Is everything on the internet really as permanent as the old wives tales say? - Or will we live and learn, hanging on to the edge of tomorrow?

[Mooty Mooty Mooty]

Good evening. I am Mooty. The internet was cool and now it is abysmal. We all know the saying "Be careful what you post on the internet because it will be there forever". But is that actually true? In this current era Youtube videos, social media posts, rom sites, entire website etc can vanish in an instant... like tears in rain. People have even successfully asked the owners of the Wayback machine to remove archives. What if things are volatile and we lose so much internet history during this decade?

Additionally there are groups out there that want to destroy, they infiltrate every community and then force removal or changes of existing content and systems, censorship. Hold dear your memories as it may be all that remain soon.

 

[Mr. Boogedy]

On the internet, the stuff you want to go away seems to stick around, while the stuff you want to remain disappears.

 

[Franjevina]

I remember when YouTube was full of glorious tribute to Hitler videos ..... good o'l times

 

[Harnessed Carcass]

There is a reason we archive everything friend

 

[lameandgay2]

Yes.

This thread reminds me, that recent South Park episode where they did the whole Troll Trace thing made me think a lot about how I use the internet and what would happen if my usage became public knowledge. When the internet disappeared in the episode, I was like , I wish we could start again with what we know now.

And then the end of the episode. Where the first email sent on the new internet was revealed. I was like yeah. We'd still fuck it up again and use it for weird shit.

 

[Shroom King]

On the internet, the stuff you want to go away seems to stick around, while the stuff you want to remain disappears.

On Newgrounds, there was a guy named popeofdope that made a trippy music video to Pink Floyd's song The Gnome, and I can no longer find the video anywhere.

 

[Answer]

I still remember computer class in elementary school in the early 2000s, where the teacher would say stuff like "be very careful about what you post on the internet and never use your real name or post identifying information about yourself because once you post it, its there forever." When you grew up with that advice constantly being drilled into your head, its crazy to think that nowadays its normal for people to willingly have their full dox on display on their social media profiles. I guess that's because the internet became an extension of real life rather than just a form of escapism (although some of it is still escapism).

 

[Chaos Theorist]

On Newgrounds, there was a guy named popeofdope that made a trippy music video to Pink Floyd's song The Gnome, and I can no longer find the video anywhere.

https://popeofdope.newgrounds.com/movies is this it chief?

 

[NIGGER ASS PEE POOPY RAPE]

save everything you care about. 16TB HDDs exist now.

 

[???]

I miss Geocities.

 

[No girls on the internet]

I still remember computer class in elementary school in the early 2000s, where the teacher would say stuff like "be very careful about what you post on the internet and never use your real name or post identifying information about yourself because once you post it, its there forever." When you grew up with that advice constantly being drilled into your head, its crazy to think that nowadays its normal for people to willingly have their full dox on display on their social media profiles. I guess that's because the internet became an extension of real life rather than just a form of escapism (although some of it is still escapism).

I started using the internet in the early 90s and it was also a thing back then to not post identifying info. It baffles me to this day that people willingly post all that stuff, tie all their accounts together, etc.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

It baffles me to this day that people willingly post all that stuff, tie all their accounts together, etc.

Narcissism and convenience, in that order

 

[BrainProlapse]

Not everything online will be saved forever, but everything has the potential to be and should be treated as such.

 

[Dildo]

It's not really a new thing, people have been warning each other for years not to put incriminating or sensitive information to paper lest it end up in the wrong hands or preserved.

 

[Dutch Courage]

Shit gets buried but if it is valuable to someone (i.e. your enemies) it gets copied and preserved.

 

[Most Dumbest Bitch]

The problem with having your personal information online isn't that it can never be got rid of, but that it's very easy for anyone who stumbles upon it to archive it elsewhere and save it for a rainy day, and you have no way of knowing whether or not they've done this. It's "permanent" in the sense that you can't prevent anyone with an internet connection and access to your information from doing whatever they like with it.

Having no filter and sharing all your information blindly, without thinking of the consequences, is how one goes from being a faceless rando that no one gives a shit about to being Chris-Chan.

 

[wes]

The problem with having your personal information online isn't that it can never be got rid of, but that it's very easy for anyone who stumbles upon it to archive it elsewhere and save it for a rainy day, and you have no way of knowing whether or not they've done this. It's "permanent" in the sense that you can't prevent anyone with an internet connection and access to your information from doing whatever they like with it.

Having no filter and sharing all your information blindly, without thinking of the consequences, is how one goes from being a faceless rando that no one gives a shit about to being Chris-Chan.

I feel sorry for the kids whose parents document all of their lives for the world to see before they're even aware of what the consequences could be. Not just the "family vloggers," but normal people who post Facebook pictures of their kids graduating elementary school, going to local events, playing with friends. So down the line, it's easy to figure out a lot of details for doxXxXxxing before the kid is even in the double digits.

But then you have those kids dropping that information everywhere anyway. Suzy Smith is glad to let you know that she's 12 years old and apart of the BTS army or whatever it's called, and Johnny Smith has to let everyone in the YouTube comments section know that he's 13 and Not Like Other Kids who listen to today's brainless pop music, he likes Nirvana.

The best prevention for not having your information preserved for all to see is to not post it in the first place, which is lost as a concept to most people today

 

[Most Dumbest Bitch]

I feel sorry for the kids whose parents document all of their lives for the world to see before they're even aware of what the consequences could be. Not just the "family vloggers," but normal people who post Facebook pictures of their kids graduating elementary school, going to local events, playing with friends. So down the line, it's easy to figure out a lot of details for doxXxXxxing before the kid is even in the double digits.

But then you have those kids dropping that information everywhere anyway. Suzy Smith is glad to let you know that she's 12 years old and apart of the BTS army or whatever it's called, and Johnny Smith has to let everyone in the YouTube comments section know that he's 13 and Not Like Other Kids who listen to today's brainless pop music, he likes Nirvana.

The best prevention for not having your information preserved for all to see is to not post it in the first place, which is lost as a concept to most people today

I think it's fine to talk at length about your interests if you so desire, but you've just got to be prepared for the consequences. Everyone does embarrassing shit now and again, but due to the amount of people that share all their personal info from the jump, they are now having their most embarrassing teenage moments permanently attached to their signature. That can be killer when it comes to actual life proceedings, like trying to get jobs or get into college.

Pre-2010s, it was really common for people to simply use pseudonyms or only go by their usernames on the respective sites, so that they could talk about whatever dumb hobbies they had with near impunity. As someone mentioned before, a lot of people connect all their accounts together now, and/or use the same usernames across multiple platforms, which betrays the entire purpose. It's true that, most of the time, people aren't going to really care enough about you to actually do anything with all that information, but I ask - why make it easier for them? Keep that shit separate and keep your name off of it. At the very least, you have plausible deniability for whatever dumb shit you're doing online.

 

[Marissa Moira]

I miss Geocities.

Move to Japan.

It's still there.

 

[dreamworks face]

Pre-2010s, it was really common for people to simply use pseudonyms or only go by their usernames on the respective sites, so that they could talk about whatever dumb hobbies they had with near impunity. As someone mentioned before, a lot of people connect all their accounts together now, and/or use the same usernames across multiple platforms, which betrays the entire purpose. It's true that, most of the time, people aren't going to really care enough about you to actually do anything with all that information, but I ask - why make it easier for them? Keep that shit separate and keep your name off of it. At the very least, you have plausible deniability for whatever dumb shit you're doing online.

When I was a young teenager, I used the same account name on multiple sites, and posted a bunch on internet forums. I developed better opsec in college, but the accounts still remained. In my mid-20's, my girlfriend at the time found some forum accounts I used to post on (most notably the gamefaqs account from when I was twelve years old.) I got ribbed on for writing a FAQ for an MMO and writing a shitpost review of a hentai game for about a week straight. I'm in my mid thirties now and shitposts I made when I was twelve are still all over the internet if you know where to look.