How YouTubers Are Destroying the Retro Computing Community

In this video, I'm discussing how YouTubers are destroying the retro computing community. Vintage computer collectors once had a community full of people who loved and knew about vintage computers, but now that community has been destroyed by YouTubers who are only interested in getting views and money.

I wanted to talk about this because I'm seeing more and more vintage computer videos being created and uploaded to YouTube by YouTubers who don't understand what they're doing. They're not taking the time to learn about vintage computers and how to repair them, which is why their videos are full of mistakes and their collections are falling apart. If you're planning on creating a vintage computer collection or monetizing your retro computing videos,

0:00 LGR - What Happened to the Computer Reset Warehouse?

00:10 The 8-Bit Guy - Found at Computer Reset - IBM 7496 Executive Workstation

00:15 Adrian's Digital Basement - Fault finding and trying to fix the Apple ][ plus

0:24 Retro Recipes - Can we save this Commodore 64? EXTREME Refurb!

0:32 LGR - Building a 486 DOS PC!

0:43 Linus Tech Tips - Rebuilding My VERY FIRST Gaming PC!

1:15 Shank Mods - Transforming a 90's Hot Wheels PC into a Modern Gaming Beast

The 90s hot wheels pc is one of many old computers from the 90s that you may be interested in if you are collecting vintage computers unfortunately the hot wheels computer value has skyrocketed due to reasons explained in the video

If this is your first time here thank you for stopping by. On this channel we discuss #retrocomputing and #unsupported software. You will find how to videos, demonstrations, slipstreaming updates, and repairing automatic updates for windows among many other projects. There is a little bit here for all manner of retro computing enthusiasts.

Here are some suggestions for videos to check out:
Using Windows XP FOREVER!
Automatic Updates for Windows 7 After 2020 - How to Get Them
15 Practical Things You Can do With an Old Computer

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[fwingebritson]

You tube influencers have been a mixed blessing over the years. Before the influencers, retro computing was the cheapest hobby going. The main competitor was beating the trash truck to the dumpster. Then influencers came in at first with "high end" systems they bragged about. Which was cool, a lot of the stuff I did not know about mainly due to geographical separation. Then "retro" entered the picture where influencers showed off their systems they somehow had when they were six. Now, any computer related artifact, no matter how obscure becomes topic, and then highly sought after. Don't get me wrong, it really is not a bad thing. Unfortunately, it also brings in some very very "money motivated people." Sorry, but at this point I am burned out from seeing ads that basically says, "I have no freaking clue what this is, but the light turns on and I have no way to test it, but I still want a thousand bucks for it." and what makes it more silly are equally clueless people that actually buy it. I have been in the "retro scene" for over thirty years now when I got my first Compaq a2 from a company that simply gave it to me. It opened a whole new world of "Wow, a company that paid thousands of dollars for a computer simply gives them away because the alternative is to throw them away, and the EPA is breathing down their necks?" Just wow. So I made a modest money on the side buying low (or saving from the trash heap) and selling low. Never did I imagine a day life would come to this, and I guess if I joined the bandwagon with what I got I could retire now and be done with it. However, the beauty of "retro" was the cheapest hobby going. Something that even a grade school kid could get into and enjoy with little more than the allowance they have in their pocket. Something that even a low wage earner could take home to the family and enjoy. And they still can. P4's and duo's are flooding the market right now, they are the systems that companies are selling on the cheap if not giving away. P4's and duo's are also getting scoffed at by the computer community. Let's be real, there is still a lot of fun to be had with P4's and duo's.

[dyscotopia]

As a very poor person with a myriad of interests in what can be expensive hobbies, I'll often click on things like "5 Great Cinematic Cameras for under $500" and, of course, by the time I go to look for them on ebay etc., they've all doubled the prices quoted in the video. Stupid supply and demand. 🙁

[itsjustagamechannel]

The same thing is happening with retro video games. When well known Youtubers review these games, their value instantly goes up indefinitely and causes even more scarcity for them. It’s a frustrating trend.

[polska]

It's not really just YouTubers, we have a custom machine at work that runs on a 286 and we had to pay almost 200 bucks Canadian for a used 286 motherboard because its still way cheaper then replacing it with a new pc and paying 10s of thousands for new custom software to run the machine.

[cybrfxx]

Step 1: Get insider knowledge of what a big retro tech youtuber is going to cover next, Step 2: Covertly buy up thousands of said item at bottom of the barrel prices, Step 3: Wait until youtuber posts video, Step 4: Relist the items at insane scalper hipster prices, Step 5: Profit

[nkorth]

My current retro tech niche is still overlooked & cheap, largely because there's fairly little software for it that's useful today, and it was a very minor platform for gaming. It works because I enjoy writing my own software for it.

[tims]

I understand what you are saying, but let me make a counter point (and i definitely have been a victim of the price jacks, particularly retro mechanical keyboards), when the price of these items go up they also inadvertently get better preserved. People will tend not to throw these items into ewaste or in the bin... we can only hope that over time these items will come down in price.
What i tend to do is look at other eras where things might be cheaper and have fun in that space.
I do feel your pain though brother 😢

[Superchad]

Is this really a bad thing? I mean I personally think that YouTubers can do great things for the retro computer community, they get more people into it, meaning more people to save retro computers, and while yes it can be a pain having to pay $100s for what was once free, this was likely ultimately going to happen anyways it just might have taken more time, if anything, the high price can actually prevent stuff from being thrown in the trash, you have to realize that 99% of people that run into a retro computers more than likely think its worthless and chuck it in the trash (and you would never know) but if they saw someone paying hundreds or thousands for it they may save it and list it for sale, if a business where to find a warehouse full of old computers they would probably see just an expense having to haul them all of, but if people are paying a bunch of money for them they could see dollar signs and save all that from the landfill, it sucks having to pay a bunch for stuff, but it' better than it being scrapped.

[kreuner]

but it IS the retro computing community?

[DougDingus]

I like the expansion of retro those You Tubers bring to the table.

For me, the value increase is not a big deal. A few things cost me more than I felt good about, but quite honestly, I very much enjoy all the spiffy hardware being made right now too.

Without the greater value and overall expansion, many of those niche items and or software might not have happened or be less compelling.

Everything costs something. I would take a bigger, more vibrant scene over a smaller, overall cheaper one. And that is just me and my take on this too.

No judgment no worries otherwise and hopefully we all can continue to find ways to keep old, great computing and gaming alive and relevant.

[somecallmesean_]

I remember the 8 Bit Guy making a video on MS-DOS laptops which didn’t have bad ideas just that it made the price of those skyrocket

[LarryRobinsonintothefog]

Had to lookup Hot Wheels computers, was less involved in computers at that time and was getting settled into a new home so distracted by other things at the time.

[enthusiastguy]

Yeah, I recognize the effect of this. I also wanted to purchase my childhood computer only to discover it has a very high price now. While I do respect the fact that the age of it plays an important role, some prices are unresonable. This is what prompted me to actually create a fantasy computer emulator (Continuum 93) that anyone can use. It uses its own assembly instruction set, resembles quite a bit with the Z80 asm architecture, only it's improved for game development. Still a work in process, but I envision people being able to mount this to some SBC's and make their own retro computers. It doesn't resolve the problem, but maybe for some it helps a bit.

[ben-and-maffy]

I have seen increased demand connected to Youtube views, this just means that the audiance has found their interest, which hints to professional buyers to stock up on the available online bargains. But offline, there are obsolete computers sitting in grandpas' atticks. When those are gone, good luck. It is better to learn to build electronics.

[devon]

honestly it might be better in the long run for preservation because theres tons of people that look on ebay while cleaning out a house or something and if the computer isnt worth much on ebay people might just outright huck it into the trash. Like I saw a youtube comment on a video about recycling electronics and a guy said he found an old vhs camera looked on ebay and they only sold for $20 so he just threw it away instead

[splitprissm]

The funny thing is: Ebay prices skyrocket, but prices on actual fleamarkets (you know, huge popup stores where you can pick valuable old stuff for very cheap, get to inspect it in person, and for cash so "sales final" is "sales final", no hassle, and get a lot of walking exercise and fresh air and sunlight) tend to be mostly unaffected...

[supdan]

I mean, I don't think Linus did that on purpose, but you're right. Same thing with video games, darn it!

[JBolt]

I take good care of my older stuff, but I understand some people don’t really think about the value of something from the past that’s no longer available. That’s another reason the price rises.

[poseidon]

I had a AMD-486DX-120MHz that I gave away when I bought an Emachine in 1999. I regretted it ever since.

As an retro enthusiast, it's the software more than the hardware that interests me. If I can run it through emulattion on current machine, I will. And that's getting better all the time.

Secondly, I like to find uses for the old hardware that do have. Preventing as much E-wastes as possible. I won't pay high amounts for any of it nor do I have the space.

[dbranconnier]

We need more replicas of retro systems to drive down the prices.