Slashdot Mirror
Apple Seemingly Censors UltraFine 5K Monitor Reviews After Poor Feedback (thenextweb.com)
It appears Apple is filtering and censoring bad reviews of the LG's UltraFine 5K display. From a report on The Next Web: The deletion was first spotted by a Reddit user four days ago. Though it's possible the reviews were removed for some other reason, at first glance, it looks like censorship. It's not a good look for the company. Apple said it was getting out of the monitor business, and instead chose to work more closely with third-party partners, heavily featuring LG's 5K and 4K UltraFine displays at its recent MacBook Pro unveiling. But then the monitor received multiple negative reviews from users who were experiencing issues such as the screen failing to wake up from sleep. The Reddit post also points out that: "In many cases, attempts to fix the problem through physical reconnection[sic] of the monitor, or manual restarts, have caused the attached Mac to crash, become otherwise unresponsive, or develop problems with the touch bar (where equipped)."
Where is Apple doing this censoring of LG monitors? If you're gonna say that reviews are being censored, you should tell us on what site(s).
I thought they were selectively removing reviews, but they just disabled reviews and made the (low) star rating disappear completely just for that monitor. Funny. There have been other products in the past with dismal reviews on apple's store, for example the 1 star replacement usb charging cable for a MacBook I had (circa 2009?), which had a tiny shiny plug that most people couldn't grab on, while at the same had poor construction which meant pulling the cord a few times destroyed it. So, you had to buy a new for $25, which would also not last unless you were really careful. But those were the Jobs days, they would sell you a $25 cable and show you hundreds of 1* reviews right there in your face, and you were expected to just take it ;)
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
My 4k panel would do this shit all the time when I used it with a windows computer. Randomly blanking out, refusing to wake, etc.
Switched to Linux where none of this DRM bullshit gets used and it has operated flawlessly ever since.
I have a feeling [sic] that no one [sic] actually knows [sic] what [sic] means!
"reconnection" is a word...
Latin, "thus".
"(Sic)" after a word means "thus", a statement that the word used is correct as written and not an error.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Ninety percent of all bad reviews was about the fact that a crash occurred if you connected/disconnected with the lid closed.
They fixed that bug in the latest macOS update. It came out yesterday. Basically all the reviews wouldn't make sense anymore.
I'm not saying it's a good reason, but I'm guessing that's the thinking in the apple mothership.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
I bought an LG monitor in 2015, just a basic 23" 1080p display, and it turns off instead of going to sleep. There is no way to wake this screen with any computer.
A pretty big design flaw, but I'm too cheap to replace it. I have to turn the screen back on every time I wake the computer.
Can any Mac users tell me how the TouchBar interacts with a monitor? I can't figure out how those could possibly be related in a way that unplugging the monitor would change anything with the TouchBar?
Is it a volume thing? Does audio go through that same connection and you adjust the volume of the monitor through TouchBar controls?
Or is it actually just triggering generic unrelated instabilities in the TouchBar as the computer switches between 'have a monitor' / 'don't have a monitor' modes?
--Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
Yup. There's no reason for [sic] to be there unless it was in the original quote.
Even if it were an error I argue against EVER putting [sic] inside a quote, or otherwise altering a quote. If the quote is incorrect, leave it. If you want to quote a portion of something and need to change a tense or replace a pronoun/article/whatever, you change your surrounding structure, not the fucking quote.
...to just write this off as Free Speech Warrior nonsense...
While I agree with gist of your comment, the part that I quoted, while is not at all surprising coming from you, is especially misguided.
Let me put it in terms you could relate to. Freedom of Speech is what prevents Trump from shutting down any and all discussion on climate change.
I have a feeling [sic] that no one [sic] actually knows [sic] what [sic] means!
"reconnection" is a word...
Latin, "thus".
"(Sic)" after a word means "thus", a statement that the word used is correct as written and not an error.
That's the literal translation of "Sic" but that's not what it means when used in this context.
It's used when quoting source material which has an apparent error, usually of spelling but can sometimes also point out grammatical errors or archaic/outdated usage. Specifically, it indicates the error existed in the original quote and is not being changed or corrected.
Some people will claim it's an abbreviation for "Spelling Isn't Corrected", and although that's not technically correct it's the same idea.
But the point here is that there is no error in the provided quote. So either the poster DID correct an error, or one never existed, and in either case the use of [sic] is not appropriate.
"If he's so smart, home come he's dead?"
-Homer Simpson
On the surface is a simple joke playing on Homer's simple mind. However, there is a deep truth to it. We are ultimately all of equal worth in death, and thus in life.
There's a big difference between professional reviews selected for marketing material and a public forum for user reviews. The former doesn't imply that it is a fair representation of all feedback, but the latter does.
I have a feeling [sic] that no one [sic] actually knows [sic] what [sic] means!
"reconnection" is a word...
Latin, "thus".
"(Sic)" after a word means "thus", a statement that the word used is correct as written and not an error.
Translation: It's a word that people use to convince you that they know how to write.
I had EXACTLY same problems under Ubuntu 16.04/16.10 on my new machine.
Turned out - bugs in Skylake graphics drivers.
(in the end had to move to Fedora 25 for rock solid stability)
It was a MagSafe adapter. They still make some pretty bad ones that fail all the time and get very bad reviews, but they don't seem to care.
Could be a driver problem, but sure blame DRM...
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
... [sic]
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
TFA has been retracted and an apology has been put at the top of the page due to the erroneous reporting. Shockingly, the redditor got it wrong and the Internet-at-large didn't bother doing the slightest bit of verification before posting their clickbait headlines about a company being evil.
MacRumors has some additional reporting on what actually happened, but the gist of it is that no reviews at all were being posted for the 5K display until earlier today. In fact, the Ratings & Reviews section of the page was entirely disabled for that page until earlier today, presumably because someone forgot to activate the section after the product went on sale. Cached copies of the page confirm that that's been the case since the page went live last year, so the notion that Apple deleted bad reviews is demonstrably false, given that there never was a way to submit reviews--good or bad--in the first place.
Anyway, the inability to submit a review was already fixed by the time Slashdot posted this story, but, no doubt, people will be talking about the fictional bad reviews that Apple censored for months to come, simply because a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.
AFAIK, Apple was never in the panel manufacturing business. They used to make Apple-branded monitors, but those simply used panels manufactured by and bought from a third party (Samsung, LG, Sharp, and lately JDI - Japan Display Inc).
So when the reviews rave about a Macbook's display, it's an Apple screen. When the reviewers complain about it, it's an LG screen.
Not the "5k" model, but I never had any problem with this under Windows and connected to PS4 Pro.
Seems pretty pointless with Apple fanbois.
"When I turned it on, it burned down the house. Steve Jobs showed up in person to shoot my dog and shit on the corpse. I was sued for existing. 5 stars, would buy again."
Embedded in a quote, "[sic]" actually doesn't mean that the preceding word/phrase is 'correct' or 'incorrect' from a grammar, spelling (or factual) standpoint -- just that it IS an accurate quote even though the preceding might be incorrect OR be misinterpreted as incorrect.
For example, in the following, "[sic]" is used correctly to note that the error was made by the student, not the person offering the quote
However, in the following "[sic]" is used correctly to note that the use of the word 'son' is correct and should not be corrected by proofreaders
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
While I don't agree that anyone should be forced to any speech, companies are not people and are now often simply a medium of communication. While there is a lot of nuance, it all boils down to following - could you possibly have freedom of speech if you are put in a sound-proof box and nobody can hear you? First Amendment covers government actions, this is because government controlled means to enact speech when it was written (via control of public spaces). Now majority of public spaces are digital and is controlled by this or that social media corporation or ISP. Our thinking about what it means to have freedom of speech also must evolve.
Do your homework! Apple never allowed reviews on that product. Check again, you JOURNALISTS!
Except nobody forces the private company to say anything?!? They don't have to allow reviews however IF they do it is reasonable to demand that they DO show the reviews that people write (except spam and obvious crap posting). If not they don't actually allow reviews, they just allow endorsement of their products.
If a company want to show endorsements on their website it is obviously 100% okay however it shouldn't be called reviews and they should make sure that consumers are fully aware that the ones shown are selected to paint the product as perfect.
Anything else is allowing companies to lie. Consumers that are lied to can't be expected to be informed.
Embedded in a quote, "[sic]" actually doesn't mean that the preceding word/phrase is 'correct' or 'incorrect' from a grammar, spelling (or factual) standpoint -- just that it IS an accurate quote even though the preceding might be incorrect OR be misinterpreted as incorrect.
A quote is correct when it accurately states what the quoted person said.
If I write the moon is made of ice cream, that is incorrect. If I write He said "the moon is made of ice cream," that is correct (if he actually said that.)
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Why argue against a useful communication tool? The common usage of [sic] is to communicate to the reader that the writer is aware of the misspelling/odd spelling etc. but that it is correctly quoted. If one just leave the error (or unusual spelling, word etc.) then the reader have to assume the writer did a correct quote or that the writer did a mistake while quoting.
TL;DR doing that would reduce the information bandwidth with one bit per potential wrongly quoted word.
I guess you could make an argument that they should advertise them as endorsements or state clearly that they only show positive reviews. Transparency is good.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
It's interesting that they don't have any reviews yet though. Maybe they are reviewing some, but it seems unlikely that none have been submitted. You need an Apple ID so I can't test it.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
OK, we need to start a gofundme so Truth can get better shoes...
http://www.ssgear.com/usa_english/moment-of-truth-moto-shoes.html
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
I think if you want, say, Twitter to be required to be covered by the same rules as the government, you need to nationalise it. That's extreme though.
Before the internet, some people wouldn't air their views in public anyway. Imagine going to a public place, getting on a soap box and arguing that paedophilia is okay. The internet allows views like that to be put forward in relative safety, on the dark web if necessary but actually most of it is out in the open. Stormfront, for example.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Indeed you are!
I'd like to say I was referring to the son's passion for astronomy and related fields, but that would be a lie.
I'd like to say that I left that in there for you to feast on, but that would be a lie.
The truth is much simpler -- I was too lazy to carefully proofread my comment or even notice the bright red squiggly line under the word :(
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
There never were reviews to remove. The original reddit poster was wrong.
"Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it." - George Santayana
Unless of course there had never been any way to submit such reviews, as claimed in Anubis's summary - though the linked article only presents that as a possibility, not fact.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Yes, well that's all very well, but what am I going to do with all this rage I've built up?
Yes, there are people out there with some strange or outright despicable opinions. There is no crime committed until these followed up by action. Still, we can't censor them because if it is possible to censor, this censorship will be used against what you see as legitimate opinions.
I really hope Trump presidency will remind everyone on the left why they should cherish freedom of speech.
You can submit them right now, the form is there. There just are not any actual reviews.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
If we've learnt anything from politics in 2016 it's that partial truths can be as damaging (or effective, depending on your point of view) as outright lies.
So whilst I agree we shouldn't force companies to publish things they don't want to, there should at least be some guarantee that they don't mislead.
As such allowing reviews, but hiding the negative ones is grossly misleading, as it acts to give people a false impression about your product. It implies to people that the product is well received by customers based on customer feedback when that simply isn't true.
So I think companies should be forced to publish negative reviews if they're going to have the option of letting users create reviews in the first place. If they can't take negative reviews then they shouldn't have reviews at all. If they want to give that impression then do what movies do with the whole quote thing where it's clear that it's marketing, not a balanced view of actual customer opinion.
Reviews have started showing up on the 5K page, so either people were slow to get the news that they could review it, or Apple was slow to have a human click the "Not Spam" button for each of them.
Embedded in a quote, "[sic]" actually doesn't mean that the preceding word/phrase is 'correct' or 'incorrect' from a grammar, spelling (or factual) standpoint -- just that it IS an accurate quote even though the preceding might be incorrect OR be misinterpreted as incorrect.
A quote is correct when it accurately states what the quoted person said.
If I write the moon is made of ice cream, that is incorrect. If I write He said "the moon is made of ice cream," that is correct (if he actually said that.)
So what if you write He said "the moon is made of ice creme," - what is correct and what did he say? He said "the moon is made of ice creme [sic]." - clear now?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
You got it.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
nothing can be done to right country music.