The line for brand bashing.

[Seegtease]

I fully understand why brand bashing is against the rules. Bashing almost anything can do nothing but cause hostility in others.

The question is, where is the line drawn from constructive criticism, candid opinions, and bashing?

Which of these lines would break the forum rules (using Mac/Windows as a popular example, not stating an actual opinion, though that should be obvious in this context):

1 - I hate Macs.
2 - I really don't care for Macs.
3 - Macs are utter garbage and are shameful compared to the performance a good PC gets.
4 - Macs used to be pretty good for art development, but are mostly useless these days.
5 - For the cost and performance, Macs are a huge waste of money.
6 - When a Mac gets old, you can't upgrade it, it's just a paperweight by then.
7 - For the less money, you can get more performance getting a PC.
8 - Use windows if you love viruses.
9 - At least I don't have to deal with crashing every 5 minutes with a Mac.
10 - Windows isn't any better, it just has the masses after it.

The line on what is bashing is a bit vague to me, based on infractions I've seen. Which of those lines are violations?

[Adam Jensen]

I'm not a mod, of course, but I'd say only #3 *might* be bashing (and even that's stretching it.)

But I'd say something to the effect of "people who use macs are retarded" would be bashing (not my opinion, just an example.) If someone is attacking someone else over their preference, that to me is bashing. Just saying "I hate macs" is not.

[Codyak]

Seems like a lot of the time, it's not necessarily how bad the comment is, but whether it's attached to anything constructive.

[breadisfunny]

i think generally they arent allowed because it ALWAYS leads to giant flame fests/troll fests and some sites wish to avoid that by dissallowing the topic to be discussed period. basically the same reason they dont allow religion threads. or why other sites wont allow political discussions etc.

[Seegtease]

i think generally they arent allowed because it ALWAYS leads to giant flame fests/troll fests and some sites wish to avoid that by dissallowing the topic to be discussed period. basically the same reason they dont allow religion threads. or why other sites wont allow political discussions etc.

I know why they aren't allowed, but I'm trying to figure out what is considered brand bashing.

I'm not a mod, of course, but I'd say only #3 *might* be bashing (and even that's stretching it.)

But I'd say something to the effect of "people who use macs are retarded" would be bashing (not my opinion, just an example.) If someone is attacking someone else over their preference, that to me is bashing. Just saying "I hate macs" is not.

That's not brand bashing, that's more like people bashing. When I hear the term brand bashing I think specifically attacking a company, not the people who use it.

[Fhi]

Context is important. If your post contains nothing but how bad a particular platform/OS/game/model is, it's likely to be considered brand bashing. If you're offering an opinion to support your post, then it's constructive. When in doubt, ask yourself: "Is my post helping to fuel the discussion or answering another poster?" Everybody have different tastes and preferences, and as long as your posts respect that, you will be fine.

[llDemonll]

i think generally they arent allowed because it ALWAYS leads to giant flame fests/troll fests and some sites wish to avoid that by dissallowing the topic to be discussed period. basically the same reason they dont allow religion threads. or why other sites wont allow political discussions etc.

Pretty much this. From most Computer mods standpoint, #7 is really the only "constructive" comment of the bunch. #2 would be OK, but might need some context. Everything else would lead to the whole flaming aspect. I'm not sure any of those are infractable, if that's what you're asking, but they wouldn't really be constructive to the discussion in any way

[Deleted]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njos57IJf-0

On topic:
Bashing in most contexts is a bad thing. If you want to say a brand is bad, you should at least give a decent recent why.
In my opinion 7 and 4 are decent. The rest you'd need to back up a little.

[Tziva]

Thread context is super important.

If you come into a thread where someone is asking for help troubleshooting something on their Mac, and you offer a bunch of reasons why you dislike Macs, even if they are constructive it's inappropriate within that thread. The guy has a Mac, he just wants to fix it, it is not helpful to come in and say "see, this is why you shouldn't buy a mac." Conversely, if someone makes a "should I buy a mac or a pc" thread, and you post a bunch of constructive critiques about one of them (hardware, value, OS, etc) vs the other, then that's totally fine.

And in any thread context, going in just to say you hate something or something sucks is probably going to be a problem, especially if it's already a fiery debate topic like Mac vs PC.

The two things to ask yourself:

• Does my comment contribute helpful information to the topic being discussed? [it should]
• Am I expressing or phrasing it in a confrontational manner that will incite the people who hold a different opinion? (eg, "I prefer PCs" vs "Macs are shit") [it shouldn't]