> But what about something like grouphug.us? Or even Facebook? I've got to imagine there are things put out there in the irresponsibility of youth or the first blushes of adulthood that someone is practically aching to have disappear from the Internet.
Of course. And there's tons of awesome stuff in those sites - just like Google Groups. You're wrong just like all the people mocking Archive Team for caring about Geocities or Friendster are wrong, you just draw the line around something you have experience with, is all.
At these sizes, your intuitive impressions of average quality are completely irrelevant. It's all worth saving.
It's not about the quality of the content on sites like grouphug.us, but the nature of the content - things that the poster might be happy to be forgotten in 20 years time.
Previous generations youthful indiscretions tended not to be preserved for all time, for the most part.
Even better. All the stupid stuff you did on the Internet that you've forgotten that you did. There are no doubt numerous examples that could come to haunt me in later years. Stuff I don't even remember.
Part of the problem with putting your thoughts down in writing is that if you change your mind later the writing is still there. I think that in the years to come were going to see more scandals arise from this sort of thing.
My point is that collective "worth" is not the only value that people may wish to judge these actions by. People may have strong individual reactions to what's being saved. If an Interstate is built through my backyard, or a cemetery or whatever it might be worth it, but that doesn't mean that people directly affected won't try to argue that the worth of a project does not necessarily justify it.
If -- as a teenager -- I wrote something that I'm now embarrassed by (which I did), or if -- totally unbeknownst to me -- some unflattering pictures of me show up on Facebook (which have), I may not wish for them to be saved, but for them to disappear, along with the day, week or month of my life that produced them.
And frankly, I'm not mocking anyone. I'm trying to ask a question which I think it's totally fair to ask, who "owns" user generated data? Does the act of putting it out there make it effectively public domain, or can I, when cooler heads and soberer minds prevail, choose to recall it?
Of course. And there's tons of awesome stuff in those sites - just like Google Groups. You're wrong just like all the people mocking Archive Team for caring about Geocities or Friendster are wrong, you just draw the line around something you have experience with, is all.
At these sizes, your intuitive impressions of average quality are completely irrelevant. It's all worth saving.