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The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

lil.law.harvard.edu

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Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#61

Post by twblalock »

glenstein wrote: post #31

The article seems to be suggesting that the Million Dollar Home Page has in some sense failed to fulfill it's promise because many of the links are now dead. I don't follow that logic at all. To me it seems that the MDHP's job was to be an iconic piece of internet history, and they've entirely fulfilled their end of the bargain.

I don't see how the article suggests that. The article is using the Million Dollar Homepage as an example to draw attention to interesting things about internet history, including the complexity of archiving internet content. The page itself isn't being attacked, but rather used to exemplify a broader concern.

The article uses the Million Dollar Home Page as an example of an interesting historical artifact that tells us a lot about the internet of 2005 in terms of design, the context in which the page was created, etc.

However, Million Dollar Home Page is also used as an example of the complexity of archiving internet content, i.e. archiving a page in a complete way must also involve archiving the pages it links to, otherwise the functionality of the archived page will decay over the years. This has important implications for its usefulness as a historical artifact.

Most of us remember what the internet was like when the Million Dollar Home Page was created, but many years from now, it will be challenging for people studying the history of the internet to really know what it was like back then unless we archive things in a way that preserves functionality.

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#62

Post by CryptoFascist »

nostrademons wrote: post #48
Kiro wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fairly straightforward I've read a lot about ICOs and I still don't understand what's going on. I can't even tell what people are actually buying (like EOS, where it explicitly says the tokens are worthless and not convertible). An even bigger question is why people are throwing so much money on them when it's so unclear what you're getting.

It probably makes more sense when you realize that many ICO buyers are "whales", big cryptocurrency holders who bought in when the currencies were much cheaper and amassed large amounts. When the news headline says an ICO raised $180M, that doesn't actually mean people spent $180M on tokens. Rather, they converted $180M of Ethereum, at its current valuation, which they may have purchased for say $1M collectively. The…

I keep seeing the fallacy that all currency value is based on future expectations.

Here's a thought experiment... in the US, work full time while getting paid in Bitcoin. Make all transactions in Bitcoin. At the end of the year you'll need to file a tax return. Your final options are: 1. Buy some USD to pay your taxes. 2. Go to jail.

Demand for fiat currencies is ultimately underpinned by them being the only instrument accepted for payment of taxes.

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#63

Post by braeckmansj »

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Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#65

Post by schraitle »

brosky117 wrote: post #4

I just heard about the "Million Dollar Homepage" for the first time last week. Would this idea (or one like it) work today? Making a million dollars for something so bizarre, fun, and straightforward sounds amazing. Can anyone reference other attempts at similar ideas?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Toby

Also, my attempt at getting rich online: http://schraitle.flat-line.net/cash/index.html (I made a whole 26 cents in the end)

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#66

Post by nostrademons »

CryptoFascist wrote: post #62
nostrademons wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably makes more sense when you realize that many ICO buyers are "whales", big cryptocurrency holders who bought in when the currencies were much cheaper and amassed large amounts. When the news headline says an ICO raised $180M, that doesn't actually mean people spent $180M on tokens. Rather, they converted $180M of Ethereum, at its current valuation, which they may have purchased for say $1M collectively. The…

I keep seeing the fallacy that all currency value is based on future expectations. Here's a thought experiment... in the US, work full time while getting paid in Bitcoin. Make all transactions in Bitcoin. At the end of the year you'll need to file a tax return. Your final options are: 1. Buy some USD to pay your taxes. 2. Go to jail. Demand for fiat currencies is ultimately underpinned by them being the only instrume…

You have a third option: 3. Don't pay taxes. Live like an outlaw. Shoot the tax collector.

You're driving at an important point that I want to take a bit further. Ultimately, the "backing" of a fiat currency comes from the barrel of a gun. People continue to use U.S. dollars because the U.S. has the strongest military on earth right now. Same throughout history - the backing of the British pound came from the British Navy, and when the British military collapsed post-WW2, the pound sterling didn't last much longer.

A major adoption driver for cryptocurrencies has been the weakness of central governments. We've seen this most with China, where wealthy Chinese businessmen are eager to take money out of the country in any way possible. But the most likely tipping point that would drive widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies would be if the perception became widespread that the U.S. government could no longer guarantee physical security; if, for example, we "lost" the war on terrorism. You could easily imagine people "hiring" personal drones or robots for protection with BitCoin if this came to pass, to fill the vacuum of the state security apparatus.

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#67

Post by ChuckMcM »

I think in many ways it is not a 'decaying digital artifact' as it is an excellent representation of the fallacy upon which a lot of the Internet hangs. In the Library of Alexandria you didn't have scrolls disappear because the kingdom where they originated had been crushed under the boot of an invader. But the Internet is no great library, no respository of knowledge, or an oasis of independent thought. The Internet is a conversation in a crowded room with amplified shotgun microphones pointed at all who walk through it.

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#68

Post by gscott »

krallja wrote: post #2

The Million Dollar Homepage is not decaying (it is still serving its million dollar purpose) - it is the Web itself that has decayed. The brittleness of URIs is on full display. "Cool URLs don't change," but most of these URLs were never cool: they had to rent coolness from Internet cool kid Alex Tew.

Same as if I drive down a street ten years later... I can't expect the street to be a time-capsule to mt memories.

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#69

Post by sixQuarks »

jlangenauer wrote: post #60
sixQuarks wrote: post #54

I actually purchased a $300 spot on this. I did get quite a few clicks, but very low-quality traffic. Mostly, I got lots of offers from copycat sites to join their "billion dollar" homepage or whatnot. It's crazy how many copycats came out, very unoriginal thinking going on.

I remember that time - there were even people trying to sell guides purporting to teach people how to set up their own million-dollar homepage!

similar thing happened with Groupon.

Re: The “Million Dollar Homepage” as a Decaying Digital Artifact

#70

Post by gcb0 »

twblalock wrote: post #61
glenstein wrote: post #31

The article seems to be suggesting that the Million Dollar Home Page has in some sense failed to fulfill it's promise because many of the links are now dead. I don't follow that logic at all. To me it seems that the MDHP's job was to be an iconic piece of internet history, and they've entirely fulfilled their end of the bargain.

I don't see how the article suggests that. The article is using the Million Dollar Homepage as an example to draw attention to interesting things about internet history, including the complexity of archiving internet content. The page itself isn't being attacked, but rather used to exemplify a broader concern. The article uses the Million Dollar Home Page as an example of an interesting historical artifact that tells…

that's beautiful and all, but nothing works like that. a page is lots of things. the html and js can be preserved like an artifact in a museum, ok. but the rest, the server hosting it, its connection to the internet, it being http only, etc... has to be preserved like architectural works. yes, some building facade migth still look like it was build in the 1800, but everything in it is updated to conform to fire code, exit signaling, etc.

so, in the end, even if we managed to keep that page up, it would still be of very little interest to the pople of the future.

the proper way to do things is to document everything. by good historians.

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