Opinions: Fanboys destroy intelligent Internet discussion

 by Greg Rabolvsky
 published on Monday, June 30, 2008

advertisement

Oh, glorious Internet. How I love thee. You provide information, media, communication and probably the best yet: expression. The Internet is a place where everyone gets a voice.

But that's where the problems start.

Much like choosing between the Jedi and the Sith, posters can choose between good and evil when commenting on Web discussion threads.

The light side encompasses someone who posts in a respectful manner with some sort of logic in mind. The commenter who chooses the dark side —sometimes known as a "troll" — is someone who insinuates arguments and posts outlandish comments to anger people.

But, I'm here to bring about public awareness of an evil lower than that of a troll. What could possibly be worse than someone who purposefully tries to anger people?

Ladies and gentlemen: I give you … the fanboy.

Most people who frequent video game forums are familiar with the term, but let me catch everyone else up to speed.

A fanboy is someone who supports a product or company so much that anyone who tries to make any sort of a logical criticism is hit with a barrage of angry, and often distasteful, retorts.

Take, for example, the movie Web site RottenTomatoes.com. I'm writing this editorial on a Thursday night a few hours before the midnight premiere of the Disney film "WALL-E." So far, it has gotten much praise from many movie critics who have screened it early. But one unfavorable review by Arizona Daily Star movie reviewer Phil Villarreal has sparked a barrage of more than 200 comments ranging from calling him a "hack" to asking he remove his opinion.

So what? So the rating on RottenTomatoes.com can go up?

I'm not saying Villarreal's review was correct. I took a look at many of his movie reviews and think several of them are questionable compared to the movies I enjoy.

But the fanboys had already began their onslaught of hate, and the movie was not even officially released yet!

The biggest problem I have with fanboys is this: what do they gain from all of this? What motivation do they have to defend this movie to the death to the point of outrage? So some guy gave a children's movie a bad review. His review isn't keeping us in an economic recession, preventing peace in the Middle East or keeping millions of children in Africa starving.

If people cared this much about, I don't know, stuff that ACTUALLY mattered, maybe we could have accomplished some of this stuff … and more.

I personally feel that fanboyism fills some strange existential insecurity complex when people exert their beliefs on the masses. If people *gasp* have a different opinion that doesn't properly reflect your own, the immediate response is to attack it swiftly to let people know how terrible they are for thinking differently.

In fact, it kind of sounds like religion.

But, that's a different editorial altogether.

So the next time you see a bad movie review for a film you want to see, take into consideration who is reviewing it. If you don't like the guy, ignore them. If you generally agree with them, take it with a grain of salt, but go see the film youself.

Fanboyism is evil. Take a chance and think for yourself.

Greg Ralbovsky is a journalism senior. Reach him at: gregory.ralbovsky@asu.edu.