[Wittesea]

I have seen a lot of people comment across the BT2 forum that one of their main concerns about the BT1 crash is the possibility that so much information is lost and gone forever. Thousands of posts with invaluable information....

And then of course there are all the very old posts and info from the neuro-mancer server that disappeared a long time ago and probably will never be seen on the internet again.

My question is this - is there any legal precedent where a website or non-profit orginization has been sued and forced by the courts to release the lost information?

I ask because it was heartbreaking to me when the neuro-mancer server posts were no longer available because so much happened in my life during the time I posted on that server, and my posts there were like a journal and it never occured to me to back them up since we were assured that the info would always be available even after BT changed servers and software.

I assume that many other members feel the same way that I do about the loss of information and posts from the old neuro-mancer server --- and now with BT being down for so long this time it's terrifying to think that old posts and info could again be lost.

So back to my question -- could John be forced via the courts to (at the very least) release a disk of the old neuro-mancer server posts? or at the most make the old info/posts available again on the internet?

I'm not personally interested in suing for the information, so please don't think I'm asking this question in the hopes of getting a lawyer and suing BT and John. That is not the case at all. I'm just curious about the legal responsibility to release/provide the old info/posts, especially since a promise was made when the new server was set up that the old stuff would always be available.


Any thoughts?

[Thelma]

There are quite a few of them here


http://web.archive.org/web/200210191...assCookie=true

[Curious]

and here...but not sure how they could be put back in a forum. no way to even look up a post that i can see. but hundreds and hundreds of them.

http://www.sellaffiliate.com/mulmul/1412016.php

[Curious]

Originally Posted by Granola Liberal

Nope.

For one thing, I don't think he has it. Gone and destroyed, except for the bits and pieces gleaned by webbots.

lol...the dreaded webbots that always made it look like there were soooo many users.

so is granola liberal like liberally choccy coated granola?

and did YOU shave yet or are you braiding?

[Wittesea]

Originally Posted by Granola Liberal

Nope.

For one thing, I don't think he has it. Gone and destroyed, except for the bits and pieces gleaned by webbots.

I wouldn't be suprised if it was a gone... but I remember that post that he once wrote about having the whole world in his hands - he was walking home from work with a disk in his hand that was the back-up of the entire BT system and all it's posts and he then wrote this post about how it felt so sureal to him to be holding something so small (a DVD disk) that is so important to so many people (every BT post ever written).

So, it was that post he wrote so long ago that still gives me a glimmer of hope that there is a disk somewhere with all the posts that are long gone and out of reach to us.

With so many posts about the beginning of my illness, and the posts about dealing/coping with my husbands cancer, I would pay good money to be able to get a copy of any back-up disks he has with the old posts on them.... and I bet I'm not the only BT member who feels that way about the loss of info and would be willing to pay to get it back.

[wannabe]

Originally Posted by Wittesea

I wouldn't be suprised if it was a gone... but I remember that post that he once wrote about having the whole world in his hands - he was walking home from work with a disk in his hand that was the back-up of the entire BT system and all it's posts and he then wrote this post about how it felt so sureal to him to be holding something so small (a DVD disk) that is so important to so many people (every BT post ever written).

I remember him saying that too! But I don't remember hearing any word whatsoever when the archived system was gone. Do you? I don't even remember a response when people asked about the Artistic Expression material and whether it was going to be published or not? Was there a resolution given for that too? I remember seeing the questions, but no answers about those precious poems, etc. people made.

I might have missed it though.

[Bobbi]

There is a way to possibly recover several posts (from brain.hastypastry.net) on your own, Wittesea. It will be "cached" or archived copies.

Go to: google.com

Type this is the search bar: site:brain.hastypastry.net username

Where I've written username, type your BT username.

When the results display, click on the Cached links next to where it states: Supplemental Result.

(I've tried using the WayBack Machine for the most current BT forums, and, so far, that approach hasn't been productive. The WayBack Machine has, however, resulted in also being able to read posts from the neuro-mancer BT forums. It is time-consuming, yet I missed a lot since I came to BT years after it started.)

[ZombieSlayer]

From my understanding the hard drive that held the post from neuro mancer was broken/damaged beyond recovery (reasonable expense recovery I'll ammend).

When Mr. Lester made the post about having all of BrainTalk on disc, it was some time after we moved to the new forums. Therefore I can only assume the backup was for the data on the "new" forums.

Now back to my ammendment, there are ways to extract data from damaged hard drives. It is very very expensive and has zero guarantees of successful data recovery.

So let's assume somebody does sue for the data and the hard drive is turned over to that person. They most likely won't have either the funding, or know how to get the data from the hard drive.

Short story, I don't believe the data can be recovered from the neuro mancer database.

Oh and I'd also like to know what's up with the Artistic Expression compilation.

[Wittesea]

Oh boy did I kick a hornets nest by starting this post, and for that I apologize, I am just thankful that the hornets nest erupted via email so it was not disruptive on the forum.

To the folks who are very upset because they think I am contemplating a lawsuit - I HAVE NO INTENTION OF EVER SUING BRAINTALK OR JOHN.

I am just a curious sort of person who wonders about things, so ever since the neuro-mancer server disappeaed and the posts were lost I have been wondering if anyone else could or would sue, but of course I felt uncomfortable posting the question on braintalk because I was afraid people would misinterprate it and think I was going to sue.

I thought now that since time has passed and since so many people are being open and honest on this BT2 forum that I could finally ask the question without backlash. I guess I wasn't clear enough about my intentions - that it was just a question asked out of curiousity.

Secondly to the folks who contacted me asking if they could join me in my lawsuit. THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE A LAWSUIT! and I am now very sorry that I put the idea in anyone elses head.

This is certainly not the first time in my life where I asked a question out of curiousity and landed myself (and possibly others) in hot water, and it probably won't be the last time either because I am such a curious person who wonders about so many things...

[KTM5665]

oh for Gods sakes....

If you type it down in the net, it belongs to the free world. Why would anyone waste time considering a lawsuit?

Wittsea....I do hope you got yourself a good laugh out of that one~!