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Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

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Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

#1

Post by sssilver »

I would love for my great grandchildren to be able to read the things I write today, and see the photos I’ve taken.

Where should I publish them?

Dedicated hosting and domain are a missed payment away from being purged.

So is iCloud.

Facebook and Tumblr are a bankruptcy away to join Geocities and MySpace.

Own physical bedroom server requires maintenance which can’t be done when you’re dead.

The average dead person’s content isn’t easy to monetize.

Buy a lifetime sdf.org membership for $36 and publish everything there is the best I can come up with. But that’s predicated on trust.

How would you solve this?

Re: Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

#2

Post by ZeroChaos80 »

Well, it might get super expensive to print it all if you write a lot. The only trustworthy way I have felt 100% safe with is if I type something like a blog post I would want to leave for my son, I just print it out after I have published it and then sew it into a journal that I have started specifically for him. I also sometimes handwrite things like little notes of things he says that I want to keep while I'm living and leave for him to read about and remember the things that made him so precious to me. Sometimes it's a lot of work to put it all together, especially if I just collect the notes, posts and letters and then need to sew or add them some other way to my book. I just cannot bring myself to trust any company knowing what I do about the lengths they go to in order to trick you into paying for things you don't need or things you forgot you signed up for and how unrepentant they are about it. Not to mention all the other problems you mentioned yourself! I'm going to try to remember to come back here and check in on the answers later because I would love to get some advice here as well.

Re: Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

#3

Post by LinuxBender »

How would you solve this?

This may not be the answer you want but I am skeptical of any website being around for very long. I would get something that can control a chipping and etching tool capable of carving designs and words into extremely hard rock, then find caves that go deep into mountains that are at a high altitude to leave behind whatever was on my mind. The reason I would go for high altitude is plate subduction or ocean level sea rise could submerge some caves at or near sea level. I would avoid soft rock caves and instead try to find very hard rock and mountains that contain massive solid slabs of rock vs. layers of different elements that could easily shatter on impact from asteroids. Some may consider this graffiti however explorers in the distant future may find it interesting. Just like parity data I would repeat my carvings in many caves as some will be destroyed. I would then make videos and pictures of my etchings and upload them to the websites and archives that may be around for a couple decades. This is probably just me, but I would never pay a site to keep something around. Businesses fold every day that were pinky-promised to be around for lifetimes.

Re: Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

#4

Post by tony-allan »

Print ~10 copies on paper as a book with archive quality paper.

If you are 25 today (2024) you might have adult children in 25 years time; adult grandchildren in another 25 years and great grandchildren 10 years after that (in 2084).

The internet, URL's and websites will be very different by then. Think about the world 60 years ago (1964). This was around the time that 7400 series TTL integrated circuits were released.

How much of your early digital history are still readable today? You might have a box full of 3.5 inch floppy discs but can you still read them.

In short, unless you have a string family history of digital archivists I would only trust paper.

Re: Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

#5

Post by andai »

Start an ideology or religion, and make your body of work its sacred text. I think that is your best bet. Even if it dies out, there's a good chance it will be preserved and studied academically.

Either that or write something really good, so people want to read it, so they will keep paying for it to be published over and over again.

I think the first option is actually a lot easier.

Re: Ask HN: Where would you publish content that should outlive you?

#8

Post by MzHN »

For just hosting something as long as possible I would highlight two options stolen blatantly from previous threads:

If you can throw enough money at the problem and are in the US, set up a trust to host your content for as long as the funds last.

If not you could bet on The Internet Archive to outlive you (and maybe donate to them).

But I think the bigger issue than hosting is discoverability. How will your great grandchildren find your content even if it was still available?

To cover both issues the best bet is to focus on somehow convincing your offspring on keeping your content and memory alive in what ever way they see fit, enough so that they pass it on. I have no ideas for exact details here, maybe someone else does?

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