Do you think lost media is "scary?"

Nah. Lost media is mysterious. That's what makes documenting and attempting to find lost media exceptionally compelling.

When it comes to YouTube, there is a balance to be achieved. Obviously, one should not be presenting otherwise normal lost media (Nickelodeon, most sports media etc) as terrifying concepts. That just makes one look silly. But on the other hand, one should at least try to present lost media in an interesting way. I like many others don't want to watch a bland video summarising "x lost media" without any real passion. Those who can document lost media with fascinating narratives and compellingly present them are going to succeed.

I think that's why blameitonjorge got over majorly with the "modern" mainstream lost media community (obligatory note: the LMW did not establish the concept of "lost media", organisations like Kaleidoscope have been around for decades). His first few lost media videos, on lost kid shows, films and video games, exposed a young audience to a fascinating world that most probably had little-to-no idea about! Essentially, seeing something almost "forbidden" in a way, as most examples were not meant to be publicly released. To me, blameitonjorge's videos are well-edited and have the perfect music to set the atmosphere. "Top 40 Lost or Cancelled Video Games" had Memory Leak in the Cybermind's Frontal Cortex by Abysmii play throughout, which completed the video's mysterious and awesome appeal. It's one of my favourites to say the least!

Essentially, that's what lost media typically is to me... going behind the curtains of a theatre play of sorts, discovering something obscure yet amazing "behind the scenes", and returning back from the curtains to passionately showcase it to others who are not in the know. Indeed, lost media shouldn't be seen as a scary or taboo thing, but something one should be encouraged to explore further. Whether it be Margaret Sanger's 1917 banned film Birth Control, to that weird Chicago Blackhawks-Sesame Street ice hockey game, or the incredible life of Soviet sports commentator Vadim Sinyavsky, I personally have had way too much fun exploring rabbit holes not yet known to the general public.

Never once have I found lost media scary. But of course, one should accept that what is scary is a subjective viewpoint. For example, when I first wrote about Mexia Supermarket in June 2023, I never found the backstory to be terrifying or anything like that. Instead, helped by Benjamin MacHale's fantastic research in August/September of that same year, I very much enjoyed covering something that was both mysterious and contributed to my love of abandoned places and Life After People. Blameitonjorge's video has made the subject somewhat mainstream and subsequently "scary", but I think that is what's expected from a video titled "Disturbing Lost Recordings of Real Events". It is what it is.

Finally, NSFL lost media is typically focused on taboo or otherwise difficult-to-tackle subject matter. In my opinion, if one wants to discuss it, they must both avoid sugarcoating it or artificially enhancing the horror factor. Always treat the subject matter with respect.

Not really. If anything, I find people who turn innocent and mundane things into something "spooky" incredibly annoying. A good example are people who made the discovery of Joan of Arc into something "disturbing" because a complete copy was found in an unlikely place, that being some abandoned psychiatric hospital in Europe. Think of it like the memes people make where people who make content about lost media speak about it in the same tone as true crime vloggers or creepypasta reading channels.

Extremewreck's take is what I'm more inline with if I had to nail it down. It can be weird, sad, and a tinge creepy or unnerving with how vast the sea is with finding content if it's even known or documented. But scary? Unless it's actually in the realm of possibly being NSFW or NSFL, then no.

I'm not the kind of person who finds NSFW or NSFL content scary. It can be terrible content that should be lost, but at this rate I've unfortunately heard of too many cases of such disgusting things to feel much other than feel sorry for the victims. And as for regular average NSFW content... ehhh, just not creepy in the slightest, that's like one of those common things people upload all the freakin' time.

Nah, and I'd go so far as to say that people who try and act like it is some creepy and scary thing makes it difficult to impossible for outsiders to take this whole thing seriously. If I were someone who wasn't into lost media and I got recommended some lost media video that I thought looked interesting and watched it and you had some creepy music playing throughout and the whole vibe of the video was that this stuff is spooky and then they start talking about IDK 'the lost pilot to the PBS Kids show Mr Snugglebottom's Playhouse from 1999', I'd be like 'Why in the hell are you doing all this creepy sounding and looking stuff, you're talking about a pilot to a show for 3 year olds, what the hell?' lol

I thought that whole "lost media is creepy" thing died out in the late 10s i've certainly not heard much of that in the last few years.

No, I am glad that most modern Lost Media youtubers (and even some old timers) stopped with the "creepy lost media" trope. It's just a bit of a shift when you have scary music while they talk about some lost preschool show or a commercial. It does fit some varieties of lost media, like nsfl lost media, horror-related lost media, or even lost media that scared kids who watched it, but not ALL lost media. I think the over-reliance of making lost media "creepy" takes away the point of why lost media is so interesting, a large variety of things can get lost, it doesn't necessarily have to be just one type of thing.

Yeah, I'm glad this era is behind us for the most part. Maybe I'm a stickler, but that whole forced "creepiness" trend delegitimized some of our efforts and it set us back a good way.