this is not serious commentary

[sideways]

The web's sure getting wobbly. Twitter's a hole, Reddit's rioting, Tumblr keeps crowing about its invincibility even as worse features are being implemented directly in front of their salads, and AO3 is undergoing the kind of drama I am not equipped to summarise beyond "someone opened a can of worms and oh god the worms are everywhere and now the worms are fighting each other and the birds that were meant to eat the worms are also fighting each other oh god oh no".

One good thing to come out of this for me, personally, has been the drive to do a lot of backing-up and digital filing! I still keep chewing my thumbnail over whether to try and digitise the DVD library too... some of 'em are getting a little old and are in danger of your more standard physical decay. Woe to life on this ephemeral earth.

Comments

[muladhara]

I did not know exactly what was going on with AO3, but I like your summary :D

Also I was thinking about rejoining tumblr, but maybe not now.

[sideways]

Tumblr's still mostly the same experience in fairness, and the spambots are... okay at present? [touches all wood in reach] It'll just be interesting to see how much longer it has now that some of the early warning signs are flashing on.

[muladhara]

*nods*

Maybe I should rejoin as an experiment to see how long it takes, heh.

[atamascolily]

The Internet is indeed in dire straits, but your summary made me laugh, and I appreciate that. Good luck with your backups!

[sideways]

A friend compared it to the last dot-com bubble burst recently. I guess the heartening thing is we've built back before and probably will again.

[atamascolily]

I know, but it feels like it gets harder every time, and I'm just so tired... The whole point of AO3 was to not have to deal with losing everything due to platform collapse, and while I don't think any of the current situation is enough to sink it (and, honestly, it's a good thing to have this stuff out in the open instead of hiding it, so it can finally be dealt with!), it's just really dispiriting, especially when other platforms are so unstable.

[sideways]

Yeah :( Like you, I'm not getting 'on the brink of death' vibes from AO3 as yet, and I suspect it's more likely it'll just return to the status quo, which is disappointing in a whole different way. But it's a reminder even these foundations are on some shaky ground.

[grayestofghosts]

It’s amazing how everything seems to be happening all at once. Even if I’m still active on those platforms I’m looking for alternatives, here and Mastodon and even neocities and the smol web to an extent. The whole thing is nuts.

[sideways]

It does seem to be timing itself rather dramatically - and yes, thank goodness for these smaller havens! The human brain loves convenience though, and the big hubs offered a lot of conveniences; it'll be difficult if / when they collapse in a major way.

[lebateleur]

I am trying to stay well away from all these implosions, but your post is a good reminder that I should back up my content on them, so thank you for that!

[sideways]

Haha, you're welcome! "Back-ups are good" is like a friendlier version of The Game.

[hokuton_punch]

It sure has been Some Weeks On The Internet, hasn't it? I keep wanting to lie down and not get up again... (Especially when I look at the amount of fic I have yet to back up to my writing journal. ;_________; At least most of the Marathon fic that isn't already backed up is short/can be collected in batches of ficlets, but between Naruto and Saiyuki I've got at least five chaptered fics and a couple of series... *sobs*)

[sideways]

This is what you get for being such a good and prolific writer, Hoke. Reaping the consequences of your mighty crop.

Seriously though, oof, I'm sorry u.u AO3 is pretty unparalleled for formatting around long / chaptered fics.