Do you think about people reusing your site in the future?

[Melooon]

A lot of people on this forum express an interest in the "old web" (in quotes because its a very vague term) or retro esthetics of the 90s and early 00s web. Many other people like to try and recreate old-style sites or make graphics that are based on graphics from that older era of the web.

However I think'n that raises an interesting contrast; which is to say; when people in the 90s were making websites, they didn't have any old material to reference or copy ~ and likewise I don't think they were thinking about the potential future where people would want to reuse or reference the things they were creating.

Web crafters of of today live in a very different world; its a world where we know about all these dead websites, we have archives of their designs and assets; we often reuse gifs or layout ideas that we have seen in archives ~ in a way, we have a feeling that we are part of a legacy or a culture of web-crafting.

I wonder if that's something people today keep in mind; do you think about the fact that your site will also become an archive someday? Do people consider that the gifs created today might be reused by kids in 30 years to create new homepages again; and that the ideas you put into your site might be the main inspiration for new sites tomorrow?

When does the web revival stop being a moment of revival, and simply become an ongoing process of change and reuse? 

[DougsShack]

I can say with absolute certainty that most of us back then had no idea that anything was being archived. I don't remember when I became aware of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, but I know I found some of my old stuff from the late 90s on there and being hit with a sense of nostalgia - even back then.

I am aware now, and would be honored if something I made was still being reused that far in the future.

And, I truly hope that this isn't just a one and done revival. Web 1.0 was the best web, full of creativity.

[Paprika]

By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, I hope so !

My website was thought as something that would exist at some point on Internet and in Time. I'm using the CC-BY-NC 4.0 so I hope people will use what I added on the web. If it"s edited or transformed, then good for them. Nothing really belongs to me, I'm just one Netizen in million of others. If my website isn't archived or dies without any trace, then it's okay.

But if in 123 years someone makes a blingee with one of my pictures, then I hope they share it wherever they want, it's made for this. Sharing is caring, sharing also helps to make things live longer than their initial lives. It would be a great honor and pleasure that if after my death, parts or entirety of my website are reused for other people. As long it's not to make propaganda or hate material but unfortunately I will never have a thing to say on the matter since I'll be dead, heh !

I use stuff from pages that were made many years ago by unknown people, I'm really expecting for my website to be used the same way to be honest. Like they say in that telly show about a buncha people having adventures in space :

"Live Long And Prosper"

[nuclearblues]

I haven't put much thought into this, but with some reflection I think it'd be pretty wonderful. my site is made so much better by bits and pieces taken from those who came before me. it's a similar mindset to collage I think; the creation of a unified piece which communicates something through the pieces of what came before. it speaks to a universality in human creativity. a collaborative web experience is a freed one in a way. I think getting too caught up in what is proprietary or who owns what is part of what got us to the point we are at regarding the mainstream commercialized web. I hope some mark of myself lives on and I hope it makes other people happy. I'd love it if I saw something from my museum page on somebody else's site in a couple decades, for instance. in an ideal world it might even outlive me.

[brisray]

The "old" web was seen as a great leveler. It enabled people share whatever they wanted, the technology was slow and a bit icky, but people could write about whatever they wanted. It wasn't just art and short journal entries, websites were made about every subject imaginable. Finding them was the problem, search engines were nowhere near as capable as they are now and that was why things like WebRing and DMOZ were so popular.

Websites disappear for all sorts of reasons, people get bored with them, get interested in other things, and unfortunately people become mentally or physically incapable of maintaining their sites and now, people from the early days of the web are dying. Gunnar Hjalmarsson who wrote the original Perl RingLink code and who was a kernel developer for both Debian and Ubuntu died just last December.

I don't feel old but I was born in 1958, so know my time is limited, but hopefully measured in decades. There are already plans for my sites to be transferred to a friend's server so if all goes well, they should still be "live", I think, for at least another 40 years. If it doesn't go the way I hope it does, then I'd be chuffed to think that one day someone would find my sites on the Internet Archive or wherever and reuse the content, or even just to say "hey look at this site from back in the days when they were still using HTML!"

My dad was in the Royal Navy and loved the service. He died in 1994 and when I started my website in 1999, the photos he had and the stories he told was a big part of the site. In 2003, the HMS Gambia Association emeiled me and asked my to help put together a website for them. ex-Royal Marine, Bill Hartland, was their webmaster. That website was around until 2014 and then just disappeared. I contacted Bill, who by then was in his 80s, and asked if I could drag everything I could from the Internet Archive and rebuild the site. On a trip back to the UK I made, we met and he gave me what was left of the Association's records.

HMS Gambia last saw service in 1960. From her time when she was active I think at least 3,000 men served on her at one time or another, and over the years, nearly all have died. The handful of ex-crew I am still in contact with are now well into their 90s.

The nicest thing about the site is that nowadays the children and grandchildren of the crew are visiting it and finding old photos of their relatives on it or giving me a bit more information for the site about them.

[Bede]

I hope that my site is archived and reused in the future. Like how my friends pick up on my vocal quirks, and how my little brother still draws his stars like how I taught him to. Bits and pieces of the things you and I love and create will be spread long past when we're gone...

It's almost like... What do you mean, you're not immortal?

[wygolvillage]

If my site was archived I would probably cry tears of joy. The idea that my site could keep being online in some capacity longer than myself is really beautiful to me, and I hope people take inspiration from it.

[BlazingCobaltX]

If I get my CANAAN shrine/archive set up, I do hope that it remains a well-used information resource far into the future. Even if it's only one person a year looking at it.

Obviously, you never know what people will derive of your site. You may put a lot of effort in content and then someone ends up being inspired by an offhand design choice you once made. All those types of "remixes" are beautiful.