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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 = "Grumpy mc grumps grumping"
+++
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.
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