Video: Dvorak admits to baiting Apple Mac users for hits

“I was talking with [John] Dvorak at the Vloggercon party this evening, and he started telling a story about how he deliberately pisses Mac users off to get flow for his stories, and I said, hold a minute, I want to record this, and shit if he didn’t stop and repeat it for me and my video camera,” Dave Winer reports for Scripting News.

Winer has posted a massive 20.8MB QuickTime movie of the tech blowhard’s admission here.

In case the link doesn’t work or is too slow, the video is also on YouTube:

Direct link to YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWDYaWAVQQ

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “S. Woods” for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Take: Not that we needed it (John dumped his last ounce of credibility down the drain years ago), but now we have definitive proof that Dvorak is the world’s largest Hawaiian shirt-wearing weasel. This is Dvorak’s “Paris Hilton moment.” Mercifully, he remains fully clothed throughout. This is a video which we can and will use as reference for Dvorak’s shams ad infinitum. Good move, John. You’re such a genius! Planning to retire soon?

[UPDATE: 12:20pm EDT: Fixed punctuation error. Thanks, dennis.]

Advertisements:
Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook.  Starting at just $1099
Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.

Related articles:
Dvorak thinks iPod+Nike Sport Kit is ‘nutty’ – May 24, 2006
Dvorak: Apple needs to make Mac OS X open-source– April 17, 2006
Dvorak: ‘Apple Computer should change its name for good’ to avoid future Apple Corps litigation – March 29, 2006
Dvorak: Will Apple ditch Mac OS X for Microsoft’s Windows? – February 16, 2006
John C. Dvorak expounds on pro-Mac, anti-Microsoft media bias – October 18, 2005
Dvorak: ‘Apple should be stronger, but Mac mystique will wane’ in wake of Intel switch – June 07, 2005
Dvorak calls Mac market share ‘stagnant’ when numbers really show Mac market share growth – December 29, 2004
Dvorak: Apple’s iPod may get a run from MSI’s X2 MEGA View portable multimedia player – December 08, 2004
John C. Dvorak: Apple iMac G5 is ‘reminiscent of a 1954 DeSoto’ – September 01, 2004

111 Comments

  1. And who didn’t know this?

    The most recent TWIT episode Dvorak starts talking about how Canon Camera is halting production of all consumer level digital cameras. It took a few minutes for someone to correct him that Canon is only halting production of Canon film cameras.

    He just makes things up, puts 2 and 1 together to get 4, and spouts it out.

    I wish TWIT would ditch him.

  2. I’ve never given this troll a single hit. I was on to his antics even when he was on ZDTV back in the day.

    Avoid this moron.

    The sad thing is he actually has some interesting observations, but this admission has all but destroyed any cred this guy had left.

  3. I’ve said that 1000 times yet everytime someone says something stupid, people from this website flock to their site and make them look important. Like freaking lemmings you all do it, over and over again, and you know who you are…

    “I just went to his site and left him a message and told him how freaking stupid he is…”

    blah blah blah…

  4. You’re still missing the point, there’s nothing wrong with Dvorak. He makes fools of US and laughs all the way to the bank.

    So the next time he or any other “pundit” says something like, “Yeah, Apple will drop OS X and switch to Windows” or “The Mac is a mediocre platform” or whatever.. don’t go rushing off to that website to give them hits. It’s what they want.

  5. We all knew he was hit trolling, but I never knew what aan art he’s made of it, even refining the process for not one, but three rounds of hits from each issue he chooses to strike.

    From an objective standpoint I’m impressed by Dvorak (Rove impresses me in the same way: disgusting but effective – mb they’re the same person).

    mw: “until” Dvorak will contuinue to get hit until we learn to ignore him.

  6. Guys and Gals,

    MacDailyNews needs to keep highlighting Dvorak’s and others’ garbage. If they ignore them, others will believe what Dvorak writes!

    MDN exposes their lies. Shines a light on them. Dvorak just provided MDN with a spotlight of unlimited wattage.

  7. Dvorak is funny if you don’t take him seriously. I think he views himself as an entertainer, not a true tech visionary. Take him for what he’s worth.

    I never understood why people got so worked up over him. It’s obvious he’s just blowing smoke half the time. And some times he’s even right (witness the MacIntel prediction).

  8. Dvorak has been entertaining, informing, misinforming and generally pissing readers off for longer than the Mac has been around.

    The statement that ‘no one would buy a computer that needed a stupid mouse in order to be useable’
    is just his first of many hilarious predictions.

    The man has played Mac users for years and years and now he even brags about it.

    The man is a comic genius who has been at the top of his game for almost 25 years.

    What’s not to love.

  9. Justified,

    MacDailyNews doesn’t make up outrageous lies and fake opinions to drive traffic, they expose them and the people who create them.

    That’s a huge difference!

    As stated above: MacDailyNews needs to keep highlighting Dvorak’s and others’ garbage. If they ignore them, others will believe what Dvorak writes! MDN exposes their lies. Shines a light on them. Dvorak just provided MDN with a spotlight of unlimited wattage.

  10. Dvorak is a pompous asshole who deserves to get his comeuppance. I urge you to write to MarketWatch and PC Magazine (see links above) and demand to know what they plan to do about having a liar and a fabricator writing for their publications.

    If they want to clearly label Dvorak’s admitted crap as FICTION, that’s one thing. If not, Dvorak should be fired from both publications first thing Monday morning.

  11. Dvorak has Enderle as a talking head in one of his Cranky Geeks IPTV vids. Birds of a feather.

    But you’re delusional if you think Dvorak’s employers give a damn. A hit for Dvorak is a hit for them. Dvorak is merely their means to an end.

  12. I was just kidding everybody!

    But thanks for coming to my site for all these years to tell me how stupid I am!

    Hits = $$$

    I’m so stupid, I have a mansion that I like to say Mac fanatics bought for me!!!

    Keep the hate coming!! I LOVE it!!!!

    Wee-hah!!

  13. How interesting that John is so shameless in revealing what an intolerant and small-minded person he actually is. Congratulations, John, you have confessed to being nothing more than a spiteful and obnoxious purveyor of yellow journalism masquerading as a legitimate authority of technological information. I suppose Dvork’s motto is, “If you cannot dazzle people with brilliance annoy them with bullshit.”

    I have to wonder what possessed John to volunteer his confession as a card-carrying member of the slimy and puerile subculture of the free press. Perhaps he is admitting that mocking and taunting other people are acceptable standards of behavior of modern journalism. It is fascinating to know that the same institution that continuously and piously lectures society about rigorously adhering to proper social etiquette and politically correct thinking considers itself free to commit the same offenses with impunity and be paid for it.

    Feedback:

    The fact the Dvorak makes a living from being an ass doesn’t change the fact that he is an ass nor excuse the fact that he is an ass.

  14. What is even more incredible is that the Windows-centric world worships this buffoon as the High Priest of Technology and reveres him as Microsoft’s Professor Emeritus of PC’s. It is no wonder that these gullible fools gladly and compliantly swallow whatever Microsoft feeds them.

  15. its not a hoax, hes a money loving souless fsck, who makes money off the passion that people have for a product, in this case apple computer.

    USE YOUR DAMN BRAIN AND DO NOT GO TO HIS SITE, OR ANY LINK ASSOCIATED TO HIS SHIT TALK (FOR THOSE THAT STILL DONT GET IT.)

  16. its not a hoax, hes a money loving souless fsck, who makes money off the passion that people have for a product, in this case apple computer.

    USE YOUR DAMN BRAIN AND DO NOT GO TO HIS SITE, OR ANY LINK ASSOCIATED TO HIS SH*T TALK (FOR THOSE THAT STILL DONT GET IT.)

  17. The thing that gets me is this:

    Typical Mac users are like typical PC users. Sorry if this offends anyone, but the typical Mac user doesn’t spend their time lurking (or similar activities) thru sites like MDN looking for things to get pissed about, so they can complain about. They have lives. Many, if not most, probably haven’t even heard of Mr Dvork, or his associates.

    So why is JD (among other) trolling for hits from a group of people who he claims represents only a tiny (1.5 to 3%) marketshare?

    What would be the point? If Mac marketshare is as small as they (JD and others) claim, all they are going to get is a small percentage of a small percentage. A few hundred extra hits at best.

    Unless JD and company aren’t admitting something. Like, maybe, the Mac userbase numbers represent a greater number of users (by about 10x) than marketshare numbers. Then you’re talking about a few thousand extra hits.

  18. How can you guy’s be upset with dovrak for doing this when MDN uses this as it business model.

    And you guys know as soon as Dovark writes something bad about apple, MDN and everyone here will be hitting dovarks site like always.

  19. BTW, You just know that JD will simply say that he was joking with a fellow computer geek, and that “cultish Mac” users are taking this all out of context and making a mountain out of a molehill. He’ll probably also say that the all the uproar (if any) over his comments in the “Mac press” will just confirm it.

    Or did I just hand him an out.

    Me bad.

  20. Planning to retire soon?

    Hell no. Look what he’s wearing. That’s what online ad revenue gets you.

    How many of those Mac users clicked any of his ads. Exactly.

    Same goes for Paul Thurrott.

  21. Location: New Apple Store

    DaveW: JD, what are you doing here?
    JD: This is really impressive, I want to see this new store for myself. Apple’s strategy seems to really be working, and I under-estimated them.
    DaveW: I thought you hated Apple.
    JD: Of course not, I just happen to write harsh opinions about them…no different from anybody else.
    DaveW: But you do have a reputation as an Apple basher as if you have an axe to grind.
    JD: No, actually the false accusation is that I bash Apple to increase ratings/traffic.

    [Roll video clip here]

    DaveW: Tell us how it works John…

    ————–

    I’m not saying this is what happened, but edited video is just that, edited video. It’s no more proof of anything than if Dave just said it happened.

  22. Disclaimer: I worked with JD for about 1 year. While I often disagree with him, I do have respect for him and thus have a belief that this video does not accurately represent what happened or what he’s about.

  23. I’m sure that his advertising sponsors are just pleased a punch to know that the people that he claims read his site hate him and hopefully pledge never to use any product that is advertised on his site. That would get these guys of the net faster than you think.

  24. Hey, the guy has to make a living doing something and he obviously enjoys pissing off Mac people for food and fame.

    You know if one loves what they do for a living,they never “work” a day in their lives.

    I don’t let the anti-Mac assholes bother me. That is what they want, and the hits, of course.

  25. ARE YOU ALL BLIND?!!!!

    How can you say that about Dvorak and not see that MDN does the EXACT SAME THING?!!! You idiots, MDN and Dvorak are BUDDIES!!

    Why else would MDN KNOWINGLY give this guy thousands of hits by posting his dribble here?!

    MDN also gets huge hits when people get irate and comment here.

    MDN, Dvorak, Enderle, et al, are ALL internet leaches under the guise of “journalism”. They ALL play the hits-game by quoting each other to escalate the hits on their own sites exponentially.

    The more and more hits, the more and more they can charge for ad space. None of them gives a rats ass what the topic is, the goal is to get page hits and all of these guys KNOWINGLY love to feed off of each other… MDN INCLUDED!!!

    They don’t give a crap about their readers… they only care about you or the topic as far as their page and site stats are concerned.

    I am sooooo FSCKIN’ done with this place!!!!!

  26. Mike Buonarroti,

    MacDailyNews doesn’t make up outrageous lies and fake opinions to drive traffic, they expose FUD and lies and the people who create them. That’s a huge difference!

    As stated above: MacDailyNews needs to keep highlighting Dvorak’s and others’ garbage. If they ignore them, others will believe what Dvorak writes! MDN exposes their lies. Shines a light on them. Dvorak just provided MDN with a spotlight of unlimited wattage.

    You obviously haven’t been around here long enough or corresponded with MDN via email to see that they do care about their readers. MDN answers their email promptly and has helped me with several Mac-related questions over the years.

  27. I am sooooo FSCKIN’ done with this place!!!!!

    Then leave. Nobody’s forcing you to browse or post here.

    As for MDN, of course they’re trying to attract a crowd too. That’s how it works.

    And one way MDN draws crowds is by checking the lies & pointing out the absurdities of the Windows world. If a good article of truth gets MDN more hits then so be it.

  28. MacDailyNews doesn’t make up outrageous lies and fake opinions to drive traffic, they expose FUD and lies and the people who create them. That’s a huge difference!

    True, but they do use what should be a Macintosh news site to promote their allegiance to the Republican party, thus baiting every Democrat or centre-left type in their audience.

  29. Actually, Dvorak is very smart. He’s letting everyone else do his work for him. The truth is… he’s a troll and he’s very good at it and as long as there are Mac users that you can goad into a fight by mentioning anything negative about the Mac/iPod platform, Apple software or Apple in general (of which there are many) he’ll always have a job and a stream of hit generated income. His editors and managers or whatever will not fire him because he makes money for them as well. If they did someone else would add them to their news site lickety-split. (Lickety-split?! Did I really write that?!) So what if we fill his blogspot with hate mail. It only proves just how large his readership is. He doesn’t care. How can you get angry with someone who justifies your reason for being AND your paycheck?

    And he’s not worried about the video either. He relies on the old P.T. Barnum adage: “There’s a sucker born every minute”. So if you wanna put a stop to him… DON’T FEED THE TROLL. Marginalize him. Dont visit the site.

    But… (looks slyly left and right) if you want someone you can get really riled and has the debate/arguement skills of a third grader… just hustle on over to iProng and drop a few choice words there. Bill Palmer simply hates to be corrected or proven wrong. Makes a real nice squeal when ya poke ’em.
    LAST POST.

  30. Haha, I think it’s kinda funny actually. What’s even funnier is that some of the people responding here are actually pissed off and take all this seriously.

    I mean, jesus, there are more important things to get wound up about right?

  31. Haha, I think it’s kinda funny actually. What’s even funnier is that some of the people responding here are actually pissed off and take all this seriously.

    i thought it was kinda funny too. and, unfortunately, i’m kinda chuckling at at the poor suckers who think that complaining to him actually does any good or, heaven forbid, hurts his feelings… awwww.

    crimminy. take it with a grain of salt and just dont visit his site.

  32. RE: Public an’ allegiance. Well, be Conservative and don’t Whig out. HisTory says be more Social. Ist that enough? Be Independent of Liberal Reform without making a Federalist case out of it and turning Green.

  33. All this shows is that Dvorak knows his business – Ratings! It doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong — only the controversy.

    Of course that’s the entirety of most of the media today: Ratings, not accuracy.

  34. And all the other Mac sites know this and use us for the same reasons as John.

    It’s all a nice little game these sites play to generate hits. But I’m cool with that….makes the game fun. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cheese” style=”border:0;” />

    MDN Word ‘Dark’

    So dark the con of Man.

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cheese” style=”border:0;” />

  35. Simply link this video to any mac article he writes and let the viewers see exactly what it is he is doing. If they are too stupid to not write back to him and give him what he wants then they are not worth it.

    Don’t believe that all of his editors don’t know what he is doing. He is not a journalist, he’s more of a pundit and as such has freer rain to espouse his nonsense for ratings.

    A sales manager does not want to know what his people are doing in order to get the sales. It maintains deniability if Sh#t hits the fan. As long as the hits keep coming then they could care less how it is done.

  36. Noone should ever read anything Dvorak writes ever again.

    This just means you can’t believe anything he says. Journalism is based on trust. If a you are incapable of honestly reporting the facts or your opinion then you are in the wrong business.

    And I can’t believe he’s showing off about it?! That just shows how stupid and arrogant he really is.

    And no, I have NEVER given him any hits. He’s always been too insignificant.

  37. Ha! Love it!

    Now I know to follow my original instinct and take everything he says with a delicious pinch of salt, and enjoy it for the rise it’s intended to be.

    Improved my day.

  38. So now the ugly, slack-jawed, drooling mental defectives, armed with pitchforks and burning torches and screaming jihad in their filthy caves of anonymity like the religious cultists they are, attack John Dvorak’s wife as they down more purple Kool-Aid.

    If nothing else, they prove Dvorak is right. He’s using them as the tools they are.

    Cowards.

  39. True, but they do use what should be a Macintosh news site to promote their allegiance to the Republican party</i?

    ?!?!?!

    Where did you come up with THAT? Give us links to articles. Prove that you aren’t blowing air.

    I read fairly regularly, and have never seen <i>ANY MDN articles or comments promoting “allegiance” to any political party or view.

    Now, the reader comments (like this) have gotten hot & heavy into politics. That’s the readers’ doing, not MDN’s. Now MDN has screened posts, and people have screamed bloody murder at MDN for pulling outrageous posts, calling it suppression, censorship, and violation of free speech. What’s MDN to do?

  40. AHHH HAHAHAHAHAH!

    Funniest goddam thing I’ve seen in a while.

    Whether you admit it or not, Dvorak has been “Thinking Different” since a lot of you were in diapers. If you don’t laugh your ass off at his candor, you seriously need to get outdoors more often.

    A man that wears the moniker “CrankyGeek” can’t be all bad.

    Lighten up, fellow macheads. We walked right into this one (for about 20 years, no less).

  41. Damn … way too late on this comment string … wonder if anyone will read this.

    We could pull a “miserable failure” move on Dvorak. I kinda like “useless twit” from all the comments above.

    So, if enough of us post on our own blogs/websites/my-spaces/whatevers the words “useless twit” as a link to Dvorak’s website, Google should pick up on it and Dvorak’s website will be the #1 response for anyone googling “useless twit”.

    Um.

    What’s his URL? Never been there myself.

    MW: Donate blood. Call your local Red Cross.

  42. OK Mac people…Now that you know Dvorak’s trap, raise your right hand and swear ” I will NEVER feed the troll by clicking on a Dvorak site again, as long as I live!”

    Remember, you can read the MDN take on what JD’s latest crap was about, (take comforth in that it only took 1 hit for MDN to gather it from JD’s site), then just don’t click the “read more here” link that MDN provides to his site.

    It’s like that Greek Mythology story where the guy was told to lash himself to a pole on his ship and NOT listen to the “siren songs” or that scene from the Bible where the woman was told not to turn and look at the city or she’d turn into salt, or something like that! Willpower! Don’t visit Dvorak’s site!

    Didn’t we all suspect this anyway?

  43. This is news? Anybody in the news business knows this is common practice among journalists and macaddicts are oh so easily manipulated that way.

    I personally like Dvorak and some of his insights are spot on. He’s not perfect, but who is. Ooops, I forgot who I was talking to.

  44. Someone keeps deleting my entries about my wife having sex with Dvorak, i.e. oral sex, which she quite enjoys. And then people are deleting my posts about how I love it when Thurott finished in my mouth. LOVE IT.

    Please, fo rthe sake of my POO, stop deleting our love.

  45. dude you guys have to lighten up….dvorak is an entertaining jounalist….actually if you want to get into the heart of the matter, he is technically just following the steps of the late Hunter S. Thompson in some form or fashion as per gonzo journalism. All he is doing is making a mockery of the whole journalistic system. I think Dvorak is hillarious. Ok, so he messes up sometimes on Twit, but you gotta admit, he makes alot of good points. For example, he takes a topic to the extreme, such as Apple switching to windows. What happens a few weeks later? Apple announces bootcamp. Yeah, they aren’t dropping OS X, but his article basically said they want windows for marketshare, what are they doing with bootcamp?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.