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This is probably going to attract a lot of hate: why is conservancy such an important idea? I mean for a lot of websites, sure, I'd very much like to see that s

This is probably going to attract a lot of hate: why is conservancy such an important idea? I mean for a lot of websites, sure, I'd very much like to see that sort of thing backed up someplace but I've never once treated an Internet-based source as permanent. If I felt like it was something that would go away someday and that I would sorely miss, I downloaded it. I just don't understand and am curious where this idea comes from that the Internet must be archived. I don't necessarily disagree with it, but it seems like an expectation that's at odds with reality.

toyg 8y ago
> where this idea comes from that the Internet must be archived. Once newspapers finally kick the bucket (which is happening right now, in slow motion), all the information about our world will only be available in this ephemeral form - ready to be rewritten, manipulated or discarded by our rulers like China does now. Surely that is a terrifying thought, even if you haven't read 1984 or Fahrenheit 451...? The accountability that comes from historical records is one of the pillars of democratic societies. Losing it will plunge us in a very technological version of the Middle Ages.
- FussyZeus 8y ago
  Absolutely, I guess I've just never viewed the Internet as a proper archive for that sort of thing precisely because it's so easily manipulated, censored, and changed.