Normalkid:Arnold Kim

MacRumors.com has developed a unique culture over the years, which is a product of its primary author (myself), I suppose.

MacRumors was never all about the rumors, but clearly, that’s been a big focus of the site. In the early days, rumors were shunned by the mainstream media. This was before blogs took off, and Apple rumors became regular CNBC content.

Instead, there used to be a couple of established rumor sites, and then there was the mainstream Mac web. And apple rumors would never be published on the mainstream Mac web. This all changed in the past few years, seemingly around the time that Apple sued ThinkSecret and subpoenaed several rumor sites. It’s hard to say whether this legitimization of rumor sites contributed to rumors jumping into the mainstream, or if it would have happened anyway.

Regardless, as blogs have become more mainstream, there’s a few gadget sites (Gizmodo and Engadget) which have grown an enormous audience. I’ve personally found the most curious part of their success is the sheer volume of updates. It’s not uncommon for them to have 50-100 posts in one day. Is their traffic simply a side-product of having so many pages for people to view? Or do people really want this much content? Even if some of it, is… well, less than interesting.

MacRumors has always been more of a quality over quantity site. Early on, this was easy, since Apple news and rumors tended to come a little slower than they do these days. This was also because I was never a full-time blogger, so by necessity, I couldn’t update as often.

Recently, I thought, would MacRumors benefit from much more frequent updates? In the end, the answer seems to be “no”. As a side effect of the all my efforts over the years, the site has drawn a certain audience. And a few vocal ones have made it clear that they want quality over quantity and relevant topics on the front page of MacRumors. The front page is also seen as somewhat sacred — with strong objections when seeminglly “unworthy” content appears on it. I realize that this is a direct result of how I’ve treated the front page… protecting it from throw-away stories as much as possible.

I also believe you shouldn’t lose your focus and turn away from your core audience. MacRumors has grown to be the largest Mac news or rumor site on the internet, and I believe the current format has contributed to that growth. I do have plans to expand content and add features over time, but in a way that preserves the essence of MacRumors.

It’s remarkable to see how large our MacRumors Forums have grown. We’re at over 138,000 members and 4.4 million posts, and represent the most active Apple forum on the internet.

I added the forums to the site in 2001. Before that, I had experimented with integrated comment systems for our stories, but these tools were very immature at the time. In the end I reluctantly decided to add a full forum with user registration and additional sub-forum discussion.

I say ‘reluctantly’ because I knew the baggage that comes with launching a forum. Spam and moderation become major issues. I also knew that with me having a more-than-full-time day job, I simply didn’t have the time to police the forums. But I launched them anyway.

As I could have predicted, after a few months, the forums discussions had spiraled out of control into massive flame wars. There would be lengthy threads with people cussing each other out back-and-forth. It was ugly.

In trying to sort out the issues, I recruited a few moderators, banned a few users, and set up some rules to try to prevent this from happening again.

Now the rules I instituted may seem odd 6 years later, but I still feel the reasoning behind it holds true.

While you can read the lengthy rules as they stand today, the cardinal rules remain the same:

- Don’t personally insult someone else.
- Keep discussion on topic.
- Don’t waste my (our) time.

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The latest unsubstantiated Apple rumor is making its way through the web. This time in the form of a T-Mobile flyer which claims the iPhone will be released on November 12th with 3G networking and a 16GB option.

The ad was first published by MacBidouille with the lead in that “an anonymous reader sent us this image”.

That’s red flag #1.

We also received this image at MacRumors before it was published. The anonymous submission linked to a rapidshare file sharing link with no backstory. Just a link to an image that purportedly depicts an ad from T-Mobile.

What’s the likelihood that this is legitimate? Almost zero, I’d guess.

I’m not one to try to pick apart the technicalities of the ad - why this word or that word wasn’t translated correctly. Instead, just looking at the scenario points to the fact that anonymous uncorroborated submissions that are sent to a number of sites simultaneously are rarely true. Instead, they typically represent someone trying to get some attention.

Anonymous uncorroborated submissions with links to an image have an even worse track record.

Update: With the release of the UK iPhone with EDGE and 8GB, this rumor has essentially been proven wrong. Apple’s unlikely to release a 16GB/3G iPhone in Germany only.

Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to iPhone users about the dramatic price drop on the iPhone ($200) announced on Wednesday.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon.

What’s interesting is that for a large part of it, this is why rumor sites exist. Sure, part of it is a natural voyeuristic desire to see things you aren’t supposed to… but from a practical standpoint, if you’re an Apple customer it makes financial sense to pay attention to what’s coming down the pipe.

This is true from an individual standpoint as well as a company standpoint. No one wants to buy at the end of a product cycle. People want to get most value for their money.

The biggest problem with the iPhone price drop is that no one saw it coming. You don’t see anyone complaining that they just bought an iPod Nano or regular iPod a week ago and now Apple’s cut the prices on them. That’s because anyone who has been paying attention knew that new iPods were coming. Whether based on the rumors or the natural product cycle — iPods were due for an update.

What’s interesting to me is that the iPhone price drop may actually have been better received if the rumor sites had had knowledge of it. If rumors had been swirling for weeks that Apple was going to provide major price cuts to the iPhone, would there have been such an outcry?

This is also the reason that the Buyers Guide exists on MacRumors. Tracking historical refresh rates provides the best way to predict when a new product is coming.