Fanboys. WTF?

I know I've started this topic before, but it's something I still don't get. Where the hell did fanboys come from?

This place has fewer than most, but it seems a relatively recent thing. Half a bottle of red down, I started thinking while replying to the Schumacher rumours... where did this start?

We've had fans forever. No problem. Everyone has a favourite. We all support a team or individual of some sort, be it socially, sportingly or otherwise - frankly, in the extreme or weird, love comes under that category too.

But to become a fanboy, in my eyes at least, is something else. Someone who will defend someone or something in the face of anything. To take a few recent sporting example which come to mind which others can relate to: Schumacher at Monaco. Eduardo diving. Maradona's 'hand of God'.

In F1, even at Sepang we had the negative fanboy - those who slated Kimi because he was pictured having an ice-cream. They said he'd just given up - that he'd refused to race. Then we had the seemingly endless Kimi fanboys defending him. All before anyone knew of any car failure?

All through the season we've had the fanboys. Those who defended Button while he had his barren period, claiming none of it was his fault. Those who said Hamilton was Mr. Epic because he could perform again. Even some of those who wanted Vatanen over Todt because they *knew* Todt would be a Ferrari sympathiser. I'm not arguing against any of them in themselves, more the campaign behind them.... in the UK perhaps you could even draw the Jon & Tracy Morter vs X-Factor campaign into it... though I think a genuine good came out of that.

I know the internet is an easy form of release. Somewhere you can vent, show face (or lack of it as it were) or just down-right lie without having to deal with the 'real' consequences of actually debating something in public... but come on... what does that gain anyone?

I don't mind a bit fanboyism between the, for example, Liverpool and Everton fans... that's a bit of, sometimes subconscious, fun... but where did the actual fanboys come from? Those who'll stick by someone, defending them after the most blatant of mistakes or offences? I genuinely have no idea.

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know the internet is an easy form of release.
> Somewhere you can vent, show face (or lack of it
> as it were) or just down-right lie without having
> to deal with the 'real' consequences of actually
> debating something in public... but come on...
> what does that gain anyone?

---

I can't speak for the rest of the World, but in Britain this is a societal problem IMHO. Young people simply aren't given the opportunity to debate anything of any worth, and as a result there are plenty of maturing young adults nowadays who simply don't know how to discuss an issue properly. I suspect that there are so many people frustrated at being patronised, ignored and trivialised, that it feels good to assert themselves without risk of being put down. If their suggestions are ridiculed, it will come as such an insult that they will defend their point of view vehemently and blindly.

After all, who have they had as their role models? Tony Blair ("Don't bother arguing with me because I can pay someone to prove I'm right" ) and Simon Cowell ("Obnoxiousness gives you valuable advantage in any debate" ).

Also, with the decline in religion (find me a teenager who believes in God), young people are turning to hero worship as a substitute for faith. Suggesting that someone's hero might not be perfect is like inciting racial hatred, and their religious army of fan(boy)s will seek to redress the slight against their deity.

Finally, British society is just about devoid of consequences until you hit 21. Children can get away with most things at school with no more than a stern verbal reprimand as "punishment", and they soon catch on. So what if they're rude to somebody on the internet? So what if they make an assertion without doing any research? What's going to happen to them? Nothing. Or at least, nothing that they can't get round, because the "consequences" aren't firm enough.

Why do we have fanboys? IMHO, purely because they know they can get away with it.

---

K*bots UK, specialist providers of 'fun science' Curriculum Enhancement days for Primary and Secondary schools in Britain.
Please find us on [en.wikipedia.org] for more information.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2009 11:32AM by Locke Cole.

I still think fanboys (in their worst form that is) aren't actually there the way we see them from our end of the PC. A fanboy is a) not one person and b) doesn't actually mean that he says (maybe he does, but to a certain extent).

I've always thought that a fanboy registering at a forum starts out as follows:
John: Hey buddy, I've found this forum full of geeks who are discussing stuff very seriously, let's take the piss out of them!
Harry: Oh yes, great idea. We need a username, what about Senna?
John: Nice one! Let's see...Open a topic....Title: Senna didn't crash into Prost in 1990, he did it by himself.
Harry: LMAOZZZ
John: Now let's see the panic unfold!

That's one afternoon. THey check from time to time, one really enjoys this and keeps it running. I seriously think that people simply cannot be as stupid as they appear. How on earth could those people succeed at anything?

I've always thought it went like this. Until I stumbled across this video:



So there are actually people who think they're right, but have absolutely no idea of what they're talking about. They are so full of themselves that they won't listen and just repeat their view.

Now I've two views on this, and I don't know what to pick!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2009 11:26AM by Nickv.

I think Gav is blurring the lines between Fanboys and Bandwagon Jumpers somewhat.

Bandwagon Jumpers are more like the people who see something, and decide to do it because other people are (without realising the true meaning behind it).

Fanboys just stick up for something no matter what.


I don't think you can blame atheism for it tbh.

Also, with the decline in religion (find me a teenager who believes in God), young people are turning to hero worship as a substitute for faith. Suggesting that someone's hero might not be perfect is like inciting racial hatred, and their religious army of fan(boy)s will seek to redress the slight against their deity.

In all honest, that sounds like complete BS to me.

It should be taken into account that fanbois, like complainers, are the loudest people about. There isn't as many as they're appears to be, just they are easier to see.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Great topic Gav, I'd just been thinking about myself in the last week or two. It's an interesting one.

I think you have a good point about the relative anonymity the Internet offers. On these forums, for example, you can register an account with a username that has no association with your real name, and you don't have to provide any info about yourself. So you make silly or immature comments about particular subjects if you want and nobody else on the forums will know personally that it's you. Only the mods and admins are able to trace your IP and/or get you banned if you really do something stupid. So you're just a faceless entity. A lot of n00bs seem to look no further than that.

Maturity obviously comes into it as well - for example, I used to be a fanboy myself, but I grew out of it a few years back when I realised how empty, false and stupid it was. It's about your ability to see the bigger picture I guess.

Fanboys do bug me, but the ones that really get on my nerves are the extreme cases, the n00bs who post comments like "LOLOLOLO" and "LEWIS RULES" for no obvious reason and say things like "STFU" when another user posts a comment they happen to disagree with. Luckily these forums haven't had to deal with too much of that in the last year or so since two of the most annoying trolls got banned, hopefully it stays that way for a while longer.

---