A common issue comes up when dealing with old websites, the 404 not found error. Kate Wagner's article talks about how this problem is very common and it has caused issues in the world of the interweb. It is explained that websiters, articles, and social media posts are disappearing to something she calls, "link rot"". This phenomenon is when links to sites and web pages get deleted or locked behind walls, making a lot of information impossible to access. Much of what was posted over the earlier years of the internet has vanished. Imagine trying to research something important, only to find out that the sources you need are just gone. Journalists, students, and researchers constantly run into this problem, making it harder to track down reliable information. And it’s not just academic or news content that’s disappearing. Everything from memes to viral tweets to YouTube videos that shaped internet culture can be wiped out in an instant, like they never even existed. This is important to note because these innocent memes and videos have no real reason to be deleted, so why are they?
The main reason for all this digital vanshings is that the internet isn’t what it used to be. Back in the day, people built personal websites, ran independent blogs, and posted on forums that stuck around for years. Now, almost everything lives on big platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. These companies control what stays and what gets deleted. If they decide to remove a post, change their rules, or even shut down completely, all of that content disappears too. Wagner makes the point that this isn’t just about losing funny tweets or old blogs, but that it’s about how history is being erased as we speak. Even if we like it or not, much of what we know about major events now comes from social media posts, firsthand videos, and independent news sources. If these are suddenly unavailable, we’re left with gaps in our understanding of what actually happened. Even though some sites aren't being fully deleted, they’re often locked away behind paywalls, making them impossible to access unless you’re willing to pay. It makes me super mad when I go to read an article and a pay-add pops up. Researchers and many other internet based informationalists are pushed into a corner of pay or no view.
What can be done and how do we as civilians prevent this. Wagner talks about being invested in organizations like the Internet Archive. This tries to save these precious sites before they go ghost. Even that has its limits, some websites block archiving tools, and certain types of content just don’t get saved properly. She very strongly expressed her opinions on preservation of media and generally free information on the internet. A larger issue is that most people don’t understand how much of the internet is truly disappearing. Our minds are used to viewing the internet as immortal and all-powerful, but actually it is very susceptible to error. If we didn't start protecting information, we might wake up one day and realize that huge parts of our culture, history, and even personal memories have been erased forever. The internet was supposed to make information more accessible, but instead, it’s proving to be just as temporary as anything else.