The internet’s memory is fading in front of us. Preserve what you can.

Long, self-indulgent essays from a writer I idolized, a gorgeous online portfolio of photos taken by a photographer in Japan, a repository of old State Department language learning resources, all gone. Link rot is real, folks, and with it comes a slow, steady sloughing off things on the internet we once loved — or still love, in absentia.

Even things you’ve chosen to save online for your own use or convenience can come with an expiration date. Just today, Google announced a new policy under which personal Google accounts — not ones you may use for work — that haven’t been accessed for two years will be deleted. That includes “content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos”. The Washington Post

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