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Vanshardware: The Most Biased Hardware Web Site On The Internet?

A

AGodspeed

Diamond Member
If you're weren't already convinced by my thread in OT (or if you haven't already read it yet), then please read this recent piece.

The only reason I'm wasting bandwidth on Van Smith at this point is because everyone should be aware of people like Van Smith, who constantly taint this industry with unsupported, irrelevant, and just plain childish journalism.

There, I've vented. 🙂
 
Van Smith is the biggest fraud on the Internet. He claims to be an unbiased site but the reality is that his writings is completely based on his emotions. He slams Anand for his visit to Intel and articles about it, when in the past Van visited the VIA C3 team and started writing glorious articles about them. The list goes on and on.

I don't think Van is getting paid by any company. But I do think that he's writing articles like these to draw attention when he noticed that no one cares about his site if he just posts the usual reviews and such. The best thing you can do is to ignore his site. Eventually he'll just lose so much money running it that he will close it down. From the first moment I learned of his site I have been waiting for that day...
 


<< He claims to be an unbiased site >>



That is a major clue in any form of media. If the newsperson must repeatedly state that he/she is unbiased - then most likely that person is highly biased. Van is so biased that he realizes it himself and these claims are a feeble attempt to hide the bias. Take Fox news for an example - every single commercial break they mention "we are a source of unbiased information". Then the next news show is filled with statements about how great repubilicans are and how terrible democrats are. There are examples on the other side as well.

Basically my point is that truely unbiased news sources never need to mention that they are unbiased. The more often you hear them claim to be unbiased - the more biased they really are.
 
Of course he is, anyone that's followed is site for awhile can easily see that he will quickly link to anything Pro AMD in any way.... no matter how inccuracte the article, but he will be quick to jump upon anyone that says anything reasonably positive about AMD.
The benchmarks he does which he claims to be so wonderful and unbiased, always invariably test the aspects that AMD is best suited to. There not outright enhanced for AMD... he just makes sure he always gives nearly a best case scenario result for AMD without picking benchmarks that are specifically optimized for AMD.

If a benchmark shows Intel in a positive light he will desperately try and connect it in any way to some under-handed monopolistic tactic Intel has supposedly funded.
Remember all his work at InQuest with the P4 supposedly thermally clocking down so easily?
That had to be one of the most blatantly inaccurate, and wholly misleading editorials ever concocted. Subtely out all of the negatives, and none of the positive aspects of the P4's design... all while maintaining a think veneer of fake integrity.

It's kinda too bad because he IS quite intelligent, and reasonably knowledgeable.... unfortunately, he is thoroughly Pro AMD, though he is quite good at pretending to be objective.

Your FAR from the first person to have noticed the distinct lack of objectivity and integrity that Van displays in his writing.

He has made passing off one-sided information as the entire truth into an art form.
 
Don't know if that "article" is supposed to make me laugh or cry.

Van writes articles in the same spirit as Steve Gibson, only GRC at least contains some useful info along with all the fluff.
 
Maybe the guy is ill...in the head. His writing is similar to some of the "conspiracy-theory" people I've run into in the past. In this case though, his vice is Intel not Big Brother. Maybe it could be a mild case of paranoia based on the criticism of his peers, who knows. Stranger things have happened.
rolleye.gif
 


<< Money. I have seen how it can corrupt. Growing up, I saw the people I love shot at, stabbed, their houses burned and even some were killed, but I never saw the true depths that the human soul could plummet to until I got into this business. >>

Puhleaze, what a complete puss. Looking that page over is hysterical. It's like a soap opera with a tech setting.
 
OMFG! :|

Read the very bottom of the page. Goes on all this stuff about advertising and how it's bad for sites. Even has a title called "But selling out is not the answer" Then what is right below it?

<< Pssst! We've updated our Shopping Page. >>



Better stop before I say dirty words.
 
I enjoy how he talks about how pro-intel Anandtech is, and about how this must be a result of the intel ads on the front page.

Never mind the fact that Anand has stated several times that he does not deal with advertising himself at all, and will not ever (and has never) taken money from company x (be it in the form of an overpriced ad or otherwise) in return for a biased review.

---
Also, I find it interesting that he puts images on tripod's servers instead of paying for his own bandwidth. (See the screenshot linked to in the first rant).
 
One of my goals in life is to not visit this guy's site. AGodspeed is not making this easier with these threads plus he's giving this Van fella hits and word-of-mouth. Tsk, tsk. 😉
 
Yeah, you're right JellyBaby. But in a way, people should be aware of these kinds of journalists. I once took him seriously, but lately it's gotten to the point where Van thinks that some of the only "unbiased" hardware web sites left on the Internet is his own, which is utterly ridiculous.
 
I have never considered Van's Hardware very credible - most of the articles have some sort of implied agenda or underlying nastiness. Others like the one linked in the first post are just an excuse to attack more sucessful sites.

:frown:
 


<< AnandTech has been taking an increasingly pro-Intel stance. In fact, the tone of their articles quite closely mirrors the official lines coming from Intel's marketing machines. >>




I`ll be honest & say that this is the first time I`ve been to that site,and what he said about Anandtech is wrong,I always found Anandtech articles neutral and unbiased so I won`t be going to that site anymore .
 
There's no such thing as an "unbiased" hardware site. The fact is, advertising pays the bills. Big money talks.

Aside from that, you've got the personal preferences and biases of the reviewer(s) to consider. It is human nature...

Vanshardware, while certainly not my favorite hardware-related site, is no more "evil" than Tom's, Anand, etc.
 
Pabst, I agree on the first part, it's impossible to find unbiased reviews.

Now, I don't blame the reviewers for this, I think for most of the serious reporters out there, its more a subconscious thing really.

But Vanshardware is definately a serious site, he keeps bashing others, and his hatered towards Intel has been well known for a long time.

Sorta like you and VIA, only you don't run a site reviewing chipsets, so we can live with that 😉
 
Van's idea that a computer news and review site short of the ZD empire can be worth from 10 to 100 million dollars I find absurd. But if it were really true I wouldn't doubt for a moment Aceshardware are taking the money for good write up. I'd take that kind of money wouldn't you?
I get the feeling some websites are contracted for a certain quantity of review and exposure whilst taking room in some (verbal or written) contract for some journalistic independence. Like following a line of products avidly for their "interest" whilst not disposing of the drawbacks entirely.
The fact that most sites aren't more biased than they are is indicative of the LACK of value in internet sites.
 
Van's might be biased, and he might be pushing it a little sometimes, but I hate to break it to you guys, the guy is pretty much right


As far as I am concerned, van's site is needed to protect us from the massive influence Intel and a few other companies have. I duuno if you guys seem to get it, Intel's vision of the home computer is nothing that would benifit the reader of this site, they somehow think all we do is play videos streamed off the internet using real player or some other shovel-ware.

meanwhile we got AMD producing a vastly superior product, if only code was optimzied for it and a little bit of the supporting hardware was improved a little it would easily cream Intels' offerings in every respect at a reasonable price. If the PC market behaved like any other market where better ment more people buying your stuff, Intel would have collapsed almost 1 year ago. ... You know that I would estimate that still 95% of people are unaware that the Athlon is superior to a Pentium 4 in almost anything someone would care about. It's been 2 or more years of this, this kinda BS does not hang around without Intel's manipulating the facts
 


<< Van's might be biased, and he might be pushing it a little sometimes, but I hate to break it to you guys, the guy is pretty much right


As far as I am concerned, van's site is needed to protect us from the massive influence Intel and a few other companies have. I duuno if you guys seem to get it, Intel's vision of the home computer is nothing that would benifit the reader of this site, they somehow think all we do is play videos streamed off the internet using real player or some other shovel-ware.

meanwhile we got AMD producing a vastly superior product, if only code was optimzied for it and a little bit of the supporting hardware was improved a little it would easily cream Intels' offerings in every respect at a reasonable price. If the PC market behaved like any other market where better ment more people buying your stuff, Intel would have collapsed almost 1 year ago. ... You know that I would estimate that still 95% of people are unaware that the Athlon is superior to a Pentium 4 in almost anything someone would care about. It's been 2 or more years of this, this kinda BS does not hang around without Intel's manipulating the facts >>


Oh no, here we go again 🙁

Everyone is out to make Intel the mean scapegoat just as people do NVIDIA and Microsoft. Intel is not evil and their products aren't crap. For now (at least until Hammer comes out...and probably even after Thoroughbred gets here considering that it offers nothing new besides higher clock speeds and .13 microns) Intel has the fastest processors with the most headroom for overclocking.
 
"Oh no, here we go again "

No we are not going here again NFS4, I have not intention to argue with you, either you know it or you don't. I know how discussions on the facts goes on boards like this, Soon as you try to actually explain how something is better than something else, people from both sides of the argument flood in with their opinions which are not based on anything factual at all. An then comes the, "yeh but if you overclock this and don't overclock the other and run this bench mark, you will find that product X is better." stuff



As far as I am concerned, lets be happy places like Van's does exist, someone who is willing to question things. I can not speak for his questioning the integrity of various sites, but his technical articles are fairly sound. I am sure Van could design you a cpu that will do exactly what you want it to do if you give him enough money and manufacturing resources, I could do the same for you btw.
 
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