Apple removing links to Consumer Reports study from forums

[=X=]

I wonder if Apple realizes they can't delete Consumer Electronic reports and that maybe Apple users might also visit sites outside of Apple?

I can't help but to find this action amusing, yet very disheartening. To blatantly lie and try to deceive customers into believing there is no issue just seems wrong. Especially when Apple customers tend to extremely supportive and loyal.


Apple drops Consumer Reports/iPhone 4 threads down memory hole

If you were looking for a message thread on Apple's support forums pointing to Consumer Reports' article 'not recommending' the iPhone 4, it's not there any more. Apple's support forum moderators deleted the thread. Bing cached it.

If it happened once, maybe you'd say it was a glitch. But what if it happened twice? Three times? Four times, five, six? (more...)

=X=

[kjk]

They've been doing it for years, sadly.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...s-as-usual.ars

[=X=]

Wow no kidding!? I'm surprised people are not more upset about Apples practices. It's one thing to moderate a forum due to fowl language and offensive material.

It's another thing to delete forums because it doesn't make a companies product look good. Apple must realize it is acting unethical as they claim it was a server error and are not admitting intent.

[GlennD]

Of course the threads detailing the problems with the iPhone 4 are still present, just not the threads linking the bad reviews because of the problem. Apple isn't trying to hide the problem itself, they just don't want to host poor reviews of their product on their forum.

[mreclass]

I wonder if this will actually affect their consumer-base. I certainly think this is bad practice.

[SensualPoet]

It's pretty sad, actually, that a brand that prides itself in best practises (at a price) is such a knuckle-dragger about its reputation: banning apps, content, prosecuting journalists for "leaks", and this regular policy of deleting threads from its so-called support forums. Apple is obsessed with managing the message, ironically having become the very "establishment" the brand was created to destroy.

[J. Strnad]

Apple has always been about control, and in that way it's more Big Brotherish than Microsoft. Microsoft has been evil in its own way, but these days it seems that Apple is losing its cred as the cuter, friendlier computer company.

[jgaiser]

I have and like my 3G iPhone. Unfortunately for Apple, I won't be buying another Apple product.

[Tamara]

The threads are deleted because they violate the terms that everyone agrees to when they create an account at Apple forums.

I don't see the big deal. The Apple forums are user to user tech support forums. They are not discussion forums to discuss blogs from all over the web. It's sad that so many people like to blow something out of proportion.

Should bloggers scream when Mobileread deletes a thread or locks it because it violates the Mobileread terms?

[HansTWN]

Apple needs to learn damage control. They are becoming a victim of their own success. It is not a matter of wrong or right -- their reputation is at stake. Playing bully doesn't cut it. Toyota tried it.

[Scott Nicholson]

IU haven't had much luck with Apple products and since they also tend to censor on content, not encouraging.

Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

[BVLarson]

The little cool guys always grow up into the big scary guys. Where else did all the big guys come from?

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by Tamara

The threads are deleted because they violate the terms that everyone agrees to when they create an account at Apple forums.

I don't see the big deal....

Yeah, I could have guessed you don't find it a "big deal."

But to most of the world it is dishonest and laughably pathetic.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Sonist

Yeah, I could have guessed you don't find it a "big deal."

But to most of the world it is dishonest and laughably pathetic.

I'm amazed at all the concern and worry people have for those of us who participate in the Apple Discussions

[Hadel]

Originally Posted by BVLarson

The little cool guys always grow up into the big scary guys. Where else did all the big guys come from?

Exactly! Apple are now the bad buy for me.

I know a lot about radio technology and phones due to the nature of my education and job. Apple's claim that they will fix the hardware problem on their iPhone 4 with a software update on a visual item is not just ridiculous, it is straight forward insulting.

(BTW, technically they might be able to fix it with a software tweak - they would need to pump up the power of the antenna to the sky. But will have two effects:
- it will fry your ear and will grow you a third eye, so the regulators have to measure the radiation emission of the upgraded iPhone
- will eat the battery fast, even if they try to intelligently boost the power when in low coverage
So this fix will be health endangering and I don't think Apple would be that arrogant to go that way.)

“You can lie to some people indefinitely or to all the people for some time, but you cant lie to everybody all the time.” It is payback time for all the crashes on my NON-jailbroken iPhone 3G, the crappy upgrade to iOS 4 that I had to reverse, the buggy browsing, the laughable Bluetooth connectivity.

The only way I am considering a product from this company is if it comes as a freebee in a magazine.