Editorial Hype Trains and You: A PSA

[Markosz]

Valve knows hypetrain very well. That's why they are afraid to make Half Life 3.
No matter how good it would be, people would complain anyways, it would have too high expectations.

 

[Markosz]

But this is the thing. Is it AMD doing the Hype or is it us? No Mans Sky is a great example of when the publics own Hype Train is it's own undoing.

Bulls***! That's only an excuse made up to defend NMS. The public didn't do that. Solely it's developer did. He always dropped a little bit of lie about game features in every of his interview. And the result didn't have that feature. Stop defending that money grabbing lier!

 

[INSTG8R]

Bulls***! That's only an excuse made up to defend NMS. The public didn't do that. Solely it's developer did. He always dropped a little bit of lie about game features in every of his interview. And the result didn't have that feature. Stop defending that money grabbing lier!

LOL he made one off hand remark about seeing other players and the world took it as gospel and then completely ignored his tweets before release about it not being a multiplayer game but you keep on that chestnut everybody else did....I own it and played it a lot. I got the game I paid for because I didn't get sucked into the hype.

 

[Aenra]

Am a baby here, so my opinion -should- have the equivalent weight, ergo none

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.

 

[15th Warlock]

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.

Thank you very much for the editorial, I couldn't agree more, I believe as a society we need to rely more on facts than hype or unproven expectations.

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!

 

[Franzen4Real]

Sorry, but the two hypetrain headlines feel a lot like MSN clickbait, and the political analogies just end up turning your time and work into something much closer to troll attempts. Please, do not drop TPU to click bait level... I also feel that if you are going to use TPU's front page for your article, you can at least put in the effort to use one of countless relevant comparisons in the tech industry (past or present) and at least try to sound semi-professional. Otherwise, as others have pointed out, it just sounds like a forum rant targeted at kids/teenagers.

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.

 

[R-T-B]

No offense, I'll still give you next article a fair read.

None taken. A lot of the complaints here are valid, and I will use them to better myself.

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.

 

[dorsetknob]

I deliberately avoided discussing Trump

Oh my god i just had to
blame google

 

[R-T-B]

Oh my god i just had to
blame google

He's not a frog.

He can pretend he is, but he's not.

 

[dorsetknob]

Pepe the Frog is a popular Internet meme. The fictional green anthropomorphic frog with a ... In October 2015, Donald Trump retweeted a Pepe representation of himself, associated with a video called "You Can't Stump the Trump (Volume 4)".


BE GLAD HE IS ON YOUR TEAM

 

[Hood]

After reading all the Ryzen buyers reviews on Newegg, I noticed a lot of things most of them have in common. Most were "upgrading" from FX 8320s and 8350s, and thus were "blown away" by the performance increase. Most noted issues with their RAM (only boots with 2133 speed, or only POSTs with one stick installed). Many blamed their motherboard, and felt that BIOS updates would magically fix all their problems. About 10% of them still don't have a booting system. A large percentage of them are waiting for software or OS updates, game patches, and BIOS updates - then we'll show those Intel fanbois! Almost all of them crow about how great it is, even while noting all the "temporary" problems. Many are also bragging about their "overclocks" to 4.0 @1.4+ vcore, on the 3.0-3.7 1700, and no higher on the 3.6-4.0 1800X. Most noted very high temps, even at idle. Delusional? Perhaps they were run over by the hype train and incurred brain damage in the accident. How else do you explain a 5-egg review of a CPU from a buyer who can't even find a motherboard for it two weeks after launch?

 

[dorsetknob]

How else do you explain a 5-egg review of a CPU from a buyer who can't even find a motherboard for it two weeks after launch?

? On a I7 Kabylake running a virtual machine just a thought

 

[Kal-EL]

Cheers, we need more caboose(s).

 

[R-T-B]

BE GLAD HE IS ON YOUR TEAM

I bet I'm twice the frog he is (Trump that is).

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.

 

[EarthDog]

Marketing effects the educated less than the uneducated. Or is it affects......... which group am I in? LOLOLOL!

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...

 

[R-T-B]

Marketing effects the educated less than the uneducated. Or is it affects......... which group am I in? LOLOLOL!

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...

I would agree with more separation between the sections than the lame little "editorial" flare, but that is W1zzards domain, and I'm sure he has a lot on his plate.

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.

 

[peche]

thats it....

 

[dalekdukesboy]

thats it....

I actually find the quote here Meh, but the picture is classic and hilarious...I have a pic of these two balcony muppets from my childhood as my avatar on few other places online...tough choice I'm thinking of using them in other places like here etc but so many avatars, so many online sites!

 

[Caring1]

I actually find the quote here Meh, but the picture is classic and hilarious...I have a pic of these two balcony muppets from my childhood as my avatar on few other places online...tough choice I'm thinking of using them in other places like here etc but so many avatars, so many online sites!

I actually have their statuettes in my room, my GF likens me to them a lot.

 

[lexluthermiester]

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.

After reading all these posts, I have to ask; Did you do this PSA as a joke? Or maybe to stir the pot? The tone of it seems like it's less than serious. If that conclusion was wrong..

 

[R-T-B]

After reading all these posts, I have to ask; Did you do this PSA as a joke? Or maybe to stir the pot? The tone of it seems like it's less than serious. If that conclusion was wrong..

Hardly a joke, though I do write in a less than serious tone in general. I try to avoid that in news posts for obvious reasons but editorials I use less restraint. So yeah, I can see where you'd get that vibe.

 

[Vayra86]

After reading all the Ryzen buyers reviews on Newegg, I noticed a lot of things most of them have in common. Most were "upgrading" from FX 8320s and 8350s, and thus were "blown away" by the performance increase. Most noted issues with their RAM (only boots with 2133 speed, or only POSTs with one stick installed). Many blamed their motherboard, and felt that BIOS updates would magically fix all their problems. About 10% of them still don't have a booting system. A large percentage of them are waiting for software or OS updates, game patches, and BIOS updates - then we'll show those Intel fanbois! Almost all of them crow about how great it is, even while noting all the "temporary" problems. Many are also bragging about their "overclocks" to 4.0 @1.4+ vcore, on the 3.0-3.7 1700, and no higher on the 3.6-4.0 1800X. Most noted very high temps, even at idle. Delusional? Perhaps they were run over by the hype train and incurred brain damage in the accident. How else do you explain a 5-egg review of a CPU from a buyer who can't even find a motherboard for it two weeks after launch?

Because a new platform means buying into it at launch makes you an early adopter, and early adopters have a thick skin when it comes to issues on their purchase. They will look for solutions, wait for solutions, and a good early adopter is prepared to do so.

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.

 

[EarthDog]

Because a new platform means buying into it at launch makes you an early adopter, and early adopters have a thick skin when it comes to issues on their purchase. They will look for solutions, wait for solutions, and a good early adopter is prepared to do so.

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.

If they can use more than 8 threads it's a superior product for less. If not, pricing for 7700k vs the octo is more until you get down to the lowest bin 1700 where it's about the same.

 

[imamage]

In one sentence. At least, one sentence excluding the promise not to mention him again.



View attachment 85130

There, now I'm sure Obama is offended too.
It is a forum rant. Editorials are just fancier forum rants with grammar checks.
A bit ashamed to admit, it was in a folder on my desktop and I have no idea where it came from. Tips welcome.

As a newcomer (I have been reading TPU article for a long time, since you guys did feature my picture for Phenom II X4 955BE early release)

Your "Hype Train" picture is from a game called Kerbal Space Program (maybe their facebook )
it is a fun game

 

[R-T-B]

As a newcomer (I have been reading TPU article for a long time, since you guys did feature my picture for Phenom II X4 955BE early release)

Your "Hype Train" picture is from a game called Kerbal Space Program (maybe their facebook )
it is a fun game

Thank you, I'm unsure how exactly to add a source in the traditional sense of our site given still no URL, but I will note this.