THG is at it Again....

Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
edited July 2003 in Science & Tech
<a href=http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=243>AMDMB Editorial: <b>Online Media Morals</b></a>

<i>
This weekend at the Million Man Lan 2 (MML2) this usual series of events was shifted due to manufacturer and media company coming to their own terms. It started when I was attempting to attend the MML2 event, in Louisville, KY. I was told by a representative of AMD that I was not going to be allowed to even enter the building because Tom’s Hardware (THG) had forced a media blackout for all other online press. That means that as a member of the press, I was not allowed to enter the building, take photos or write about the hardware events that would occur inside. Needless to say, I was not happy when I heard about this turn of events
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While I won’t be able to pass a final judgment on the passing of these events until after tonight, when the AMD demonstration is set to go on at 10pm EST, the past two days have really soured my views of both AMD and THG. </i>

<a href=http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=243>Read about the whole sordid affair here</a>

Comments

  • seversphereseversphere
    edited June 2003
    What was that AMD rep thinking - he might get a raise? Either he wants to play grabass with the THG rep friend of his or he's an Intel saboteur but probably just played too much grabass and wanted to be alone with the THG rep at the presentation so he could play some more grabass.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Omega beat me to the punch. I got an email from Ryan when I woke up this morning.

    It's disgusting. A really sad and sorry chain of events. THG just dig themselves deeper.
  • DoM-aLDoM-aL Indiana
    edited June 2003
    Blah... disturbing... but hell maybe now thg will go amd biased and the intel fanboys wont have any benchmarks to show us.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited June 2003
    Sounds to me like there was some money passed under the table by those two reps.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Well.. it gets deeper.. the inquirer got a hold of it..

    Small online guys squeezed by the not-so-jolly giants

    Then.. they had a letter from Toms ...

    No strongarming at LAN event, Tom's Hardware says .. which included this gem.
    I find myself writing to you in response to some comments that were made on some AMD fanboy site, as referred to in a piece here. Why? Indigestion, headache, ennui, lack of caffeine - who knows. There really does not seem much sense having to deal with this sort of thing, although it has to be said that I am sick and tired of fanboy sites that do nothing but slam everyone for their own edification. Soapbox amateurs who just want to get a few rants up on a page, and paint themselves as gurus. What has it got to do with hardware and technology? Nothing. They're Tom wannabes, or Anand wannabes, or Kyle wannabes, or even Mike wannabes. I would hope they aspire to something greater, but the nature of society today dictates that we all have a grasp that exceeds our reach.

    My sincere hope is that AMD finally realizes that their fanboy sites are what is going to ultimately put them out of the desktop business. If it was possible, I'd set up a tote and take bets on it.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Tom Pabst über alles!

    Zeig heil, Bundeslander Pabst!
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited June 2003
    The online seas heave once again with proverbial David meeting Goliath in a digital mudfest. A media blackout is not an incredulous occurence. The fact that a member of the press went to cover an event and then was denied that coverage is also not so hard to believe.

    It happens.

    Miscommunication, lack of communication and fickle minds sometimes make for bad feelings and broken poison pens. Could there be a situation of "strongarming"? AMDMB, and others on the side of the "online David" may see it that way but "Goliath" THG does not.

    There exists the possibility that THG pre-promoted the event and provided "free" coverage in trade for a few favors. Rarely do any of us do a favor without expecting something in return. This is business and it happens in every business everywhere.

    It is too easy to misread the AMDMB article thinking that AMD, the company, had an official response or was it AMD the field rep? As a word of caution my colleague at AMDMB, who may be rightly justified, should take a few minutes to let the blood stop boiling else he learn the legal terms libel and slander the hard way.

    Now I am not taking up the side of THG. Quite simply I am utterly sickened by THG General Manager Omid Rahmat's careless use of such a wide sweeping brush that he paints "fanboy" sites with. As an official representative of a company the THG General Manager should take more care in choosing his words. His kneejerk response to AMDMB is childish and offensive to this writer of another so-called "fanboy" site.

    The standard apology should be in order but it holds little substance for me when coming from GM's who react so foolishly. As a "wannabe" I shall redouble my efforts to storm the ivory towers that THG apparently feels so secure in.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited June 2003
    I think you said it fairly well, MM.
    MediaMan said
    The online seas heave once again with proverbial David meeting Goliath in a digital mudfest. A media blackout is not an incredulous occurence. The fact that a member of the press went to cover an event and then was denied that coverage is also not so hard to believe.

    It happens.

    Miscommunication, lack of communication and fickle minds sometimes make for bad feelings and broken poison pens. Could there be a situation of "strongarming"? AMDMB, and others on the side of the "online David" may see it that way but "Goliath" THG does not.

    There exists the possibility that THG pre-promoted the event and provided "free" coverage in trade for a few favors. Rarely do any of us do a favor without expecting something in return. This is business and it happens in every business everywhere.

    It is too easy to misread the AMDMB article thinking that AMD, the company, had an official response or was it AMD the field rep? As a word of caution my colleague at AMDMB, who may be rightly justified, should take a few minutes to let the blood stop boiling else he learn the legal terms libel and slander the hard way.

    Now I am not taking up the side of THG. Quite simply I am utterly sickened by THG General Manager Omid Rahmat's careless use of such a wide sweeping brush that he paints "fanboy" sites with. As an official representative of a company the THG General Manager should take more care in choosing his words. His kneejerk response to AMDMB is childish and offensive to this writer of another so-called "fanboy" site.

    The standard apology should be in order but it holds little substance for me when coming from GM's who react so foolishly. As a "wannabe" I shall redouble my efforts to storm the ivory towers that THG apparently feels so secure in.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    MediaMan said
    Quite simply I am utterly sickened by THG General Manager Omid Rahmat's careless use of such a wide sweeping brush that he paints "fanboy" sites with. As an official representative of a company the THG General Manager should take more care in choosing his words. His kneejerk response to AMDMB is childish and offensive to this writer of another so-called "fanboy" site.

    The standard apology should be in order but it holds little substance for me when coming from GM's who react so foolishly. As a "wannabe". I shall redouble my efforts to storm the ivory towers that THG apparently feels so secure in.

    Couldn't have put it better myself :)

    For all those who wanna keep it fresh and non-biased..

    Get Published on Short-Media

    Help us be the difference :)
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    THG Letter:
    They're Tom wannabes, or Anand wannabes, or Kyle wannabes, or even Mike wannabes. I would hope they aspire to something greater, but the nature of society today dictates that we all have a grasp that exceeds our reach.

    Sounds like a slightly more educated version of the trash talk I hear in Counter-Strike from 13 year olds.

    He may think his site is superior to all, but what's important is what us readers think :D.
  • TekGamerTekGamer Earth
    edited June 2003
    I wonder if Tom relizes that no one likes him and only noobs read his site..

    Im also pretty sure that Anand and HardOCP where kinda tweaked about Tom casting himself with them. As I recall Kyle hates Tom and Tom used to bad mouth him..

    Tek
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    You are indeed right about Kyle and Tom, Tek.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Does anyone know whether THG's clear Intel bias is due to a little "corporate sponsorship," false belief in the MHz myth, or what?

    I'm fairly sickened by this behavior at MML2, as well as the response letter from THG. I'm kind of glad I didn't go to this LANWAR... and I find myself wondering why THG really wants to cover such an AMD-friendly event as LANWAR?
  • hitokirihitokiri NYC
    edited July 2003
    Wow, I always thought that there was something weird about the benchmarks at THG.
    When Icrontic went down I used to go to THG for news and NewEgg has the reviews from THG on their site, so I thought it might be credible.

    Well now... Anyone have any good, non-biased Tech sites that I can trust? I know about SM and Icrontic, addaboy is cool too, but are there any other sites you guys visit?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    The [H] has a clear intel bias, but I only visit that site for the [H]ot Deals forum...

    Amdmb.com is great for tech stuff. Takes the AMD slant, of course, but that's fine with me!
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited July 2003
    the [H] may have a clear intel bias, but they seem to be much less biased than before. if you compare benches from [H] and anand, they usually show exactly the same thing. you throw in THG reviews and you might think intel has some sort of allpowerful commanding lead
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    *mumbles uncontrollably and curses* i swear to god...how are "fanboy" sites going to ut AMD out of business....if anything...we are the backbone of their distrubition....AMD doesnt have commercials on TV and such...and its not even offered in DELL nor gateway (im guessing on gateway)... these "fanboy" sites are the ones who give out the msg to everyone showing how AMD is good...and besides...its ppl like THG that makes ppl not like intel...
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    WuGgaRoO said
    and its not even offered in DELL nor gateway

    That's why when I bought my lappy I got a Compaq... I think HP and Compaq are the only ones that offer AMDs in their notebook PCs... I got an XP 2200+ in my notebook. It's niiiice. A lot nicer than a 2.2GHz celery (which cost more!) anyway.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited July 2003
    AnandTech - http://www.anandtech.com/
    SharkyExtreme - http://www.sharkyextreme.com/

    Sharky may have a bias, as I have not been a frequent visitor to Sharky in a while, but they used to be pretty good.

    AnandTech is my favorite review site.
    hitokiri said
    Wow, I always thought that there was something weird about the benchmarks at THG.
    When Icrontic went down I used to go to THG for news and NewEgg has the reviews from THG on their site, so I thought it might be credible.

    Well now... Anyone have any good, non-biased Tech sites that I can trust? I know about SM and Icrontic, addaboy is cool too, but are there any other sites you guys visit?
  • hitokirihitokiri NYC
    edited July 2003
    cool, Ive been to Anandtech and ipKonfig before. I should visit AT more hehe. Thanks
  • croc_croc_ New
    edited July 2003
    can't we all just get along. :P
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited July 2003
    I know se7ven from Ipkonfig personally. He is a really cool guy. What he knows...he knows extremely well.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited July 2003
    I know 6ix, and 5ive too. =)

    Seriously though, I've been to IPKonfig before but never became a regular so I didn't even think about it, but even if I had I wouldn't have listed it because I didn't know if it is or used to be unbiased.

    I guess I'll start checking it out more often now :D
    MediaMan said
    I know se7ven from Ipkonfig personally. He is a really cool guy. What he knows...he knows extremely well.
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