#consume and preserve

[steviewashere]

One of my special interests is lost media. Whether this be the discovery that something is lost, the hunt for said lost thing, or the finding of that lost thing. I love it all.

A YouTuber that I enjoy a lot that discusses lost media is: blameitonjorge

And as I'm watching his most recent upload, Lost Media Found in 2023, it's making me realize how much of the internet is either not archived, or is archived. Now—if you'll allow me to info dump and ramble—one of the largest data bases on the internet for archived content (ranging from old YouTube videos, early screenshots of websites from the 2000s, mods for video games, even whole TV show episodes, and much more) is the Internet Archive.

What's important about the Internet Archive is that it's a "non-profit digital library" (description given under site name on Google). It's a website used to truly archive anything you can think to find on the internet. I've gone on here and found screenshots, working links, and site changes to websites my late dad had created and uploaded in 2000-2003, before his untimely death. Which is so incredibly special to me. It's incredible to even have a resource like this, for free, right at my fingertips.

However, the Internet Archive has been at constant risk for removal. Aiming from big publishers, politicians, courts, etc. And it's extremely important that internet users fight back on these requests for removal.

Think of all the lost media. Of all the songs and shows and websites, Tumblr posts and Reddit stories you thought were a thing of your past, never to resurface or to be rediscovered, but it ends up right there on the Wayback Machine or directly on a separate sanction of the Internet Archive! Maybe you're like me and want to access internet activity from deceased family members and the Internet Archive is the only place to find it! Maybe you want to see the old MySpace layout just for fun or look for scanned pages of an art book for a favorite video game or you want to visit the old Newgrounds just to taste some of your childhood all over again!

Think of all the things you, we, us, everybody loses if the Internet Archive goes down.

I'm not kidding, and I know I've seen it as a joke somewhere, but the loss of the Internet Archive will be like the burning of the Library of Alexandria. All the resources gone, deleted, never to be seen again.

I think of it, too, when visiting Archive of Our Own. All of those fan works that everybody loves dearly, that maybe you've spent hours on, would be gone if AO3 was knocked out. Remember the great knockout of 2023? Remember how devastating it was to think it was just gone? Remember freaking out about not downloading your favorite fic as a pdf onto your phone or desktop, just thinking it'd be there when you get back online?

So, this is just me getting on my soapbox:

Cater for the protection of Internet Archive, Archive of Our Own, and all archived media. Remember to save files and links and all that jazz so that you can use it for later referral. Remember to thank and appreciate the people on the internet collecting all of this data. And also, if you like something—archive it!

Archive what you like, get physical copies, make your own physical copies if none exist. If we have to live in a society of constant consumerism, then remember to also preserve what you consume.

Because, it may just be gone tomorrow. And if you're unlucky, it won't be archived. And if you're even more unlucky, it will never be seen again.

[jayktoralldaylong]

Jon: If you need a vessel so bad why don't you just become-

Elias: Because I'm not scared of them.

Jon: ......

Elias: I don't need your body, Jon. I need your fear. 😈

Meanwhile, Elias the Gaslight King in earlier seasons: Jon you know I'd never let anything bad happen to you, I'm only trying to help. We need to save the world together, isn't that what we're trying to achieve? Oh Jon, Jon, Jon, bad things are only happening because you do not trust me. Trust me, and we can save everyone. Don't you believe me?

Then it went the exact opposite with Peter and Martin.💀😂💔

Peter: I've got the perfect plan to beat Elias. Can you do what it takes to become the hero?

Martin: I'm going to save the world?

Peter: Yes, and it will be you and you alone. Do you trust me?

Martin: I trust you.

That same season 💀

Peter: You played me! 😳😭 You've been lying to me this entire time.

Martin: You lied first 🙄 and I knew it the instant you told me I'd save the world. I can't save the world. I've never saved anything in my entire life. I'm not important enough to be the hero.

[tigerbears]

DO YOU... 1: CARE ABOUT VIDEO GAME PRESERVATION? 2: OWN A COPY OF "THE CREW"?

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO!

You might now that The Crew's servers are going to be shut down in April, but this guy is planning to launch an international campaign to prevent the game's shutdown, thus preventing the shutdown of all video games that rely on a central server.

"Oh, but you can't expect the company to run the servers forever."

Your right, that's not what Ross is arguing for. He's arguing that Ubisoft (and any other company that cant run the servers forever) either patch the game so it can run offline/run servers locally, or release the server software.

Guess how much you can help depends on which country you live in

(For example, if you bought the game in the US your very likely f@#ked. Ross explains the only thing you can do is contact the FTC, but if that doesn't work the only other way to stop this practice is an act of congress because the law is f@#ked and the company can do almost anything as long as the EULA says it. If the EULA says you don't own the game, then legally you don't own the game.)

However, if you live anywhere else (like France, Australia, or the EU) you have a better chance because you have rights.

"But I don't care about The Crew."

This isn't about just The Crew. If this campaign is successful, then it could set a president to save all online only games in the future.

"But I don't own The Crew."

Then reblog this post so someone who does can read it.

[sablegear0]

STOPKILLINGGAMES.COM

Ross Scott is on the warpath to keep publishers from killing online-only games and you guys can help!

Folks in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the US, France (especially), the UK, and the EU at large can help the most here. Especially if you purchased a copy of Ubisoft's The Crew. Using a multi-pronged initiative to take Ubisoft to task over killing a flagship game, Ross is hoping to get legislature passed to end the bad habit of publishers killing online games altogether.

Be aware that not all the petitions on the site are active right now, and this initiative will need some patient monitoring. But some of the government petitions (the legally binding kind of petitions, the good ones) signature requirements are really low! Australia only needs 50 sigs and Canada only 500! The UK needs 10k, and if we want to be really ambitious, the EU general petition needs 1 million, but the petition runs for a whole year.

PLEASE pass this along if you even remotely care about video games or consumer rights or media preservation. I'm not some big name blog and I don't have a lot of reach but I have faith in Ross's campaign if it gets the attention it deserves.

[elemental-daddy-neos]

Drops this and runs because I'm still on a break

[fiomeras]

I hate how art turned into "content" in the past few years

[hotwaterandmilk]

I'm still not well so this isn't going to be articulate, but I wanted to say something anyway.

In the wake of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (amongst other titles) being purged from streaming I've seen countless posts saying "This is terrible, we need to stop this practice -- they might purge a good show next!" and yeah, for sure a lot of titles being impacted by streaming purges/lack of physical media/a decline in archiving right now aren't going to be remembered for changing the world.

However, I think it is vital that we fight to preserve these titles for their own sake not just because "What if next time it's something we actually like?!" There is value is preserving things widely regarded as "bad" not just because I have firm beliefs about the absurdity of taste, but because who gives a shit if something is deemed "good?" Actual human people put their time and energy into realising these artistic visions. Even if the results are arguably not "good" or "popular", should the efforts of these artists be lost to the sands of time? No, no they fucking shouldn't.

I share a lot of art on this blog from titles very few people consider culturally important or valuabe. However, I don't look at the things I collect & share like that. Even some of the most objectively absurd titles I own are still pieces of art that were developed, published, and consumed by humans in the real world. Whether they've turned out to be broadly memorable or not is irrelevant because they existed and that in itself makes them worthy of preservation so that others can choose to familiarise themselves with them long after the original creative team is gone.

So yes, we should all be trying to preserve the media that's important to us and not let corporations try to stamp out every trace of a financial (though not necessarily artistic) misstep. However, it shouldn't take the threat of something we, personally, like being taken away to stir us into giving a shit.

Even the demise of less admired works should concern us and make us start to burn copies of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies because it might not mean anything to you or I right now, but to some kid in 20 years it could be a seminal experience that leads them to follow their dreams. Or it could become a cult classic that people reflect on at watch parties years in the future. Or it could continue to be a footnote in the history of television that nobody really cares about.

Ultimately I don't think it matters what level of value we arbitrarily assign to media now or in the future, we should be trying to preserve as much of it as possible so that generations from now people can enjoy the option of engaging with these titles should they so wish.

[wormskullsblogging]

[kassical]

Ross actually has a site up and running now regarding how to stop publishers fucking people over and taking away usability of their games. Some of the petitions aren't up yet and still getting approved but there's other things people can do (mostly specifically if they own The Crew).

He's got a video here too that breaks down what this is all for if you want to check it out:

[tequiilasunriise]

Wenclair’s peak dynamic is that Enid would die fer Wednesday, Wednesday would live fer Enid, and they would kill fer each other.

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

i don't know if i am horrible at communicating when i want a little attention or when i feel forgotten, or if people just in general never think it is about them because in their mind all of our needs are met and i am venting about everybody else?

[practically-an-x-man]

also I understand why people do the whole "mint in package" thing with their collectibles but also like... how is that fun? I understand that it's about the appreciation of value and maybe being able to sell it later on, but personally I want to take them out of the box and look at all the little details and put them in a place where I can glance at them and smile.

No hate to the people that do collect things with the intent to sell them, but that's just not fun for me.

[tigerbears]

You may have seen a post about this a month or two ago, but if your new I have a question.

Do you care about video preservation?

WATCH THIS VIDEO PLEASE!

Basically, this dude (Ross) is launching a campaign to try and shut down the destruction of always online games by targeting the shutdown of "The Crew".

I think the video explains it well enough, but most of it is to direct you to this website that shows you what to do.

Decisions are limited depending where you live/if you own The Crew, but the least you can do is spread the word to people who do own The Crew.

Now I'm going to copy and paste the expected counter arguments from my last post.

"Oh, but you can't expect the company to run the servers forever."

Your right, that's not what Ross is arguing for. He's arguing that Ubisoft (and any other company that cant run the servers forever) either patch the game so it can run offline/run servers locally, or release the server software.

"But I don't care about The Crew."

This isn't about just The Crew. If this campaign is successful, then it could set a president to save all online only games in the future.

"But I don't own The Crew."

Then reblog this post so someone who does can read it.

[herearedragons]

A non-exhaustive list of possible alternative endings for Devil of Caroc:

the Watcher is a cipher; they use their mind reading abilities to download Devil’s maintenance routine directly from Galvino’s brain and then teach it to her

same as above, except the Watcher (any class) uses their soul reading ability to watch the moment from Galvino’s past when he came up with said maintenance routine

the Watcher is and/or knows a brilliant mechanic; they reverse-engineer Devil’s maintenance routine and then teach it to her

a restored Abydon offers the Watcher a boon as thanks for helping his restoration; the Watcher asks him to bless Devil’s body so that it wouldn’t rust. Optionally, Abydon empathizes with the experience of being stuck in a metal construct and also gives her the ability to sense/smell again.

same as above, but Abydon straight up turns her back into a flesh and blood human, mirroring his own restoration

[moocowmoocow]