We really enjoy having guest makers create Youtube videos for us. One of the things we look out for is the ability to make unique, interesting, or amusing projects. This place would be fairly boring if we only focused on run-of-the-mill projects you’ve been able to find in workshop books for decades. One recent contributor, Giaco Whatever, gave us a fun video on making his own USB hub. He took a cheap plastic hub and created an industrial cement desk piece out of it.
I found it amusing and actually thought it would be really nice to have on my desk, I can’t stand how my hub slides around and I don’t want to permanently mount it. However, the first day it was online, it became evident that it had been singled out for some reason. The downvotes piled up faster than any video I’ve seen published by Make, which is weird because we’ve published some silly stuff. Oh well, people are free to vote however they want! That’s the purpose of voting, right? Well, it wasn’t just people disliking it, many were getting extremely hateful toward Giaco… over a USB hub.
Well, the youtube community of makers took note. The best way to combat negativity, is with some positivity. Michael Lawing had this fantastic idea to create a contest. When the contest was launched, there were no sponsors, no major prizes, only the fun of competing and drowning out the negative with the positive. I thought it was beautiful.
There were 26 entrants who stepped up to support Giaco and make a fun concrete or cement USB hub. I’ve included each of their videos below as well as a link to their channel.
View the entry (includes middle finger)
View the entry (includes middle finger)
By the time the contest was over, several people had stepped up to offer prizes, often simple gifts from some of the entrants themselves. Quikrete even offered a $50 gift card to their online store, which I thought was nice of them. Really, the prizes weren’t the most important part. Everyone just enjoyed making these to send a positive message.
Congratulations youtubers, you’re all winners in my book, what a fantastic job of supporting each other, and thanks Mike for running the contest!
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