Good insights, and not just software developers, really. We don’t like ads, sensationalism, or anything reeking of bullshit. If we have to talk to someone to find out the price, the product may as well not exist.

  • rafoix@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    337
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    2 months ago

    Has anyone been to any kind of convention for nerdy things. Nerds are so captured by the marketing and products being sold that they let it take over their personality and they can’t stop buying junk.

    • cygnus@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      199
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      Yeah, this is self-aggrandizement from a group of people who consistently believe they’re smarter than everybody else, when in reality they just lack self-awareness. Nerds will smugly post in this thread using their overpriced mechanical keyboard as a wall of Funko pops and Star Wars slop looms behind them. I worked in marketing for a long time and I know damn well I’m not immune to it.

      • Frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        72
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Pretty much, yeah.

        The article points out how a bunch of specific techniques don’t work on programmers. That’s because they’re aimed at project managers, not programmers. And yeah, they work. Hardly any programmers willingly chose Jira for their ticketing system, but project managers love that shit, and it’s everywhere.

        All it really means is that it takes a different set of marketing techniques to reach programmers. They generally don’t bother, because programmers don’t typically control the budget directly.

      • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        2 months ago

        I believe that thinking you’re immune to something makes you even more vulnerable, because it creates a cognitive blind spot. If you think you can’t make mistakes, you don’t stop to wonder if you are making one.

      • FearfulSalad@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        2 months ago

        You just described Geeks. Geek and Nerd group labels can sometimes apply to the same people, but they are not synonymous, and a person can be one without the other.

        • cygnus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          17
          ·
          2 months ago

          I knew somebody would try to play that card. People who insist on that distinction are the least self-aware of all.

          • FearfulSalad@ttrpg.network
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            12
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            2 months ago

            You’re resorting to personal attacks without knowing who I am, what I do, what I do or don’t have on the wall behind me. You apply a blanket label on all people who you class a certain way, and when I disagree with your label and its implications, and recommend nuance, you class me further.

            It sounds like you think very highly of yourself, or lowly of everyone else, or both.

            What makes your opinions here worthwhile?

            • cygnus@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              9
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              You are not immune to marketing (or to propaganda in general). The more you become at ease with that fact, the better equipped you will be to deal with the deluge of shit that is coming for all of us.

              What makes your opinions here worthwhile?

              As I said in another reply, I worked in marketing for a long time, so I have first-hand experience that most others here don’t. Many have a rather narrow definition of what they’re willing to label “advertising” and don’t realize how much is actually happening all around them. I’m applying a blanket label because the blanket is covering all of us, even those who fervently deny it and insist that it’s simply warm and cozy wherever they are.

              • drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                edit-2
                2 months ago

                Everyone arguing with this account needs to realize that they might as well be talking to an LLM. Look at how advertisers think:

                https://www.goldennumber.net/wp-content/uploads/pepsi-arnell-021109.pdf

                Just like an LLM can’t distinguish between truth and fiction they can’t distinguish between meaningful information and advertising BS. The people here will never win their argument against them because they classify all human communication as an act of manipulation, so the definition of advertising will be made more and more broad until they say “look, you were swayed”.

                • cygnus@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Excuse me but “it” is not my preferred pronoun. That’s pretty disrespectful.

                  • drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    4
                    ·
                    2 months ago

                    I was trying to resolve the ambiguity between “this account” (which is indeed an object) and “the people here”.

                    I try not to misgender, so I have edited it to “they”. Not because I respect anything an advertiser says though.

      • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        2 months ago

        I disagree, I don’t fall into the category you stated. My walls are lined with 80s memorabilia and 3d printed things I have created. I reject anything advertised to me and will only purchase tech that I have sought out that meets my needs.

        • cygnus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          40
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          If this irony, good job because I think most people will fall for it.

          • Semperverus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            2 months ago

            I don’t think it is. I know a few people like this, and im heading in that direction myself. The only kinds of “ads” that work on me are when a number of equally nerdy people I know find a new thing, and they’ve demonstrated that it has helped them with something or they are genuinely enjoying using it. Like 3D printing. Its semi-pointless most of the time but it is a genuinely fun hobby, which when combined with 3D modeling and post-processing skills becomes an actual craft. I didn’t get into it until a good number of people around me did.

            • cygnus@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              17
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              80s memorabilia and 3D printers are not exempt form marketing. They are products just like anything else.

      • chocrates@piefed.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        I got a curved, split, tented ortholinear monstrosity with a built in trackball and I’m finally done. I get that it’s stupid and a waste of money but my hands feel so good typing all day on it

        • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          I did too. I didn’t get it to look cool, I got it because I have carpal tunnel and I don’t want to have surgery.

          I like the clicky, it allows me to type longer, and I can fidgit with the firmware and do what I want with it.

          If I got it because it looks techy then I’d just be a poser

      • mybuttnolie@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        I saw people recommending keychrons, went and bought one thinking I made a smart choice. didn’t even google what kind of issues they have… I’ll remember next time I’m about to throw money at some random crap that a few people recommend.

      • CriticalMiss@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        2 months ago

        I don’t have a single funko pop or Star Wars toy or whatever. I have a Keychron keyboard that cost me $70, while it is more costly than the average membrane I like mechanical ones. I never buy new if I can (usually this is a time constraint, I.e I broke my phone and I need to replace it quick one because my job relies it). I Adblock everywhere I possibly can to not see the ads but I genuinely believe I’m immune to advertising.

        • cygnus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          I genuinely believe I’m immune to advertising.

          You are not - you just don’t see it as such. Even if you didn’t use the internet at all (which we can see is not the case) you would still fall victim to its network effects.

      • Peffse@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        do people actually buy those? I honestly thought they were some kind of money laundering thing. I’ve never once saw one sell.

      • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        2 months ago

        They aren’t fucking nerds then. Nerds don’t buy Funko Pops.

        I can name 3 or 4 people who own walls of Funko pops and I can tell you they wouldn’t know an IDE from MS Word. None of them went to college either.

        They’re posers.

        • very_well_lost@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          If you say so… but some of the Funko collectors I know are definitely die-hard nerds. Having bad taste doesn’t exclude you from nerddom.

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        How do you think you “found” it? A whole supply chain of people, from branding to packaging to advertising, made it so that you can “find” things on websites that are themselves outright advertisements or at least funded by them.

      • Arcka@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Someone makes a good product and then sells it in a store. Even if they do nothing else and buy no ads, a marketing wank somewhere would apparently want to take credit for the maker’s work.

    • Bobby Turkalino@lemmy.yachts
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yeah but I don’t think that’s marketing, if you’re going to a con for something, you’re likely very passionate about it and passionate people love to scoop up everything they can that relates to their beloved hobby or franchise.

      Also, nerds tend to have a good amount of disposable income on that stuff

    • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Nerds in arrested development over a franchize is not the same as seeing any ad and then that makes them want to buy a product.

    • Comrade_Squid@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      I would call my brother a geek, a collector of shit, expensive cards, moulded plastics, I love him for it but I see it as vapid. Whereas I am a nerd, I research and act with caution when it comes to spending, I own a mechanical watch which I can repair myself, I buy leather shoes with soles that can be replaced at a cobblers, run Linux on my desktop, custom ROM on my phone.

      Geeks are nerds who enjoy gimmicky things, nerds are geeks seeking purpose.

    • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      Posers. All of them.

      Nerds enjoy a hobby, like tabletop games.

      Posers buy Funkos and toys that they never open.

      Nerds have fun. Posers try to look like they do.