5 ms·

I was there, and unlike many of the other commenters, I feel like it was just ok. Imagine maker faire but there happens to be a stage next door with YouTubers.

I was there, and unlike many of the other commenters, I feel like it was just ok. Imagine maker faire but there happens to be a stage next door with YouTubers. The panels I did see, the moderator (William Osman) didn't do a very good job moving through questions, so very few people got to actually ask anything. I also felt very strange that the only place I saw kids was lining up to ask YouTubers questions during the panels. I couldn't help but think about how many kids want to be YouTubers when they grow up - it seems like YouTuber idolism was the main event and not any of the awesome booths by non-famous people.

lightedman 1y ago
The real draw of OpenSauce is that it is really mostly a con for the creators, and that the public is invited to some capacity is just a side thing. The after party is where the real fun begins. Playing with dangerous high-energy devices? Hell yes.
mft_ 1y ago
Having a science/tech/maker YouTuber as a role model is arguably better than, say, a fashion model, an actor, a populist podcaster, or a footballer, no?
- throwawayohio 1y ago
  I do find it tiring that tech oriented people still feel the need to denigrate people who are in the arts or athletes (tbh lumping them in with podcast grifters may be the greatest insult). Children can and should have a variety of role models. Especially when we have seen over and over again that some youtubers (not pointing at any at this even specifically) have shown themselves to be of quite low character.
  - leptons 1y ago
    There are plenty of pro sports icons that have low character. Good character is not a qualification to put a ball through a goal, hole, hoop or elsewhere, in pro sports or on youtube. I don't know any "tech oriented" people that put down anyone "in the arts", but most of them have no interest in sports. That doesn't mean they denigrate anyone in sports, but as for myself I do find humanity's fascination with putting balls into goals, holes, hoops and elsewhere a bit tiring, and I think it's a bit of a waste of humanity to put so much importance on putting balls into goals, holes, hoops or elsewhere, but we are all free to have our own opinions.
    - musicale 1y ago
      > I think it's a bit of a waste of humanity to put so much importance on putting balls into goals, holes, hoops or elsewhere Sports can be seen as something of an improvement over more lethal forms of inter-group conflict. Fortunately tech oriented folks have invented "e-sports", which are competitions based on pressing keys on a keyboard or buttons on a game controller, and possibly moving and clicking a mouse in order to affect pixels on a screen.
      - leptons 1y ago
        Video games are even more pointless than sports.
        amelius 1y ago
        What is your opinion on chess?
        leptons 1y ago
        Pushing pieces around a board is not all that interesting to me, no board game is. YMMV. What does interest me is solving real problems, not manufactured problems.
        musicale 1y ago
        Games and game-like systems provide many benefits: Simulations are particularly valuable because they allow you to test out strategies for risky activities (wars, investments or business ventures, gambling, etc.) without actual risk. Twitch/reflex games like first-person shooters can improve eye-hand coordination. It's a fun recreational and social activity that can also help surgeons make fewer mistakes. Narrative games are largely a modern form of storytelling, one of humanity's oldest and most important cultural practices. Social games can build connection and teamwork; cozy games can facilitate relaxation; construction games can facilitate creative expression and spatial reasoning.... The reason people like games is because they are fun; but the reason games are fun is that they engage - and often challenge - the abilities that we use to interact with the real world.
- herval 1y ago
  You have YouTubers versions of all these, plus more (YouTube body builder, YouTube gamer, etc). The difference is people want to be famous on YouTube, instead. Most YouTubers that kids use as role models are simply questionable entertainers and pranksters, so I’d say on average, it is much worse than having a footballer as a role model…
- bugsMarathon88 1y ago
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  - simonw 1y ago
    Why?
    - bugsMarathon88 1y ago
      [flagged]
      - tough 1y ago
        https://malwarwickonbooks.com/oss-spy/ https://malwarwickonbooks.com/oss-spy/
        bugsMarathon88 1y ago
        [flagged]
        junon 1y ago
        Don't bring this attitude to HN please. Check the guidelines.
        bugsMarathon88 1y ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
    - bugsMarathon88 1y ago
      [flagged]
- LMYahooTFY 1y ago
  I would say no. I don't think one can adopt this stance without thinking less of people who pursue those activities. And I'd rather show kids humility, as opposed to superiority.
msgodel 1y ago
There isn't a whole lot left in the US economy to aspire to. Do you think wanting to be a day trader is better? Should they try to get a professional engineering job and join the 50% of graduates who are unemployed a year after graduating?
- Aurornis 1y ago
  > Should they try to get a professional engineering job and join the 50% of graduates who are unemployed a year after graduating? The graduate unemployment rate is not that high. Did you perhaps see the viral Tweets TikToks or Reddit posts going around recently based on the article that got the decimal point wrong and overestimated it by an order of magnitude?
penneyd 1y ago
I agree that it was a bit meh, maker faire with a small side of youtubers is an accurate description but overall I enjoyed it and there were definitely some cool booths. Saturday was also ridiculously busy making it hard to navigate and interact with folks, Sunday was much better in that regard.
ghaff 1y ago
>The panels I did see, the moderator (William Osman) didn't do a very good job moving through questions, so very few people got to actually ask anything. Panels are a pretty mixed bag at conferences in general. So many panelists are reiterating talking points, they're repetitious a lot of the time, they're too polite and in agreement, and audience questions are often in the vein of not so much a question but a comment. I have seen good panels but I often avoid them as a rule.
jahsome 1y ago
I love the concept of expecting Big Willy to be an effective panel moderator. At times the guy can barely moderate his own mind (which is why I adore him). This wasn't billed as a career fair. Why are so many comments criticizing as if it were? And on the subject of careers. What's inherently negative about kids wanting to be a YouTuber? For every kid chasing fame, there is probably an equal who just wants to share their passion with an audience.
- Aurornis 1y ago
  > I love the concept of expecting Big Willy to be an effective panel moderator. At times the guy can barely moderate his own mind (which is why I adore him). This encapsulates the disconnect with Open Sauce: It’s pitched as a big Maker Fair crossed with VidCon, but in practice a lot of it revolves around William Osman and his entertainment style. If someone who adores William Osman and his content went to a panel like this they’d be entertained. If someone who went there expecting to hear from the makers and have questions answered, they’d be frustrated by the way the moderator became the centerpiece and the questions felt like fodder for the moderator to riff on. This is the disconnect that has turned off a lot of my maker friends from Open Sauce: It’s a fun idea, but the actual conference leans toward being a William Osman centered show with YouTuber friends doing guest appearances. That’s great for people who are into that and obviously a lot of people enjoy it, but the maker side of the conference feels like something of a sideshow at times
  - jahsome 1y ago
    I disagree. As I see it, it's pitched as a William Osman-inspired event. I wouldn't expect it to be a well oiled machine. In fact I'd expect it to be exactly how you framed it in the last paragraph. Personally, I can't help but feel like those wanting it to be something else are responsible for projecting those desires on to the event, and not the other way around.
    - Aurornis 1y ago
      > As I see it, it's pitched as a William Osman-inspired event. I wouldn't expect it to be a well oiled machine. In fact I'd expect it to be exactly how you framed it in the last paragraph. This all makes sense for people who discovered it and hear about it through William Osman. More broadly, it’s not marketed as a William Osman centered event. Spend some time on their website and there’s barely any mention of William Osman. Instead it’s about education, growing communities, and building careers: https://opensauce.com/about/ https://opensauce.com/about/ So for people in the in-group who rally around William Osman, the chaos all makes sense. For people who stumbled upon the conference as a new maker fare with cool exhibits, it’s weird to show up and experience the vibe that orbits around William Osman and his friends. Not suggesting it’s good or bad, but the disconnect is obvious throughout this thread. Even the Open Sauce website focuses on things like career building, but then people in this thread are being criticized for thinking the conference has anything to do with career building.
Aurornis 1y ago
> The panels I did see, the moderator (William Osman) didn't do a very good job moving through questions, so very few people got to actually ask anything. William Osman’s style is the anti Mark Rober: His channel is about winging it with projects that halfway work if they’re lucky, while being kind of awkward and mocking everyone and himself. Moderating the panel and getting questions answered probably wasn’t their goal. The goal was to be kind of entertaining in the style that their viewers are familiar with. Would be frustrating for someone to go into one of those panels expecting a traditional efficiently moderated panel. > I also felt very strange that the only place I saw kids was lining up to ask YouTubers questions during the panels. I couldn't help but think about how many kids want to be YouTubers when they grow up - it seems like YouTuber idolism was the main event and not any of the awesome booths by non-famous people. Open Sauce was supposed to be inspired by two other conferences: Maker Faire and Vidcon. Vidcon was primarily a YouTube and later TikTok conference. Open Sauce is basically VidCon’s successor in California with some maker booths added in and an emphasis on maker channels. It’s still heavily a YouTube conference though and the primary focus is YouTuber audiences, which is where they do much of their marketing. Meeting your favorite YouTubers is one of the main selling points of the conference. I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that you saw kids excited about their favorite YouTubers at a conference literally pitched on YouTube as a way for them to meet their favorite YouTubers.
- hamandcheese 1y ago
  > Moderating the panel and getting questions answered probably wasn’t their goal. > Meeting your favorite YouTubers is one of the main selling points of the conference. These statements seem at odds with each other. If meeting your favorite YouTubers is the main selling point, then IMO they did a pretty bad job with the fan service.
  - Aurornis 1y ago
    Let me put it this way: They put on a show that matches their style on YouTube and podcasts. The few fans who get to ask questions aren’t the ones being served. They’re entertaining the mass of people who came to see more of the same content on their YouTube channels, which is disordered chaos where they joke with each other, make fun of things, and joke around. It’s a continuation of their style everywhere else, and it’s what many of their fans came to see. If you were expecting a traditional panel style where each question-asker got to be the focus and drive the show for a minute, that’s not their style. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, it’s just different from what you might expect from a more formal conference.
milofeynman 1y ago
Is it a kid friendly event for a 8 year old who doesn't know any YouTubers? Like we he have fun seeing all the maker stuff?
- kieranl 1y ago
  I took my 7 and 6 year old and they loved it! We spent all our time looking at projects and booths. They have no interest in the talks. With that said, there are not that many kids below highschool age that were in attendance. It is more geared to older kids/adults. But I do think there are lots of things to see there for kids. Probably the higher entrance fee reduces this a bit as well. With that said, you want to pay close attention to your small children, as some of the exhibits are not super kid safe. But that is part of the fun! There is a lot of variability in what you see as well. Some tables have incredible cutting edge projects, and other are exciting for a highschooler. Some are amazing highschool/middle school projects that the builders are really passionate about, but might not wow you technically. Every year I find an amazing creator there, where I bring in their work to our house for the family to build/play with. Last year we found https://www.trackstacker.net/ https://www.trackstacker.net/ which has provided hours of fun over the last 12 months. And this year we found https://professorboots.com https://professorboots.com 3d printed construction equipment.
  - milofeynman 1y ago
    Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Leaning towards yes now!
bl_valance 1y ago
I've noticed this as well, past couple of years it has turned into more panel/ytuber focused, less about the actual projects showcased on the ground floor. Not to mention, it is pricing out many from attending.
ipsum2 1y ago
For context, the parent commenter is an economist, not a maker/engineer.
- yencabulator 1y ago
  Who's an economist? Parent comment is from hamandcheese, who seems to be a software developer https://hamon.cc/ https://hamon.cc/ and the article is by Jeff Geerling who is I guess most known for RPi hacks but has a devops background https://github.com/geerlingguy https://github.com/geerlingguy
  - ipsum2 1y ago
    There's some guy that also goes by hamandcheese that's an economist https://x.com/hamandcheese https://x.com/hamandcheese that I have gotten mixed up with this guy.
goodpoint 1y ago
> maker faire but there happens to be a stage next door with YouTubers Sounds pretty bad...

lightedman 1y ago

The real draw of OpenSauce is that it is really mostly a con for the creators, and that the public is invited to some capacity is just a side thing. The after party is where the real fun begins. Playing with dangerous high-energy devices? Hell yes.

mft_ 1y ago

Having a science/tech/maker YouTuber as a role model is arguably better than, say, a fashion model, an actor, a populist podcaster, or a footballer, no?

throwawayohio 1y ago
I do find it tiring that tech oriented people still feel the need to denigrate people who are in the arts or athletes (tbh lumping them in with podcast grifters may be the greatest insult). Children can and should have a variety of role models. Especially when we have seen over and over again that some youtubers (not pointing at any at this even specifically) have shown themselves to be of quite low character.
- leptons 1y ago
  There are plenty of pro sports icons that have low character. Good character is not a qualification to put a ball through a goal, hole, hoop or elsewhere, in pro sports or on youtube. I don't know any "tech oriented" people that put down anyone "in the arts", but most of them have no interest in sports. That doesn't mean they denigrate anyone in sports, but as for myself I do find humanity's fascination with putting balls into goals, holes, hoops and elsewhere a bit tiring, and I think it's a bit of a waste of humanity to put so much importance on putting balls into goals, holes, hoops or elsewhere, but we are all free to have our own opinions.
  - musicale 1y ago
    > I think it's a bit of a waste of humanity to put so much importance on putting balls into goals, holes, hoops or elsewhere Sports can be seen as something of an improvement over more lethal forms of inter-group conflict. Fortunately tech oriented folks have invented "e-sports", which are competitions based on pressing keys on a keyboard or buttons on a game controller, and possibly moving and clicking a mouse in order to affect pixels on a screen.
    - leptons 1y ago
      Video games are even more pointless than sports.
      - amelius 1y ago
        What is your opinion on chess?
        leptons 1y ago
        Pushing pieces around a board is not all that interesting to me, no board game is. YMMV. What does interest me is solving real problems, not manufactured problems.
        musicale 1y ago
        Games and game-like systems provide many benefits: Simulations are particularly valuable because they allow you to test out strategies for risky activities (wars, investments or business ventures, gambling, etc.) without actual risk. Twitch/reflex games like first-person shooters can improve eye-hand coordination. It's a fun recreational and social activity that can also help surgeons make fewer mistakes. Narrative games are largely a modern form of storytelling, one of humanity's oldest and most important cultural practices. Social games can build connection and teamwork; cozy games can facilitate relaxation; construction games can facilitate creative expression and spatial reasoning.... The reason people like games is because they are fun; but the reason games are fun is that they engage - and often challenge - the abilities that we use to interact with the real world.
herval 1y ago
You have YouTubers versions of all these, plus more (YouTube body builder, YouTube gamer, etc). The difference is people want to be famous on YouTube, instead. Most YouTubers that kids use as role models are simply questionable entertainers and pranksters, so I’d say on average, it is much worse than having a footballer as a role model…
bugsMarathon88 1y ago
[flagged]
- simonw 1y ago
  Why?
  - bugsMarathon88 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - tough 1y ago
      https://malwarwickonbooks.com/oss-spy/ https://malwarwickonbooks.com/oss-spy/
      - bugsMarathon88 1y ago
        [flagged]
        junon 1y ago
        Don't bring this attitude to HN please. Check the guidelines.
        bugsMarathon88 1y ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
  - bugsMarathon88 1y ago
    [flagged]
LMYahooTFY 1y ago
I would say no. I don't think one can adopt this stance without thinking less of people who pursue those activities. And I'd rather show kids humility, as opposed to superiority.

msgodel 1y ago

There isn't a whole lot left in the US economy to aspire to. Do you think wanting to be a day trader is better? Should they try to get a professional engineering job and join the 50% of graduates who are unemployed a year after graduating?

Aurornis 1y ago
> Should they try to get a professional engineering job and join the 50% of graduates who are unemployed a year after graduating? The graduate unemployment rate is not that high. Did you perhaps see the viral Tweets TikToks or Reddit posts going around recently based on the article that got the decimal point wrong and overestimated it by an order of magnitude?

penneyd 1y ago

I agree that it was a bit meh, maker faire with a small side of youtubers is an accurate description but overall I enjoyed it and there were definitely some cool booths. Saturday was also ridiculously busy making it hard to navigate and interact with folks, Sunday was much better in that regard.

ghaff 1y ago

>The panels I did see, the moderator (William Osman) didn't do a very good job moving through questions, so very few people got to actually ask anything. Panels are a pretty mixed bag at conferences in general. So many panelists are reiterating talking points, they're repetitious a lot of the time, they're too polite and in agreement, and audience questions are often in the vein of not so much a question but a comment. I have seen good panels but I often avoid them as a rule.

jahsome 1y ago

I love the concept of expecting Big Willy to be an effective panel moderator. At times the guy can barely moderate his own mind (which is why I adore him). This wasn't billed as a career fair. Why are so many comments criticizing as if it were? And on the subject of careers. What's inherently negative about kids wanting to be a YouTuber? For every kid chasing fame, there is probably an equal who just wants to share their passion with an audience.

Aurornis 1y ago
> I love the concept of expecting Big Willy to be an effective panel moderator. At times the guy can barely moderate his own mind (which is why I adore him). This encapsulates the disconnect with Open Sauce: It’s pitched as a big Maker Fair crossed with VidCon, but in practice a lot of it revolves around William Osman and his entertainment style. If someone who adores William Osman and his content went to a panel like this they’d be entertained. If someone who went there expecting to hear from the makers and have questions answered, they’d be frustrated by the way the moderator became the centerpiece and the questions felt like fodder for the moderator to riff on. This is the disconnect that has turned off a lot of my maker friends from Open Sauce: It’s a fun idea, but the actual conference leans toward being a William Osman centered show with YouTuber friends doing guest appearances. That’s great for people who are into that and obviously a lot of people enjoy it, but the maker side of the conference feels like something of a sideshow at times
- jahsome 1y ago
  I disagree. As I see it, it's pitched as a William Osman-inspired event. I wouldn't expect it to be a well oiled machine. In fact I'd expect it to be exactly how you framed it in the last paragraph. Personally, I can't help but feel like those wanting it to be something else are responsible for projecting those desires on to the event, and not the other way around.
  - Aurornis 1y ago
    > As I see it, it's pitched as a William Osman-inspired event. I wouldn't expect it to be a well oiled machine. In fact I'd expect it to be exactly how you framed it in the last paragraph. This all makes sense for people who discovered it and hear about it through William Osman. More broadly, it’s not marketed as a William Osman centered event. Spend some time on their website and there’s barely any mention of William Osman. Instead it’s about education, growing communities, and building careers: https://opensauce.com/about/ https://opensauce.com/about/ So for people in the in-group who rally around William Osman, the chaos all makes sense. For people who stumbled upon the conference as a new maker fare with cool exhibits, it’s weird to show up and experience the vibe that orbits around William Osman and his friends. Not suggesting it’s good or bad, but the disconnect is obvious throughout this thread. Even the Open Sauce website focuses on things like career building, but then people in this thread are being criticized for thinking the conference has anything to do with career building.

Aurornis 1y ago

> The panels I did see, the moderator (William Osman) didn't do a very good job moving through questions, so very few people got to actually ask anything. William Osman’s style is the anti Mark Rober: His channel is about winging it with projects that halfway work if they’re lucky, while being kind of awkward and mocking everyone and himself. Moderating the panel and getting questions answered probably wasn’t their goal. The goal was to be kind of entertaining in the style that their viewers are familiar with. Would be frustrating for someone to go into one of those panels expecting a traditional efficiently moderated panel. > I also felt very strange that the only place I saw kids was lining up to ask YouTubers questions during the panels. I couldn't help but think about how many kids want to be YouTubers when they grow up - it seems like YouTuber idolism was the main event and not any of the awesome booths by non-famous people. Open Sauce was supposed to be inspired by two other conferences: Maker Faire and Vidcon. Vidcon was primarily a YouTube and later TikTok conference. Open Sauce is basically VidCon’s successor in California with some maker booths added in and an emphasis on maker channels. It’s still heavily a YouTube conference though and the primary focus is YouTuber audiences, which is where they do much of their marketing. Meeting your favorite YouTubers is one of the main selling points of the conference. I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that you saw kids excited about their favorite YouTubers at a conference literally pitched on YouTube as a way for them to meet their favorite YouTubers.

hamandcheese 1y ago
> Moderating the panel and getting questions answered probably wasn’t their goal. > Meeting your favorite YouTubers is one of the main selling points of the conference. These statements seem at odds with each other. If meeting your favorite YouTubers is the main selling point, then IMO they did a pretty bad job with the fan service.
- Aurornis 1y ago
  Let me put it this way: They put on a show that matches their style on YouTube and podcasts. The few fans who get to ask questions aren’t the ones being served. They’re entertaining the mass of people who came to see more of the same content on their YouTube channels, which is disordered chaos where they joke with each other, make fun of things, and joke around. It’s a continuation of their style everywhere else, and it’s what many of their fans came to see. If you were expecting a traditional panel style where each question-asker got to be the focus and drive the show for a minute, that’s not their style. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, it’s just different from what you might expect from a more formal conference.

milofeynman 1y ago

Is it a kid friendly event for a 8 year old who doesn't know any YouTubers? Like we he have fun seeing all the maker stuff?

kieranl 1y ago
I took my 7 and 6 year old and they loved it! We spent all our time looking at projects and booths. They have no interest in the talks. With that said, there are not that many kids below highschool age that were in attendance. It is more geared to older kids/adults. But I do think there are lots of things to see there for kids. Probably the higher entrance fee reduces this a bit as well. With that said, you want to pay close attention to your small children, as some of the exhibits are not super kid safe. But that is part of the fun! There is a lot of variability in what you see as well. Some tables have incredible cutting edge projects, and other are exciting for a highschooler. Some are amazing highschool/middle school projects that the builders are really passionate about, but might not wow you technically. Every year I find an amazing creator there, where I bring in their work to our house for the family to build/play with. Last year we found https://www.trackstacker.net/ https://www.trackstacker.net/ which has provided hours of fun over the last 12 months. And this year we found https://professorboots.com https://professorboots.com 3d printed construction equipment.
- milofeynman 1y ago
  Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Leaning towards yes now!

bl_valance 1y ago

I've noticed this as well, past couple of years it has turned into more panel/ytuber focused, less about the actual projects showcased on the ground floor. Not to mention, it is pricing out many from attending.

ipsum2 1y ago

For context, the parent commenter is an economist, not a maker/engineer.

yencabulator 1y ago
Who's an economist? Parent comment is from hamandcheese, who seems to be a software developer https://hamon.cc/ https://hamon.cc/ and the article is by Jeff Geerling who is I guess most known for RPi hacks but has a devops background https://github.com/geerlingguy https://github.com/geerlingguy
- ipsum2 1y ago
  There's some guy that also goes by hamandcheese that's an economist https://x.com/hamandcheese https://x.com/hamandcheese that I have gotten mixed up with this guy.

goodpoint 1y ago

> maker faire but there happens to be a stage next door with YouTubers Sounds pretty bad...