Maybe I'm just getting old or something, but what in the blue **** is with the preponderance of abrasive new posters on AT in the last ~2 years?
There has been an influx of Anti-AMD fanboys. Its not that they are pro-Intel, its that they just can't stand AMD.
The "anti" fanboy tends to be more visceral and abrasive than the "pro" fanboy because their motivation for being "anti AMD" or "anti Intel" is based on emotions of anger and frustration at the outset.
Pro-AMD (or Pro-Intel) fanboys tend to just be merely mildly annoying (but easily ignored and you can have decent conversation with them nevertheless) because their motivation for being "pro AMD" or "pro Intel" is based on emotions of enthusiasm, joy, happiness, excitement, etc.
But the "anti-" fanboy is the one that just can't express enough hate, fast enough or loud enough, to sate their fervor. (I'm generalizing, obviously, as there are some "anti-" fanboys who do manage to conduct themselves with civility and decorum, but they tend to be the exception and not the rule)
But why the uptick in "anti-" fanboys? If you are prone to believing in conspiracies then Apoppin of ABT would have you believe that it is because there is a huge marketing shilling program underfoot and that most of the fanboys are just paid shills doing their marketing
thang.
I don't subscribe to that school of thought, I believe it has more to do with delusions that people create for themselves, or others create for them, of some David v. Goliath/good v. evil situation and they can't stand the idea of evil triumphing, as misplaced or fabricated the scenario may be.
In other words, there are simply more fanboys now than before, and fanboys do as fanboys do.
Fanboyism and Brand Loyalty
Brand-Conscious Consumers Take Bad News to Heart
The effects of self-brand connections on responses to brand failure: A new look at the consumerbrand relationship
There is a cycle to fanboys, and the length of time in escaping that cycle varies from person to person, as well as the time in which one enters the beginning of the cycle itself.
The
Kübler-Ross model (aka 5-stages of grief) is based on the idea that the human psyche process change and the disruption that occurs as an individual aligns their expectations with reality.
1. Denial "AMD is fine, they've been down before, they'll bounce back!"
Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual.
2. Anger "WTF is this BD BS? It's not fair!"; "How can this happen?"; '"Who or what is to blame? Is it the compilers? Those lazy good for nothing programmers? JFAMD?"
Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.
3. Bargaining "I'll buy them anyways, gotta support competition."; "Where's the undervoltage testing? Surely there is a niche for this product where it WINRAR's the day..."; "Just wait till Piledripper or SteamingPile or Constipator are released, AMD has promised it will do better next year!"
The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay the inevitable. Psychologically, the individual is saying, "I understand this sucks, but if I could just do something to convince myself to just wait longer..."
4. Depression "I'm so sad, why bother with AMD anymore?"; "I'm just going to buy an Intel SB soon anyways so what's the point... What's the point?";
During the fourth stage, the ardent AMD supporter begins to understand the certainty of AMD's situation. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse to login to their favorite forums and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the individual to disconnect from things they once held near and dear. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
5. Acceptance "It's going to be okay."; "AMD can't fight it, they may as well prepare for it."; "NV will probably buy them anyways..."
In this last stage, individuals begin to come to terms with the inevitable, they move on with life, pleasantly surprised to find that their newly acquired 2600K does not give their kids leukemia despite what they read on AMDZone...
As you can see, we should expect every "pro" fanboy (who lives and breathes, stuck going nowhere fast, in the "Denial" stage) to eventually become an "Angry" fanboy at some point as they cycle through the stages because "Anger" is the second stage, coming after "Denial".
My theory is that every "pro" fanboy experiences a brief time period where they turn on their former favorite brand and become an anti fanboy (pro-AMD -> anti-AMD, etc) because they take it personal that their brand failed them and failed to live up to their expectations. Just as they take it personal to tout their favorite brand, when it falls of their pedestal they then take it personal to demonize that brand.
So for a period of time you literally cannot avoid the abrasive influx of "anti-" fanboys, it is an inevitable aspect that comes with the healing/learning curve of escaping the denial stage of the situation that is at the crux of every fanboy to begin with.