Monday, March 13th 2017
Hype Trains and You: A PSA
Hype Trains are bad. They are not just bad because a random frog on the internet told you so either, they are bad because they build upon themselves to the point that you would believe a random frog on the internet if he said something beneficial about your chosen product.
It's not just technology either. It can happen in politics, religion, whatever. But they are bad, and not to be trusted. They aren't just bad for humanity and all that, they are bad for the products they represent. Yes, they actually hurt what they are hyping. Ryzen didn't benefit from the hypetrain anymore than Trump benefited from the "Trump Train." Allow me to explain (and please, put the foam back in your mouth for me uttering "Trump" in a tech article. That's the only time I promise).
Bottom line is, hype trains take everything good and compound it, true or not. This raises expectations into the stratosphere and make them impossible to satisfy. Once the product, candidate, or what have you is brought into general existence, it will never satisfy what it has been built up to be. This leads to disappointment. Disappointment will not help sales long-term, nor ensure a safe re-election for a politician. The higher the hype, the bigger the disappointment.
I remember a game I was really hyped for circa 2003 or so. GolemLabs premier geopolitical simulator "Superpower 2." It was a game that let you control any nation on earth in modern times. It also got hyped on its own forums into the stratosphere, and guess what? When I got it, I thought it sucked really hardcore… only it didn't. Most critics ranked it as somewhat novel and mediocre, but to me, it was utter and complete garbage because I couldn't do everything they promised me on the forums, things that likely were never even on the drawing board, let alone ever implemented.
I'm still stung from that hype train. The only way a hype train can work honestly is if it is sustained by an outside force. The political example of this would be Robert Mugabe (have some Wikipedia fun there), President-until-I-say-otherwise of Zimbabwe. The interesting thing about Mugabe by the way, is his hype train is still going in elements of his country, despite him mismanaging its economy to the point he literally added 0's to his bills to "control inflation."
So, don't be an idiot, don't vote for Mugabe, and for god sake man get off that hype train before it kills all our realistic expectations. You aren't helping anyone.
EDIT: Thanks to Kerbel Space Program for the Hype Train in space image.
It's not just technology either. It can happen in politics, religion, whatever. But they are bad, and not to be trusted. They aren't just bad for humanity and all that, they are bad for the products they represent. Yes, they actually hurt what they are hyping. Ryzen didn't benefit from the hypetrain anymore than Trump benefited from the "Trump Train." Allow me to explain (and please, put the foam back in your mouth for me uttering "Trump" in a tech article. That's the only time I promise).
I remember a game I was really hyped for circa 2003 or so. GolemLabs premier geopolitical simulator "Superpower 2." It was a game that let you control any nation on earth in modern times. It also got hyped on its own forums into the stratosphere, and guess what? When I got it, I thought it sucked really hardcore… only it didn't. Most critics ranked it as somewhat novel and mediocre, but to me, it was utter and complete garbage because I couldn't do everything they promised me on the forums, things that likely were never even on the drawing board, let alone ever implemented.
I'm still stung from that hype train. The only way a hype train can work honestly is if it is sustained by an outside force. The political example of this would be Robert Mugabe (have some Wikipedia fun there), President-until-I-say-otherwise of Zimbabwe. The interesting thing about Mugabe by the way, is his hype train is still going in elements of his country, despite him mismanaging its economy to the point he literally added 0's to his bills to "control inflation."
So, don't be an idiot, don't vote for Mugabe, and for god sake man get off that hype train before it kills all our realistic expectations. You aren't helping anyone.
EDIT: Thanks to Kerbel Space Program for the Hype Train in space image.
74 Comments on Hype Trains and You: A PSA
So that out of the way (and i do stand by it), i would have to say that:
i) This was superfluous; "getting hyped" is a direct result of lacking in maturity/judgement/critical thinking and/or suffering from complexes. Nothing this frog says will change that; like ever. Human nature 101 :)
As such, and considering this is a full-blown tech site, a superfluous article is a 'bad' article. Especially when said article's superficiality centers on something utterly subjective.
ii) Possibly bad timing considering a much awaited review. Tin foil hats abound. See i)
edit: though yes, i understand both reasoning and intentions.
Journalists also have a responsibility to try to avoid fanning the flames, as their influence is paramount to steering public opinion when it comes to reporting about any topic in particular, be it politics, technology, sports, you name it. I know controversial hype news articles are magnets for intense discussion and therefor, advertising revenue, but we need to stick to the facts whenever possible.
Thanks for your opinion, it was a refreshing read!
No offense, I'll still give you next article a fair read.
On topic, I feel that the only bad instance of the hypetrain is when a company or an individual with first hand knowledge is well aware of a products abilities, and is well aware that what they are publishing about said product abilities are false/exaggerated. Other than that, it is solely on the reader to inform themselves from credible sources and manage their own expectations.
Where my head is about this article, to both my critics and fans credit:
I don't think politics necessarily have NO place in TPU, but if I ever bring them up again, they will be relevant to the topic and have facts and references. I deliberately avoided discussing Trump believe it or not to avoid political problems while still trying to make a point about hype trains being bad in more than just product lineups, but Mugabe was a stretch at best, and lacked any real references beyond his very real dictatorship reality (that borders on irrelevant to tech btw).
In short, if politics are brought up again, I will pledge to try to make the claims well supported, and first and foremost, relevant to technology.
Thank you all for the feedback as I learn the ropes here.
blame google
He can pretend he is, but he's not.
o_O:laugh::roll::roll::roll:
BE GLAD HE IS ON YOUR TEAM :):laugh:
Pepe... meh. He may be frog but I always found him slightly disturbing. He's like the strange frog-uncle no one wants to talk about.
Weird this rant is in the news section. We really need an editorials sub section in the news if pieces like these are going to be commonplace. I look up and see news... then read the content... look up again and see news... scratches head... :p
I was joking mostly when I said editorials are glorified rants. If this seriously came across as a rant, then not my best work.
Again, thank you honestly for the feedback.
thats it....
So yeah. You can explain those reviews however which way you would personally prefer to. The bottom line, all these buyers DO have an extremely competitive 8 core machine for half the money of an Intel counterpart.
Your "Hype Train" picture is from a game called Kerbal Space Program (maybe their facebook )
it is a fun game :)