UserLand erased my 9/11 posts. I was reminded of that by the Wired article on how 9/11 catalyzed blogging.
Back then I was blogging on UserLand’s Manilasites service, which was free. About a year ago UserLand turned that service off and my posts from 9/11 were lost forever. Even the Internet Archive doesn’t have them.
I remember waking up at around 8 a.m. to the radio, which was already carrying wall-to-wall news about that awful day. I immediately got up, turned on CNN just in time to see the first tower fall. I could not believe it. I remember talking with Dave Winer several times that day.
My son drew two pictures, one of a happy NY and one of a sad and destroyed NY. Those were linked to by Lycos, which sent probably hundreds of thousands of people over to my blog. I so wish I had those images to share with you today. I remember the frowning sun.
One other thing I remember was having tons of IM windows open. I believe I talked with people in more than 30 countries that day. Even back then the word-of-mouth network was getting to be hyper efficient. I can’t even imagine what TechMeme or Digg would do with such a story today. The next disaster will be dramatically different because of sites like those.
It’s too bad the first couple of years of my blogging are gone. 9/11 kicked off quite a tumultuous period in my life. In late October I had a car wreck where I totaled my car. Around that time my first marriage blew up, and I started going out with Maryam. Oh, and we shipped Radio UserLand. My grandma died. I laid myself off, then found a job at NEC. And a few other things happened there too. Oh, yeah, I proposed to Maryam in front of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas January 1, 2002. All this happened in a six-month period after 9/11.
Speaking of which, I’m staying in the same hotel I proposed to Maryam at (the SAP shindig starts in a few hours). I miss her. I miss the towers. I miss my old blogs. I miss the freedoms we’ve given up since (having my carryons checked for chemical explosives and not being able to carry in drinks at the airport is just a couple of the ways things have changed).
I have a good attitude toward losing my blogs, though. It doesn’t matter in the end.
I wonder if we come back in 100 years how much of any of our blogs will still be around and findable? 300 years? 1,000 years?
Funny enough, I wish I could erase my memories of that dreadful day … Sigh.
You’re pretty damn cool Scoble.
You’re pretty damn cool Scoble.
Mine and my husbands 9/11 memories (with photos). I live in NNJ and was in Montreal at an airport convention.
http://www.hhangel.worpree.com
Mine and my husbands 9/11 memories (with photos). I live in NNJ and was in Montreal at an airport convention.
http://www.hhangel.worpree.com
Sorry…www.hhangel.wordpress.com
Sorry…www.hhangel.wordpress.com
Robert, sometimes even if the Wayback machine doesn’t have something, it’ll still be on Yahoo, if not google cache. I’ve had the strangest luck there.
As for 9/11, as terrible as that day was, the things that happened that day did not define the future as much as the things that happened on 9/12. It’s not the actions of terrorists that control a free country, but rather the will of the people and the choices of their government. Our destiny lies in our own hands.
Robert, sometimes even if the Wayback machine doesn’t have something, it’ll still be on Yahoo, if not google cache. I’ve had the strangest luck there.
As for 9/11, as terrible as that day was, the things that happened that day did not define the future as much as the things that happened on 9/12. It’s not the actions of terrorists that control a free country, but rather the will of the people and the choices of their government. Our destiny lies in our own hands.
Rob, thanks, that’s one of them (in retrospect, if there’s an image that should be kept it’s that one). The other two were black and white showing the towers coming down and the sun frowning.
Rob, thanks, that’s one of them (in retrospect, if there’s an image that should be kept it’s that one). The other two were black and white showing the towers coming down and the sun frowning.
Robert…..
It would look a bit like this:
http://tailrank.com/2006-09-04
Steve Irwin dying was huge news….. the biggest meme since we’ve launched Tailrank….. I suspect that another 9/11 would look the same.
Kevin
Robert…..
It would look a bit like this:
http://tailrank.com/2006-09-04
Steve Irwin dying was huge news….. the biggest meme since we’ve launched Tailrank….. I suspect that another 9/11 would look the same.
Kevin
Here is a reference to the same day in 1906 ~ but with a different outcome:
http://integrationcoach.wordpress.com/2006/09/04/september-11-1906
May we find peace within ourselves today,
Stacy
Here is a reference to the same day in 1906 ~ but with a different outcome:
http://integrationcoach.wordpress.com/2006/09/04/september-11-1906
May we find peace within ourselves today,
Stacy
It’s sad and strange how much has changed since then. I was at an autism conference, held at a synagogue in Albuquerque. The TV was in the prayer room. We all stood in front of that TV watching. Then we went back to the conference room. The presenters asked if we should continue. Nobody could answer, really. We were as stunned and overwhelmed as the kids we were there too talk about.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Robert.
It’s sad and strange how much has changed since then. I was at an autism conference, held at a synagogue in Albuquerque. The TV was in the prayer room. We all stood in front of that TV watching. Then we went back to the conference room. The presenters asked if we should continue. Nobody could answer, really. We were as stunned and overwhelmed as the kids we were there too talk about.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Robert.
[...] Click here for original website post by Robert Scoble and published by Naik Michel [...]
This has been an interesting post to read and to also read the comments left by others, thankyou.
Its sad that you lost your blog records. Maybe for the future backup you could sub to your own RSS and make a database of your posts.
Just to add to the scenarios, I will never forget 9/11 either. I come from England, UK. It was lunchtime and I turned on the news just watching the headlines and the breaking news came in. I had just move into my flat and I was alone waiting for my friend to move in the next couple of days. I watched the TV avidly and was just shocked when I saw those towers collapse. Totally unexpected and very upsetting, knowing that many of those people had not escaped. I watched the news all day waiting for the latest news of what was happening.
A couple of days later we heard that my family doctor had lost his son in the attacks. He had been out there working for one of the big banking firms Morgan Stanley.
In memory to Ollie Bennett.
This has been an interesting post to read and to also read the comments left by others, thankyou.
Its sad that you lost your blog records. Maybe for the future backup you could sub to your own RSS and make a database of your posts.
Just to add to the scenarios, I will never forget 9/11 either. I come from England, UK. It was lunchtime and I turned on the news just watching the headlines and the breaking news came in. I had just move into my flat and I was alone waiting for my friend to move in the next couple of days. I watched the TV avidly and was just shocked when I saw those towers collapse. Totally unexpected and very upsetting, knowing that many of those people had not escaped. I watched the news all day waiting for the latest news of what was happening.
A couple of days later we heard that my family doctor had lost his son in the attacks. He had been out there working for one of the big banking firms Morgan Stanley.
In memory to Ollie Bennett.
I’m actually shocked that nobody has a copy of your posts tucked away somewhere, especially considering all the stories I’ve heard of people trying to delete their blogs, and others still having access to the content – or even reposting it. Perhaps those posts and pictures will turn up…
I’m actually shocked that nobody has a copy of your posts tucked away somewhere, especially considering all the stories I’ve heard of people trying to delete their blogs, and others still having access to the content – or even reposting it. Perhaps those posts and pictures will turn up…
I am looking into using Blurb.com’s blog -> book service to preserve my blog. There are memories in there I want to keep and share. (http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook)
I am looking into using Blurb.com’s blog -> book service to preserve my blog. There are memories in there I want to keep and share. (http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook)
I guess it’s been a good idea that I have been doing monthly archives of my post.
I guess it’s been a good idea that I have been doing monthly archives of my post.
[...] I also found Scoble’s post stangely striking. I feel it is a big deal (and a tragedy of sorts) that his blog posts from 2001 are gone. I do back up my blog regularly… and I feel every piece of information (especially historical first hand accounts like Robert’s blog) that we keep is valuable to humanity as a whole… and that each piece that vanishes is a potentially costly loss. The power we have to publish is greatly diminished if the publications lack permanence… or at least staying power. Imagine the value of today’s blogs to future generations of humanity, who will almost certainly have tools to make sense of the volume of information! [...]
I will leave my 9/11 history here. It begins with me waking up early to clear foliage for an ederly woman and rushing to a Kansas City Internet Cafe to hear the words of Condoleeza Rice.
Rice gave the most incredible speech of which I had watched the day before on CSPAN. The speech was called “The Transparent Nation” and was addressing the Europeon press on our Star Wars tests in Alaska. Condeleeza explained that we in America are free. That we had nothing to hide thus we were sharing what our 9/11 excersizes were about.
I miss the transparent nation – the speech – the ideas – a brilliant black woman speaking so elloquointly in a time of peace. The fear in our hearts is similiar after we found out what was going on so no need to elaborate.Today my only transparency is a lack of Spell check.
But, seeing the media today; I miss Rice and I miss her transparent nation.
I will leave my 9/11 history here. It begins with me waking up early to clear foliage for an ederly woman and rushing to a Kansas City Internet Cafe to hear the words of Condoleeza Rice.
Rice gave the most incredible speech of which I had watched the day before on CSPAN. The speech was called “The Transparent Nation” and was addressing the Europeon press on our Star Wars tests in Alaska. Condeleeza explained that we in America are free. That we had nothing to hide thus we were sharing what our 9/11 excersizes were about.
I miss the transparent nation – the speech – the ideas – a brilliant black woman speaking so elloquointly in a time of peace. The fear in our hearts is similiar after we found out what was going on so no need to elaborate.Today my only transparency is a lack of Spell check.
But, seeing the media today; I miss Rice and I miss her transparent nation.
“a brilliant black woman speaking so elloquointly” (sic)”
Just curious, what does her race have to do with anything?
“a brilliant black woman speaking so elloquointly” (sic)”
Just curious, what does her race have to do with anything?
FWLIW, 9/11 2001 wasn’t such a shock to me. This sort of thing happens to hundreds of people weekly, all around the world, and nobody thinks to remember them.
The day that I still have vivid memories of, was watching the fall of Saigon on TV, seeing people fighting to board the last remaining choppers lifting off from the US Embassy, the desperate people beseiging the Embassy compounds, the Marines with their service-issue assault rifles standing guard, the choppers landing on the US Navy carriers, then being lightened, smashed up then thrown off the flight deck to make room for yet more people …
“Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman- a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going.”
Thus Spake Zarathustra
FWLIW, 9/11 2001 wasn’t such a shock to me. This sort of thing happens to hundreds of people weekly, all around the world, and nobody thinks to remember them.
The day that I still have vivid memories of, was watching the fall of Saigon on TV, seeing people fighting to board the last remaining choppers lifting off from the US Embassy, the desperate people beseiging the Embassy compounds, the Marines with their service-issue assault rifles standing guard, the choppers landing on the US Navy carriers, then being lightened, smashed up then thrown off the flight deck to make room for yet more people …
“Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman- a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going.”
Thus Spake Zarathustra
[...] http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/my-911-history-was-erased/ [...]
[...] Christopher HawkinsRobert ScobleWalley McClureLifeHackerDavid SeahGranolaGirl [...]
I’m DYING to see what Scoble will do to you, spammer.
I’m DYING to see what Scoble will do to you, spammer.
11 the new 13?
Traditionally, the 13th day of any month (especially if it falls on a Friday) is considered unlucky. Indeed, tales from times past suggest that any day that includes the numbers one and three are believed to be unlucky – so that includes the 31st.
An…
Blogs are forever archived in the NewsGator online archive…
Blogs are forever archived in the NewsGator online archive…
[...] Evidently, the old comments were no longer available in archived form either. Robert Scoble recently talked about how his archives are now lost as well. [...]
Robert, this isn’t anything new. You’ve always been incredibly cavalier about preserving the record of your words and those of your commenters. There seems little incentive for me to post any comments on your weblog that require time and thought to compose, since I know that the shelf-life is essentially limited by your next move to a different host, provider, or technology, whether for the weblog itself or the comments.
Your pat answer each time is that you’re not a technologist and can’t get an export or can’t get the data to import or… Well, it’s always something, isn’t it?
Which is bullshit, because just about each time I tell you that all you have to do is post a request for help, and the LazyWeb will almost certainly provide a solution. Strangely, you’ve never *ever* followed up on this.
So, I am left with the conclusion that it must actually suit you to have many of these old conversations vanish.
Robert, this isn’t anything new. You’ve always been incredibly cavalier about preserving the record of your words and those of your commenters. There seems little incentive for me to post any comments on your weblog that require time and thought to compose, since I know that the shelf-life is essentially limited by your next move to a different host, provider, or technology, whether for the weblog itself or the comments.
Your pat answer each time is that you’re not a technologist and can’t get an export or can’t get the data to import or… Well, it’s always something, isn’t it?
Which is bullshit, because just about each time I tell you that all you have to do is post a request for help, and the LazyWeb will almost certainly provide a solution. Strangely, you’ve never *ever* followed up on this.
So, I am left with the conclusion that it must actually suit you to have many of these old conversations vanish.
Michael: OK, can you get comments back that have been removed by an entity I don’t control?
I’m fairly certain I won’t have those problems with WOrdpress.com.
Michael: OK, can you get comments back that have been removed by an entity I don’t control?
I’m fairly certain I won’t have those problems with WOrdpress.com.
Jeez. My point wasn’t about comments being removed by an entity you don’t control, it was about you abandoning comments and posts without making any attempt to retreive them.
As an example: If nothing else would have worked (ie. you couldn’t get an export of the data), comments that were left on Haloscan attached to your posts could have been screen-scraped with a few scripts and some elbow-grease *before* you left the service.
No-one but you decided to stop using that comment system. No one but you could have known you would do it. No one but you could have asked for help in retrieving the data before it was gone.
Jeez. My point wasn’t about comments being removed by an entity you don’t control, it was about you abandoning comments and posts without making any attempt to retreive them.
As an example: If nothing else would have worked (ie. you couldn’t get an export of the data), comments that were left on Haloscan attached to your posts could have been screen-scraped with a few scripts and some elbow-grease *before* you left the service.
No-one but you decided to stop using that comment system. No one but you could have known you would do it. No one but you could have asked for help in retrieving the data before it was gone.
i just clearly remember not quite what happened around me when it happened, but i remember being home early from school because they let out early due to the events, and i was like in 5th or 6th grade. when we all got home, my 3 brothers and i, my parents were laying my my oldest brothers room, and we would try to come out to go downstairs to get something to eat, and we would get viciously yelled at for exiting our room. even after like, 2 weeks, if we asked to go out and play, they wouldnt let us unless we were with them, kinda like terrorists were after us indiviually. but i guess i can see where they were coming from. i didnt really realize how many people died and how big of a thing is was until just recently. and honestly it makes me feel bad that i never felt like it was a big deal until i saw the list of names that just kept going and going and going… so as of now i am creating a powerpoint as a tribute to remember all those that died on that tragic day.
i just clearly remember not quite what happened around me when it happened, but i remember being home early from school because they let out early due to the events, and i was like in 5th or 6th grade. when we all got home, my 3 brothers and i, my parents were laying my my oldest brothers room, and we would try to come out to go downstairs to get something to eat, and we would get viciously yelled at for exiting our room. even after like, 2 weeks, if we asked to go out and play, they wouldnt let us unless we were with them, kinda like terrorists were after us indiviually. but i guess i can see where they were coming from. i didnt really realize how many people died and how big of a thing is was until just recently. and honestly it makes me feel bad that i never felt like it was a big deal until i saw the list of names that just kept going and going and going… so as of now i am creating a powerpoint as a tribute to remember all those that died on that tragic day.
[...] went down, which shows the fragility of the web during emergencies. Even Robert’s 911 post was erased by userland, and Wired remembers how blogging and emergencies impact citizen [...]