Y’know, I’m all for people having opinions. I happen to like diversity, even when I’m the minority, and even when someone’s opinions are contrary to mine. Like Voltaire, that most misquoted and paraphrased of philosophers, I may not agree with your opinion, but I’ll defend your right to express it.

That being said, I’m also all for rants. I love reading a good, amusing, strongly felt rant. Yes, even if I disagree. I appreciate the rant as an art form.

But… I absolutely HATE it when people rant about stuff they have NO CLUE about. When people get some half-formed idea in their head about something some guy on this one chat said about some company that tried to enforce a patent on something and it’s gonna be the end of the world wide web as we know it…

I see this all the time on the net. I’m not going to name specifics, but the number of tempests in teacups that I’ve seen over rumors and half-baked notions is countless. And I mean, I can get that, too. As postulated in the film, Men in Black, a PERSON can be smart, but PEOPLE are dumb.

Basically, though, I hate seeing anyone waste a good rant and righteous indignation on nothing. If you’re gonna get worked up about something, get your facts straight FIRST. If you’re going to read someone the Riot Act, maybe you should make sure that you’re 1) reading it to the right person and 2) you know what, precisely, the Riot Act is.

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