Cyber Mauseoleums

(Or the Argument Against Deletion)

The Internet is littered with tombs.

It's not a new realization. Many years ago I read a few articles about Facebook ghosts ghost--digital specters that haunted their surviving friends' and family's timelines.

“The personal digital heritage left by the online dead are, or will at least become, part of our shared cultural digital heritage, which may prove invaluable not only to future historians, but to future generations as part of their record and self-understanding.”

Sometimes, it is only our cyber identity that dies. Sites are abandoned and pseudonyms discarded as we shed writings and social media accounts that no longer have meaning to us. Whenever a prolific hobbyist blog or writer goes silent, I have to wonder--dead, or just sleeping?

Sorry, I'm dead.

Skull Ȧ̑́̚͜͜͜҉̞͈͓͍Ŗ́͂ͧ̍͝͏̗͓̯̕ͅĒ̶̛̯̩̭͒̋̒͜͢ͅ ̷̨̤͉̼ͦ̈͐ͨ̀͠ͅY̢̳͙̑ͨ̊̅͠͡͝ͅͅO̡̧̊̑ͦ̄͏͕̫͇̟͡Ų͙̠̜̜ͭͨ̑ͥ̀͡͠ ̷̸͖̺̣͍̒͌̃̌̀̀D̵̝̪̥̟̒ͪ͒̓͜͢͝E̷̢̛̛̼͇̘̬ͮ͊̋̇Ạ̧̡̜̜͔̇̏̍̊̕̕D͑̍ͣ̄҉͏̵̱͓̩͟ͅ?̸̡̛̩͚̪̱̅ͮ̾͗͜ Skull

As citizens of the Internet, we must all be responsible regarding our cyber depatures. Please, take the appropriate steps. Craft a tombstone and responsibly preserve your corpse. Future generations may thank you (or not, if you're an edgelord, but let the netziens of the future decide).

On NeoCities, We Might Live Forever For a Real Long Time

If you explore the 88x13 archive you'll quickly find many buttons go to NeoCities sites that no longer exist. They were moved or deleted. Everyone chooses what to do with their data, but it always makes me sad to hit a dead site link. I wish people would leave a note, a little tombstone, even if it's just to say, "This digital place doesn't represent me anymore."

I chose NeoCities as a webhost, in part, because if I get hit by a bus and can not pay hosting fees the site will stay up, at least until someone pulls the plug. Nothing lasts forever, but NeoCities may last longer than most.

"Our goal is to make sure your sites stay up for a long time and persist..."

I've been a chronic deleter much of my online life but I recently decided to stop deleting pages. Instead, I will try to build up or around my existing pages, creating sedimentary layers.

One day, maybe someone will choose to excavate and get to know me a little better along the way.

python -m wget https://neonaut.neocities.org
  __, __,  _, ___   _ _, _   __, __,  _,  _, __,
  |_) |_  (_   |    | |\ |   |_) |_  / \ / ` |_
  | \ |   , )  |    | | \|   |   |   |~| \ , |
  ~ ~ ~~~  ~   ~    ~ ~  ~   ~   ~~~ ~ ~  ~  ~~~


                      -|-
                       |
                   .-'~~~`-.
                 .'         `.
                 |  R  I  P  |
                 |           |
                 |           |
               \\|           |//
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Cemetary Paths