sliderider wrote:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/tbhs575/m.html?item=2 … =p2047675.l2562

Utter lunacy

Yeah, how dare decide for themselves how much they're willing to pay for a thing. They should all listen to you.

@sliderider 🤣 I agree, this is fucking insane.

Some people would think it's "lunacy" and "fucking insane" to pay any money at all for 20 year old computer parts.

I can't believe how judgemental y'all are being. 🙁

Edit: FTR, I wouldn't pay what they're asking either. But I still think it's pretty crummy to scoff at people like this.

SquallStrife wrote:

Some people would think it's "lunacy" and "fucking insane" to pay any money at all for 20 year old computer parts.

I can't believe how judgemental y'all are being. 🙁

Edit: FTR, I wouldn't pay what they're asking either. But I still think it's pretty crummy to scoff at people like this.

The difference is that many of the computer parts that we buy actually ARE hard to find and worth some money. We don't overpay for a common as dirt part in poor condition based on some legendary story that has been bouncing around for 30 years.

sliderider wrote:

The difference is that many of the computer parts that we buy actually ARE hard to find and worth some money. We don't overpay for a common as dirt part in poor condition based on some legendary story that has been bouncing around for 30 years.

Are you kidding me? Do you know what board you're posting on? The hardware and software we get all hot and bothered about here is junk to 99% of the population, and we overpay for all of it in their humble opinion. This is a place of sanctuary from their small minded judgment, so ixnay on the "utter lunacy" talk.

badmojo wrote:

Are you kidding me? Do you know what board you're posting on? The hardware and software we get all hot and bothered about here is junk to 99% of the population, and we overpay for all of it in their humble opinion. This is a place of sanctuary from their small minded judgment, so ixnay on the "utter lunacy" talk.

+1

sliderider wrote:

The difference is that many of the computer parts that we buy actually ARE hard to find and worth some money. We don't overpay for a common as dirt part in poor condition based on some legendary story that has been bouncing around for 30 years.

To anybody that isn't into the hobby, old computers are only as valuable as the scrap metals that can be recovered.

That's right. If we didn't care about the cool obscurity story of the Diamond Edge 3D, they'd all be melted down for gold recovery, and not even we would care.

Likewise, if nobody cared about the Atari landfill site, then they wouldn't be able to sell them.

But, as it turns out, people do. You're not one of them, and that's fine, nobody's holding a gun to your head to buy one.

But VOGONers of all people should understand the adage "One man's trash is another man's treasure". It's pure hypocrisy to disparage people for spending money on their hobby, while we eagerly pay over scrap value for computers that regular people literally throw in to the trash.

badmojo wrote:

Are you kidding me? Do you know what board you're posting on? The hardware and software we get all hot and bothered about here is junk to 99% of the population, and we overpay for all of it in their humble opinion. This is a place of sanctuary from their small minded judgment, so ixnay on the "utter lunacy" talk.

Damnit, I have an extremely great, semi-on-topic way of proving this point, yet saying anything about what I've got will completely spoil the reveal on my show the Saturday after next. :P

SquallStrife wrote:

+1 […]
Show full quote

badmojo wrote:

Are you kidding me? Do you know what board you're posting on? The hardware and software we get all hot and bothered about here is junk to 99% of the population, and we overpay for all of it in their humble opinion. This is a place of sanctuary from their small minded judgment, so ixnay on the "utter lunacy" talk.

+1

sliderider wrote:

The difference is that many of the computer parts that we buy actually ARE hard to find and worth some money. We don't overpay for a common as dirt part in poor condition based on some legendary story that has been bouncing around for 30 years.

To anybody that isn't into the hobby, old computers are only as valuable as the scrap metals that can be recovered.

That's right. If we didn't care about the cool obscurity story of the Diamond Edge 3D, they'd all be melted down for gold recovery, and not even we would care.

Likewise, if nobody cared about the Atari landfill site, then they wouldn't be able to sell them.

But, as it turns out, people do. You're not one of them, and that's fine, nobody's holding a gun to your head to buy one.

But VOGONers of all people should understand the adage "One man's trash is another man's treasure". It's pure hypocrisy to disparage people for spending money on their hobby, while we eagerly pay over scrap value for computers that regular people literally throw in to the trash.

There's also another difference. The stuff in the landfill? Yeah, it literally IS trash. The stuff we buy are things that someone has preserved either knowingly, or that they just forgot they had in storage. It's not stuff that was buried 30 feet under ground for 30 years that someone dug up to sell. I don't see why they felt the need to recover anything from the dump at all. Wasn't Microsoft paying them to do the dig so they would have a video to stream for money on XBox Live?

Yeah, at least the things we buy are in working condition and have been preserved reasonably well through the ages. 😒

I think its cool they got it working. My parents and everyone else I know would not pay a cent for old computers, and they think I'm "different". I wouldnt pay for a buried atari game, but I think its fine for others to. If its their passion, or hobby, or whatever.

King_Corduroy wrote:

Yeah, at least the things we buy are in working condition and have been preserved reasonably well through the ages. 😒

That's right, because those are the aspects that are valuable to us in our pursuits. Those are the properties which, to us, give a thing value.

Now, consider that the providence of these cartridges might be an aspect that's of value to somebody. Not you or sliderider, obviously, but someone who collects vintage gaming items for their cultural/historical value, not to play them.

I watch the show "American Pickers" all the time and one could argue most of the stuff those guys get on that show is trash, but trust me, to a lot of their clients, it is not. It's absolutely insane to some of us what some would pay for an old rusty oil can for example, but it is simply a material item that has a lot of nostalgic value to some and they want it in their possession and would pay for it - to display it or just to have it, not necessarily actually use it to store oil in and "use it". And you can also even look at it this way....if that old rusty oil can that was once used by a famous NASCAR driver it would even be worth more.

I have an old crappy wood hockey stick for example, and would never use it because it is too old and heavy, but hell ya I'm keeping it and hell ya it's worth a lot because it's something I like and it's actually signed by an old famous NHL player...so I keep it because it is tied to something famous and to something I like (and others with the same interest like as well) and has historical significance to hockey fans...so I have it and display it proudly because it represents something I am interested in and like and it is identifyable as a hockey stick. Sure I can get a new hockey stick and maybe even get the same NHL player to sign it now, but the original, worn, used hockey stick is worth more than the new one any day of the week.

Same goes for these old atari cartidges, they are tied to something that was made famous in the media (whatevber media that may be) and it is related to someone's interest, and it is something that has historical significance in the retrogaming world. Again, I would buy one of those cartidges because I am 1.An ATARI fan, 2.A retrogamer, 3.a collector of old things that have nostalgic value to me, 4.I have already bought a lot of crap that I have just to have and to display and don't actually use anyways. That said, I probably would not buy a cartidge that is absolutely crushed beyond being identifyable, because I would at least want it to look like an Atari cartridge and have some/most of the artwork intact at least.

That's my rant for now...🤣.

retrofanatic wrote:

I watch the show "American Pickers" all the time and one could argue most of the stuff those guys get on that show is trash, but trust me, to a lot of their clients, it is not. It's absolutely insane to some of us what some would pay for an old rusty oil can for example, but it is simply a material item that has a lot of nostalgic value to some and they want it in their possession and would pay for it - to display it or just to have it, not necessarily actually use it to store oil in and "use it". And you can also even look at it this way....if that old rusty oil can that was once used by a famous NASCAR driver it would even be worth more.

I've seen several episodes of that show, and I still have a hard time believing that their prices are real. I try, but it's hard for me to buy it. I really wonder if they get anything close to the sale prices that they say they "think" they'll get.

Few if any ever doubted there was an Atari landfill, but the internet legend said it was nothing but unsold copies of ET, or alternatively, ET and PacMan. The legend grew out of how famously bad those games were.
Turns out it's just a bunch of unsold everything. Asteroids and Space Invaders were hugely popular games, yet they got buried too. This shows the internet legend was wrong. The landfill isn't a result of how bad ET and PacMan were, it's a result of Atari's dramatic collapse as an entire company in 1983, which was already well documented history.

If they had been lucky enough to dig up some lost product prototype, that would have been amazing, but there would be so few of those that they'd have had to excavate the entire site to find them.

SquallStrife wrote:

King_Corduroy wrote:

Yeah, at least the things we buy are in working condition and have been preserved reasonably well through the ages. 😒

That's right, because those are the aspects that are valuable to us in our pursuits. Those are the properties which, to us, give a thing value.

Now, consider that the providence of these cartridges might be an aspect that's of value to somebody. Not you or sliderider, obviously, but someone who collects vintage gaming items for their cultural/historical value, not to play them.

The providence of these cartridges is exactly the same as every other common as dirt Atari cartridge. The only difference is these were buried underground for 30 years, which actually LOWERS their value, not raises it. Paying $75 for a cartridge that was buried for 30 years and most likely doesn't work is STUPID when you can still buy them sealed new in box for $5.

shamino wrote:

retrofanatic wrote:

I watch the show "American Pickers" all the time and one could argue most of the stuff those guys get on that show is trash, but trust me, to a lot of their clients, it is not. It's absolutely insane to some of us what some would pay for an old rusty oil can for example, but it is simply a material item that has a lot of nostalgic value to some and they want it in their possession and would pay for it - to display it or just to have it, not necessarily actually use it to store oil in and "use it". And you can also even look at it this way....if that old rusty oil can that was once used by a famous NASCAR driver it would even be worth more.

I've seen several episodes of that show, and I still have a hard time believing that their prices are real. I try, but it's hard for me to buy it. I really wonder if they get anything close to the sale prices that they say they "think" they'll get.

American Pickers is staged. All of those "reality" shows on the History Channel are.

sliderider wrote:

The providence of these cartridges is exactly the same as every other common as dirt Atari cartridge. The only difference is these were buried underground for 30 years, which actually LOWERS their value, not raises it.

If you don't understand by now that the "buried underground for 30 years" is the very reason why people want these, then you'll never understand.

sliderider wrote:

Paying $75 for a cartridge that was buried for 30 years and most likely doesn't work is STUPID when you can still buy them sealed new in box for $5.

Sealed new in box is only valuable if that's important to you. Personally, I won't fork for sealed games, utter waste of money when I'm just going to pop the seal and install/play them.

You've made it abundantly clear that what YOU value is the condition of an item, and that's fine, nobody's saying you can't or shouldn't value that. Why is it so hard to believe that to some collectors, the history of an item is more important than the condition? There's nothing objective about value, it's all in the eye of the beholder.

A damaged inanimate prop that was actually used in the filming of a movie is usually more valuable than a brand new pristine one from a store.

sliderider wrote:

American Pickers is staged. All of those "reality" shows on the History Channel are.

All reality shows are staged, but what I'm wondering about is the price valuation "Pickers" puts on old junk. They just seem hard to believe. These types of shows focus on the acquisition but it's rare for them to show what happens when they try to sell it to somebody.
Obviously the main paycheck is coming from the TV network, but I do believe they're selling this stuff to somebody for some amount of money.