When Internet archives disappear

Plus: Your dress code for the UnGala is here! [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( Daily Reader | June 26, 2024 On Monday, [Variety reported]( that MTV News’ website is gone, and with it decades of archives dating back to 1996. I’ve worked in media long enough to prepare for news outlets—particularly those dedicated to arts and culture—shuttering with no forewarning. But I still am not accustomed to an entire website’s archives disappearing overnight, taking with it some journalists’ corpora and crucial documentation of cultural history. I don’t think we’ll get a proper sense of just how destructive the disappearance of MTV News’ archives will actually be for years to come. As Variety contributor Todd Spangler wrote, “Perhaps the most significant loss is MTV News' vast hip-hop-related archives, particularly its weekly ‘Mixtape Monday’ column, which ran for nearly a decade in the 2000s and 2010s and featured interviews, reviews and more with many artists, producers and others early in their careers.” I’ve witnessed a history I considered concrete evaporating in front of me before now. I think back to November 2017, when DNAinfo and Gothamist network owner [Joe Ricketts shuttered those]( websites; anyone who typed in the URL for DNAinfo Chicago or Chicagoist was greeted by a letter Ricketts wrote. Suddenly, DNAinfo Chicago and Chicagoist’s critical coverage of this city was inaccessible—and the reporters and editors who found themselves in need of work couldn’t access their clips. Ricketts eventually pulled the letter and the archives were accessible again. Old DNAinfo Chicago stories are available to read now through Block Club Chicago. Chicagoist has been collecting dust [since Chance the Rapper announced he purchased it]( in 2018. A couple times in the past six years (?!), Chicagoist’s archives were, once again, momentarily inaccessible: once when “the Chicagoist” debuted a “find your alderman” search for the 2019 election, which provided no option to view the rest of the website, and then [early last year]( when the website mysteriously went offline. Chicagoist’s archives are, thankfully, [accessible now]( the most recently published story ran on [November 2, 2017](. This past May, Pew Research Center [published an analysis of our disappearing Internet](. As of October 2023, a quarter of all web pages that existed between 2013 and 2023 were no longer accessible; the same can be said for about 38 percent of Web pages that existed in 2013. I can’t recall at what point in my life I was told that “anything on the Internet is there forever.” These days it feels like entire online communities can disappear and no one will notice till it’s too late. The lost archives of the Internet’s teenage years is a core element of [my newest Reader feature]( loosely about the online community that formed around the weekly new wave night Planet Earth. [When Planet Earth cofounder and DJ Dave Roberts died early last year]( I quickly lost count of the number of tributes from folks involved in Chicago nightlife, or who spent even a few nights dancing to one of his sets at Neo or Holiday Club or Late Bar. His death became big news in this city—[CBS News]( [Block Club]( and the [Sun-Times]( ran obituaries, which is something I’ve rarely seen when someone involved in local nightlife passes. Roberts DJed around the city for decades, so he touched a lot of people. The Planet Earth message-board community and the scene reports Planet Earth–regular Dave Awl emailed to message-board members gave me an insight into what it meant to be in a club when Roberts spun. Thank goodness Awl hung onto the archives from the message board, which was hosted on Yahoo! Groups—another Web phenomenon that’s disappeared. Anyway, you can read all about this and more in my [Planet Earth feature](. You still have a few hours to grab a print copy before the new edition arrives in news boxes; I recommend holding onto it for your own archives. ◈ [Portable Model #1]( ◈ [“Band To Watch: Torture,”]( by Eli Enis (Stereogum) ◈ [“Social Media Broke Slang. Now We All Speak Phone.”]( by Dan Brooks (The Atlantic) ◈ Fax Gang & Parannoul, [Scattersun]( ◈ Martian Decay, [Land of Wind and Ghosts]( ◈ This is Lorelei, [Box for Buddy, Box for StarÂ]( ◈ Alison’s Halo, [Eyedazzler]( [a blurred image of a person standing]( [Jeehye Ham of Precocious Neophyte plays her last show as a Chicagoan]( Plus: Nonagon celebrate 20 years as a band with a Burlington gig, and artists’ collective Cre8ive Sessions throws a special version of its weekly happy hour. by [Tyra Nicole Triche]( and [Leor Galil]( | [Read more]( → [a collage of different photos of different rappers]( [UK producer Om Unit brings his ever-evolving dance sound to Chicago]( Sat 6/29 at Chase House, Epiphany Center for the Arts by [Leor Galil]( | [Read more]( → [Improvisation and friendship power sophisticated songwriting on Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg’s first duo LP]( Sun 6/30 at Hungry Brain by [Bill Meyer]( | [Read more]( → [a three-piece band on stage with string lights hanging down]( [Chicago’s Taste Rubber make uncomfortable surrealist rock]( Sun 6/30 at Sleeping Village by [Micco Caporale]( | [Read more]( → Tickets for the UnGala may not be on sale yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start planning your outfit! Please join the Chicago Reader at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday, October 3 for a high-energy evening of entertaiment as eclectic and diverse as the newspaper and our Reader family. [SAVE THE DATE - OCTOBER 3, 2024]( Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, June 20, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 20]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Donate to the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616