Sub Secreto

June 26, 2006

Legends and Lies

"The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its counternance is irritating, repellant, wounding, to the point that we want to destroy or repaint it. We want to be masters of the future only for the power to change the past." -M.Kundera

Some people have noticed that the archives for this site suddenly disappeared one day, and have asked me about it. I'd like to explain. One day I woke up and decided I didn't want anyone to be able to go back and read old posts from 2003. I get quite a few visitors who go and dig up old posts. Some people go further. Even now, after forbidding access to archives more than 3 posts old, I have people who are explicitly searching for specific things about me, who try to use google caches to get old posts (this is just one example). Cute.

"Maybe the past is like an anchor holding us back. Maybe you have to let go of who you were, to become who you will be." -Carrie

Strange huh - a blogger who wants privacy. I mean why would you put snippets of your life online if you wanted privacy. Well, not really strange; I have often been accused of being cryptic or very selective with what I publish in this space. So the move is not about privacy - part of it is about not letting my past hold me back. Mostly, it makes sense to me to live in the present - we can tell our stories and still live in the present.

Why does a blog without archives make sense to me? Without archives, the blog then becomes more like the conventional conversations we regularly partake in. When we speak to eachother, when we divulge information, stories, and secrets, we don't record the conversation. All that is left after we walk away is what remains in our memory (privacy is controlled by what the speakers choose to divulge to eachother). Moreso, one has to be present at the time of the conversation in order to receive the knowledge firsthand. The archive-free blog therefore becomes a conversation or story-telling session, and either you are present at the time of it or you aren't.

One thing I've struggled with is how to define the present - is it captured in the most previous post, or the last three posts. I think this depends on posting and reader frequency. Right now, I feel comfortable with defining the current month as the present. There is a new calendar on the right. This way if you happen to miss a conversation from the very recent past, and you care to participate in the conversation, you can do so before it becomes lost in the abyss of history.

Posted by Sarah at June 26, 2006 6:53 PM   

Comments

Fine, but what if I go on vacation? I'll miss all the posts...

Posted by: Vince at June 26, 2006 8:15 PM

If you go on vacation then you missed the conversation. If you miss it then it means it was out of date anyways.

Posted by: Princess Sarah at June 27, 2006 12:23 AM

Well, I'll just have to ask you to repeat yourself then.

You got the "Add to Google" buttons going on the side now!

Posted by: Vince at June 27, 2006 4:00 AM