On fanboys

That word, fanboys, is a thought-terminating cliché deployed to instantly drown and toxify good discussion. But there are certain areas of discussion where the presence of, um, irrationally loyal and hostile interlocutors warrants a good hard look at the psychology. Why do people get so mad about phones? At The Verge, Lessley Anderson dives in:

Anytime anybody in the universe says something negative about Microsoft, Brad Thorne* loses it. He fires up Twitter: "You're fucking pathetic!… You have your head so far up your ass!… I can't wait until you eat your smug words!"

Thorne, a fortyish IT manager with a preppy wardrobe and shy grin, is actually a nice guy in person. He plays golf and enjoys spending time with his wife and step kids. He works as an IT director at a nonprofit charity organization in the South that's run by nuns. He is not religious — unless you count his relationship with Microsoft, of course.

"I'm a missionary," says Thorne. "For me, it's about being super passionate and super knowledgeable about their products, and not leaving that passion at the door when you leave work. You preach it all the time."

Just as an aside: can we kill all the "Snowfall-style Feature" fanboys? Quickly, too.