Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Revisiting the "Firefox Myths" Part 4

Please read my earlier post "Revisiting the "Firefox Myths" Part 2, the Tangent" for background information on where these quotes came from and what the heck is going on.

September 18, 2007 1:49 PM
Myth - "Firefox and Mozilla are the same thing"

It is clearly a Myth if people believe it and it has been debunked. "Value of a web browser" has nothing to do with my page, it is about Firefox Myths. I can see you are starting off as if my page is some attempt to convince people what to use, it is not, it is to stop the spread of Myths about Firefox, period. I don't care what browser you use.
The very first Myth was one where I admitted Andrew K was right. I took issue with the use of the term "Myth" to refer to the confusion, but I admitted Andrew K's response was correct.

I'm amused by the sentence "I can see you are starting off as if my page is some attempt to convince people what to use, it is not, it is to stop the spread of Myths about Firefox, period." when a tangible anti-Firefox hostility permeates the Firefox Myths page. I recommend the reader not take my or Andrew K's word about the intention and bias of the Firefox Myths page. Read it for yourself and decide what you think Andrew K is trying to do.
Myth - "Firefox is spelled 'FireFox' and abbreviated FF"

This is still a Myth and as you can tell a largely believed one, regardless it is clearly debunked.
Again, I made it clear in my original article that Andrew K was correct on this Myth.
Myth - "Firefox is not a Religion"

I have since clarified this one much better with sources I should have used from the begining, my intent was never that Firefox is an organized religion but as the definition I clearly provided says:

"A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion."

In my experience which goes back over 15 years and I have been online since 1996, I have never seen more fanboys then those who mindlessly endorse Firefox. I provide overwhelming evidence for this and thus the Myth is debunked.
Oh, he's been online since 1996?

Give the little newbie a cookie. I'm glad his wee little virgin mind has never encountered an obsession greater than that of the fringe Firefox Zealots. If he truly has "never seen more fanboys then those who mindlessly endorse Firefox" then I have to say he's just not looking. I decided to take a look at the updated section, and did indeed see a few new links.

Explorer Destroyer - This link is more of a guide on how to abuse Google's ad system than anything else. Oddly, the "Level 3" script to block all IE users from a site sounds a lot like the "Why Firefox is Blocked" site that originally lead me to the "Firefox Myths" page.

Kill Bill's Browser - I don't see the point in including obvious and outrageous humor links.

Block IE - How is this different from whyfirefoxisblocked.com?

IE is Evil! - Again, a humor link, and it's a "I hate Microsoft" zealot, not a Pro-Firefox Zealot. I call shenanigans. Andrew K misfiled this Zealot.

God Chooses Firefox - If Andrew K counts every random humor piece involving Linux as "proof" of "Firefox being a Religion" then I can use The Onion as a source.

Firefox Crop Circle - Again, he misfiled his Zealots. There are hobbyists who make crop circles for FUN. Besides, after reading the site I have to conclude these are Linux Zealots.

Firefox Sidewalk Firefox Balloon - The linked site seems to be down, but they're just links to the same guys who did the Firefox Crop Circle. Besides, these Tetris Zealots have them beat hands down.

Firefox Bus - Including this as "proof" of Firefox being a religion is downright misleading. I read the text, and there's no evidence the artist who painted the bus even knew it was the Firefox logo. Besides, Firefox has a For Profit corporate arm, which means this could very well have been an advertisement.

Andrew K is determined to view the Firefox Zealots as being more extreme than ANY other group. Fine, I won't burst his little bubble.

Why should he face the fact that, for example, Cosplay alone makes Firefox zealots look downright mundane. They routinely spend thousands of dollars on costumes to look like their favorite anime characters. What's the most extreme thing Andrew K found? Oh, right, a Firefox themed crop circle.

Then there's the guy with the Zune tattoo.

And my personal favorite, the Catbus Bus from Burning Man.

The bottom line is, a little online hunting will turn of Zealots and lunatics for just about any topic you can think of. I'm not defending Firefox Zealots by any means. My point is, Andrew K is giving the Firefox Zealots far more credit than they deserve for outright lunacy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

No "tangible anti-Firefox hostility" permeates the page. You think that because you not only use Firefox, you are incapable of reading the page clearly, jump to conclusions and imply things that are not there.

My page is brutally honest with no sugar coating.

I don't really consider using Prodigy to being on the Internet which is why I stated 1996. I am not going to have this discussion since it is irrelevant.

And no in my line of work I have never encountered an obsession as great as Firefox Fanboys. When I start to here customers CONSTANTLY hyping and stating Myths about it then I knew it had gone to far.

Any rational person can 'get' the links I listed to about it and make up their own minds, your opinions on them are just that your opinions and dispute nothing.

I never stated that they are more determined then any other group. I stated they are more obsessive then any group I HAVE SEEN which relates only to the field of computers. You like to create strawman arguments.

I have provided plenty of evidence for this, more then enough.

Anonymous said...

"No "tangible anti-Firefox hostility" permeates the page."

Andrew

"Rather he is using Firefox. "Coded by amateurs for amateurs" :lol:"

Andrew

Popular Technology

Google cache. (This section of Popular Technology was put off-limits to non-members when it was shown to contain some revealing quotes.)

Anonymous said...

"I don't really consider using Prodigy to being on the Internet which is why I stated 1996. I am not going to have this discussion since it is irrelevant."

There you go again, whining about how something is "irrelevant" just because it shows you up or proves you a lying sack of shit.

I hear that scam works well for politicians too.

"And no in my line of work I have never encountered an obsession as great as Firefox Fanboys."

Matthew's right, you should get your sheltered little ass to a Furry or Plushy convention.

You ever SEEN Photos of a Star Trek convention? What kind of a backwater little shit hole are you from when Firefox users are the biggest lunatics you've ever seen?

"I stated they are more obsessive then any group I HAVE SEEN which relates only to the field of computers."

Glad to see you added that "Field of computers" disclaimer. ALMOST makes you look like you aren't a complete douche, but not quite.

It's clear you've never heard of Linux, and it's equally clear you've never talked to anyone about the KDE vs Gnome war.

I wonder what it's like to be so damn ignorant of the wider world of computers that you've never even HEARD of Gnome. Not much of a computer professional are you?

Looks to me like you only notice something from outside Redmond when one of the middle managers who hire you to install Adaware yammers about seeing it in last month's issue of Business 2.0.

Anonymous said...

You like to create strawman arguments.

Wait, does that mean Matthew is a Republican?

Dittos Rush!