Mossberg’s column ran for about 900 words; just 70 of them, or 8 percent, by my count, suggested anything even approaching negative criticism. Apple loved the review so much that it excerpted it in advertisements. Apple CEO Steve Jobs quoted it in his speeches. But Mossberg says that his mailbox told a different story. Several Apple fans felt slighted. What did he have against Apple? they wanted to know.

“It’s funny — even if I write a generally positive piece about Apple, I still get more complaints from Apple partisans” than from opponents, Mossberg says. He has even coined a term for the effect. “I call it the Doctrine of Insufficient Adulation.”

If you’re non-partisan, this is all you could want from a tech reviewer, and Mossberg and Pogue’s style likely accounts for their enormous popularity. But many fans of Apple often seem to want more. They care little for honest opinion. They want to pick up the paper and see in it a reflection of their own nearly religious zeal for the thing they love. They don’t want a review. They want a hagiography.

I’ve suffered this first hand. Whenever I think about purchasing an Apple product and attempt to discuss the pros and cons with an Apple-fan, I’m always attacked. Even the suggestion that there might be a con is seen as an act of war from me. Reminding them that I might want to buy does not calm them down in the least. “Might” just isn’t good enough for them. You’re either 100% behind them or you are an enemy. I think I’ll stick with reason and logic versus blind-faith when purchasing tech, if the fanatics don’t mind.