: "Oh ho hum, I'm not buying _____ console, that's retarded rabble
: rabble"

: That's all well and fine, don't buy one. It won't affect me, and I'm tired of
: hearing about it.

The internet is opt-in, Rev. After you'd seen Cody's post and established what the topic of conversation was, you could have easily gone somewhere else.

Bitching about people bitching is still bitching.

: Don't like where things are going? Don't go. Vote with your wallet. It's been
: proven to work, ya know.

Just like in most political elections, if you elect NOT to vote on whatever grounds (the system sucks, no candidates you like) many are wont to say that you simply don't care enough. That you're indifferent to the entire enterprise.

If there are enough people who do go out and vote, and vote even for a 'bad' candidate, that person can still end up winning. They can successively make it so that you have even less choice, worse candidates, a more broken system.

Speaking up clarifies why you didn't vote, or why you vote in a particular way. I hate the console wars. They're bad for everyone except a few successful platform holders. But if these are my only choices because the system is already broken, I'm going to tell you why I made the choice I did - because the reason isn't 'choice X is perfect.'

P.S. I have no problem with ads on principle since they can lower the barrier to entry to many products/services - even if that barrier isn't 'free' it still stands. Absolutely I hate ads being FORCED on us as the ONLY option, since in this day and age there are no legitimate technical barriers to presenting higher paid-for tier that is without ads.