I generally am against defining yourself oppositionally, but concede it's probably hard to avoid when the other side is doing it, too. But the competitors weren't doing it.
Not only did the campaign not match the feel of the market (users were not being zero-sum about their publishing choices, competitors were talking more about their product and communities than competitors), it didn't match the feel of Posterous. Having read and listened and enjoyed what little I know about the founders, it didn't match my picture of their real vibe.
Most of all... probably everybody on this board agrees... feature lists are over as compelling marketing. What does the product help me do? User experience is what wins. (exhibit A, iphone... it redefined the entire feature phone market that came before)
And the funny thing is... Posterous's user experience is awesome. They didn't even have to go the feature route. It really is "dead simple" (their original catchphrase) to use. When they used that phrase (not that they invented it, but they use it really well), it stuck in my brain. I repeated it to others. Posterous totally had a marketing gimmick nailed and working: emphasize the experience and the easy angle.
All their feature comparison charts have felt totally disingenuous. For every X a competitor gets for something Posterous has, they usually have 4 things Posterous doesn't. I mean, making WP look like it less features than Posterous??! What an unnecessary risk of credibility.
Posterous people:
I LOVE your product. I use it alongside WP and Tumblr (Tumblr is social and has conversational hooks built in. I've never compared the two.).
Your campaign really bummed me out and disappointed me. I guess I just don't think it's the real you.
Your experience is awesome, and you keep adding new features. I have no concerns about your product, and will confidently recommend it. Just don't indulge the feature troll. We've come so far in an industry. Feature lists are for dying enterprise companies trying to make us feel better about software we hate using.
Go back to the OG Posterous flavor.
Your fan in Portland,
Andy