If there’s anything more irritating in online forums, I’ve yet to find it. The fanboy – and he’s always male – is almost exclusively the owner of what might be termed a minority camera system, to whit Olympus or Pentax. His grasp on reality would most charitably be described as wafer-thin, and he is marked by an utterly unswerving loyalty to his chosen marque to a degree that is positively risible. Any comment about that marque that is not in the most glowing terms possible, and language so simple even the fanboy can understand it, is given as evidence of “bashing” the marque in question. Any magazine that dares to suggest that the cameras are in any tiny way not quite as good as those of Canon or Nikon in particular is thoroughly dishonest and has been bribed by the Evil Two. Anyone who chooses to buy any camera other than the fanboy’s favourite is a brainwashed buffoon who has been swayed by overwhelming marketing. Honestly, it’s almost funny, if it wasn’t so pathetic. The truth, of course, is that these people are desparately trying to live with their own buyer’s remorse, and failing fairly dismally, and their own insecurity is what makes them lash out. There is a rather related phenomenon, the “inverse fanboy” – this guy is actually a user of Canon or Nikon, but is forever complaining that the other marque is far better and that his chosen brand has let him down badly by not providing a particular function the other brand has – generally without actually understanding that function or having a need for it. People, eh?