I learned a long time ago that part of being actively involved with the software that you help to create is being able to objectively handle and process criticism. The world is full of critics, some gentle, some harsh, some with valid points, some with nitpicky irrelevant points. Part of continuously improving software is learning to ignore the rants and honing in on the major valid issues. BitWise is not perfect and will never be perfect--no software is ever perfect for everybody.
I like critical people, I'm a critical person myself. What I absolutely cannot stand are people who make a habit of being pests on any site, whether forums, blogs, review sites, etc. I can't say how many CD reviews I've read on Amazon.com that say, "This CD sucks really bad, this artist can't sing worth crap and you should use this CD for a frisbee." Wow, such insight! What a great review! If it were up to me, people who post comments like that would be banished from posting again.
You can only imagine my ire at reading a review of BitWise that said, "Doesn't work with Mac OSX 10.3.6 ! Can't connect to anyone at all! A big disappointment. I will stick to Colloquy, X Chat Aqua or Conversation for IRC. BitWise? No it isn't wise to download this as it needs a lot more work" and gave it 1 one star in every category. I'm really curious how this person thinks that we could release software that doesn't work at all, especially given the review right below it. See for yourself.
Well, I felt better when I went and found reviews by the same person for other software: "This not cool! It is a worthless piece of garbage and went straight to the trash. No directions doesn't work with Mac OSX 10.3.6. [blah blah blah]" or this one: "This is someones idea of a bad joke which is in very poor taste, but one can only expect that from thedailygrind.com who probably has retrieved this software from their trash bin. It does not work on macintosh 10.3.6 and is worthless so have no faith in it!" Apparently his Mac can't run anything...
<RANT>Yay for malicious 15 year-olds with way too much time on their hands. I'm sure that this person is someone who knocked over other kid's projects in grade school because he has no imagination of his own and no self esteem. Too bad there isn't a test we can make people pass before allowing them to surf on the Internet.<RANT>
I know this kind of thing comes with the territory, but that doesn't mean that it's right.
Going to this person's house and watching them try to operate any piece of software sounds like it would be fun! (Too bad they already have browsing and typing down pat. :) )
It seems as if that AppleBeer guy just tries every single free app on version tracker. Most of them he either has no idea what it is supposed to do so he gives it a bad rating. Or he cant seem to get anything to run so he gives it a bad rating. He seems to hate everything chat related except IRC as well. One reply to one of his rants about not knowing what a program was is this:
"AppleBeer, this is the second instance in the last 24 hours where I've seen posts from you complaining about how difficult it is to understand a clear description of an application and how that is keeping you from even downloading a FREE product. I see a pattern here... maybe it's not the developer's fault the descriptions aren't clear to you. Maybe if you stop sucking down the suds your motivation for exploring free software will rise to the point where you no longer have to complain in a public forum about it.
Put down the brew and step away from the keyboard"
I think that speeks for everyone about people who act like that.