Debate: Should geocities sites be preserved or let them die naturally?

I was digging through my old Geocities fan page from 1998 and the guestbook still had 47 entries before the host killed it in 2009. But half my animated GIFs are dead links now. Some people say we should scrape everything into the Internet Archive, others say letting them fade is part of the internet's natural cycle. Which side do you lean on?

2 comments

2 Comments

pat3609d ago

Dont you think letting them die naturally is just letting the internet lose its history, same as if libraries burned books? All those weird midi files and visitor counters tell a real story about how people actually used the web back then, not just the polished version we see now. Once that stuff is gone its gone forever and no one gets to see those cringey but honest early attempts at self expression.

ross.jason8d ago

Yeah "all those weird midi files and visitor counters tell a real story" - that stuff is raw and unfiltered in a way nothing is now. It's like the difference between a guy's messy garage where he actually works and a showroom floor that's been staged for Instagram.