Van Smith is closing his "business"

Wow, Tom's last article seems to have given Van Smith over at Vanshardware the final blow. He's quitting, he's had it !

I recon Tom's has been telling the truth, and now Van knows the game is over. He's not to be trusted ever again.

He's playing a cheap trick by including his family in his supposedly last public letter on his site by signing "The Smith family". I almost feel sorry for this guy; the paranoia took over ...

<i>/Copenhagen - Clockspeed will make the difference... in the end</i>

Sheesh! Paranoia isn't all. He also suffers from extreme delusions of grandeur. "one of the biggest and most influential websites in the world" indeed. Ha!

I have a feeling from all of the 'please donate' pleadings that it doens't have nearly as much to do with Tom as he implies...

Here's a happy thought. Let's keep going to his site over and over and over and suggesting others do the same. I wonder just how high we can really send his bandwidth usage...

Heh heh.

Just kidding. Live and let live is my motto. But if others wanted to do it, I'd live and let live.

<pre><A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/186.htm" target="_new"><font color=red>It's all relative...</font color=red></A></pre><p>

Useless website, wont be missed.

He is trying to be a martyr of some sorts in that bow out.

He knows the BS has caught up with him =P

You are limited to what your mind can perceive.

Actuallly I found something quite interesting to read over at Van's. It's about Tom's personality and it's on such a detailed level that I find it easy to picture it all in front of me. Could there be a grain of truth in what he writes ? Take a look, and tell me what you think.
<A HREF="http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/2002/08/020826_Unwind_Removed/020826_Unwind_Removed.htm" target="_new">http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/2002/08/020826_Unwind_Removed/020826_Unwind_Removed.htm</A>

<i>/Copenhagen - Clockspeed will make the difference... in the end</i>

HardOCP helped as well, but I'm sure there was more to it than that.

Of course. But is it completely true and subjective? Of course not.

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>

1) van says: "Except me. Tom usually left me alone because I had helped make his site credible and snatched it out of a spiraling decline. My writing brought both hits and respect to THG." I think thats bullsh|t.

2) He repeats "i have been told" so his information about tom isnt reliable

3) Van is AMD fanboy, so i dont know about all that stuff he talks about Intel and Tom, could be very biased.

4) what type of person Van is? he met pimps, ho's, killers and drug dealers.... jeez...talk about weird. In van's book, Tom is badder than a pimp , ho's, drug dealers and killers. LOL Van i think you need to go to a mental hospital.

5) Van relates dante's inferno with "evil" Tom... VAN GET A LIFE AND A NEW JOB for chirst sakes.

6)"Tom removed all of my 40+ articles from his site, several of which were some of the most important pieces THG has ever carried." OMG WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW? IS THG ROTTING DOWN BECAUSE WE DONT HAVE VAN's expertise? I didnt note a difference.

7) Van is criticizing Tom for his sex stories? what the fuk is wrong with sex stories? its private life and sex is not illegal. every person in this world has the right to have sex. Yea, like Van smith never had sex before. Then i wondered why would van meet pimps and ho's?

to sum it all up: did you say "excesive jealousy and hatred?"

real philosophy of life: "do onto others what you dont want them do onto you"

history doesnt reward loosers.... except in rare cases where one looses amazingly badly.

<b>Due to Customer Complaints, this sig has been witdrawn from public use. Thankyou. </b>

Tom's Hardware is to-date the most complete hardware website on earth. Best place to get informations and performance of new hardware products.

<b>But...:</b>

Even if I read almost all the articles here, I don't think Tom is a god or something. He have a good and a bad side. He left this website to rubble for almost a year, few articles, mainly from german office (by the way, thanks to germans editors for keeping this website alive, mainly Frank Völkel and Bert Töpelt I think, who took important articles in their hands, sorry if I forget someone) then he suddently comeback only to bash at people. Even if he's maybe better than the two, he should then make an example to them and shut up about it, then the little two will look like stupid troublemakers. I think Tom went a bit too far with his article. The Van Smith reply was surely expected by Tom, why provoke him?. Do readers need to be part of a stupid fight?

It's supposed to be Tom's website. When he was making most of the articles, this website was really interesting. He went deep into each issue. He was always there on big announcements. I was a big fan of him. I always saw his name next to the most interesting articles. He was really pushing for getting his website better and better. When you saw his name in an article, you knew that it was trustworthy.

Now, the general quality of articles seem to be greatly degraded. This is really sad.

The reviewers didn't notice that the SiS Xabre 400 was cheating to get better results than a GeForce4 MX 440, in fact this card is less powerful than a GeForce2 Ti! This card use a Turbo/Crado texture mode that you can only disable with a registry key, it degrades textures alot. A small French website, Hardware.fr ([/url]http://www.hardware.fr[url]) noticed this issue in this article at page 5 <A HREF="http://www.hardware.fr/articles/433/page5.html" target="_new">http://www.hardware.fr/articles/433/page5.html</A>. This article should have been updated to at least mention this aspect. I think the quality of the rendering is an important aspect to enhance the visual experience of a computer game. In other graphics articles, when Tom was there, the quality of 3D rendering was always rated by some screenshots when it was a new chip entering the ring to be sure no cheats were used.

Also, this awful sideline in the article about the 2U4U DMR-300 WMA Player... the article about the player is good, but the sideline talks about the fight between WMA, AAC and MP3. The author said that WMA was better than MP3 @ 128 kbits, that's the funniest thing I heard on this website. Look at every trustable audio website, they'll clearly say that WMA is optimized for very low bitrates to make streaming and artificially coat the sound to make it more brighter and in your face. The author even say that the WMA sounds more vibrant... if the sound wasn't intended to sound vibrant, it shouldn't sound vibrant, even if it's better! This is good at low bitrates because the sound seems to be better with very few bandwidth, but the sound is far from the original, the sound isn't how the artist wanted it to sound like. The author didn't even mentions the encoder he's using to encode MP3. Everybody should know that to give a fair comparison, you preferably use the best and lastest encoder to get the best out of each format. If he used LAME (latest is 3.92 available @<A HREF="http://www.mp3dev.org/mp3/" target="_new">http://www.mp3dev.org/mp3/</A> ) he could use VBR (LAME is the best for MP3 VBR) at 128 kbits to improve the sound. AAC use VBR too, like every codec should do, except if it's intented mainly for streaming who need constant bitrate, like microsoft did with WMA. Even at 128 kbits, a LAME CBR MP3 outperforms a 128 kbits WMA.

The two articles mentionned above... I e-mailed the author of the two articles and I e-mailed to the main office. I posted the two issues in their respective category on the messageboard. I was even in touch with <font color=red>Fredi</font color=red> to help me to get an answer from the author of the WMA Player article... never got an answer... the articles never got updated...

That's another issue, it seems quite impossible to reach the staff, to their e-mails account are directly connected to the trash can?

Then Van Smith...
Van Smith was biased and what? That makes some life in the website, this make heated discussions. At least he can't lie on benchmarks, then you have the liberty to interprete benchmarks results by yourself. Nobody is perfect, everybody is biased in some way. We are humans, not machines...
His tests were correctly done. He hates Intel but why we need to care about it? Almost everybody hates Microsoft, but does Microsoft cares?
Did his website need to be close? It's a free volunteer website without any ugly ads. Almost free of ads by the way except a little one at frontpage. His readers base was happy or he wouldn't get so much people on the website. He tried to do his best, for free... he really deserves that? I think I went very few times to this website, but it doesn't look so bad. It is biased, but it's not for the same people, it's an AMD website, what's the problem about it? What would you have said if it was an <b>Intel website?</b>

I think it's sad when we loose a hardware website, even if it's not so good.

This ends my little story... this is my opinion about this issue... feel free to bring more comments, flames, arguments, bashing, and etc... I hope I didn't forget something at least.

Sorry for the long text, I feel I needed to express my opinion about this issue.

P.S: I'm not a native english speaking being so please try to tolerate ugly built sentences.

Simon5 -

I disagree with some of your comments.

I always answer each and every Email that comes from the readers of my articles. I never try to hide from anyone who reads my articles on THG.

It is up to the authors to answer the questions about the review. The author of the review of the 2U4U DMR-300, I beleive was written by a freelance writer, not one of the regular staff writers and perhaps this is why it has been more diffcult to get an answer to your questions about said article.

To the best of my knowledge, you have never Emailed me with questions or you would have gotten an Email back.

I beleive in my heart that it is very important for the authors to interact with the readers and unless the person who emails me is nasty, then I reply because it is my responsibility.

We at THG are a team and we try to handle as much as we can, but as you can imagine we are always under staffed and under funded, but we do the best that we can with what we have to work with.

I just think that it is important that you realize that some of the authors average over 200+ (Yes, that is right on some days when I have an article released this figure can jump to as high as 400+! and trust me this is nothing compared to the amount of Email that Tom gets!!) Emails a day and when you under that kind of Email load you can't answer them all unless you are a fanatic like me.

THanks for your comments and I hope that you will continue to read THG.

ha...hahaha...haha..ha.hahaha...ahahahaha...ahahaha...HAHA...HAHAHA...haha...HAHA...ha...HAHAHAHA...haha..







um, burp.

"<b>AMD/VIA!</b>...you are <i>still</i> the weakest link, good bye!"<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by AmdMELTDOWN on 08/28/02 02:11 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

Okay. I've now actually read <A HREF="http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/2002/08/020826_Unwind_Removed/020826_Unwind_Removed.htm" target="_new">this</A> and I can honestly say that it has actually given me even a better impression of Tom. (And subsequently a worse impression of Van, if that's even possible.)

Now, you might wonder why that is. After all, Van says some pretty nasty things, and of course I couldn't possibly know the truth. So what's up?

Well, first off, let me just say that I have some experience seeing the mind of a 'stalker' at work. My wife was hounded by one for a time. The funny thing about them is that they:
1) Make themselves out to be the victim.
2) Project their own wrongness and faults onto their victims.

I'll give two examples. Anyone who has read Tom's articles knows one thing quickly: Tom goes in depth. In fact, he gets into the tiny nitty-gritty details that most people don't even want to know about. His articles clearly show he has a keen sense for the ins and outs of how things work.

Yet Van Smith writes, "<font color=red>And Tom is simply not very "technical"</font color=red>".

Also, Tom hasn't written many articles at all lately.

Yet Van says "<font color=red>Knowing Tom, he also craves the attention</font color=red>".

I could give plenty of other examples, but I don't think it's necessary. Anyone who has read THG's articles, <i>especially Tom's</i> will be able to pick out the other blatant opposites that Van portrays Tom as being in his spiteful rant.

And at the same time, how much is Van doing to draw attention to himself? Seems like a pretty strong craving to me. And how many of Van's articles suck because <i>they aren't</i> very technical? Hmm ... Sounds like Van projecting his own faults onto Tom to me...

So if so much of Van's rant is clearly and obviously untrue about Tom (and appearantly is true about himself), is <i>any</i> of it true about Tom? Maybe. **big shrug** Who knows?

Some of the better questions though are, would it matter if they were?

For example, Van tries to play Tom off as being bi or gay, I'd guess. What other reason could he have for that whole hotel room rant? And <i>even</i> were it true, which is obviously debatable, <i>would it make any difference</i>? Does being gay suddenly make you a bad PC reviewer? Does sexual preference even impact how well you can benchmark a CPU? Well, if we compare Tom's AXP 2600+ review to Van's, maybe it does... **LOL** Just kidding.

And perhaps Tom's English isn't perfect. If we want to get technical, we can also pick apart Van's articles for bad grammar. Who's the native English speaker again? Hmm...

So is Tom reall as Van portrays? Or is it simply that Van is trying to slander Tom in every way possible?

I vote for the latter. There's plenty of evidence to support it. In fact, if you even just look at Tom's article in question and compare how professionally and unslandarously it was written to Van's above article, it shows who is out for truth, and who is out for blood.

I don't think anyone even missed Van's departure from THG. Certainly THG has kept going just fine without him. And Van's site is a joke amongst the technical community, while THG is regarded as one of the best.

So back to answering Copenhagen... There could be a <i>grain</i> of truth in Van's slander-fest. However, as far as I can tell, any truth that <i>is</i> there is so unimportant to <i>anything</i> that it really shouldn't matter to anyone anyway. Van is clearly just slandering away, and in doing so only makes himself look worse for it.

<pre><A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/186.htm" target="_new"><font color=red>It's all relative...</font color=red></A></pre><p>

I agree... he's a doctor but not into computers... so we don't even care about it...
Also with some well placed pictures of himself in his articles and on the community icon which he doesn't even care to visit.

ummm based on what ??

<font color=red><b> <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/9267/fuddef.html" target="_new">FUD</A></font color=red></b>

Hmmmm...
For anonymity???

<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

I still have my doubts as to the accuracy of this. Perhaps indeed some of that is true ... to an extent. Who knows? But 1) Does any of that matter to THGs existence or ability to review hardware? and 2) Could it just be that Van's fanaticism combined with his one-sided view of events transpired to make for a story that is incredibly unrealistic and only vaguely based on fragments of reality? That's how I see it anyway.

I could be wrong. Tom might be a complete prick. But then, even if he was, does it matter if he reviews hardware well?

I re-read it and I still don't find it 'rather hateful'. Yes, Tom says he dislikes Van and Kyle. He also gives good reasons for disliking them. Much more than that though, Tom <i>doesn't</i> slander either of them. He merely expresses his dislike and then provides the details in a very non-confrontational manner that completely lacks personal attacks.

Meanwhile, Van's rant-fest was <i>very</i> personally oriented and full of attempts at character assassination.

Who is? I know I've gotten pissed of and yelled at stupid people before.

Tis possible. I won't deny that. However, with all the evidence I have seen given, I would say that Van was majorly blowing things out of proportion if not even making some of it up. On top of that, still, does it matter? It's just character assassination. It's just slander. It has nothing to do with the issues at hand. It has no effect on Tom's ability to run THG.

I haven't even noticed him refer to himself like that. Can you point out an example?

Even still, becoming a doctor takes a LOT of schooling and from what my German boss told me, is also a great matter of pride in Germany as not everyone gets such an opportunity. My supervisor once explained the whole social heirarcy and idealism that some Germans live by. Who are we to judge that?

Further, I work with scientists who almost all have PHDs on a regular basis, and I respect the amount of time that they spent earning that degree and the knowledge that they have from it.

I kind of find that funny too. But then, I'd imagine he'd quickly be swamped by posts and emails as soon as he did, and he's already probably pretty swamped in emails alone. Plus he has a job and a life. Hell, I can't blame him for avoiding THGC. I'd probably do the same were I in his shoes.

<pre><A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/186.htm" target="_new"><font color=red>It's all relative...</font color=red></A></pre><p>

It's amazing what people will plagerize, and sometimes it's not intentional. Unfortunately, sometimes it's simply because of lazyness.

I used to tutor in college in several subjects. English was the most frustrating, because people would come to me and ask me about their papers, with one of two results.
1) They would ignore any criticism I would offer.
2) They would redo their paper verbatum to what I told them, including not bothering to rewrite some generic sudgestions I made about phrasing, order, or even adding a sentance. It was funny when they didn't even remove my "Try something like ... instead." and put that in too.

The point is, sometimes people don't look at what they were told to do, but what they think they should do, or even what's easiest. I wouldn't be supprised if that's what happen in Tom's case with the web admins.

If ignorance is bliss, then why is everyone so miserable?

Makes you wonder...

<font color=green>My mymy is so my so it´s my</font color=green>

Dear Tom

I'm sorry that you were called non-american and a nazi. We have a lot of stupid people on this side of the big pond. You were clearly upset when you wrote your rant on Van and I think that clouded your normally good judgement. You are a public figure and as such will be subject to all the stupid crap John Q Public can dish out. I'm sure I would be upset too but that is why I stay out of the limelight. All famous folks put up with this crap. Just look at the Star or the Enquirer or any other tabloid. Unfortunately taking this kind of crap is just part of being famous. Your "rant" on Van is entertaining but not all that well thought out. Most folks around here respect you and your honesty and many already didn't like Van.

I read his response and found parts of it credible. In particular his reasoning behind the pulling of his articles sounds more reasonable then yours. As Copenhagen says why publish him at all if his stuff was so bad. Also I find his explination of WHY Sysmark is skewed a lot more informative then you just saying the evidence is not conclusive. Lastly, in his response he brings up the p4 waffle issue which is my crowning glory in these forums. I predicted the future before it happened that time. If someone is really bored thay could look at my old posts and compare them with the timing of the p4 video coding articles. If you did this you would see that I predicted that Tom's page was going to waffle on the p4 video coding issue before it happened and then like magic that is exactly what happened. Van seems to remember this issue that same way I do.

I will continue to be a loyal fan of Tom's Hardware Page. I have been reading them for many years and I was a member of this community the first day is was on line. I believe Tom is basically an honest man who does not make too many mistakes, but who is not perfect either. In all the years I've been reading I've only seen Tom make but a few glaring mistakes with this whole "Van" business being one of them.

Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.