A while ago I read an interesting article on fandoms going mainstream and all the problems that causes. Specifically, it concerned the fact that nerdy collectives are the last and only refuge to a lot of socially stunted people, and the jist of it was basically how the newcomers aren't accustomed to the behaviour of some of the old guard who exhibit this kind of antisocial behaviour, but eventually over time as the fandom/subject gains popularity in the mainstream, the newcomers outnumber the old members and suddenly it's the latter finding themselves ejected due to this "unacceptable behaviour". Which, of course, is a huge problem for this group, because like I (or rather, the article), the fandom was the sole refuge they had. That's it. There's no place else for them to go. They certainly aren't going to be welcome in other fandoms either, because of the aforementioned antisocial behaviour, which they often simply cannot help themselves with due to poor upbringing, mental illness or a combination of factors. One of the comments on that article managed to summarize it pretty well; it's like a leper colony, but suddenly somebody finds out there's gold in it. "We sure would like to get our hands on that gold, but if only we could get rid of all those lepers".

It also mentioned how poorly it may reflect on the fandom itself, especially when these old members also happen to be major contributors, either because of certain skills or simply substantial knowledge on a topic, which is lost when they're chased out with torches and pitchforks. Conversely, newcomers might mistake their popularity within the group as being because of the way they behave, rather than despite of it, and end up adopting similar attitude despite having none of the contributing qualities that make the rest of the existing group tolerate these individuals.

I only read this article after the whole debacle with laserbite, but I've been thinking about it a lot since then. The part about all fandoms needing new blood to survive however was the major reason I wanted to make this thread, because I feel like that's the part that makes this community special. I'm not talking about the userbase itself, but the subject; with things like videogames and tabletop gaming, it's possible to artificially extend their lifespan idefinitely, with emulation in case of the former and simply scanning old rulebooks in case of the latter, but with laserdisc, you don't really have any options for this kind of artificial extension, do you? Old magazines may be scanned, discs can be collected, but the hardware is finite and practically impossible to reproduce; barring some major resurgence in the format's popularity, we can only keep the existing players running for so long. And merely capturing the discs digitally just raises the question, if you're just gonna watch them that way, why even bother? Might as well watch them on DVD (insert obligatory comment about soundtracks here).

However, I don't see a definitive end coming anytime soon - there are a LOT of players out there, and I bet a lot of the broken ones can be relatively easily mended, barring failure of the major proprietary electronic components - and the consumer base is quite small compared to something like vinyl or VHS, both of which have the benefit of sheer volume of hardware available as well.

Takeshi666 can you provide a link or direction as to where to find this article you refer to ?
Interesting.......
Curious ....

Not foreign to the concepts, would like to learn more .....

Cheers

I probably should've linked it in the OP, yes.

https://status451.com/2016/09/15/social-gentrification/

Very interesting, I'll sit and read the article.

Had this situation at my last job and it was really blatant towards me being the younger new person in the group.


I even feel that this type of thing happens in other circles and collectors.

Is LD the most finite? I mean LPs are still being produced and babies have access to it more and the numbers of albums and players are growing.
I'll read it on a bigger screen later.

LPs also had enormous market penetration globally for decades and I'd argue that records never really went away; even in the 90s when they had seemingly disappeared from the limelight, I've still come across a few singles from that period that were only available on vinyl. Flea markets are chock full of old records, new turntables are being made again and even vintage models can usually be kept running fairly easily by the end user. It's certainly nowhere as esoteric as laserdisc. When it comes to old formats, I'd probably consider reel to reel the closest equivalent.

Also there's probably a distinction to be drawn between fans of the format vs fans of the content.

I don't think records and LD are that comparable. All production has halted on LD and there is no reason to go back.

I feel from personal experience that the thing that saved Vinyl was the internet.

I had our record player and was looking for a replacement stylus at one time, going to all the LP stores in NYC
this would have been around 1996-98 I can't remember now.

The guy said I wasn't able to get a stylus, could have been that he was old and lazy or that it was just harder to find parts.
FF to now I can find parts for any vintage TT due to the internet.

Now if I had to go to a local vinyl store they may not have my part or any part but then again we can go to the web to get the parts we need.

Another point while my mind is racing, its cheaper for these parts to be shipped from a central warehouse than all these little stores holding on
to crazy amounts of parts etc.

Anyway still need to read the article, but doing rehearsal later today so unfortunately this may get hidden so I'll bookmark the page to find it again.

After visiting a major Australian wargaming convention in my youth in the early '90s and also for the last 5 years I can say that the young nerds of today are just as socially awkward as the nerds of yesteryear. Then there's the hardened war veterans who don't give a s**t. They're the same as the '90s too..

There might be a few hipster "laserdisc fans" who collect discs to hang on their wall these days but I haven't met them yet.

Probably the biggest difference is anime fandom I think. We were almost exclusively male losers and outsiders in the mid '90s, today it's definitely kids with tattoos and died hair and a lot of cute girls who like the anime and manga.

Really interesting thread Takeshi

I think one of the comments - or possible another article linked in them, did comment on anime conventions; something along the lines of "go to an anime convention in 1988 and in 2018 and I guarantee the former would find the latter completely unrecognizable".

Interesting and timely. Reading this in another tab but it reminds me of the saying,

"The medium is the message"

While we'll all say that we are cinephiles or audiophiles or what have you we're really just medium-philes. We love the medium be it LD, LP, Tape, 4K BR, Atari, Wii, etc.

This is an argument for video gamers who emulate rather than use OG hardware. I COULD play my old Turbo Grafx games on Wii, but why when I have the console right here (and an Everdrive)? I COULD record LP or CD to Reel to Reel but, why? It also explains why people watch LDs in 2019 when the same movies stream for pennies and have arguably better overall quality and certainly more convenience (over generalized example). Its because of the big shiny disc, duh! Scarcity forces the new user base to find new ways to enjoy/exploit the medium. Sometimes that is a good thing. Domesday anyone?

So that being said, once the medium is retired and moves onto another medium the user base is faced with a decision to dig in or move on. I think those most heavily invested obviously dig in and the not so invested move on.

If you have 1000 LDs you probably didn't jump right into DVD for example. Even if you thought it was better you were so invested that it may not have made sense....

Personally, I think people should just accept new people into the groups as they come and if they become part of the fabric then great. Otherwise they'll likely just move onto the next thing....8K streaming!

Good points there sonicboom.

Personally, I think people should just accept new people into the groups as they come and if they become part of the fabric then great. Otherwise they'll likely just move onto the next thing....8K streaming!

Agree 100% on that.

When we are all gone I would hope that someone somewhere will still be spinning the big silver discs & my LDs live on when I have shed my mortal coil.

Gentrification or whatever you wish to call it or whatever form it takes happens & surely better that than the LD format (or any similar thing) is relegated to the history pages or the like.

.

Good day Sonicboom,

I would just like to ''with all Sincerity'' thank you for your Viewpoint, of which I carefully read with interest, and could Genuinely relate to.

In the day when I started out with Video that was an addition to what has always been my passion that being Audio.

March 1998 I began my Video format Journey: VHS / Laserdisc and DVD.

A number of months into this hobby, I found out that independent stores were importing Hardware and software from the USA and Japan, I was hooked with the different art and the vastly improved Picture and sound quality was amazing to this man.

I found that at the time the Customers who purchased laserdisc were different and discerning, you felt part of something completely exclusive and the pride of ownership was second to none.

Times have changed and to be honest now that we have the internet things have lost that Human interaction, and the once personal service that was so very valued in my mind has now all but gone.

If you were into this hobby at the time then I am sure that you could relate to my experience.

I find now that when making purchases of equipment I go to the independent stores that are run from large homes and stable conversions, and the seller looks upon it's customers as Friends.

These same sellers send out invitations for special events, beer evenings with bands playing and so forth.
I don't indulge in such things as I am a very private person, but you never know how who you may meet.

I have another friend who would like to meet up at HiFi events, he is into Reel To Reel in a big way, of which I am also a great fan of.

Reel to Reel is coming back with Three manufacturers have spent years of research and have released new Reel to Reel players;
namely: BALFINGER, THORENS AND A French Manufacturer releasing in early 2020.

The above retailers are doing well, and the customer base is relatively secure, and that's a good thing.

I myself have all the disc formats that live happily in my system.

Sonicboom Thank you again for taking the time to write to us all at the forum.

Kindest Regards to yourself and all the members here.