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diff --git a/content/blog/2024/internet-and-press.md b/content/blog/2024/internet-and-press.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae39c03 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2024/internet-and-press.md @@ -0,0 +1,61 @@ ++++ +title = "We have failed computer journalism" +author = ["Michał Sapka"] +date = 2024-09-23T22:45:00+02:00 +categories = ["blog"] +draft = false +weight = 2001 +image_dir = "blog/images" +image_max_width = 600 +abstract = "Third site moved to my flat" ++++ + +As a kid, I loved reading computer related press. +Be it gaming titles (_Secret Service_, _Gambler_, _Gry Komputerowe_, or _Świat Gier Komputerowych_), or general computing ones (_PC World_ or _Chip_) it was a monthly feast. +Those have since either died or moved to the interwebs. +It was clear that they were doomed, as who would move to cyberspace faster than people, who were already living in the digital world? +The thing that was not clear, was that those which simply closed were the lucky ones. + +{{< image source="https://lubimyczytac.pl/ksiazka/141263/secret-service-32-luty-1996" forced_width="200" class="pull-right" alt="Cover of a polish gaming magazine in red" file="ss-31.jpg" >}} +with anime! +{{< /image >}} + +There was this hidden difference. +The reader has different expectation when he spends his entire allowance for 100–200 pages of texts, compared to when simply opening a website. +We had long, insightful (and sometimes wrong) texts which took time, now we have crap but fast. +It's not the publisher's fault, there are not many people left who would read an approximation of a 5-page analysis of the latest printer offering from HP. +That's not how you make a business any more. +You make it by being _fast_. +And boy are we fast now. +Review within minutes of release are not uncommon. + +But there is another part of this equation. +The business became dull. +Remember when there were _multiple_ GPU vendors? +Not producers of cards based on AMD and Nvidia, but an actual market of multiple players? +Remember when you could get excited by an amazing scanner/printer combo? +When you could have fun by just scanning your butt[^fn:1]? +Yeah - it all got consolidated. +A desk full of cool peripherals you were too poor to get is now a boring slab of glass that happens to have a GSM modem attached. +There is no wonder, no sense of aspiration, as it's all the same. + +Therefore, modern tech journalism has a huge uphill battle. +You've got boring stuff to cover, and you won't pay your salary by being insightful. +There are not many text-based sites I'd gladly pay for. + +And vlogs are mostly a downgrade because they don't let the imagination go wild. +When you read a description of how it feels to play _Quake_ and had a few screenshots, your imagination went wild. +At least mine did. +When you get 10 minutes of gameplay a week before a game is out, you know it all. + +It's much easier to be know-it-all today, a professional. +But that's also why everyone is so mean. +Too much information makes jack a grumpy boy. +It was not always like that. +A printer used to be cool! +Love was poured not only on the new and shiny, but on everything that was out there. + +It's not that proper computer press went away, it's that it was too good for us. +We rejected it and replaced with bland portals and Canadian vloggers + +[^fn:1]: without making your job. |