Format war fanboys shut down AVS Forum
After posters have resorted to physical threats from Blu-ray and HD DVD zealots, the popular AVS Forum community site has had to completely shut down the Blu-ray and HD DVD section of its site for the week.
Anyone who's ever visited AVS Forum--probably the largest online forum for audio/visual discussion--knows that people can get carried away. And anyone who has dared to venture in the HD DVD and Blu-ray forum is well aware of rampant fanboy flame wars--the kind that used to be reserved for game consoles.
Well apparently a couple of the AV geeks have gone too far, which has led to AVS Forum moderators to completely shut down the HD DVD and Blu-ray forums until the end of the week. And in case you think it's an overreaction, check out this quote from the letter they posted to AVS members:
We have seen members attacking other members not only in debate, which is the right way, but with physical threats that have involved police and possible legal action.
Wow. The format war has gotten pretty ugly between Blu-ray and HD DVD, but this is the first instance of physical threats that we're aware of. We're also sure it's no coincidence this shutdown has occurred directly following the $99 HD DVD player sale at Wal-Mart and Best Buy--which is just like pouring gasoline on the already raging flame wars.
Since AVS Forum is always an interesting place to see exactly what's brewing in the rumor mill, let's hope cooler heads prevail so everyone can get back to discussing the new high-def disc formats.