“I’ve come to the conclusion that after my last publicity stunt, I must be a sadist—and I probably, at this point, need counseling. I do have seriously mixed feelings about tormenting people, especially masochistic Mac nuts, who I seem to target every so often, much like dropping a cherry bomb down an ant hole and running for cover,” John C. Dvorak writes for PC Magazine.
Dvorak writes, “It’s so easy, but the results are always the same. This is my last time, ever.”
“Here’s the story behind this. I was doing a Twit Podcast at the San Francisco Apple store. Dave Winer, the father of RSS and an all-around blusterer, was there, and he asked me how I antagonize Mac users so effortlessly. I told him I had constructed a foolproof model of how to do this,” Dvorak writes. “Winer immediately got bug-eyed and asked if he could record this on video with his digital camera. He was jazzed! I figured I’d give him an earful, since I knew he’d post it immediately.”
“I outlined a formula for maximizing interest in a single topic, which could result in a minimum of three columns. The video got passed around, and the Mac users were up in arms saying they’ve been tricked, that I’d been baiting them,” Dvorak writes.
Dvorak’s formula
• Find something critical to say about the Mac that may or may not be true.
• Personal attacks and hate mail then ensue. This gives me “free column number two.”
• Apologize for being wrong and then all the Mac crazies really go nuts since they all feel so vindicated.
Video of Dvorak admitting to baiting Apple Mac users for hits:
Direct link to YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWDYaWAVQQ
“What I never mentioned was that I managed to do this, as defined, maybe three times ever,” Dvorak writes. “The model for this column construction is outstanding, but I haven’t done it in over 10 years.”
“Apparently, to some of the Mac nuts who watched my recent exposition on video, I’m unethical and should be fired immediately! I’m amazed at the number of humorless lunatics who use a Mac,” Dvorak writes. “So now I’m a bad guy for revealing this writerly formula, which is fairly straightforward and logical. Let’s face it, anytime I write about a Mac, I’m trying to get mileage out of weak material… I really have to stop doing this. But these Mac-nut people (as you will see) keep coming back for more. The worst of the mob all tell the others to stop reading me and linking to me (a boycott was recently proposed), but they never stop. They are just encouraging it, and they all know it.”
Dvorak writes, “But, as I failed to mention on the video, I haven’t used this formula lately. I have a new formula, and nobody knows what it is. But this much I can tell you: There will be no followup to this column and no apologies.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Questions, we’ve got questions: Will Dvorak be able to repair irreparable damage? Once you flush what’s left of your credibility down the drain on video tape for all the world to see and hear, how do you get it back? Can you get it back? Why did Dvorak feel the need to address this issue if it’s so trivial? Perhaps there is such a thing as bad publicity after all. Isn’t this latest article just Dvorak’s attempt at preventing early retirement?
Do you believe that the world’s largest Hawaiian shirt-wearing weasel hasn’t used his “formula” in 10 years and that this is his “last time, ever?” In our opinion, Dvorak tried his “formula” as recently as last month, when he tried to execute step one of his formula by calling the iPod+Nike Sport Kit “nutty.” Do you believe anything that John Dvorak writes and/or promises? If so, why?
Of course, while he continues to work, we will keep covering Dvorak’s scribbles and faithfully highlight his lack of credibility lest anyone actually believes what he writes in the future.
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Related articles:
Video: Dvorak admits to baiting Apple Mac users for hits – June 10, 2006
Dvorak thinks iPod+Nike Sport Kit is ‘nutty’ – May 24, 2006
Dvorak: Apple needs to make Mac OS X open-source– April 17, 2006
Dvorak: ‘Apple Computer should change its name for good’ to avoid future Apple Corps litigation – March 29, 2006
Dvorak: Will Apple ditch Mac OS X for Microsoft’s Windows? – February 16, 2006
John C. Dvorak expounds on pro-Mac, anti-Microsoft media bias – October 18, 2005
Dvorak: ‘Apple should be stronger, but Mac mystique will wane’ in wake of Intel switch – June 07, 2005
Dvorak calls Mac market share ‘stagnant’ when numbers really show Mac market share growth – December 29, 2004
Dvorak: Apple’s iPod may get a run from MSI’s X2 MEGA View portable multimedia player – December 08, 2004
John C. Dvorak: Apple iMac G5 is ‘reminiscent of a 1954 DeSoto’ – September 01, 2004
I used to have a girlfriend, about 8 years ago, with the last name Dvorak too.
She, after about 3 months, turned into a psycho too.
Maybe it’s the gene pool…
Dvorak is a genius, he’s just written yet another article that will make Mac users rush to read it an droves. Only this time he’s got “meta” on us and starts writing about himself instead of Macs, and makes sure to rile up the Mac users by calling them names. This soap opera is highly enjoyable if you ask me. Dvorak knows how to generate hits, even in his supposed “dark hour”. He’ll continue to be successful, despite what MDN says, there really is no such thing as bad publicity in this case.
Sounds like he has taken alot of HEAT from the publications in which his articles appear.. Woo hoo!
PLEASE DO NOT LINK TO HIS ORIGINAL ARTICLE!!
Read it here, if you want, but DO NOT GIVE HIM HITS!
This is what journalism is. Dvorak is no different than many other journalists today and since the very first newspaper. If you believe everthing you read you’re a very mis-informed person who thinks he/she knows a lot. Regurgitating information you’ve learned from newspapers and magazines may make you look smart to people who don’t know your subject matter but to any insider or engineer, scientist, etc. you’ll quickly learn that you’ve been had.
MDN
You have fallen for his trick,
YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT HIM
He just needs to be ignored. He will eventually have to find a new job.
Dvorak’s bosses who should be very concerned about their publication’s credibility:
PC Mag: Stephanie Chang, Executive Editor: stephanie_chang@ziffdavis.com
MarketWatch: David Callaway, Editor-in-chief: dcallaway@marketwatch.com
Personally, I don’t care at all about his credibility, any irreparable damage created, why he addressed the issue, what he thinks about Apple, or where he buys his clothes. Neither do I understand MDN’s obsession with him.
The iPod+Nike Sport Kit is nutty.
MDN MW subject: as in can’t we turn the page and change the subject. Just look at him, why should anyone care what he says?
In 2003 if you thought your were more likely to die from a terrorist attack than you were in 2000…
If you though invading Iraq was about freedom and democracy…
If you thought an ARM was a good idea for a home mortgage…
If you think eating a lot of red meat is a good way to lose weight…
I could go on…
MDN word: doubt
everything you think you know
MDN’s formula for generating hits: post an article about Dvorak, Thurrott, or Enderle
“Of course, while he continues to work, we will keep covering Dvorak’s scribbles and faithfully highlight his lack of credibility lest anyone actually believes what he writes in the future.”
Awww, how noble of you guys, because, you know, so many people that visit this forum believe everything that guy says.
Who?
To the “just ignore him” morons, I suggest you bone up on your history.
While Dvorak is certainly no Hitler, I do believe that MDN performs a very valuable service by keeping tech writers on their toes.
MDN has been responsible for an awful lot of retractions and corrections from major media outlets that are a much more influential and credible that John C. Dvorak.
MDN doesn’t make up LIES to generate hits, they expose the LIARS who attempt to do so.
Bravo, MDN!
Just ignore him. Maybe he’ll finally go away. What a useless man.
Don’t fall for this, he’s doing exactly what he said he dose, this is just more crap.
The best thing we can do is ignore him!!!!!!!
Anyone who criticizes MDN for exposing Dvorak really don’t understand the issue.
You should be thanking MDN for the exposing lies, myths, and FUD that people like Dvorak spread around.
Dvorak doesn’t need any damage control and he’s not asking for any. The Mac-zealot community has been had and rather than take the lesson, you’d rather put Dvorak down. He’s doing it again right now.
It reflects more on MDN and the mac community than it does on Dvorak because everyone could predict with startling accuracy what the response would be to any perceived slight by him or any other columnist.
That you’re so easily manipulated should give you pause to ask yourself why that is so.
And the worst is that MDN plays this game too with it’s own readers – stirring the anti-everything and everyone pot because it knows the average reader will bite on the bait. It’s too easy.
If you ignore him, his credibility goes unquestioned, and people believe what he writes for PC Rag and MarketSwamp.
That is why you have to keep shining a bright light on the weasel always until he’s gone.
Dvorak has succeeded in his goal. This video has actually made me LIKE HIM.
He’s not a psycho Mac-hater. He’s just making fun of zealots. In this case MAC ZEALOTS.
Keep posting the Dvorak articles please, they are entertaining and should let us take a breath and realize that it’s just a computer. It’s just a choice.
My wife likes PCs. I think she’s nuts, but I have to go along with it. Be humble. Macs aren’t right for everyone. Just relax and have fun with life.
Dvorak has what must be an incredibly fun job. He get paid presumably well to rub elbows and joke around. It’s probably the only thing he’s ever done well and he’s made it his thing.
As long as you know it going in, he’s just entertainment.
FactChecker, Peter, Fred,
Agree 100%. MDN has to continue to pick apart Dvorak’s manipulative FUD-filled articles.
Dvorak’s bosses who should be very concerned about their publication’s credibility:
PC Mag: Stephanie Chang, Executive Editor: stephanie_chang@ziffdavis.com
MarketWatch: David Callaway, Editor-in-chief: dcallaway@marketwatch.com
That is why I love Dvorak. Even with the plain truth right in front of the “annoying” Mac users (case in point MDN) they will continue to fall for his tricks.
Hypocrites in denial is what most of you are. First Intel is bad and now Intel is the greatest thing since slice bread. How quick you jump from bandwagon to bandwagon.
He is right about one thing; the iPod/Nike thing is nutty….
This is exactly what he wants!
If MDN hadnt reported this is would have ZERO affect.
MDN have perpetuated his bullsh*t.
He is the Baron. MDN is his dealer…
COMMISSIONING EDITORS TAKE NOTE:
I will never link to this morons website, or to any article he posts on ANY website which cares to commission him to spout his ‘opinion’.
Save your money or hire someone else to write the piece…