What the #!%*! is a malcor?
by Dan Pourhadi • 11/20/2007
at 06:49 PM
What the hell’s a “malcor”?
Sounds like a kind of dinosaur. Or the name of some creature in World of Warcraft.
Maybe an alien from Star Trek. “I am Malcor, leader of the Laymonians!”
See what I did there? Snuck in a phonetic “lame.”
Because that’s what ”malcor” is. Lame.
Is it just me, or is there something strangely ironic about some kid going around, attacking websites for being too Mac fanboy-like?
Think about it: He hacked two sites. I’m no uber-l33t hax0r, but I imagine that’s no easy feat. He’s made a name for himself, and people are worried. Imagine all the time during the day he spends on this—not necessarily hacking or whatnot, but just thinking about it.
Isn’t that its own form of obsession?
Besides, what makes the two sites hacked—Wolsey’s and MacApper—fanboyistic? The fact that they focus on a particular topic? I don’t recall either site publishing pieces like, “Why Windows Sucks Azzz and Macs r da Bomb.”
By Malcor The Great’s logic, any site with a specific focus could be considered “fanboy.” PCMag: fanboy. SportsIllustrated: fanboy. GameSpot: fanboy.
The first is a PC site; second is all about sports; third is games. That’s pretty much all they cover. Does that mean they’re “fanboys” of those topics, and thus on principle must be shut down?
Seems kinda stupid.
But hey, what do I know.
I’m not saying I’m surprised by this. I like to look at people’s perception of “Mac fanboyism” the same way many look at the Far Right’s worries of “The War on Christmas.”
Is there a war? Not really. There’s only the perception of war, and that alone gives it a sort of non-real reality. There are people out there who are probably trying to kill the religious components of Christmas and make it intrinsically secular. But not many.
And sure, there are Mac fanboys. Kids who go from message board to message board preaching their love of the Mac and hatred for anything non-Apple, personally attacking others for what brand of computer they bought.
But is that the norm? Is this culture wide-spread? Hell no. The vast majority of content published on Mac websites are written by sensible people who are fans of Apple products, not out of loyalty, but because the products work, and work well.
Mac fanboyism is only rampant in the minds of idiots who see one person behave a certain way, and assume it’s the norm for all. A typical stereotyper—the same kind of person who judged people on race; the same kind of person who thinks all Republicans are war-mongering neo-cons; the same kind of person who thinks all Democrats are tax-raising hippies; the same kind of close-minded, brain-dead fool who thinks all PC users are idiots for using Windows.
On his blog, Malcor The Impotent equates posting pictures of Mac setups with smugness. Why? Obviously because he never took a vocab course. (He likes to write “fanboi” too, which sort of makes me think he’s a 13-year-old girl who likes to hang out on MySpace and PerezHilton.com.)
I’m giving this kid more credit than he deserves. He’s probably some lonely fella’ just looking to get some attention. Given that one of the reasons he gave for attacking MacApper was that it sounded like “Mac Crapper” certainly doesn’t enforce his philosophical, the-Mac-world-would-be-better-without-them arguments for hacking these sites.
Well, congrats, kid. You’re getting your 15 minutes of fame. You’ll probably get a cozy desk job at some security research firm someday, making good money protecting large corporations’ websites. Bet you’re proud.
For now, you’re demonstrating the same kind of obsessive elitism you claim to be fighting against. Bet you’re proud of that, too.
And seriously. What the hell is a “malcor”?
Dan Pourhadi is a freelance technology writer from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He writes several Mac-focused columns for various publications and has contributed to MacAddict Magazine. Dan is also a contributor to MacUser.
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“For now, you’re demonstrating the same kind of obsessive elitism you claim to be fighting against. Bet you�re proud of that, too.”
Well said. My main thoughts exactly. Great post, Daniel. Macteens can always be counted on to boldly tell the truth.
My thoughts exactly, Dan.
Great story Dan.
Great bit Dan. Great read and it was enjoyable. I’m just getting around to this whole Malcor nonsense but you wrapped it up well and let’s hope that Macteens isn’t next on the “list”
Macteens isn’t popular enough I think… don’t worry about being hacked, MacThemes is possibly next.
Sorry dude but you’ve got your head up your arse.
Mac fanboys are the worst tech fanboys ever.
On the top five list you have:
1. Al-Qaeda (killing oneself over fanboyism takes the cake)
2. Nazis
3. Overzealous Mac Enthusiasts
...
ahahaha
Since I’m all about etymologies:
Mala, in Latin, means apple. Cor means heart. However, mal can also been interpreted as “bad”, and then you have “bad heart.”
Either way, the guy’s a jerk and a hypocrite.
Macteens is still fucking around? Jesus christ!
I disagree.
Most mac lovers I meet are fanboys, in every sense of the term. Not that there is anything wrong with the mac, but I’ve used them. They’re not that great. I never have problems with my pc, and it can do 100 times more stuff than a mac. You don’t see me sticking huge ‘I<3 Windows’ stickers all over my car do you?
The casual graphic designer who enjoys using his mac and tells people who ask = satisfied user
A mac fanatic who has a mac fansite, apple stickers all over everything he owns, and the irresistible urge to tell everyone how great it is to be able to use the three mac apps in existence without ever having to worry about them crashing! = fanboy.
And Dan, honestly, couldn’t you find something better to write about than some thirteen year old hacker? They’re not exactly rare.
-m
Sounds like someone’s a little butthurt.
Malcor, Bring it!
Malcor, if you’re reading this, I challenge you to a fight: my Mac Mini versus the back of your skull. Who will prove the superior hard surface?
First of all…
When making jokes in writing, one must not point them out for people to get. One must sit back and hope people get it. See, that’s what makes them funny. If you explain a joke, it isn’t funny anymore. So, really. Try to understand that one little tidbit.
Making a plan and thinking about it is not being obsessive. There’s a difference between being a fanboy and just planning things.
See, when you are obsessive, you REEK of something. Everything you say has the hint of what you like. You could almost be seen as being full of yourself.
This guy has one website that says what his plans are. He acts on his plans.
SportsIllustrated isn’t a fanboy site for the simple reason that they don’t shove their heads up anyone’s butt. They don’t appear to be full of themselves. They just talk about what they love.
The same goes with your other examples.
To get a better idea of what being a “fanboy” really is, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy
I am in no way condoning the hackers actions, but at the same time I agree that some people are too far into what things are, going as far as defending it in incredibly lame ways.
Not only talking about Apple here. There are other products and things that have fanboys of their own. It is useless to try to remove them from the face of the earth or to show them that they are their own destruction. It is best just to get along.
LOL
Now he’s gonna hax you. All you Mac fanbois are pathetic. Apple doesn’t care about you, they just want you to give them your money in return for their shiny white overpriced paperweights.
Apparently there is growing discontent, dissent and dissatisfaction in the mac community. I think that’s the real story here.
I recenty returned to the mac after a long break only to discover that apple and the macintosh community had changed for the worse. No longer was it about thinking different, ease of use and quality products. It was now about running anyone who criticised apple products of their help forums, calling them trolls if they raised certain issues and deleting their posts. The fanboys are not above hacking sites that are critical of the mac.
Does anyone think that Leopard is anything more than a Beta release? Heck, they didn’t even bother to finish Tiger properly. And who is going to start speaking out? Will it be the internet journalists at macworld, macnn or some other respected institution. Somebody will have to take the lead.
Logic board failures, crap screens, poor wifi, unstable operating system and they call that thing a firewall. Whether the community likes it or not some of us are sick to the back teeth with what has become an unquestioning, fanatical cult. Macusers deserve better than that.
I want an operating system that fulfills my needs. I don’t want something that’s designed to run iTunes and sell me digital media products. I have no interest in iLife. There are other products that do the job better. I want the mac to realise it’s potential. Above all I want it to be my mac...but it’s not like that anymore. It’s Apple’s mac...no it’’s not ...it’s Steve’s mac.
I love my LCII. Still works. You should see the insides...gorgeous. It was assembled with care. It exudes quality. I stroke it lovingly.
I guess I’m an old fanboy at heart.
I’m just saying, Dan. We need guys like you to take the Nextstep. You are our voice amongst the crowd. Perhaps it’s time for change. Time for you to raise these issues, to dig deep, to listen to that voice within that’s yelling out, it’s screaming...Why did I become a writer? Remember your dream, Dan. Don’t let the b*stards grind you down.
Lisa; First of all I just wanted to say how I love how you actually refer to wikipedia as the source of your definition of fanboy. Wikipedia must be the most reliable source on the web (that was irony, by the way). Do some more research miss.
And secondly, you think you are really special right? Like you even know the English language well enough to criticize a columnist like Mr. Dan here.
Hell, I’m a Swede and think you write like a - pardon my frensh - tightass. Well, enough with the flaming.
To get back on “topic”. This guy is over. He has, exactly as you stated Dan, got his 15 minutes of fame and won’t take down any more sites. My money is on that we will never hear about malcor again.
Nicely said Dan...Dugg!
Some people seem to think it’s all for MH2 advertisement.
nice comeback.
It was all <a href="http://9rules.com/blogging/notes/9593/">Glenn’s idea</a> but I shouldn’t have played along.
You know, you’re doing what he wants you to do. Even though these attacks are wrong, I think they are hilarious, and I think they are doing what they were intended to do.
Piss off Apple fanboys.
Post like this and the one at MacApper are just egging him on. Even worse, you link to the guy’s spot on the web. Glenn Wolsey almost got the idea at the beginning of his response post, just letting everyone know he got hacked but he’s back and continuing on, but then he went on into a whiney babble.
Hurling any amount of insults at malcor does nothing to hurt him. I imagine him kicking back laughing his ass off at all this. I think the worse thing you can do to people like him is ignore him into obscurity.
I’m not surprised to see idiots flaming him in comments on his blogspot, or on digg or any other mac blog. Those numbnuts are only giving him what he wants. But I am surprised to see posts like this.
Just ignore the guy. Not that hard.
What? I can’t believe some idiot just wrote:
1. Al-Qaeda
2. Nazis
3. Overzealous Mac Enthusiasts
Mac Enthusiasts can be tiresome, but—so far as I know—no Mac fanboy has ever killed anyone over his choice of operating system.
When was the last time John Gruber invaded Poland? When did Daniel Eran Dilger ever blow up a trainful of innocents going to or from work in India? Mac zealots are not a menace. They’re not to be compared with Islamic fundamentalists and Nazis. They’re just funny and need to get over themselves.
The best thing is not to take their sites down but to SATIRIZE them. Now *that’s* what should be done.