Hype Trains are bad. They are not just bad because a random frog on the internet told you so either, they are bad because they build upon themselves to the point that you would believe a random frog on the internet if he said something beneficial about your chosen product.
It’s not just technology either. It can happen in politics, religion, whatever. But they are bad, and not to be trusted. They aren’t just bad for humanity and all that, they are bad for the products they represent. Yes, they actually hurt what they are hyping. Ryzen didn’t benefit from the hypetrain anymore than Trump benefited from the “Trump Train.” Allow me to explain (and please, put the foam back in your mouth for me uttering “Trump” in a tech article. That’s the only time I promise).
Bottom line is, hype trains take everything good and compound it, true or not. This raises expectations into the stratosphere and make them impossible to satisfy. Once the product, candidate, or what have you is brought into general existence, it will never satisfy what it has been built up to be. This leads to disappointment. Disappointment will not help sales long-term, nor ensure a safe re-election for a politician. The higher the hype, the bigger the disappointment.
I remember a game I was really hyped for circa 2003 or so. GolemLabs premier geopolitical simulator “Superpower 2.” It was a game that let you control any nation on earth in modern times. It also got hyped on its own forums into the stratosphere, and guess what? When I got it, I thought it sucked really hardcore… only it didn’t. Most critics ranked it as somewhat novel and mediocre, but to me, it was utter and complete garbage because I couldn’t do everything they promised me on the forums, things that likely were never even on the drawing board, let alone ever implemented.
I’m still stung from that hype train. The only way a hype train can work honestly is if it is sustained by an outside force. The political example of this would be Robert Mugabe (have some Wikipedia fun there), President-until-I-say-otherwise of Zimbabwe. The interesting thing about Mugabe by the way, is his hype train is still going in elements of his country, despite him mismanaging its economy to the point he literally added 0’s to his bills to “control inflation.”
So, don’t be an idiot, don’t vote for Mugabe, and for god sake man get off that hype train before it kills all our realistic expectations. You aren’t helping anyone.
