Tom's Guide©™ to Mudslinging and Martyrdom
- Thread starter Groltz
- Start date
It gave me a good laugh. I was looking for some P4 2.8GHz reviews and decided to look there and I saw that article.
Steve
Now I remember why I don't go there anymore. He talks about courage and integrity while publicly bashing people.
Steve
time
Storage? I am Storage!
Here's Van Smith's reply.
He gets down to the nitty gritty in The Important Issues section. Coupled with Dean Jones' observations over at Aces Hardware, I don't think there's any real doubt about what has happened. Everyone used to give Bapco the benefit of the doubt because nothing could be proved. That's all changed now ...
FWIW, I corresponded briefly with Van's wife when they were still at THG. I was impressed with her integrity and she struck me as a very genuine person. I've read nothing since on VHJ to alter that impression, and I'm inclined to believe that Van is basically honest.
He gets down to the nitty gritty in The Important Issues section. Coupled with Dean Jones' observations over at Aces Hardware, I don't think there's any real doubt about what has happened. Everyone used to give Bapco the benefit of the doubt because nothing could be proved. That's all changed now ...
FWIW, I corresponded briefly with Van's wife when they were still at THG. I was impressed with her integrity and she struck me as a very genuine person. I've read nothing since on VHJ to alter that impression, and I'm inclined to believe that Van is basically honest.
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
Not quite everyone, Time. I didn't trust Bapco worth a pinch of the provervial. Not Bapco 2001 and certainly not 2002. But even this hardened old cynic was surprised at just how blatant the cheating was.
As for Tom, he is playing the time-honoured (but no better for that) tactic of, when caught with some very nasty rotten egg on one's face, trying to create a distraction with some other issue. Bapco cheated and Tom, that mighty, courageous and ... er .. was it ever-steeped in intregrity ... whatever .. Tom fell for it, hook, line and sinker. His technical credentials are in tatters - the Mighty Tom couldn't spot a grossly flawed benchmark?
Bye-bye Tom. No-one takes you seriously anymore.
A real man of integrity would lay his cards on the table and admit that he had been fooled by what is ultimately a very simple trick. A man with real courage would write an editorial saying "I was wrong, and this is what this means for the computing landscape - viz, that much of my website's content has been baloney for quite some time now - we are going to have to go back and retest everything. Stand by for some revised conclusions."
As for Tom, he is playing the time-honoured (but no better for that) tactic of, when caught with some very nasty rotten egg on one's face, trying to create a distraction with some other issue. Bapco cheated and Tom, that mighty, courageous and ... er .. was it ever-steeped in intregrity ... whatever .. Tom fell for it, hook, line and sinker. His technical credentials are in tatters - the Mighty Tom couldn't spot a grossly flawed benchmark?
Bye-bye Tom. No-one takes you seriously anymore.
A real man of integrity would lay his cards on the table and admit that he had been fooled by what is ultimately a very simple trick. A man with real courage would write an editorial saying "I was wrong, and this is what this means for the computing landscape - viz, that much of my website's content has been baloney for quite some time now - we are going to have to go back and retest everything. Stand by for some revised conclusions."
Groltz
My demeaning user rank is
Clocker said:
Certified Doctor of hair colorings?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I believe Tom is in fact a medical doctor. When I first started reading his site in '95 or '96, he used to mention that fact in his articles.
... as if being trained to treat the ailments of the human body makes one qualified to discuss the ramifications of PC performance.
... as if being trained to treat the ailments of the human body makes one qualified to discuss the ramifications of PC performance.
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
Anybody that recommends themselves as a person of integrity, modesty, and patience, prove that they are the opposite through their arrogant personal commendation.
Sol
Storage is cool
The case does seem pretty clear cut. It really makes me wonder exactly what Tom is waiting for. It's like a bluff when the rules won't allow your oponent to fold.
AFAIK, He never claimed it did. IIRC, Tom was still a medical student when he first started his hobby site; nobody expected it to take off as
a business in its own right. His status as a doctor is irrelevant, what
made it an interesting gimmick for his site in the early days was the
idea that someone outside the normal geek circles would be interested
in motherboards, CPUs, memory and the sort. And there was the
implication (in those days) that a "scientifically inclined" person like
a doctor would make for a good evaluator.
Most viewers forget that being a Doctor does not automatically make you
any better with common sense or the scientific method than the average
college graduate.
The problem is now it is too hard to distinguish Tom Pabst the hobbyist
from Tom's Hardware the site, even for Tom himself.
I'm not sure he understands the difference between an editorial and
a rant. Both have thier place, but not in the same column.
As for Van Smith, I don't have enough experience to speak about the
person, but I saw many similarities in posting style between him and
Tom (a comparison I don't think either would be flattered by).
I didn't much care for his site design either, but FWIW, it looks like it
became popular enough to exceed its costs. The August 26th news
says he's shutting down (or at least not updating the site further).
Cliptin
Wannabe Storage Freak
Mercutio said:
Indeed, you are correct. FWIW, under the european system you can legitimatly say you ae in medical school even if just last year you graduated high school.
On his bio page he used to talk about how he got into computers. Something about programming a mainframe or something. It seemed legitimate to me at the time; normal for someone in graduate school. I think differently now.
Cliptin
Wannabe Storage Freak
cquinn said:
Van'shardware said:
Conflicts of interest indeed. Van works for Centaur, a VIA aquisition. Although, any of the other reasons are valid as well.