datahoarder
Who are we?
We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.
We are one. We are legion. And we're trying really hard not to forget.
-- 5-4-3-2-1-bang from this thread
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I'm sorry that happened to you. I set my iPhone to save one year's worth of texts now and then auto-delete. Impermanence is a feature of life, not a bug. Think of the Buddhist monks that have their hundreds of hours of sand drawings erased by a kid stomping through it. It teaches them not to hold on too tightly to what was, but instead live in the moment. It's tempting to save every last interaction with loved ones, but rewinding will never beat reaching out or reliving your favorite memories instead. Maybe life is telling you to let go.