Vintage Computer Festivals???

[Curious Marc]

On Apr 18, 2016, at 11:52 AM, Evan Koblentz <cctalk at snarc.net> wrote:

> We have a good reason for doing this.
> 
> Events that mix sales/exhibits together, without making distinctions from booth to booth, tend to become flea/swap-type events. That's fine for those of us IN the hobby, but these events will only ever shrink, not grow, as the audience/collectors get older.
> 
> Our goal at VCF is to produce awesome events that show vintage computing to people * beyond * hobby insiders.

Within reason, the ones putting the hard work into the event should try to shape it according to their vision of what they think will make it better. I think it's even a duty. So Evan, thanks for doing this, please try it your way. See how it goes, consider feedback of this very vocal group without being too defensive, adjust for next time, repeat until it gets better...

Now talking from the other side of my mouth. I agree with others that the swap/sale part is an important part (and attraction) of our hands-on and relatively affordable tech hobby. A lot of people would come for that, and it already sustains respectably sized businesses in our area (Halted, Weird Stuff, etc...). So we can't ignore it. But I also agree with Evan's points. If left unorganized, it quickly degenerates into very shabby, unsavory junkyard sales of worthless stuff, which is guaranteed to turn off the general public. Sure turned me off at other events to see piles of depressing junk right next to superbly restored hardware, although I *did* buy... So is consignment sales in a separate area the solution? Might very well be. Should booth of sellers be allowed if they meet certain standards? Our local "cleaner" Silicon Valley pros like WeirdStuff, SVC, Jameco and Anchor, to name a few, would probably pay a bit of $ to be part of this, and not detract at all. And maybe some independents if they pass some non-junk sniff test, or semi-organized "per brand" booth sales? But it would be harder to setup than the simple idea of consignment sales. Maybe to consider in the future.

So, not having a better idea, not doing the hard work, and wanting to encourage the overall goal of making it better, I am all for supporting Evan's plan and see how it goes.

Marc