Poll of the Day > My account is 20 years old. 20 years of GFaqs

(+) Yeah! (+)

Actually turned 20 in February, forgot to celebrate. In light of the announcement changes to GFaqs and making me reminisce a little, I realized my account is now 20 years old here.

Achievement unlocked?

Congrats!

Congratulations.

Congratulations!

And here's to 20 more!

*crosses fingers*

Mine can buy alcohol in August

Mine hit 21 in September. Kind of wild to think about, really.

You kids get off my lawn!

How do you not have any badges? o_O

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Actually turned 20 in February

Mine turned 21 in February.

The truly terrifying thing is when you realize that, for some people here at least, they've had an account here for more than half their life.

I'm still safe from that (my account won't be half my age until 2029 - and let's be honest, the site probably isn't going to be around that long). But it's a chilling thought.



And hell, some of you guys are actually closing in on 2/3rds of your life here. That's just insane.

Thanks all, and congrats to adjl and PO as well!

Long fucking time to be on the same site.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The truly terrifying thing is when you realize that, for some people here at least, they've had an account here for more than half their life.

As ridiculous as GFaqs is, when you put it that way, it has been a constant entity in my life. Predates Facebook and outlasted MySpace...but not my AOL.com account!

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

As ridiculous as GFaqs is, when you put it that way, it has been a constant entity in my life. Predates Facebook and outlasted MySpace...but not my AOL.com account!

I ignore my AOL accounts for years at a time, and when I do remember to log into them they've usually had all of their email purged due to inactivity and I need to reset them, but they're still there (as far as I know - I've only reactivated one of them in the last 10 years or so).

Pretty much every site I used to frequent in the 90s is long gone, and most of the 00s sites as well.

Everyone always used to act like "nothing ever goes away once it's online", but stuff purges and vanishes all the time. And with most search engines becoming more and more crap with every passing day, it's getting harder to find even the stuff that is still out there somewhere.

Those are rookie numbers

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I ignore my AOL accounts for years at a time, and when I do remember to log into them they've usually had all of their email purged due to inactivity and I need to reset them, but they're still there (as far as I know - I've only reactivated one of them in the last 10 years or so).

I stopped using it for any correspondence about 15 years ago, but I keep it active for junk. Any "sign up now and get a free appetizer!" type stuff, I just use that account, and then go in and delete all the emails/unsubscribe to stuff a couple times a year. I have a hotmail that kind function more in the middle between that and my active gmail.

Pretty much every site I used to frequent in the 90s is long gone, and most of the 00s sites as well.

Just reading this all of a sudden made me remember Cheat Code Central. Man, I don't even think that made it through the 00's.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Everyone always used to act like "nothing ever goes away once it's online", but stuff purges and vanishes all the time. And with most search engines becoming more and more crap with every passing day, it's getting harder to find even the stuff that is still out there somewhere.

Can't the Way Back Machine site locate a decent amount of old stuff?

Metalsonic66 posted...

Those are rookie numbers

>_>
*looks at your account*
<_<

Then again, I did lurk at least a solid year on GFaqs before making an account. I recall it was to ask some sort of question about a part of a game/wanting to actively participate in writing for the Super Smash Bros. Melee board story topics.

I'm also a rookie

I've been on here about 20 years, but lost an account bet on the NFL board 12 years ago going by the age of my current one lol

Congratulations!

Congratulations! Happy 20th Gamefaqs Anniversary!

Right on!

I think my original account would've been 20 in...October? I really recall joining originally when I was 13, so later 2004.

I can relate.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'm still safe from that (my account won't be half my age until 2029 - and let's be honest, the site probably isn't going to be around that long).

That's what you were saying like a decade ago!

adjl posted...

Mine hit 21 in September. Kind of wild to think about, really.

Mine hit 22 last month.

And I try not to think about it.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The truly terrifying thing is when you realize that, for some people here at least, they've had an account here for more than half their life.

The more terrifying thing is when your account is 22 and it only accounts for a small fraction of your life.

Tempus fugit. Like I'll sometimes mention, a teenager once asked for directions and I started to tell him where something was, only for somebody I was with to interrupt and mention those landmarks I referenced hadn't been around for longer than the kid had been alive.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Just reading this all of a sudden made me remember Cheat Code Central. Man, I don't even think that made it through the 00's.

I used to use a site called GIA for guides back in college in the 90s. I remember using it to solve some of the puzzles in Riven.

That site shutting down is actually what brought me here - I needed to look for a game, GIA had shut down, and I found myself on GameFAQs.



CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Can't the Way Back Machine site locate a decent amount of old stuff?

Yes and no. It mostly depends on what you're looking for.

Most web archiving services generally have to go trawling for sites via links, so if a site wasn't strongly linked to it was potentially easy for archivers to miss. On top of which, people who run sites only have to add a single .txt file to their site to prevent archiving:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots.txt

There's definitely a ton of stuff that used to exist that's gone poof (presumably forever) because the Wayback Machine never managed to catch it. Which I know because I've looked for it and it wasn't there. In some cases, you'll ironically get a page or two from a site, but most of the rest of it just isn't there (worst is when you get a menu page complete with tons of links, and literally none of the links work).

And then, of course, there's the logic most people never really think about - what happens when the archiving services also shut down? There's no real reason why the Internet Archive is somehow eternal or immune to shutting down. If the money or interest in maintaining it ever runs out, everything they've archived can easily disappear. Same for Wikipedia - most people sort of assume it's there forever now, but there's always the chance that we wake up one day and it's just not there.

But ignoring all that, even with archiving, services are still gone. Sure, you can potentially find old sites or posts from 30 years ago (if you can remember the URL or know how to look),

When GameFAQs goes, you may be able to track down and reread old posts from the site, but the site itself (as an active entity) will still be gone. At least some of the sites I have nostalgia for that are gone forever were old-school chat sites and MUDs that are just gone forever.



Zeus posted...

That's what you were saying like a decade ago!

Nah. I was already complaining about the site a decade ago, but I was a lot more optimistic about its lifespan and activity then than I am now.



Zeus posted...

Tempus fugit. Like I'll sometimes mention, a teenager once asked for directions and I started to tell him where something was, only for somebody I was with to interrupt and mention those landmarks I referenced hadn't been around for longer than the kid had been alive.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

I've definitely noticed I've been having a lot more "Yeah, over there by where the [insert landmark here] used to be" type conversations over the last decade or so. Usually it's when I'm talking to someone who actually knows the places I'm referring to so they get it, but occasionally one will slip out and you suddenly realize that this person you're talking to is going to have no idea where the old 7-11 that burned down 20 years ago was, so it's not going to help them very much for you to mention it.