Post #20,062
12/3/01 10:44:06 AM
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Depends on the arena.
Should I go public with my real name, or continue to use handles to have a bit of privacy? Use handles on IWETHEY and any other newsgroups. Use your real name on your programs and websites. As far as IWETHEY goes, I don't think it makes a difference what you call yourself - we would accept you either way. Definitely use your real name for your web site and any professional material you produce that is accessible via the web. That way you have something which you can cite on your resume and have the credit given where credit is due. I agree with your wife that you should probably write your programs under your real name. I wouldn't put an address, though, as there's no reason to put them on the web. As for myself, I use variations of CrisR, ChrisR, ChrisRath, and Chris Rathman for my various logon names. I have been known to write some of my toy software under the title of "Critter's Underground Software", but since Critter is also a name that I am commonly referenced by, it might as well be my real name (though my accountant says the "Underground" in the name is probably not a good thing wrt to IRS audits). I've never run into problems using my real name, but then again I've never managed to piss off the Mac/Yahoo people. BTW, calling them "thugs" is probably not the most diplomatic way to avoid their targeting. :-)
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Post #20,117
12/3/01 4:23:39 PM
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Why they could be after me
Around 1995-1997 I had gotten into some Newsgroup arguments in the PC vs. Mac battles. I posted with my real name, and had my address on my web resume on my web site. If you search Google Groups you might find some of those old postings. I could mosh like the best of them, these where my dark days before IWETHEY when most everyone didn't like me. My pro-Microsoft days, my Anti-Mac days. I apologize for calling them thugs. What must I do to be left alone? Haven't they inflicted enough damage already for whatever it is they think I have done?
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,123
12/3/01 4:39:21 PM
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What, are they actually still after you?
The attention span of that sort is often quite low, especially if you leave them alone for a while.
Has the Jihad shown up recently?
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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Post #20,319
12/5/01 10:52:50 AM
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Not here at least
but I still have a few of them at Yahoo Clubs. Which I would like to quit, but I have some friends who use those clubs and I can't contact them anywhere else.
But like Screamer said, I just have to ignore them.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,200
12/4/01 12:59:27 PM
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MacJihad is way over
I'm glad it was around for awhile.
The computer industry headspace *is* virtual reality. So called pudits write crap that they make up for drama impact and then it becomes accepted as "inevitable fact" which causes everyone to position themselves to make it fact. Self fulfilling prophecy man. The latest example of this is the lunacy over "web services" and xml processing.
If you recall, the pundits were gleefully predicting the demise of Apple Computer. This had the nasty side effect of further reducing Apple's already hurting sales and nearly making it true because they said it was true. This despite the fact that Apple's products were better than the mainstream choices and Apple continues to lead the industry in real innovation (as opposed to MS "Innovation (tm)"). If Apple didn't continually drive up the standard experience, you'd all still be using MS-DOS.
Mac users are already mostly non-conformists. They also understand the how the self fulfilling prophecy works and they've felt discriminated against for a long time. Something of an inferiority complex despite having a mostly superior system (at the time - I most certainly agree that MacOS was surpassed by Windows for a time and I'm happier than almost anybody to see it superceded by the BSD/NextStep system that is OS X). They didn't want to lose their freedom of choice and Mac-bashing looked to them like an effort to eliminate their freedom.
Anyhow - bottom line is that with the cross-pollination of Next and the really great OSX, plus the spiffy new products, Apple is no longer in danger of dying and is actually winning converts. After all, with the death of MacOS, Windows remains the only proprietary (non-Unix) OS left on the market.
Anyhow, I think you've got nothing to worry about because the Mac people are feeling pretty secure in their future and don't really care what you say about it. Even the press is good these days.
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Post #20,204
12/4/01 1:13:50 PM
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Nonconformists?
Maybe where you live, but not around here.
I remember about 6 years ago, sitting in a restaurant having lunch. A whole bunch of guys walked in who might as well have been in uniform. They all had the right hair, the right expensive footware, the right casual cloths with the right amount of fading and wear, and my mind immediately screamed "Mac users!".
Sure enough, they sat down at a nearby double table and started talking about Macs.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #20,206
12/4/01 1:24:17 PM
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Sort of like those guys left on islands in WWII
thinking that the war was still going on after it was already over?
Around 1984 - 1988 I got into a series of debates on local BBSes on Mac/Apple Vs. Everything else topics. Around 1988-1990 I helped run an IBM PC based BBS from a local community college and the Apple based one at that college tried to compete with ours by having message boards named the same, etc. They could match us on everything except networked message boards and online games. Then the critical thing happened. One other difference between our boards, it seems we asked the Dean permission to run one while the other guys didn't. So their BBS went down and the computer system was reassigned for student use. Ever since then it seemed like the Mac vs. PC wars got stronger on the local BBSes here. Then the Internet became popular in 1995. But around 1988 - 1997 I had a series of people using my handle and name on other boards, and had a series of things happen to my property.
Over the years I have learned to forgive, as long as the nonsense stops. But it seems some of them do not want to stop. For those who do not want to stop, despite the MacJihad being over, I suggest professional help.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,218
12/4/01 2:28:43 PM
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So then.. have you suffered remorse for your
Billy-Monster assisting aid? Abjectly and painfully?
Or do we have to visit you at home..
Hmm?
Just admit to self:
Yes, I *WAS* a complete dupe of the nascent Beast, too $^@^! obtuse to see the comparison with.. e-coli growth in a fresh dish of agar-agar (or shit).
(You will feel better for that)
(which doesn't cancel out The Grygus Effect, mentioned above; just because Mac is superior techno, doesn't mean that assholes aren't attracted for Nike\ufffd reasons too - sheep are in the ascent all over)
The Enlightened Cabal, Ltd.
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Post #20,277
12/4/01 10:41:22 PM
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yes I have and then some
believe me I have paid greatly for my sins. I am more enlightened now.
I am free now, to choose my own destiny.
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Post #20,233
12/4/01 4:27:27 PM
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We are all individuals
just like everyone else.
Every group has assholes.
Yuppie scum are everywhere. You can kind of guess platforms by looking at people huh. I could spot a Windows freak a mile away too.
I do get your point though.
Still, there's the persecution thing. I used to work on a VAX doing F77 electrical powerflow simulation utilities. The director of IT spec'd DOS machines with VT100 emulators for clients - refused to acknowledge the new Windows 3.1 (said it was a plot by the memory makers to sell RAM).
Anyhow, I borrowed a Mac from a training room and built a suite of software analysis tools using HyperCard. Code browsers, debugger script generators, and such. I was able to automatically generate links to definitions and could load up a fairly large chunk of source code and click around it to learn it really fast. I had the highest productivity of the department working on a lot of different programs because my homegrown tools were so useful.
Still, the IT director caught wind that I was doing it with a Mac and (fearing an uprising and demand for adequate resources for all I'll guess) had the helpdesk people come down and confiscate it. Said I should be able to be just as productive with a VT100 terminal emulator to the VAX.
Moron. I resigned a week later.
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Post #20,236
12/4/01 4:35:57 PM
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The changing times.
I bring my iBook to work sometimes, primarily to use it as a somewhat over-sized MP3 player. (as my Rio is having angst :-( ,but that's another story).
Anyway, instead of 'Er! a Mac, what the hell's that doing here?', the reaction is usually 'Gosh, it's actually kinda cool. Hey, can you minimise that window again?'
On and on and on and on,
and on and on and on goes John.
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Post #20,237
12/4/01 4:41:42 PM
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..Living in our own private Idaho. (Omniscient LRPD sez) :-\ufffd
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