Internet Memory

A co-worker recently told me she has been reading my blog. She told me I have "quite an imagination." I knew there was something wrong. When I asked her what she meant, she referred to my cool drawing of Elvis Presley. My ... er ... what?

It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. She had followed a link from this post in Bob's blog to another blog called Axis of Elvis. Bob clearly said Axis of Elvis was my blog and there is even a link to Runtime Log from Axis of Elvis. So it is reasonable to assume I own Axis of Elvis.

But I don't.

The explanation is simple. I originally called this blog Axis of Elvis but I quickly grew tired of the name. I renamed the blog, but held on to the Axis of Elvis address for several months as a way to redirect traffic to Runtime Log. After a while, another blogger contacted me about the Axis of Elvis address. He asked if I would be willing to give the address to him. In exchange, he said he would link to Runtime Log. I agreed.

In the month's since, there has been almost zero activity on the new Axis of Elvis. There was a cool drawing of Elvis Presley there, but now it's gone. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have transferred the address. The new owner could write strange and vile posts in that space and people might assume it is me. Then again, he could do something really creative and people might assume it is me. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Any how, it is two years to the day since I started Runtime Log (nee Axis of Elvis). I am marking my two year anniversary by reflecting on how Internet memory is like human memory. Links last forever. It's just that, after a few years, the links don't always take you to the right place.