3 ms·

Datapocalypso (RE: Eviction, or the Coming Datapocalypse)

17 points by sjs382 18y ago

sjs382 18y ago
Cross-posting: Of relevance, Pownce had a similar shutdown recently. Pownce was bought and users were given 2 weeks to export their data before the service was shutdown and the data gone forever. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/01/pownce-deadpooled-team-moves-to-six-apart/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/01/pownce-deadpooled-team-...
wmf 18y ago
The good part is at the very end where he actually proposes some kind of solution.
Jebdm 18y ago
I'm still not solid on what I think about private companies having the responsibility to provide your data for you if they're closing down, but his bit at the end about the archive team seems... well, brilliant. Hell, it could even be a paid service. Monitor the web for companies shutting down and download away. Of course, that's assuming that the data's not protected behind some sort of wall (if Facebook was closing, or something like that); in that case, contact the company and try and make a deal. You could get them to simply give you all the data, or (in case of privacy concerns, etc.) offer the closing company a solution where they commit to letting users get at their data for 90 days (or some similar number) and after that, you put up a page where people can pay to access the original site, or at least some sort of download page. Of course, people could just back up, but some stuff is just hard to do that with, especially on the web.
ajkirwin 18y ago
I fully support this idea and infact, I am already wondering how you'd go about implementing it. I've been bitten by this before and didn't have sufficient backups.
- sjs382 18y ago
  Well projects like dataportability.org are a step in the right direction (making the export of data easier), but then there's the issue of how much notice (if any at all) is given when a site is closing.
Locke 18y ago
On the other hand, perhaps it's good to allow data to be lost occasionally... I've lost old emails, source code, and other documents that I thought were really important (to me at least). Turns out I was wrong, I don't miss any of it. It's a shame when people lose stuff for reasons other than neglect, but it happens. Start over or work on something new (and treat it like an opportunity, not a chore).
- ajkirwin 18y ago
  There's no reason to lose data. Space is cheap.
  - Locke 18y ago
    It depends on how you define "lose". To keep all your data for a long time takes effort. Storage formats change. Disks die. Hosted storage bills need to be paid, billing needs to be updated (credit cards expire), etc. You really need more than one copy in more than one place if you want to be really confident that your data won't be lost. Is all your data worth the effort? Is it healthy to try to hang on to everything?
    - ajkirwin 18y ago
      When I could simply offload to a drive and then throw that dive into storage? Sure it is.
- byrneseyeview 18y ago
  1) That doesn't mean that you're better off losing all the data you've lost. 2) You may not even be better-off on average considering the data lost. 3) Not your call: some folks turn disaster into opportunity, but a disaster is still disastrous.
gommm 18y ago
The biggest problem I have with websites like hometown that shut down with insuficiant notice is that burned users are less likely to trust new websites... And as a webapplication developper I care about having users trust me with their contents....
sutro 18y ago
So losing the data you enter into some lame AOL web service because you forget to check your email for a few weeks qualifies as an apocalypse? After watching fat insane Brando in Apocalypse Now and buff ass-kicking Aaanold in the Terminator flicks, this "coming datapocalypse" doesn't seem very scary.
- undertoad 18y ago
  Dohn't you unduhsstahnd? Ohl ur daytuh veel bee losst! http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,317553,00.html http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,317553,00.html

17 points by sjs382 18y ago

Cross-posting: Of relevance, Pownce had a similar shutdown recently. Pownce was bought and users were given 2 weeks to export their data before the service was shutdown and the data gone forever. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/01/pownce-deadpooled-team-moves-to-six-apart/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/01/pownce-deadpooled-team-...

wmf 18y ago

The good part is at the very end where he actually proposes some kind of solution.

Jebdm 18y ago

I'm still not solid on what I think about private companies having the responsibility to provide your data for you if they're closing down, but his bit at the end about the archive team seems... well, brilliant. Hell, it could even be a paid service. Monitor the web for companies shutting down and download away. Of course, that's assuming that the data's not protected behind some sort of wall (if Facebook was closing, or something like that); in that case, contact the company and try and make a deal. You could get them to simply give you all the data, or (in case of privacy concerns, etc.) offer the closing company a solution where they commit to letting users get at their data for 90 days (or some similar number) and after that, you put up a page where people can pay to access the original site, or at least some sort of download page. Of course, people could just back up, but some stuff is just hard to do that with, especially on the web.

ajkirwin 18y ago

I fully support this idea and infact, I am already wondering how you'd go about implementing it. I've been bitten by this before and didn't have sufficient backups.

sjs382 18y ago
Well projects like dataportability.org are a step in the right direction (making the export of data easier), but then there's the issue of how much notice (if any at all) is given when a site is closing.

Locke 18y ago

On the other hand, perhaps it's good to allow data to be lost occasionally... I've lost old emails, source code, and other documents that I thought were really important (to me at least). Turns out I was wrong, I don't miss any of it. It's a shame when people lose stuff for reasons other than neglect, but it happens. Start over or work on something new (and treat it like an opportunity, not a chore).

ajkirwin 18y ago
There's no reason to lose data. Space is cheap.
- Locke 18y ago
  It depends on how you define "lose". To keep all your data for a long time takes effort. Storage formats change. Disks die. Hosted storage bills need to be paid, billing needs to be updated (credit cards expire), etc. You really need more than one copy in more than one place if you want to be really confident that your data won't be lost. Is all your data worth the effort? Is it healthy to try to hang on to everything?
  - ajkirwin 18y ago
    When I could simply offload to a drive and then throw that dive into storage? Sure it is.
byrneseyeview 18y ago
1) That doesn't mean that you're better off losing all the data you've lost. 2) You may not even be better-off on average considering the data lost. 3) Not your call: some folks turn disaster into opportunity, but a disaster is still disastrous.

gommm 18y ago

The biggest problem I have with websites like hometown that shut down with insuficiant notice is that burned users are less likely to trust new websites... And as a webapplication developper I care about having users trust me with their contents....

sutro 18y ago

So losing the data you enter into some lame AOL web service because you forget to check your email for a few weeks qualifies as an apocalypse? After watching fat insane Brando in Apocalypse Now and buff ass-kicking Aaanold in the Terminator flicks, this "coming datapocalypse" doesn't seem very scary.

undertoad 18y ago
Dohn't you unduhsstahnd? Ohl ur daytuh veel bee losst! http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,317553,00.html http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,317553,00.html