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2,102 Posts
I want to take a few minutes to explain a few things.Some members have been put-off by me in various contexts. As what I believe is the single-highest post count on here, there have been a lot of opportunities for me to get that response. I also have tended to focus on the device I moderate for, the PDN, but to look in on other devices and topics from time to time as well, so I'm all over the place on here. Honestly, I also open all the PDN and newbie related "what's new" topics at once and roll through them, often at work, so I sometimes miss and see a post I didn't intend and respond anyway.It is hard for me to convey my sarcastic sense of humor online, and honestly, people don't always get it in the real world either. That said, I am not mean-spirited, and I don't mean to denigrate anyone's choice of tablet, or lifestyle, or ... whatever. You want to dress like your mom and swaddle your GT78 in a blanket and stroller - you're weird, but whatever. What I do try to accomplish is to do what I was asked to do as a moderator - to make sure people don't personally attack each other, and to help people pick a device, develop that device, and then use that device to the best of their ability and the best of its ability. Sometimes I make a joke. Sometimes I make a comment. Sometimes I suggest people might want to step back. I rarely use mod privs except to delete spam, because I think everyone should have their say. I don't delete when you disagree with me, because you have a right to disagree with me. Just keep it civil.Picking a device is obviously the first, and arguably the most important decision a newbie makes, and frankly, even we with experience on these things need input from people with one in his hands. I make no bones about it, I picked the PDN, I stand by the PDN, and I think the PDN is, for the price, the best sub $250 table out there, bar none. I looked at several others, including the DAWA Dae7 (which now looks a lot like the GT78), the Wits 81, the archos 7, the M001, the M003, the Apad, irobot, etc. I still look, and frankly, if I could walk into a store and get a wits 81, or an archos 7, or a GT78 right now, I might seriously do that. Those of you with those devices should plug away at them. I remember a time when I was one of 10 people with a PDN, Kohl's was calling me to return it, and people were hacking on me relentlessly. Maybe the Archos 7 will get a huge FW update. Maybe the GT78 will get froyo. Maybe the M001 will grow arms and legs and take over the Eastern Seaboard. Don't get offended, prove me wrong.Some people have been offended when I step into newbie threads, or market threads, and add information. I will never, ever, ever, stop doing that, because the newbie deserves to know that they can get the device cheaper down the street, or that the device is another device with a different name, or that the device may burn their infant child because the battery overheats (that last one is for drama). If you don't like the truth, bite me. If you don't like dissent, bite me harder.Some people get offended when I compare their device to, say, the PDN. What else am I going to compare it to, the blackberry? Please, please don't take it personally when I "... [shakes head]" I'm not doing that because your device sucks. I'm doing that because I wish your device didn't have that problem. With that said, enough people have, publically and privately, expressed distaste for that particular expression that I will endeavor to discontinue it.Finally, get some perspective, people. These devices barely existed 2 months ago. 2 months from now they'll ALL be obsolete. I know we all get "invested" in a device we've invested in. Psychologists call it the ?cognitive dissonance? effect - we buy what we buy because we think it's the best choice at that time, and then fight any indication to the contrary because it makes our initial decision seem wrong. We don't like to be wrong. Frankly, in a few months we're ALL WRONG, because the new hotness will land, and we'll all move on to the next toy. Maybe we'll both buy the same "next toy." But for now, we're all on the same side of the "I like my device discussion" because we're all doing something that can't be done with something that shouldn't be able to do it, and Steve Jobs be damned. I do it on a PDN, you do it on a GT78, an M001, a Wits81, whatever. It's like Saint Crispin's Day:--We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; --For he to-day that sheds his blood with me --Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, --This day shall gentle his condition; --And gentlemen in England now-a-bed --Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, --And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks --That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. 10 years from now it won't matter what device we pushed the envelope on, so long as we all pushed it. Let's try to keep the bleeding to a minimum, however.Keep hacking.
