Amen. Having built a 6" f/8 over thirty years ago, I sympathize. At the same time, the economics of building, especially of building optics, has changed dramatically. When I built a scope, a 6" mirror kit was maybe 10% the cost of a 6" mirror. What is it now, 30%? And with today's light pollution, portable scopes are "in" and making the optics for a stubby scope has always been a serious endeavor (Who remembers group buys of corrector blanks for Gregorys? Mak notes? The "how to build a cass and why not to" chapter in a certain book?)
Much of the home-brew today is going into mounts, CCDs, software. And that seems fair, both because it is "today" and because that's where the economic advantage is.
And one-off designs like Yolo's that have always been the cutting edge of "amateur" (and not-so-amateur) work.
My current project, for example, is a folded Newt/Cass, with the fold working with both arrangements. I'm working the mechanics, but I bought the glass, because it was standard (and therefore available) and the economics aren't there anymore. (The value of keeping a teenager off the streets si a diffeent matter. :-)
The most frustrating aspect of the hobby for me is the growing numbers of amateurs that flatly refuse to look through a homebuilt scope! They repeat wild stories such as a vendor at the Oregon Star Party did when he repeatedly said that mirrors over a certain size had to be Zerodur or they were useless.
Did no-one ask him about the Palomar five-meter?