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Comment by carlmr | Hacker News Reader

>I guess many of us put more trust on the community rather than our gut feeling.

While that may be true, for me the gut feeling was in line with the fake news, which makes it even harder to spot (confirmation bias).

I never worked on iOS apps, but my consumer experience with Apple was such that I would have expected exactly this kind of behavior. They quoted me $400 for looking (!) at a just out of warranty macbook with a defective keyboard. I said I just want a new keyboard and I can replace it myself, but they wouldn't sell me one.

I just assumed that a company that treats their consumers like this also doesn't treat developers fairly.

Granted, this is my experience from a decade ago. I've never bought anything Apple since. So maybe they've changed.

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This is a great point on how the world seems to have developed a deep sense of biases on just about everything and now we're left incapable of passing the "would only a cartoon villain do this" test. How is it ever possible to fix this, because we're quickly moving to a point where the most ridiculous of claims, that happen to fit with our biases, are instantly accepted as true and unshakable facts.

The problem is that real life is already stranger than fiction. The NSA actually tapped American phones and intercepted inter-datacenter links. Multiple major companies now have voice assistants that have been shown to send voice recordings to employees for review. Apple has used legal action to shut down repair shops. Real life is left incapable of passing the "would only a cartoon villain do this" test.

At the end of the day, we must remember that just because we can believe something to be true is not actually evidence in support of it being true. Even the most mundane of claims should not be taken on faith alone. We may not verify everything, but we shouldn't repeat or make serious decisions based on claims for which we have not seen compelling evidence, no matter how believable the may seem.

To even have hope of getting people to overcome confirmation bias and look at evidence, we need concise and convenient ways of presenting evidence. Fact checking is too much of a chore the way things are now.

>They quoted me $400 for looking (!) at a just out of warranty macbook with a defective keyboard. I said I just want a new keyboard and I can replace it myself, but they wouldn't sell me one.

Do they regularly sell keyboard replacement parts? If not, why expect them to "sell you one"?

And the laptop was "out of warranty", wasn't it? How does "barely" change this?

(I'm not the one who you commented to)

Because we all want to live on this planet for a few hundred years?

I expect a company that produces things to either supply spare parts on demand, or allow a third party to produce them.

Even more so, when the device I bought costs >1000$

Sure, legally they don't have any obligation to do so, but many things are legal but ethically wrong.

Exactly, and every other laptop company I never had an issue getting spare parts. So they were intentionally behaving worse than average.

Most other companies have easier case constructions though...

I'm sure it would be in apple's interest and ability to make their parts as modular as possible to make repairs easier if that was what they were going for.

Then they should revise their designs maybe.

They have been working well for them though... from bankruptcy to #1 company in sales in 23 years based on such designs...

Just a new keyboard for a reasonable price, like every other laptop I've owned.

I didn't expect it for free, but a lot of companies want to keep their consumers happy and will fix something that's just out of warranty, especially if it's a part that should last longer than 2 years, like a keyboard.

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