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2025-10-04 / \/ \/ / \
/ __/ /_ _/
this post file would have been perfect to / _/ / /
write as part of ROOPHLOCH 2025 but as usual \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
life attacked and I ran out of time, anyway / \/ \/ / \
here's the content! / _/ /_ _/
/- / _/ /
anything-punk is starting to get a bit on \________/\________/\___/____/
the nose and is really lazy, unimaginative
nomenclature but a little while back I barfed out[1] the idea of baudpunk as a
literary genre. a throwback theme, a way to categorize old "tech" media when
the author or director's tech imagination has long been superseded by the
reality of our future.

I stand by that and I think it's still fun to use in that sense but lately
I've been knocking the name around in my head as a kind of operating model,
giving name to something I was already doing.

this is what I imagine as the framework of Baudpunk should be;

firstly it's an attitude that no tech is obsolete, things can always be
repurposed, reused or maybe useful later. what sets Baudpunk apart from a
collector is in the use of these old pieces of hardware or software, they
aren't trophies or props, they're working pieces of history, be it doing their
original task or repurposed to some other job. older computers are low powered
but they're also solid workhorses and, often, are just waste or trash if you
aren't using them.

which brings me to my second point; e-waste is a misnomer for "old stuff" -
if it works it's not waste, it's just not useful to you, it could be useful to
you later or useful to someone else. the term e-waste should primarily be used
for things that need proper handling or destruction, for example pillowing
Li-ion batteries, leaking capacitors or other things that pose a risk just by
existing. everything else is just gear or kit, resources.

lastly, and this is a personal point I want to inject into the Baudpunk
mindset at its most base level, Baudpunk is not a business. it's a mindset,
it's a community. Baudpunk is not Patreon and YouTube sponsorships, Baudpunk
is not flipping eBay or Meta Marketplace finds to collectors. you can have
that kind of mindset, it's not my place to change that, but that mindset is
anathema to the core of Baudpunk.

it's giving, sharing, learning, creating, repurposing, scavenging,
stealing, trading, or even charging for an item or service but it can never be
profiting. be that profit monetary or social status.

that's the B4UDW3RK5 way, that's the Embryonic way, that's my way.

that's the Baudpunk way.

thanks to solderpunk[2] for letting me bounce this idea off him while it
pinball clattered around in my head and thank you for reading. be well.

[1] gopher://baud.baby/0/phlog/fs20180909.txt
[2] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/1/~solderpunk/

EOF