Comments on: ‘The great Web site die-off: Why it matters’

By: HeavyG

HeavyG — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:03:40 +0000

Not even archivists believe that EVERYTHING is worth preserving.

Choices need to be made. Bills have to be paid.

Archiving digital data is not cheap.

Who is going to pay for any effort to capture/preserve for time immemorial every bit (or byte) that appears on the web?

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:50:14 +0000

Naw, I’m good.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:28:17 +0000

Well, Steve, let’s just sum things up and say I think the immortality-seeking option should be there for writers who want it. Also, keep in mind that most writers would rather focus on being writers than techies or archivists. Beyond that, how do they know their great-great-great-grandchildren will be conscientious archivists? Maybe you don’t care. But others might.

OK, you get the last word if you’d like.

Thanks,
David

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:41:46 +0000

Re #2: Such writers should know how to archive their own material, then. Anything lost is their own fault.

Re #1: I don’t care about today’s lit critics…

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:27:52 +0000

Steve: (1) Leave it to future lit critics. (2) Not all writers–both the book and Web varieties–write for just the present. Thanks. David

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:41:10 +0000

Do I honestly believe I will become anything other than just another one of the almost seven billion people on this world, or that my output actually will matter to anyone besides myself? Is it even important that anyone remembers that any particular set of words came from me? Frankly, no. I’m just a part-time hack writer… I’m no Shakespeare or Franklin. Archiving my life’s work, or that of many others, isn’t worth the effort. I fully expect that any books or commentary of mine from today will be good for nothing but laughs to the readers of the future, and I don’t care to supply gags to posterity once I’m worm food.

Unimportant information eventually gets forgotten, as it should be. Important information tends to get remembered, even when we no longer remember who thought of it first. Will it matter to me whether anyone remembers I thought of something first? Heck no… I’ll be dead.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:21:13 +0000

But Steve, what if you become a literary legend and people want to read your old commentary? It’s so, so hard to know what’ll be of future interest and what won’t. Look at all the old movies and radio shows that have vanished—to the dismay of popular-culture specialists—for want of proper archiving.

Thanks,
David

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:56:24 +0000

To be blunt, there are some things that simply do not need to survive their creators. I think the idea that everything we create needs to survive beyond us is a conceit… it’s not all that important.

On the other hand, most web-based material is actually stored on local computers before it is posted to the web, with the exception of aggregate sites like this one. So, even if, for instance, I got hit by a Mack Truck, my wife would still have access to the material on my defunct web pages through my home computer. She could use it, or delete it, as she will.

In short, I don’t think the problem is all Roy cracks it up to be.