Tech geek flame warz

Flame wars take wildly various shapes depending on the nature of the forum, but the bottom line is usually the same: one poster believes “A,” the next poster says anyone who believes in “A” is an idiot, and the war is on*.

On my ENT forum, folks have fought over the age at which septoplasty is a safe operation; more recently, there was a big stink over one poster’s anti-Christian sig line. On Karen’s ArachnoBoards forum, arguments range from the sublime (bickering over the finer points of tarantula cladistics) to the ridiculous (“My spider bit me!” “Really? You’d have to be an idiot to get bitten!”) It always boils down to the same thing.

You’re stupid.

No, you’re stupid.

Only a stupid person would come up with such a lame response.

What amazes me: no matter how genuinely, ridiculously, and undeniably STUPID an idea might be, someone, usually several someones, will adopt that idea and defend it to his last breath. Case in point: high def TV aficionados and their high-priced power cords.

The argument took place at the Audiovisual Science Forum. The questioner asked,

“im thinking about buying an aftermarket power cord for my pioneer plasma, and meh, maybe even my computer. has anyone here ever bought one? if so, was the change noticable at first glance, or did it take some time to realize the improvements, or was the difference just negligible (or nothing at all)? im really curious as to see how such a product would affect my plasma.”

Just so you understand the stakes: we’re not talking about buying a fifty dollar power cord when a five dollar cord will do just as well. The Audio Magic Clairvoyant one meter cable retails at $5500 — although the smart shopper can apparently find it for under $2000. That’s right, a one meter power cord that costs thousands of dollars. Some folks are buying these things because they think it’ll improve their picture quality.

The very next poster gave the questioner the correct response:

The A.C. power that’s delivered to your home is generated dozens and hundreds of miles away. Between the generation point and your home it’s converted up, down and sideways multiple times. Finally, on a pole or box near your home, it’s converted One Last Time, a “neutral” line is added, and the drop to your home is made. The feed enters your home, goes to a distribution panel (aka: “breaker box” or “fuse box”), then, from there, to the various outlets and light fixtures in your home.

What these tweak power cord manufacturers would have you believe is that, after traveling all that way, somehow a Special Last Six Feet of Premium Power Cord is going to somehow make the electricity “better.”

Right.

As to whether or not you’ll perceive an improvement after buying and installing an expensive, “high-end” power cord: Of course you will. Just like your car always seems to run a bit better right after you’ve given it a good wash.

If you thought a clear, rational explanation like that put an end to the discussion, think again. See, a few of the forum members have already shelled out $$$ for their super duper power cords, and dammit, THEY see a difference!

Well, it gets nastier and nastier. And it’s hard to know (without knowing the posters more intimately) whether comments like this are serious or satirical:

Putting weights on top of all my cables improved the sound in my system.

Then, someone truly evil sent the cable-believers to the Aluminum Foil Deflector  Beanie site, and all hell broke loose.

The full thread begins here, if you want to have some Fun With Morons.

No live-blogging tonight. I’m not doing too badly, but I’m not quite up to live-blogging, either. Maybe tomorrow? We’ll see.

D.

*Somewhere — oh, Kate linked to it a while back — someone posted a LONG generic flame war. One size fits all.