Dan Bricklin @danb@qoto.org

What should Amazon have said would happen to DPReview.com after being frozen to show an example of support for the Internet as a trusted repository? Example: "Read-only for at least 20 yrs not breaking incoming links with goal of in perpetuity." (I chose 20 years for DPReview.com because I think its content could be useful to at least some people that long, not just historians. "Vintage" cameras are used for a long time. Info in forums have helped many users dealing with technical issues.)

Archive.org has http://dpreview.com going back to 1999. I just donated to them to help keep all that information around. The manner of the shutdown ("available in read-only mode for a limited period after...[April 2023]": https://dpreview.com/news/5901145460/dpreview-com-to-close) is a reminder of how important doing that is. H/T: @nizmow@hachyderm.io

@nizmow@hachyderm.io Agreed! And thanks for inspiring me to donate today. I gave my reason as being in reaction to what's happening with www.dpreview.com.

@nizmow@hachyderm.io @timbray @philnickinson Thank you for doing that! This situation is another reminder how important archive.org is. With that inspiration, I just made a donation. But we can't depend on only one place.

@nizmow@hachyderm.io @timbray @philnickinson Well, going away in a few months is probably overstating it, but where else on the continuum of deprecation might they do things that will have bad effects? Do they value long-term stability? I wrote about "long-term" 19 years ago: http://www.bricklin.com/200yearsoftware.htm "Software That Lasts 200 Years". E.g.: "...General information kept by society includes knowledge and expression, and artifacts representative of culture. Again, the time frame for keeping such records is measured in decades or centuries. I can go to city hall and find out the details of ownership relating to my house going back to when it was built in the late 1800's..."

@nizmow@hachyderm.io @timbray @philnickinson I don't think so. It shows attitude and philosophy. This situation was so much easier to do in a better way. How will Amazon err when there are choices to be made? What signal are they sending to their employees? This was the leading serious web site for an important product category for decades not some minor blog.

@timbray @philnickinson That may be true now, but the corporation is signaling how they think about permanence. They should have erred on the side of retention. It is the opposite of S3 in the same company.

@ampressman @timbray @philnickinson They posted "The site will be available in read-only mode for a limited period afterwards." They posted you may be able to download your own content (forums) for limited time.

@timbray @philnickinson Deleting the site, not even in read-only mode, is a slap in the face to viewing web as a trusted repository. It signals that Amazon views all web content as ephemeral and not trustworthy for important works. Should we view S3 as something that could disappear in a few months?

@danhon Does it have to do with needing to know who the user is before you know who (which system, directory, service, Google, etc.) will validate them?

@donmelton Thanks for this! It's wonderful. I only have a few memories of interacting with Steve Jobs myself since I only saw him a few times other than with crowds at conferences. I did, though, have dinner alone with him once in his hotel room when the other attendee didn't show. I last spoke with him at his last WWDC closing a loop that started with VisiCalc (http://danbricklin.com/log/2011_03_09.htm#jobs2011). I got to tell him I was an iPad developer. He always treated me well, even when I said things I'm sure he didn't like. May his memory be a blessing.