Editors Note: Hey guys, I believe that this could go under trolling and as this is my first post, I would like to know if I have to do that or if the admins do it. If I am supposed to do it, how do I do it? Thx :)
About:
Fanboyism is the practice of being a fanboy/girl. A fanboy is someone who is, according to Urban dictionary,“Known for a complete lack of objectivity in relation to their preferred focus. Usually argue with circular logic that they refuse to acknowledge. Arguments or debates with such are usually futile. Every flaw is spun into semi-virtues and everything else, blown to comedic, complimentary proportions.” When encountering a fanboy, the person might think that they are being trolled. However, the fanboy sincerely believes in their usually jaded opinion. They can be many different ages, but it has been noted that younger people on the internet (under 13) tend to exhibit fanboy behavior more then other age groups. A fanboy will usually do anything to try to make others agree that their opinion is fact. This includes lying, supressing others’ opinions on a subject, and not listening to reason. Most of the time, the things that fanboys obsess over doesn’t accually want the super fans in the first place
Origin:
Fanboyism has been around for a very long time, so long that it is impossible to find where it actually originated. Even something like arguing about why one color is better then another could be considered fanboyism if one takes it to a certain extent. So, it is less of something with an exact origin, more of something some people just do and have done.
Examples:
there are many different examples of fanboyism, here are some of the more well-known ones:
Sonic Franchise:
One thing that Sonic is infamous for is having many fanboys. They tend to give major hate toward people or groups who say anything bad about their favorite video game. This includes review sites, youtubers, and other games’ fanbases. Not all of Sonic’s fans are fanboys however. In fact, a large majority of them are just normal fans. This moderate view, sadly, is ruined by the radical fans of the franchise.
Minecraft:
The Minecraft community has a lot of younger users and as a result of that, has many, many fanboys. These fanboys look at Minecraft as if it is the greatist game ever made and absoluaty hate anything that seems to copy Minecraft. Their hating of copies seems a bit strange. one would think they would want more copies, because something could come around that is better then Minecraft. Once again, not all fans (even younger ones) are fanboys; most fans are not at all.
Fanboyism on YouTube:
One site that has many fanboys in it is YouTube. They defend certain YouTubers from everything without reason. Like Minecraft, most of these fans are pretty young. Users like PewDiePie who have many younger fans have many fanboys. Also, people like Justin Beiber and other singers have major fanboys/girls on their music videos on YouTube. Once again, people with this zealous fandom tend not to want it, they just show up. The site is also the host of quite a few fanboy-based flame wars. This incldes the Yognought vs. Anti-Yognaught war, A number of battles in the 360 vs PS3 war, and TGS vs. Machinima war.
Fanboy Flame Wars:
Not all flame wars are caused by trolls. Some flame wars happen when two fanboy groups clash with one another. Things like X console is better than Y console and X anime is better than Y anime. The unnecessary arguments tend to tear apart things like forum threads and comment sections all across the internet. For more information on flame wars, see this (wikipedia)
Examples of Fanboy Flame Wars:
Xbox360 vs. PS3
A major flame war that has been and is still going on right now is Xbox360 vs. PS3. Both sides’ fanboys claim that their console is better then the other one in every way. The argument itself is completely pointless, as it is not really fact and is more of a personal preference thing when it comes to consoles. nevertheless, the war rages on and will remain to do so until one of the companies goes out of business, makes a really bad next gen console (so bad that fanboys would admit it is bad), or all of the fans just leave to support something new and better then both of them.
How to Deal With Fanboys:
When you encounter a fanboy, remember that they are just trolls that believe what they are saying. what you should do is try to ignore them and do not attempt to argue with them. They will not listen to reason and will gather more fanboys to try to destroy you if the argument goes too far. If you are a content creator, such as a youtube celebraty, please make it clear to your fanbase that you do not want fanboyism to be prevalent in it. While they think that they are helping the content creator, they accually make others think negitively of the content creator because they tend to lie about the content. Once again, do not argue with a fanboy, you could end up starting a flame war, which helps no one at all.