Comment by mg
1 day ago
It is actually pretty easy to keep alive URLs if there is a will to do so. Just have tests in place so you can't mess them up accidentally. And convert things that are not changing anymore to static html.
One of my first web projects involved a music forum and I have been keeping the URLs alive for 24 years now:
https://www.gnoosic.com/discussion/
I feel like I owe it to the people who participated to keep it online forever. Also as a document of history.
Cool URIs don't change, as we should all remember:
https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI
Flattening old things down to plain HTML is underrated and important here. Old apps don’t need to be updated or upgraded or maintained or even deployed. It’s way simpler to argue to keep old stuff around if it’s essentially a domain pointing to a static bucket.
I did that to palmpowerups.com. The original CMS is long gone.
It's not easy. Part of the instructions would need to contain things like "how to convince your boss to not just delete the old thing" and "what to do when the startup you worked for went bankrupt" among others. Most URLs don't disappear by mistake.
Well, and pay registrar and hosting fees for 100 years, and then just hope the hosting company doesn't fold in the interim after your passing. The problem isn't "can you make sure it stays up while you're alive", the problem is, after you're gone, you're no longer there to keep the flame alive and there are no guarantees anyone else picks up the torch.
Does this suggest a subscription(ish) business where you pay the hosting company for N years and then they ensure your website stays up and unchanged for N years after you die? Quality control issue?
Given how many things want me to pay a subscription while I'm alive, surely somebody will start charging me when I'm dead. It is the logical conclusion of SaaS. I wanted to create an acronym for this, but death as a service didn't seem like the best choice.
There’s the WordPress 100 Year Plan or 100 Year Domain: https://wordpress.com/100-year/
100-Year Plan: $38,000 (hosting and domain)
100-Year Domain: $2,000 (one-time purchase, no annual renewals)
There is certainly precedent for this - will executors for example. How about “SCITA? Service continues in the afterlife.
1 reply →
Software after Death as a Service?
*a will and the ability for that will to access what it needs
> I feel like I owe it to the people who participated to keep it online forever. Also as a document of history.
Oh! So its your website. Cool.
Did the money change hands, for this bet, in 2022? How do you ensure it. Or is it honor based?
> It is actually pretty easy to keep alive URLs if there is a will to do so. Just have tests in place
"Just".
Maintaining and keeping these tests (and the oriinal link) running is also probably easy. "Just" keep maintaining them over changes in technology, hosting providers, DNS registrars...