I've got nothing against forums for amateur radio ops. If I did, I wouldn't be posting on eHam. The introduction in the original post made it appear these chat rooms are what we need to meet and chat with hams from many different countries, talk about our equipment, our latest projects, propagation, etc. We have been doing this with our radios for decades.
In the second paragraph, it stated the chat rooms are a great place to "work the world." Well, "working" other hams can't be done on the internet, that can only be done with a radio. If people are enjoying these video chat rooms, that's great. But chat rooms and operating a radio are not the same thing. For someone in a nursing home, or someone stuck where they can't have a radio and antennas, this could be the next best thing to operating a radio, but it ain't the same.
As for VCRs that flash 12.00, I know two solutions to solve that...
Simple solution...
Tools needed
Safety glasses
Ruler
Electrical tape
Scissors
Measure the surface of your VCR display
Cut the electrical tape to fit the surface
Apply the tape to your VCR display
Best solution...
Toss the VCR in the trash. Like anything else that uses magnetic tape to record and play, it's a dinosaur.