The internet is disappearing, a new study has suggested, as web pages and online content is lost.
The web is often thought of as a place where content lasts forever. But vast swathes of its are
being lost as pages are deleted or moved, according to new research.
Of the webpages that existed in 2013, for instance, 38 per cent are now lost. Even newer pages
are disappearing: 8 per cent of pages that existed in 2023 are no longer available.
Those pages tend to disappear when they are deleted or moved. That happens on otherwise
functional websites, the study from the Pew Research Center indicated, rather than happening when
whole websites disappear.
The effect means that vast amounts of news and important reference content are disappearing. Some 23 per cent of news pages include at least one broken link, and 21 per cent of government
websites, it said – and 54 per cent of Wikipedia pages include a link in their references that no longer
exists.
Much the same effect is happening on social media. A fifth of tweets disappear from the site within
months of being posted.
The study was completed by gathering a random samples of almost a million webpages, taken from
Common Crawl, a service that archives parts of the internet. Researchers then looked to see whether
those pages continued to exist between 2013 and 2023.
It found that 25 per cent of all pages collected between 2013 and 2023 were no longer available. Of
those, 16 per cent of pages came from a website that continues to exist, while 9 per cent were
located on websites that no longer exist at all.
I do notice this.
I've seen something on the web, and then have gone back to look for it, but do not find it.
And also, there is a concerted effort on the part of Google (and others ) to make it difficult to find information that Google (and others) does not really want to be easily found.
The internet comes with many warnings, one being that you should always be careful what you put
out there because it "lasts forever." But a new study from Pew Research Center shows that's not
always true; much of what's put out on the internet really only lasts a fleeting amount of time.
Softball Bat wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2024 4:31 pm
One of these days, AP's panty picture will be -----> GONE!
Not so fast, my friend. The Wayback Machine will have AP's panty photo for many many years.
kcdave wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2023 8:05 am
I was actually going to to join in the best bets activity here at good ole T1B...The guy that runs that contest is a fucking prick
Derron wrote: ↑Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:07 pm
You are truly one of the worst pieces of shit to ever post on this board. Start giving up your paycheck for reparations now and then you can shut the fuck up about your racist blasts.
Sudden Sam wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2024 9:16 pm
Seriously…what was he thinking?! Of all the shit that’s been posted in here, that one boggles the mind.
One of the world's great mysteries
kcdave wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2023 8:05 am
I was actually going to to join in the best bets activity here at good ole T1B...The guy that runs that contest is a fucking prick
Derron wrote: ↑Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:07 pm
You are truly one of the worst pieces of shit to ever post on this board. Start giving up your paycheck for reparations now and then you can shut the fuck up about your racist blasts.
Softball Bat wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2024 4:53 pm
Very good point, Mikey!
I blame -----> kcdave.
He is the one who insisted on smilies being changed.
If anything gets fucked up, it's usually dave.
If that guy stumbled upon the switch that powers the universe with a sign above it saying, "Do Not Touch!" dave would turn it off just to see what happens.
emoji is ----> GONE!
