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+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.