One of my hobbies is collecting articles.
When I started in the early 2000's, it was mostly newspaper clippings. Then I started printing articles off the internet.
Even if the article is something I don't agree with, if it's well-written, I print it.
People ask me "Why print it if it's on the internet? If it's online, it's always going to be there!"
No, it's not!
Companies go out of business all the time, and if they can't afford to maintain the website, it's gone!
In Hawaii, we used to have the Honolulu Weekly, which was like Hawaii's version of the Village Voice.
It's been out of business for at least a decade.
Their website no longer works.
So if you didn't print the article, or you don't have a physical copy, good luck trying to find it.
The best bet might be to physically go to the Hawaii State Library, or the Hamilton Library (located on the University of Hawaii at Mānoa campus) to look at the microfiches.
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But, but, but....... isn't the internet forever?
Yeah, we keep hearing "The internet is forever".
But people usually say "the internet is forever" to scare people away from posting something on social media that they might later regret.
Yes, people have digged up old tweets, even to the point of shaming those who are now in their 20's for something they tweeted in middle school.
But even Twitter isn't forever.
Very recently, Twitter has announced they are deleting accounts that haven't been logged in for an x-amount of years.
Wyatte Grantham-Phillips, “Twitter Is Purging Inactive Accounts Including People Who Have Died, Angering Those Still Grieving,” ABC News, May 17, 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/twitter-purging-inactive-accounts-including-people-died-angering-99398550.
Last week, owner Elon Musk announced Twitter would be purging accounts that have had no activity for several years. That decision has been met by an outcry from those who have lost, or who fear losing the thoughts and words of deceased loved ones linked to now-inactive accounts.
Reed immediately returned to Jessica’s page as she had done a day or two earlier after learning of the purge. In place of Jessica's page was an "account suspended” message that suggested it may be in violation Twitter rules.
Reed's tweet recounting her shock over the loss of the account has received tens of thousands of responses. Others shared similar experiences of pain upon learning that the account of a deceased loved one had vanished.
“Having these digital footprints... is super important to me,” Reed, 43, told The Associated Press.
In other words, your Twitter account won't live forever.
So much for "the internet is forever"
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As for this blog, I would LOVE for it to be online for centuries to come.
But let's also be realistic that this blog's continued existence is at the mercy of Blogger (which is owned by Google).
There could be a possibility that in the future
- Google may shut down Blogger,
- Blogger might copy Twitter in shutting accounts that haven't logged in for like 10 years, meaning it's gone after I die
- some other internet company might outshine Google so much that Google would go out of business
- All the info Blogger has stored can get wiped out (this has happened to Myspace)
- a hacker may infiltrate my blog, delete all my posts, or even edit them with stuff I don't believe in
