petebrown
petebrown
Whenever I read people lamenting that so much content created on the web is no longer available, I wonder what percentage of words written on paper fifty years ago are still available. I honestly don’t know the answer to this question and I’m not trying to assert that the problem is no worse with digital/... explodingcomma.com
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Denny
Denny

@petebrown I've been thinking about this too as I rebuild my own archive which dates back to 2003. 20 years, 5 different hosts, 4 different domains. I was negligent but lucky to have recovered it all via the Wayback Machine. Really thinking about sole proprietor blog hosts like @manton. Not to sound harsh but if the unthinkable happens, what's the plan to ensure the future of people's web sites? Who maintains the service? How many other blog services have sprung up with single owners and maintainers. Do any of them have plans in place or is it all just lost?

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starrwulfe
starrwulfe

@Denny with micro.blog you can keep a copy of everything on Github and then do a git pull into your own PC to back up on the regular.

Check the "Blog Settings" for more: ​ ​

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7robots
7robots

@Denny @starrwulfe beat me to the punch on mentioning the GitHub backup option. I use it as well. Nice, easy, automated. I don't have to think about extra steps for archiving or backups.

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Denny
Denny

@starrwulfe @7robots That's true and there are other options to export and download different formats for local back-ups. And yes, that's important and good that it exists. So, yes, for users that are technically proficient and thinking of these things, there is a solution. But how many users are? The point of many such services is to make blogging easy for non-technical people: Micro.blog, Bear, Scribbles, omg.lol and I'm sure there are others that are owned and operated by one person.

I'd guess it's not an easy problem to solve. Even just the notion that one can download a back-up, while reassuring on the surface leaves much unexplained when or if the time comes to do something with that back-up.​

​I suppose there's only so much the service operator can do on their side of things. But I think the larger point is that there are likely a lot of users that would not be prepared. Or, if they did have a backup, would not know what to do with it.

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In reply to
manton
manton

@Denny @petebrown I think about this a lot. Stay tuned, more to come on blog permanence. I've been planning something but it's taking a while to get off the ground.

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Denny
Denny

@manton That's great to know. Looking forward to hearing more when you announce.

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