Archiving

~ Clarissa

What’s good about me is that when I fail at something, I move on fast. I realized I will never beat the record of blog visits from years ago. It’s nobody’s fault, blog visits are down for everybody for obvious reasons.

So I started archiving all the old posts. This means I can see them (for sentimental reasons) but nobody is can. Most of the posts for 2009-10 are already gone. This will completely tank the visitor stats but if I can’t break the record anyway, I don’t care. 

Now that extreme self-righteousness is the dominant mode of online engagement and it’s spilling into RL, I see no reason to subject myself to the outbursts of idiots who disinter an ancient post on fluffy kittens and exclaim triumphantly, “So you are saying that you admire Hitler! You are a proud Nazi!”

If you look at the most recent comments, you’ll see an example of this. Some idiot read an old guest post and concluded that I “object to the existence of transgender people.” Not only does this post never mention transgender people, it wasn’t even written by me. But I’ll be damned if I enter into a discussion on whether I object to the existence of people because the end of that journey is total insanity. 

Enjoy the old posts for now because they will all be disappearing soon. 

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Published by Clarissa

26 thoughts on “Archiving”

  1. That’s a shame! I do occasionally enjoy browsing old posts at your blog. And I leave not trolling comments. 😉

    Please reconsider archiving them. Maybe you can turn off comments on old posts?

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    2. I don’t want to come to work or go on the job market one day and hear, “Out with you, you Hitler-loving freak who objects to the existence of transgender people.” Academics are fired all the time for saying completely innocent things online. Everybody seems to accept that as good and normal, so what can I do?

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        1. The problem isn’t the comments. It’s that the current mood of aggressive self-righteousness can pervert anything I have written over the years to present me as the major evildoer of planet.

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  2. Will you delete your book reviews too, including academic books?

    And the posts “how to … have a successful personal life” ?

    I’ve also enjoyed rereading some old posts. It is a pity that the current situation has led to that.

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    1. No, I’m leaving the reviews and the recipes.

      Hey, they are not deleted, just archived. I can restore them all at any time. I will retire at some point. 🙂

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      1. \ No, I’m leaving the reviews and the recipes.

        Regarding the reviews, I’ve tried accessing Terry Eagleton’s On Evil, but it’s gone.

        Had I known, I would’ve saved a few reviews of books I want to read.

        Now am wondering whether the situation is that bad everywhere in the Western world, or only in America.

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  3. Another option (if you would want to do that) could have been to make (some of most interesting of) those posts “friends only,” meaning password protected.

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      1. I love your older posts on feminism and psychological insights and come back and read them every so often. What a pity they’ll be gone!

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  5. Huh. Not to be overtly dramatic myself, but doesn’t this defeat the purpose of the blog itself – as defined by your tagline at least?

    Where will this academic’s opinions go after this? Does this mean you’re reconsidering the merit of blogging as a platform?

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    1. It’s actually worse than that. I’m reconsidering the merit of public engagement on the part of academics. So no, you are not being the least dramatic. We are all losing something important here.

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      1. You’re one of the biggest advocates of public engagement that I know, so this is a big change. Could you talk about the reasons behind both the initial enthusiasm and why it has faded? Anything beyond what you’ve already mentioned here?

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  6. I understand your reasons for archiving your old posts and I respect them. I admit I am saddened. I have not been reading “from the beginning” and have sometimes read back. But like you said, “blogging doesn’t pay the bills.” — Saddened but Understanding

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  7. If you look at the most recent comments, you’ll see an example of this. Some idiot read an old guest post and concluded that I “object to the existence of transgender people.” Not only does this post never mention transgender people, it wasn’t even written by me. But I’ll be damned if I enter into a discussion on whether I object to the existence of people because the end of that journey is total insanity.

    Lock the comments on that post and the old posts. Bloggers do this all the time. If you’re worried about people leaving dumb comments on years old posts just set the posts to lock after x period of time. Very few people leave comments on old posts like that open. I’ve even seen people lock posts while they’re on vacation.

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    1. As I already said, it’s not commenters I worry about. It’s the agressive right-fighters who will try to get me fired based on some completely out of context thing I said back in 2009.

      When I started blogging, there was no Twitter-fueled hysteria like there is today. The Twitter frame of mind is making online self-expression impossible.

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      1. It’s the agressive right-fighters who will try to get me fired based on some completely out of context thing I said back in 2009.
        Make your blog avatar doesn’t match your avatar on any other site, especially ones with your real name/real place of work.
        Definitely archive any posts that make it easy to guess the same.

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