Hakiri

Some people say that what happens on the Web STAYS on the Web. Although I agree that this is true for some of the content it is largely untrue for the majority of it.

The reason for this is relatively simple. Not everything is rated equally and not everything is disseminated in a way that it is preserved within the inner fabrics of the web ecosystem. For something to stay on the web you need not only to publish it but also to cause the so called viral effect where hundreds if not millions of individuals help the information to disseminate permanently. The viral effect is a key property for prolonging or immortalizing the life of information. It also protects the integrity of the information so that its true meaning cannot be lost. If you think about it, the viral effect is to some extend like a networked RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) system.

Without the viral publishing successful dissemination of the information is not possible and without recurrent viral campaigns its immortalization is not guaranteed.

For the majority of the content it is fair to say that if it born on the web, it will die on the web as well.