Krisse, I think you're right in every respect but one. I have seen far, far worse flame wars errupt over the placing of a nacelle, which deck crew quarters are on and most especially which fictional character is in love with which other fictional character in sci-fi forums.

The problem here is that it matters. If people post unrestrained negativity it can affect product and platform development. There's a lot of money riding on the Maemo venture, and that means that people being destructive for fun (as some, strangely do on the internet) are potentially doing damage.

I think it's great credit to the community that these people are allowed to stay. In the sci-fi forums just posting "Kirk sucks!" is the very definition of trolling and more than a few posts will get you banned. I doubt you'd last even that long if you posted that sort of negativity in a forum run for a closed-source platform. But we allow these people to stay.

I'm not honestly sure with some people if they are genuinely negative about the device or they just enjoy internet-squabbling and winding people up. Some of them don't seem to even own a maemo device.

I have stayed out of the android threads: I am still cross with BBC news for making a huge fuss over the new google phone when even their geek division has never mentioned Maemo. But I've no doubt it is more of what I've seen before in attitudes to other platform users.

I guess I have an advantage as a multi-faith worker. I long ago learned that what is right for me is not right for everyone and that if I listen to others whose choices and needs are different from mine I might learn something. The sad reality is most people need to evangelise their position whether in religion or device choice. Some do it in pleasant, friendly and harmless ways. Others use violence. Short of excluding them there's not much we can do