they'd look at us if we started discussing Indo-European linguistics or Windows vs. Linux.

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Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by Guppy06 · 2006-12-16 08:02 · Score: 1

"How come there are no fanboys of soap and shampoo?"

Shampoo?
Re:Sometimes a fanboy is just a fanboy... by Stormwatch · 2006-12-16 11:39 · Score: 1

Shampoo?

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Circumcision is child abuse.

Well. by ari+wins · 2006-12-16 02:36 · Score: 3, Funny

I'd imagine that the /. fanboi's are going to tear TFA apart.

Of course, I haven't read it, so I could be wrong.

--
Don't worry if you're a kleptomaniac, you can always take something for it.

Re:Well. by BakaHoushi · 2006-12-16 04:32 · Score: 1

Wrong.

A true /. fanboy wouldn't even RTFA.

A TRUE /. fanboy just bashes what he ASSUMES the article said.
Re:Well. by ari+wins · 2006-12-16 05:21 · Score: 1

/me steps off soapbox and places you firmly on it.

Read it again, I think I went just barely over your head.

--
Don't worry if you're a kleptomaniac, you can always take something for it.
Re:Well. by Dunbal · 2006-12-16 06:47 · Score: 1

A TRUE /. fanboy just bashes what he ASSUMES the article said.

No, jackass. A true /. fanboy bashes a post like yours without even reading it. Moron.

It's a joke - laugh ;)

--
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Re:Well. by BakaHoushi · 2006-12-16 07:50 · Score: 1

Sorry. I didn't actually read your original post, duh. Really great /. fanboys don't even read posts before they respond to them. (I'm on break right now, though)

Male obsessions by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 02:39 · Score: 2, Interesting

It is typical of the male to concentrate on things that most females (as in the guy's wife in tfa) don't understand. I think it's something like the same kind of attention my cat pays to a mouse hole. Maybe it comes from the same place, ie. the ability to stalk prey. Men are hunters, women are gatherers. They're different skill sets and different personality traits are rewarded. Most of our technological progress probably comes from the fact that males are willing to concentrate on things that are just stupid to the average female. All that is good.

On the other hand, part of the definition (according to wiki) of the Fanboy is the tendency to ignore facts that don't fit said fanboy's conception of reality. That sounds a lot like the kind of fundamentalist religion (Christian and Moslem and Jewish for that matter) that are currently making much of the world such a miserable place.

So, should we thank fanboys or not? Well, if you include scientists and religious fanatics as fanboys, I think it's pretty much a wash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy

Re:Male obsessions by ettlz · 2006-12-16 02:49 · Score: 5, Funny

It is typical of the male to concentrate on things that most females don't understand.
Um... boobs?
Re:Male obsessions by cp.tar · 2006-12-16 03:01 · Score: 3, Interesting

Most of our technological progress probably comes from the fact that males are willing to concentrate on things that are just stupid to the average female.

Since I can readily think of several things females are willing to concentrate on, and which are at the same time supid or downright incomprehensible to the average male, I do wonder what comes from that? Any kind of progress?

Whatever, really... Fanboyism is pretty much a generic trait of human personality, from what I've had a chance to witness... whereever you're given a choice and you choose one option, you're more likely to defend it than change your mind.
And if you do change your mind at some point, your fanboyism quotient rises.
That's why ex-smokers are even more intolerant to smokers than me, and that says something. And, of course, the most zealous fanatics are the converts.

--
Ignore this signature. By order.
Re:Male obsessions by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 03:28 · Score: 0, Flamebait

It is typical of the male to concentrate on things that most females (as in the guy's wife in tfa) don't understand. I'm going to get modded down to hell for this, but here goes..

Stuff like philosophy, the sciences and art? Stuff that actually furthers humanity? Yeah I know, but why? And nobody give me that women have been repressed crap..
Re:Male obsessions by cp.tar · 2006-12-16 03:54 · Score: 1

I'm going to get modded down to hell for this, but here goes..

This would have sounded so much bolder if you hadn't posted anonymously...

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Re:Male obsessions by JebusIsLord · 2006-12-16 05:28 · Score: 1

No kidding, but I guess the term itself is male-oriented. Most women, however, are avid shoe-fanpersons.

--
Jeremy
Re:Male obsessions by Eli+Gottlieb · 2006-12-16 05:36 · Score: 1

Because while some women whined to her girlfriend about her husband fighting with her girlfriend's husband, both men were driven by their competition to create something. Then at least one of those things wound up of some worth to humanity, be it art, science, philosophy, religion, literature, etc.
Re:Male obsessions by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 06:45 · Score: 0

Boobs ... two of my favorite things EVER.
Re:Male obsessions by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 07:37 · Score: 0

Women don't understand boobs. They think they're for feeding kids.
Re:Male obsessions by Machtyn · 2006-12-16 08:45 · Score: 0

Hmm, I think that's backwards...
females understand boobs, but the male still likes to concentrate on it.
Re:Male obsessions by ettlz · 2006-12-16 11:27 · Score: 1

Boobs ... two of my favorite things EVER.
Why stop at two, mate?
Re:Male obsessions by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 17:47 · Score: 0

Boobs ... two of my favorite things EVER.
Why stop at two, mate? Good point, my three favorite things EVER.
Re:Male obsessions by Anonymous+McCartneyf · 2006-12-16 19:53 · Score: 3, Insightful

Have you heard of Marie Curie?
Grandma Moses? Georgia O'Keefe? Frida Kahle?
Jane Austen? Emily Dickenson? Maya Angelou? Mary Shelley?
Harriet Tubman? Susan B. Anthony? Sacajawea? Florence Nightingale?
Women have not been repressed, but they have been suppressed at times.

--
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
Re:Male obsessions by FishWithAHammer · 2006-12-16 21:22 · Score: 1

The owners of the pairs might get annoyed.

Unless you're thinking of Total Recall, in which case you are a scary person.

--
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
Re:Male obsessions by AussieVamp2 · 2006-12-16 23:53 · Score: 1

Or Triple-Breasted Whore of Eroticon 6

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Not Free SF Reader
Re:Male obsessions by cp.tar · 2006-12-17 02:26 · Score: 1

I guess the term itself is male-oriented.

Whether the rabid feminists like it or not, the male gender is still the generic one in... well, all Indo-European languages I can think of right now.

Political corectness is violence against mind and against language. So all politically correct persons can kiss my... what? donkey?

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Re:Male obsessions by ErikZ · 2006-12-17 08:45 · Score: 1

Surely Eroticon 6 has more than just one whore?

I mean, just look at the name of the planet! It would be horrible if their speciality was flower arranging or something.

--
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.

The obvious follow-up by realinvalidname · 2006-12-16 02:44 · Score: 2, Interesting

So who would win in a fight: Hal Jordan or Char Aznable?

Re:The obvious follow-up by phoenixwade · 2006-12-16 03:17 · Score: 1

Neither one. How could you even suggest such a thing - Obliously it's the new Green lantern, a marine, grew up in the ghetto, and can kick Superman's butt......

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Re:The obvious follow-up by Nitewing98 · 2006-12-16 05:34 · Score: 1

Where have YOU been? Hal hasn't been a GL for some time. In fact, last I checked, he was the new Spectre, replacing Jim Corrigan.

(sigh) I miss the old GL corps...and the Guardians...

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Nitewing '98
Everything works...in theory.
Re:The obvious follow-up by Cylix · 2006-12-16 07:09 · Score: 1

Hal is a GL....

He was magically transformed from the Spectre back to Hal...

Yes, it really was just a poof and I'm not really sure why...

Perhaps a true fan boy can enlighten us...

The GL Corps are back, guardians are back, and pretty much the whole slew is back...

Even Kyle is back as ION again...

Yeah, I never did stop reading Green Lantern and I suppose I mostly kept it as a service to the local comic shop.

--
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
Re:The obvious follow-up by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 07:28 · Score: 0

So who would win in a fight: Hal Jordan or Char Aznable?
I see that knowledge about Gundam here is sorely lacking. It's obvious Hal would win any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. But if you put Char in a red Mobile Suit...
Re:The obvious follow-up by alexhard · 2006-12-16 09:27 · Score: 1

So who would win in a fight: Hal Jordan or Char Aznable? Chuck Norris

--
Infinite time means everything that can happen, will. You being you is absolutely incidental. You do not exist.
Re:The obvious follow-up by Stormwatch · 2006-12-16 13:25 · Score: 1

So who would win in a fight: Hal Jordan or Char Aznable?
Chuck Norris
That is incorrect.

--
Circumcision is child abuse.
Re:The obvious follow-up by Anonymous+McCartneyf · 2006-12-16 20:02 · Score: 1

DC rebooted its universe again last February or thereabouts. It was the 20th anniv. of their Crisis of Infinite Worlds, and somehow they found some loose ends. Thus, "poof." (Glad to hear Kyle Raner wasn't simply killed...)
Disclaimer: I am not a true fanboy of DC. But I followed the DC universe for several months, maybe a year, until right before the reboot. This included reading the DC website.

--
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney

I agree! by sg3000 · 2006-12-16 03:05 · Score: 5, Interesting

Great article!

Fanboys are a national treasure. Their diligence to spending hours/days/years nurturing and cataloging their obsession provide a useful function for the rest of us. Like a beaver spending its life building and maintaining a dam, or an oyster taking a piece of dirt and slowly making a pearl, we benefit from the years of their hard work for the few short moments when we care.

I'm sure we all go through periods when we run across something cool and it keeps our interest for a few weeks. We develop an interest and we're grateful to find the web site of some guy who has obsessed about our new subject for most of his life. We satisfy our desire for learning about whatever the subject du jour is, and then we go about our lives. I for one appreciate the effort they put into their obsession.

For example, over the years, I've developed or rekindled an interest in random topics: the show "The Prisoner" (from the 1960s), Magic the Gathering (which I hadn't played for 10 years), the musician Donovan, and other oddball things. I thought it was cool that one quick search on the Web revealed information that probably took all of someone's free time for several years (reading biographies, attending fan conventions, and talking to other hardcore fans):

1. I know that from the opening sequence from the Prisoner describes both the desire to get secrets from the spy named Number 6 but was also a pun for conformity: "What do you want?" Was he saying "Information" or "In formation"? Neat.

2. I know that the rules for "banding" were changed three times for MTG. Nifty.

3. I know that Donovan sang on the song "Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper. And Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin may or may not have played guitar on "Hurdy Gurdy Man", but John Paul Jones (the bassist from Led Zeppelin) did play bass on the song. Neato.

Could I have lived my life having never learned this info? Sure. Am I glad to learn this trivia? Yes. With fanboys, I can do both! Fanboys are like the Cliff Notes for millions of subjects, albeit disproportionately on Hobbits, lightsabers, or even Billy Joel.

I'm not mocking them, of course. I think it's funny because we're all obsessed about something or another -- they're called hobbies. For example, I probably seem to be a fanboy about some topics (I'll let the bored Slashdot reader sift through my previous posts to figure those out).

Anyway, here's to you, fanboys! Keep up the good work!

--
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.

Re:I agree! by justthinkit · 2006-12-16 04:14 · Score: 1

Here is a still living example of fanboys helping fanboys -- a FAQ for the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball game. One of the greatest pins I have ever played, and complicated to say the least, this machine was in arcades a dozen years ago. I benefited from and ended up contributing to this detailed "How To" page many many moons ago, yet it is still accessible to Tibetan farmers young and old. Amazing.

--
I come here for the love
Re:I agree! by Das+Modell · 2006-12-16 09:59 · Score: 2, Insightful

I've always defined fanboy differently. To me, "fanboy" means a person, usually a teenager, who is aggressively and blindly obsessed with something to the point of going batshit crazy if somebody criticizes it. Usually their obsession is a movie, video game or band. They deflect criticism with flames and amazing leaps of logic (like "yeah, the game crashes every five minutes, but that only makes it more challenging and weeds out the noobs who aren't hardcore enough"). If the fanboy's target of obsession has some kind of competiton, they will irrationally attack it at every turn, just because it's a competitor.

Fanboys suck balls.
Re:I agree! by tehcyder · 2006-12-18 03:58 · Score: 1

Usually their obsession is a movie, video game or band.
Except on slashdot, where it will be a particular Operating System.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! by smittyoneeach · 2006-12-16 03:05 · Score: 3, Funny

Attention all planets of the Solar Federation!!
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation!!!
We have assumed control.
We have assumed control.
We have assumed control.

--
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear

Additionally by Guaranteed · 2006-12-16 03:09 · Score: 2, Funny

It is a great method of birth control

Fanboy goes meta by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 03:11 · Score: 1, Funny

A fanboy fanboy !

In Defense of the Fanboy by pete-classic · 2006-12-16 03:16 · Score: 1

Tell 'em, Steve-Dave!

-Peter

Funny how it is always fanboy by axel_pressbutton · 2006-12-16 03:38 · Score: 2, Insightful

... Clearly fangirls have better things to do.

Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Lavene · 2006-12-16 04:44 · Score: 1

... Clearly fangirls have better things to do. Yes we have. Since we are the new hyperintelligent pandimensional beings from Magrathea we are studying you from a position where you think you controll us...
We have long since given up finding the ultimate answer though.
Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 06:13 · Score: 0

Take a look at some Harry Potter fansites at some point, man. Fangirls are worse if anything.
Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Dunbal · 2006-12-16 06:42 · Score: 1

hyperintelligent pandimensional beings from Magrathea

But - but... you don't look like mice...

--
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 13:09 · Score: 0

Dude, it's just a different 3 dimensional crossection
Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 13:41 · Score: 0

The problem is not fangirls. It's Harry Potter fans. But hey, there's no accounting for bad taste...
Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Merls+the+Sneaky · 2006-12-16 15:31 · Score: 1

I for one welcome our hyperintelligent pandimensional beings from Magrathea overlords..... Sorry i had to.
Re:Funny how it is always fanboy by Anonymous+McCartneyf · 2006-12-16 20:13 · Score: 1

Yep. I, for one, decorate the walls with posters of Paul McCartney from when he was young and beautiful. Or for that matter, from when he was middle-aged and beautiful.;)
If I'm really feeling daring, I buy his albums: darn the recording industry, full speed ahead! Trust me, there are a lot of McCartney albums even if you don't count Beatles releases. Some of them are hard to find now, I warn you...

--
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney

It's not just fanboys.... by jozeph78 · 2006-12-16 03:43 · Score: 2, Insightful

Whatever your bag, the internet has the ability to promote it beyond whatever was possible prior to having such a simple medium of information exchange.

The best part is you aren't judged for your expression beyond the content of that expression. The worst part is the empowerment by way of obscure unity provided to the "fan boy" who reads without question of credibility. It's a problem when righteousness ensues a night of staying up till 6am washing down caffeine pills with ballz soda.

Media hasn't changed folks, only the medium.

--
Ever done a `man` on `top` ?

Re: Shampoo Fanboy... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 03:47 · Score: 0

Hmm.

Pert Plus is the emergency choice when all else fails, but is not recommended. TreSemme makes a better shampoo, because it's not thixotropic like ketchup, but doesn't run everywhere.

At the lowest are the Marriott complimentary bottles, because the manufacturer made a mistake on the packaging and failed to leave enough neck opening space. But You can punch a pinhole in the side to let the air through and it works better.

BTTF by Rod+Beauvex · 2006-12-16 03:59 · Score: 1

I was just reading that same artical last night. :D

liar by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 04:46 · Score: 0

Real computer nerds don't date. That's for poseurs who don't know how many spells a 5th level magic-user can cast.

In defense of the Fangirl by 32771 · 2006-12-16 04:52 · Score: 3, Informative

For some reason I mostly meet serious engineers and family people but it once happened that
I went to a conference in California with some of my colleagues. There we were sitting in a hotel lounge fuzzing around with our laptops trying to get WLAN to work. Some girl sat nearby and said out of the blue that she didn't have any problems with her MAC to get trough their 'firewall' and that only pc people like us usually have problems with it.

I was taken aback, speechless, well I probably mumbled something. I have a MAC myself and was maybe a MAC fanboy as long as they used PowerPCs as CPUs, yet I didn't say anything.

There she was:
1. female
2. geeky
3. audacious
4. MAC fangirl (maybe convertible to a PowerPC fangirl?)

She might have been the last crazy woman out there for me and I didn't say anything.

Damn!

--
Je me souviens.

Re:In defense of the Fangirl by racebit · 2006-12-16 06:25 · Score: 0

You might lose a testicle by an angry mac fanboi if you keep calling his apple a MAC.
Re:In defense of the Fangirl by MsGeek · 2006-12-16 06:54 · Score: 1

Media Access Control fangirl or Macintosh fangirl? The world waits for your reply.

--
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Re:In defense of the Fangirl by 32771 · 2006-12-16 07:06 · Score: 1

Well, given that it comes from Macintosh and is never written all uppercase you have a point.

I'm probably not such a fanboy after all. Maybe I never deserved her anyway.

--
Je me souviens.
Re:In defense of the Fangirl by racebit · 2006-12-16 07:13 · Score: 0

now now. don't be so hard on yourself. we all make stupid mistakes.
Re:In defense of the Fangirl by 32771 · 2006-12-16 07:22 · Score: 1

See my reply to the guy who wanted to remove one of my testicles. I must admit he has a point, not about my testicles but about the propper spelling of Mac. I'm ashamed, I've neglected my Mac lately and dealt with too much network stuff.

--
Je me souviens.
Re:In defense of the Fangirl by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 13:28 · Score: 1, Insightful

No one deserves a girl they don't go for. Simple as that.
Re:In defense of the Fangirl by tehcyder · 2006-12-18 04:07 · Score: 1

No one deserves a girl they don't go for. Simple as that.
No gentleman deserves a lady until he has killed a rival for her affections. Simple as that.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it

Phew! by jpellino · 2006-12-16 05:57 · Score: 1

Thanks - cuz I can't remember the bootstrap loader address for our 11/35 running RT-11SJ off dual RK05j DecPacks - can you hook a brother up?

--
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."

literal avalanche of pornography by OrangeTide · 2006-12-16 07:04 · Score: 1

The article makes a reference to a literal avalanche of pornography. but provides no link or further information about it. I would like to see this literal avalanche of pornography. If anyone is aware of any historical record of this literal avalanche, please post more information so that we may track down this unusual literal occurrence.

--
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

Re:literal avalanche of pornography by Reziac · 2006-12-16 07:19 · Score: 1

It's the huge pile of unsorted porn CDs in a friend's back room. If you're not careful where you step, the damned things will indeed literally avalanche all over you!

--
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:literal avalanche of pornography by jayblackcomedy · 2006-12-16 08:44 · Score: 4, Interesting

when i wrote that line i debated whether or not people would nitpick the use of the word "literal." i decided to use it since i was writing a semi-comedic piece and i thought that the ironic use of the word there might be funny. my fear was that people might not realize i was using the word ironically and would call me out on it. it's probably weak writing on my part that didn't make the comedic overtones of that paragraph more obvious.
i've been reading more and more screeds against people using the word "literally" in situations when they actually mean "figuratively." i think what's happened is that people started using the word "literally" as a way to ironically create hyperbole (i'm so hungry, i could literally eat a million pounds of pizza). it became a popular way to create hyperbole but since it's devilishly difficult to communicate irony through text a lot of uninformed readers began to infer that "literally" actually meant "figuratively." the result of this is that there are now approximately eleven million blogs out there using the word "literally" incorrectly (and unironically).
(this is probably as good as time as ever to say that my own little grammar nitpick is when people use the word "ironic" to mean "coincidental." it drives me crazy. but it's likely that in a generation or two the words will be synonymous. today's mistakes are tomorrow's rules, as they say...)
all this being said, i'm enough of a geek to be honored that something i wrote has been nitpicked on slashdot.
now, if you'll excuse me, i literally have a million things to do today...
all the best,
--jayblack

--
www.jayblackcomedy.com
Re:literal avalanche of pornography by tehcyder · 2006-12-18 04:09 · Score: 1

now, if you'll excuse me, i literally have a million things to do today...
I'd find out where the fucking shift key on my keyboard was first.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:literal avalanche of pornography by OrangeTide · 2006-12-19 08:31 · Score: 1

I just thought it was amusing imagery. Maybe a stack of pornography the size of a mountain coming tumbling down crushing skiers and cabin dwellers. (I'm not sure why anyone would ski on pornography)

--
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire

make the distinction by Onymous+Coward · 2006-12-16 07:46 · Score: 2, Insightful

Beware when you use the term fanboy.

One sense refers to the focused and deep-delving geeks/nerds which are the radiant source of geek chic.

Another sense refers to unreasonable and often belligerent adherence to favored ideas.

Earnest exploration and revelry: awesome.

Sectarianism, jingoism, groupthink, witch hunting, xenophobia, and shoddy reasoning catalyzed by wishful thinking and cognitive dissonance: not so much.

The guy needs to do a little fanboy search... by BTWR · 2006-12-16 08:42 · Score: 1

The guy needs to do a little fanboy search of his own and find out what Web 2.0 means...

And, as he even said... Wiki will work fine too!

That's easy... by TrekkieGod · 2006-12-16 10:58 · Score: 1

Hal Jordan, of course. After all, even without his ring some of his most important...err...attributes are still present.

--

Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

Be nice to your fanboy week by dangitman · 2006-12-16 11:21 · Score: 1

I keep a fanboy chained to my server for when I need him. I think I'll feed him this week, out of appreciation for this article.

--
... and then they built the supercollider.

Is it just me? by concept10 · 2006-12-16 12:15 · Score: 1

Am I the only person that has noticed a significant rise of the use of the "fanboy/fanboi" word in 2006? I cringe at every post where I see someone using this word and I feel like I am surrounded by kids (mostly on digg). It's plain stupid. No one uses this word in real life, do they? I can never imagine myself using this word in public. Me: Hello, sir.. thanks for coming to assist me. Best Buy CSR: Oh, no problem Me: I want the PS3, could you get one for me? BBCSR: Sure. Wait one sec, BBCSR: Here you go sir... so, you're a Sony fanboy, huh? Me: WTF did you call me?

Re:Is it just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 18:12 · Score: 0

Also, get off my damn lawn.
Re:Is it just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 19:46 · Score: 0

Yes; people do indeed use the word "fanboy" in real life.

Re:You ins3nSitive clod! by Anonymous Coward · 2006-12-16 13:03 · Score: 0

Ah... the Mutated Testicle platform! Fantastic... I'll check that link right away.

label by Haxx · 2006-12-16 16:06 · Score: 1

The typical Fanboy usually has some level of OCD and that needs to be addressed.

Your fanboy levels. by I+am+Jack's+username · 2006-12-18 00:06 · Score: 1

46.3 (+3.4 -2.6) your Apple fanboy level 18.8 (+0.9 -1.5) your telecoms fanboy level 13.3 (+0.7 -0.6) your Futurama fanboy level 12.4 (+0.7 -0.8) your games fanboy level 06.3 (±0.3) your evil Star Wars versions fanboy level -9.9 (-0.6 +0.5) your Microsoft fanboy level

Disclaimer: mod scores were not used in calculations.

117 comments