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by SmellyGeekBoy 2779 days ago
It's a reference to a very common question that comes up when discussing things like the NES Mini and these other mini consoles - "what's to stop me buying a Raspberry Pi and loading it up with ROMs myself". I assume they're tired of being repeatedly asked this question and so added this tongue-in-cheek answer to their FAQs.
2 comments

Well, for a SNES/NES/Atari/Genesis/etc. classic device, the issue might not be getting ROM images but doing so legally. Sure, I could find a torrent containing the entire NES+SNES library for making retro-Pi... but that doesn't make it any less piracy if I don't own original carts for all of those games. The fact that so many classic PC/DOS games either have been put online by the original owners for free (such as SimCity or the Zork trilogy) or can still be purchased on Steam or GOG.COM (like Sierra's Kings Quest/Space Quest collections) makes this sort of device far less valuable from that angle.

Furthermore, that leads into a question of "Why should young people care about the copyright of 20+ year old games?" ... which probably is actually a very good question deserving of serious examination instead of mere snark.

The only thing worse than a Frequently Asked Questions that doesn't actually include any questions that are frequently asked is one that includes unhelpful answers to questions that are.