There have been a few blogs, very good ones, that have decided to completely destroy everything that they've done. I don't really understand how someone could put so much work into something only to burn it to the ground. It's a personal choice I guess but if I ever got tired of doing Maximum Rock & Roll Playing I would be flattered that people still wanted me to keep it archived. I'd have a hard time setting it afire.
Yes, it is your own creativity and you don't owe anybody anything, but to me it comes off as senseless. Am I alone here?
I don't get it either, man. I know it's a blogger's right to delete their blog, but technically it's *publishing* and once the public reads it, part of the work belongs to them. Right?
ReplyDeleteIt's way too ephemeral & volatile a medium for the preservation of ideas. I've taken to copying posts/ideas into various documents (with links to the blogs) so that if the blog vanishes, at least I have a record of the idea.
What happened to the blogosphere almanac idea? I remember a couple of years ago someone was publishing a digest of the "best of the old school blog posts" or somesuch. Did that die off because of a difficulty in obtaining permissions?
How I understand and share your incomprehension!
ReplyDeleteSeveral bloggers who had put a lot of themselves in a 'blogged' 18th C. Imagi-Nation deleted them when their interest changed. Of course it's their right, but I wonder what it reflect most: total contempt of readers, selfishness, or self-deprecation?
While many blogs are just personal diaries which can interest only thee author and at most a few relatives and friends ("to day, a flu...; today was almost late at work because on a crash on the highway..."), some become with time a rich library of references ans inspirational ideas / illustrations. To delete such is somehow insulting for the veteran readers: what did they do to deserve such.. deprivation?
Gregarious Monk, I wasn't aware of the "best of old school" digest, I hope it's something that gets under way though.
ReplyDeleteAbdul666, I think you hit the nail on the head. In a lot of ways it comes off as contempt for the reader, and in a couple of cases when an announcement has been made on certain blogs that they are erasing their work, it's almost stated as total contempt for it's audience.
Oops, my bad, it's not just a collection of OSR blog material, it's rpg blogging in general. It's an excellent idea and perhaps an "OSR Blog Annual" is something to consider.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to a review of the first volume on RPG.net:
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15283.phtml
That one and a second volume are available in print and PDF. (Lulu and RPGNow)