Rockwell is well known, however, for leading newbies astray with his hyperbolic, extreme positions... He simply can't be taken totally seriously, on most anything, because you have no idea when he's up to his antics...He also has his hat out looking for money at the beginning and end of each of his reviews.
What's so wrong with disagreeing with him, and feeling as though he makes a bit of an ass of himself... He's made a lot of wild statements. Again, reasonable, well-spoken people have taken exception to those comments.
Fundamentally, though, no one is forced to pay attention to Rockwell's detractors. I'm not sure why those who enjoy his site take the time to defend him so rigorously.
I personally just resent him for leading me astray on various different subjects while I was a newbie. He makes wild, hyperbolic statements, often of dubious veracity.
I said I didn't think his blog was/is a good source of information for newbies. I also said that I can understand why some people don't particularly like him, or agree with much of what he says... I think it's fairly clear that my thrust throughout this conversation has been that Rockwell is inappropriate for the photographic neophyte, and that many people have very valid criticisms of his work.
...he distorts things without giving (or even admitting to, most of the time) an alternate point of view... ...he distorts facts and exaggerates the faults of things he doesn't like. And because there's no way for a newbie to tell when he's being serious, versus when he's joking around.
Notice he didn't say "Adobe RGB is irrelevant if you aren't already managing your color workflow." No, he says it's irrelevant to "real photography." As if anyone who carefully manages their color-space workflow isn't practicing "real" photography?! How is that not inflammatory?
But again, if it were just about his Mac fetish, I wouldn't care so much. But it's not just that topic, it's that and almost every other topic with Rockwell.
I don't have a hate website setup to mock Rockwell; I don't take out advertisements in Google Adwords disparaging him. I come onto a forum and, when the topic of Rockwell comes up, I mention my reservations with him. ... And I don't give a damn if people shoot in RAW or not, but there are good, valid reasons to use RAW. If it's not your cup of tea, fine. But don't go to the expense and hassle of using film and then, in the next breath, decry how difficult and involved processing RAW is (as Rockwell does). ... Not a month goes by, practically, without him taking an essentially valid and interesting fact or assertion, and then turning it into a flippant attack or mockery against whatever he's upset with du jour.
