[kbenson]

Likely because you can like a company, or portions of their output, without being a "staunch supporter", depending on your interpretation of what that even means. I think most people are interpreting being a staunch supporter with ignoring their shortcomings. You may not mean it that way, and may correctly criticize them for their missteps (it sounds like you do, since you reference criticism), but if people interpret this comment as defense of defending Apple in all circumstances, then they're likely to down vote.

I think this is less a case of people being too for or against a company, and more people interpreting the same statement differently depending on their own context.

[Razengan]

> a "staunch supporter", depending on your interpretation of what that even means.

I just figured it was a nicer word to use than fanboy/fangirl.

[kbenson]

Yeah, I think it mostly is, but by the same token it might bring some of the baggage of those terms with it, such as support consideration of the facts, or refusal to accept any negative assertion, which is also sometimes associated with fanboy/fangirl. It's more to do with whether you use the term in a positive or negative context, as that will likely control what attributes it brings to mind. If you aren't careful to define that context, you're allowing others to define it themselves (even if it makes little sense in most cases for people to be using it in a way most would consider negative but applied to themselves. Exceptions do exist though...).