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I happened to scroll through my list of subscribers while working on a blog widget and stumbled upon blog friends I’ve lost to the grim reaper over the years. I strolled over to their blogs, scrolled through a few posts, and even read a few comments we’d exchanged. Their internet presence is still around: a ghost town of sorts, but filled with beloved, friendly ghosts.
It didn’t feel like procrastination from writing because reading from your old friends who are no longer on this earth has a value all its own. It takes you back to good times, to your own naivete and also the sobering reminder of your own mortality.
What would be the fate of this blog when I’m not around? My social media? My books are taken care of at least in the foreseeable future with my agent/ agency and there’s stuff written into the contracts about any earnings and publishing decisions.
The internet presence is different, though. Some sites provide for legacy decisions, others don’t.
Over the last 16 years, my digital footprints have marked the internet. I started blogging in 2008, Facebook and Twitter in 2009. That’s a lot of public content, almost 2,000 posts exactly like this one, and so many thought bubbles over decades on various social media.
The relatives of some of my friends have come together to collate blog posts and other internet presence into books. I haven’t seen the need to do that with mine, though some of the interviews and guest posts on this site have proven useful to newer authors. Most of my own ramblings are ruminations on the reading and writing life, and as an editor I don’t see any book-ish value in them. They are good for their purpose at the time–building friendships and community, seeking advice, offering and returning support.
When I’m no longer around, a part of me is indifferent to what happens to it, the way I’m rather uncaring of what happens to my worldly possessions, few as they are, after I pass on. It’s mostly books and clothes. I don’t own a car or real estate or any jewelry/ curios of significant value.
I suppose I could arrange for this site to remain live after I’m gone, a sort of labyrinthine alley in a remote corner of the internet.
The romantic in me might even imagine someone discovering this site after I’m gone, and finding enough to cause procrastination in that blogger/ author/ reader’s life (if such a thing as a blog survives our increasingly minuscule attention spans) for a brief while.
My parents never had this problem, but given that internet presence figures in a lot of our lives, I suppose we might have to worry about our virtual legacy as well as real.
What about you? Have you planned for what happens to your internet presence after you’re gone? Do you know how others deal with it? Do you have advice for me?
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Great topic Damyanti. The digital dilemma is a question mark because it hasn’t been perfected yet. Before the next gen passes, there will be a button to push to make it all easier, lol. Just think, our ghosts will linger around the internet forever. <3
Hahaha you maybe right and that’s both comforting and terrifying. I’d love to have such a button to press to gather all of my presence on the internet, but the idea of such buttons in the hands of autocrats shows a sort of dystopia. Each generation, the victors survive, and I hope the good people win.
I’ll amen to that Damyanti! 🙂
I started with a free wordpress account, and changed several years ago to a self-hosted one. I realised that as soon as I stopped paying for the hosting, it would go, so I spent some time during lockdown (I think) setting up the old free wordpress site as a legacy site for my books, with some slected posts to give some more background information. It may not be the link that shows up on my books that are out there, but it should show up on a search after I’m gone!
Yeah I do have my free WordPress account—maybe some day I’ll do the same. I guess this site will go the way of others, but for now, here it is, and here I am 🙂
We came from stardust and we’ll return to stardust. Why worry about what we leave behind? Seriously though, I think about this sometimes and wonder if it matters one way or another. Other than those whose lives you touch directly, you can only leave your ideas and your ideas are in your books so assuming books survive — ah, well, that’s a big assumption. I guess we’re just screwed, Damyanti. Sorry I don’t have a better answer. ;0)
Pam, yes, dust to dust–that’s how I ultimately answer most of life’s perplexing questions, because that’s really the truth isn’t it? This post is a musing, and an effort to understand how others are dealing with this.
I’m not too concerned about my ideas or my books surviving me, because that’s something I have no control over–I think I read and understood Ozymandias as a teen:
Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
My brother-in-law was visiting in my home and for fun decided to look up my name on the internet. He showed me what he’d found, and it was a real eye opener for me. Some companies surf the internet to collect data on target people and I was amazed at the level of detail they had on my life and writings. They sell that information including if you have had any brushes with the law and company directorships etc. There is no privacy on the internet Damyanti, so it pays to stay on the right side of the law. 🙂 If I knew I was going to depart this world I’d shut down all my online accounts however I’m sure that information would remain in the data bases of these professional data collectors even if they disappear from the data base of for example WordPress.
Ian, I’ve never knowingly fallen afoul of the law and I know I have no privacy when it comes to the internet. I know some of my work is getting scraped off right now from this very site because ChatGPT is nothing but a plagiarism enabling machine. That’s not stopped me writing….I guess I’ll keep at it till I can’t anymore.
Damyanti writing is something that bursts out of those who have the talent and I expect to see your name up in lights around the world for some time to come and yes you will face privacy breaches in today’s world but that will never destroy your urge to write. You have amazing talent.
You’re very kind to say that. Thank you, Ian.
That is interesting information. I’ve noticed that the Facebook profiles of friends and relatives who passed on stay around for years. I have a website I created 20+ years ago using html and Dreamweaver. I am hosting it with Godaddy. However, I have not updated it since 2008. The reason it is still around is that Godaddy keeps charging my credit card for the hosting/domain. It is not a lot of money but I am wondering what I should do with it. Is it time to chuck it? That’s the question.
This one is hosted with a similar service provider. Not sure how long it’s paid for–my partner takes care of all of this–I do know it renews automatically each year.
I attended a webinar that addressed making provisions for one’s literary estate, including Internet presence. However, the tasks are so incredibly daunting, I’ve made a point of not thinking about it.
You’re right. The very thought sounds daunting. There are so many life tasks pending that post-life tasks seem like not my problem.
I know not. I care not. My partner is not interested so I suspect I will remain as a little visited ghost.
I’ve discussed it with my partner–they have access, if needed, but that’s about it. I’m not sure I’m going to bother about what happens after.
It’s on the list. A very LONG list. I don’t have the bandwidth, and may never get it again (the Long Covid research which MIGHT help people with other post-viral illnesses is taking a long time, and hasn’t produced anything really useful yet). If I DON’T get better, the list of things that didn’t get done increases daily.
If I DO, you can bet I’ll have a lot of catching up…
Right now, getting through a day, writing a bit in Pride’s Children: LIMBO, and taking care of myself and the responsibilities in life I have, takes more than I can manage, so most days miss even that very short list.
But yes, it is important. All those words! All the thought we put into them at the time. The discussions with others on our blogs… SO MUCH ‘CONTENT.’ Good luck with managing yours – it’s a huge daunting task.
So sorry to hear about your long covid–I hope you find the answers you need soon.
I agree it’s a lot of content, but I’m of the mind that all of it will turn to dust, just like we will. Far worthier things than my internet legacy have perished, so it isn’t a big deal if this site goes that way. For now, it is a fulfilling part of my life and that’s what I really care about.
Sending you the best wishes and vibes for your recovery, Alicia, and thank you for visiting.
It’s a real question, Damyanti. I brought it up to my kids, but why would they be interested?
I have no kids, but I’ve discussed it with my partner. They will have access and can decide what to do.
Like a pebble dropped into still waters, I don’t know how far the internet ripples will spread, touching lives of people I never met. I know the people who pay it forward influence others, and for me, that’s enough. Thanks for asking, Damyanti.
That’s enough for me too, I think. I’ve met so many readers of my blog, who have thought about my posts and been influenced by them, especially in the writing world. If I continue to live for another sixteen years and write, maybe that’s all I can ask for.
As someone who believes I will know nothing of anything after I die, I think i n the end I think it comes down to the close ones you leave behind and whether they want to preserve your memory in this way. If they do, they will take the necessary steps, but if it all feels too much for them, they will let it go. Unless you are someone who has made a big name for themselves while alive, I think it unlikely that anyone who doesn’t know you will come across your internet presence without the constant content refreshing that is necessary to keep a visible profile. Hard to accept, perhaps, but we are all but grains of sand…
This resonates so much with me. I’m pretty sure that if I don’t post for a few months, no one’s going to come looking. We truly are more insignificant than grains of sand, and I find that reassuring. It puts less pressure on the ‘me’ part.
Hi Damyanti, I was having a similar conversation with my parents about my blog and digital memorabilia. My dad said let’s arrange for it so that your blog lasts for always. Or words to that effect. But TBH, with the little love I get now that I’m alive, I wonder who’s going to come and mark their regrets on my digital grave. LOL. A colleague of mine, who sadly has passed, used to refer to it as digital garbage that I generate. I wouldn’t go so far as to agree with him ( even if he’s no more), but since I do not have children, I don’t see much value in memorializing my content. I am fiercely protective of my content though and it means the world to me, even if it doesn’t to others.
Aishwariya, I think you’re right to be fiercely protective of your content. The writing world is hard enough. We need to love ourselves and our work (advice I must take myself, btw).
I’m toying with the idea of making it so that the blog will go to free wordpress once I’m gone, and will last as long as wordpress lasts, I guess.
If I may, people like your departed colleague (and yes, I’m saying this about a person who’s no more) are not the right source of feedback. Anyone who calls the work of others ‘garbage’ is miserable and wants to spread sadness, and we can only feel sorry for them.
Please keep writing. Fwiw, I deeply appreciate your blog and your continued support over the years.