Off topic: "Fanboy" considered tired
I really said
all this before, but it seems that the world does
not hang on my every utterance for guidance in their affairs.
So I’ll say it again: Calling someone a “
fanboy” weakens your argument, not strengthens it. It makes your argument look like it emerged straight from an AOL chat room.
Compare:
Surprisingly, more than half of the labels on the iTunes Music Store are either exclusive or with at most one other store.
And:
It may surprise Apple fanboys, but more than half of the labels on the iTunes Music Store are either exclusive or with at most one other store.
Does the second one really make its author seem hip and cool and smart at the expense of those hapless Apple fanboys? I didn’t think so either.
Look, if not wanting to be mistaken for an immature kid isn’t enough reason to avoid this word, I have a much better reason.
In any conflict, there is a strategic advantage for one side or the other to increase volatility. If you have a lead and a small advantage in games, you want to settle things down and let statistics do their thing. In match-play backgammon, for example, when you have match equity on your side you want to be very conservative with the cube.
You want to reduce volatility when you have an advantage and increase volatility when you’re behind.
Inflammatory labels are a way of increasing volatility, of shaking things up. And the same rule applies: if you’re in the right, if your arguments are cogent, you want to keep things rational and logical.
But if you’re weak, if your ideas are not sound, the only way to win is to turn a discussion into a brawl, and hope you catch a break.
I trust that your ideas are sound. So don’t fall into the trap of increasing volatility.
p.s. And if someone else hangs that label on you? Take satisfaction in the fact that
they just admitted that their ideas are too weak to stand alone.