Evanescent
While this post is hidden from Bear Blog's discovery feed, it may still appear on your RSS feed and elsewhere.
Everything that I share on the Internet world is only temporary. Although I try my best to track down my digital footprints, I feel like some of them should stay at the void instead.
By the way, I have already shared about leaving my previous blogging realms, as well as X (formerly Twitter). I will just focus on the following realms instead:
One major example of such ephemera is Facebook, a walled garden that forces me to use my real name and deal with the infinite-scrolling feed, which has been polluted with cybertrash.1 That social space used to be my playground where I played a bunch of games like Pet Society, FarmVille, and The Sims Social. Unfortunately, those fun times have passed due to Flash's end of support and corporate greed.
I felt like I wanted to leave that highly monitored realm as soon as possible. So, I deactivated my Facebook account while keeping Messenger intact only for urgent communication with family, friends, and local businesses.
Instant messages
Speaking of communication, I think that online chats are vulnerable to data loss. Well-known instant messaging services (such as Skype and Yahoo Messenger) have already been shut down to make way for modern counterparts like Discord and Signal.
Of course, not all conversations are lost in the Internet world forever. Juhis made a great observation about ephemerality, specifically in group chats:
The biggest thing I think we lose in a fast paced chat discussion is how short a lifespan of a topic or discussion becomes. Unless the topic is super hot in the group and maintains active discussion for a day, it is lost in the history within hours.
Personal domains
Because of the volatile nature of the Internet world, some blogs and personal websites had to be abandoned at some point. Although some inactive and defunct domains have already been saved on the Wayback Machine (and its similar realms), not all of them have been preserved in their entirety.
The indie web in particular goes through the process of life and death. Unfortunately, I have encountered a bunch of personal domains that have either been inactive or removed. While I did not had the chance to interact with them, I fully respect their decisions behind leaving their online spaces behind.
YouTube
I have neither published any videos nor made any livestreams on YouTube, yet I have noticed that some videos and channels have been lost for various reasons (such as copyright issues, adult themes, misinformation, and problematic behavior).
I have personally witnessed that in VTuber livestreams, especially with sensitive content. One particular example of this is the 3D celebration collab from Regis Altare and Axel Syrios, which is heavily sanitized into a two-minute video instead. While the full VOD does not officially exist anymore, its important moments (particularly the one where Altare and Axel made a suggestive pose) have been clipped by the Starmin2 for posterity.
Even though websites like the Lost Media Wiki try to document some well-known YouTube videos that were deleted or made private, they do not fully cover the entirely of that realm.
Virtual worlds
Ah, yes... My staple for Internet exploration in the early and mid-2010s. Although I dislike having microtransactions there, I enjoyed strolling around 2D and 3D spaces that encourage amusement and social interactions. I have visited Gaia Online, Second Life, and IMVU before (with the first realm being my favorite hangout that still exists). Although I have become less interested in virtual worlds lately, I can still reminisce the following moments:
- Building and decorating virtual homes on an in-game budget
- Watching YouTube videos on an embedded player at the virtual rooms
- Making OCs on a pixel or 3D avatar builder
- Talking about OCs and their backstories with other people
- Drawing digital illustrations based on others' virtual avatars
Aside from those realms, I used to play a lot of Ameba Pico3 and Meez on my free time. In the former, I discovered a bunch of isometric rooms (with a vectorized art style) where I could chat with other chibi avatars. In the latter, I mostly messed with other people and made a bunch of embarrassing posts in the forums, though I requested for a dress from Pinterest to be recreated and added in the realm's 3D avatar shop. Sadly, these places and their assets are now gone forever. Unless anybody out there had archived those sites, I doubt that I can fully traverse them again...