Campaign Discussions

Welcome to the Discussions Forum front page of the Free Repair Campaign for Apple 17inch PowerBooks mini Wiki
Since the administrators of the official Apple Discussions forums have been using censorship and censuring to suppress public discussions of this problem for the last six months, this may become the place for owners of defective PowerBooks and our supporters to have their say.

You don't need to create an account to contribute here or to edit the other pages in the Wiki, but doing so has advantages to you, like uploading an image or other file to the Wiki and maintaining a page watchlist - use the create account link in the top right corner, about which help is available. Then you can use the edit tab at the top of the page or an edit link opposite a section heading to add your post(s) to this page AND auto-sign your posts. Should this forum prove popular, we can make new pages to accommodate new topics, indexed in a navigation box like the one on the right; and there's a step-by-step how-to to make this easy in Your Contributions.

When you're logged in to your account, it's good practice to auto-sign your posts here with four tilde characters: ~ and they'll be replaced by, for example: Dalinian 20:31, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I started seeing lines in August of 2006. This week, June 4, '07, I've got 22 of the damned things. Yes, I have a 17" G4 with W85 serial number. Yes, Apple closed a thread I started in their Forum. (One of their "trolls" advised me to just get my PB repaired and shut up, in so many words.)

The unfortunate thing (for most of us, probably) is that I rely on this machine for work about 50 hours a week! I don't know when I can afford the down time for a repair!

I've been a loyal user of Macs since 1985. This is the first time I've had a true problem with one of them that I thought was related to a manufacturing defect in workmanship or materials. It seems like every time I move the machine, or just close and re-open the lid, I get another line on the screen. And every time I burn a dozen DVDs in a row, or use Classic for an hour or so, I get another line on the screen. Yeah, I do think it's heat related, and somehow related to flexing the cable that connects the screen to the circuitry that drives it.

Regardless of the cause, Apple needs to FIX THIS. There are too many of us with the same issue to ignore much longer. C'mon, Steve, lighten up and do the right thing. Some of us want to keep believin'.

--Bill Burkholder, Charlotte, NC BurkPhoto@aol.com or wcburkholder@herffjones.com

Campaign Priorities
Apple Inc is a multi-billion-dollar transnational corporation, and it’s treating some of its most loyal customers, allies and advocates with ignorance, censorship and censure. As long as we act as isolated, atomised individuals, Apple will hold the whip hand. But we have the strength of numbers in our favour – our powerfulness lies in us coordinating the international application of our collective intelligence, determination, and creativity.

So, as Lenin had it, "What is to be done"? Now we have a defect database, three blogs and this Wiki, how do we bring folks with both unrepaired AND repaired defective 17inch PowerBooks together into a well organised and highly motivated collective worldwide campaign? Personally, I'm all for... Now that this Wiki is up an running, my hope is that it'll become a focal point for co-ordinating our campaining initiatives. And the next initiative I think would be tactical is a Publicity Campaign, which I'm advocating for below. '''But what's your opinion? What would you like to see prioritised? And have you an initiative you'd like to get up and running?''' ''An online petition? Group protests inside and outside Apple Stores with placards and leaflets? Multiple co-ordinated Apple Inc office occupations? Or something more fluffy?'' I hope you'll feel free and moved to post your answers / observations / initiatives / criticisms below. Dalinian 21:59, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
 * as many initiatives as we have enthusiastic campaigners to pioneer them, while asking for and receiving the support they need from each of us, according to our abilities;
 * a flat organisation: no masters or followers; instead, equal but different collaborators each contributing as much as we can; or, to paraphrase Anton Pannekoek, struggling for justice "is partaking to the full of ones capacity, thinking and deciding for oneself, taking all the responsibilities as a self-relying individual amidst equal comrades. It is true that to think for oneself, to think out what is true and right, with a head dulled by fatigue, is the hardest, the most difficult task; it is much harder than to pay and to obey. But it is the only way to" succeed.

Publicity Campaign
One conclusion I draw from analysing the events leading up to Apple's most analagous Display Repair Extension Program is that the 15inch G4 PowerBook's 'white spots' defect had media coverage early on. As yet, our defect lacks for publicity, so I think that one activity in which we can all play a part, with a relatively compact effort from each of us, yet yielding potentially high impact results, is a two phase Publicity Campaign. The more Apple has to answer an array of journalists' questions about their censorship, censure and silence policies coupled with stinging afflicted owners for expensive and prolonged repairs, then the more pressure Apple will be under to acknowledge, investigate and repair our PowerBooks for free. I'm willing to pioneer this initiative, so I've finalised Media Release 1 (448KB PDF), and there's a role for everyone - please take a look at ACTION+: Publicity Campaign, and I hope you'll join in. Dalinian 21:59, 29 May 2007 (UTC)