Draft:This Website Will Self-destruct
 | Review waiting, please be patient.
This may take 8 weeks or more, since drafts are reviewed in no specific order. There are 1,816 pending submissions waiting for review.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
Reviewer tools
|
ThisWebsiteWillSelfDestruct[dot]com was a website created by comic artist FemmeAndroid in April 2020. Created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 for the Ludum Dare game jam, it was a high concept website with the premise that it would self-destruct if nobody posted on it in a 24-hour period.[1]
The website allowed visitors to anonymously submit messages, and view such messages at random.[2]
FemmeAndroid announced it had shut down itself in December 2023.[3]
Overview
[edit]The website displayed a welcome message, along with a button labelled 'Read a message' which, when clicked, displayed random messages by other visitors. Below that was a form for visitors to write and submit messages anonymously. Upon reading a message, the reader could "heart" it. This action had no effect on the site or the message.[2]
There was also a timer counting down from 86,400 seconds on the top, which reset every time a message was posted by anyone.
The welcome message read as follows:[1]
Hi,
I’m a website. I’ll be gone soon, and that’s okay. You can send me messages using the form below. If I go 24 hours without receiving a message, I’ll permanently self-destruct, and everything will be wiped from my database. That’s okay though. Until then, let me know how you’re doing. Other people will be able to read what you write, but your name or identity won’t be attached to anything, so feel free to say what’s on your mind. It’s been a rough month.
With love,
ThisWebsiteWillSelfdestruct (dot) com
PS. I don’t collect any data about you other than the text you send me. I don’t believe in tracking people, so no analytics are kept about users. Consider this my privacy policy and terms of service.
History
[edit]A comic artist going by the name FemmeAndroid coded the website for the 46th edition of Ludum Dare - a game jam competition. According to a post she made on her Patreon page, she had coded it in 4 hours as a submission under the theme 'Keep It Alive'. She had initially doubted if it would survive intil the judging period. But it survived, and blew up in popularity after being posted on the Reddit community r/InternetIsBeautiful.[4]
Upon seeing an influx of sad or suicidal messages, a 'Feeling down?' button which linked to mental health helplines was added.[2][5]
According to the creator, the site received over 115,000 letters that were read over 15 million times in the 1st 3 days. It went on to receive over 200, 000 messages in its 1st year.[4][5]
FemmeAndroid announced its shutdown on her Twitter page in December 2023, after it had not received any non-spam messages in a 24 hour period.[3]
Reception
[edit]After the website became popular targeted transphobic abuse towards FemmeAndroid, who was a transwoman, was posted on the website.[6]
A bomb threat towards Charlottesville Fashion Square was posted on the website. [4]
The website has been compared to The Button, a meta-game experiment done by Reddit in 2015.[3]
Brittany Roston of SlashGear called it a 'time-capsule', referring to its anachronistic nature.[7]
Adi Robertson of The Verge pointed out the unique context of the site amidst the pandemic: "...But the site feels impossible to really understand without the context of the pandemic without instinctively understanding how many posts are about a single event that’s consumed much of the world..."[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Robertson, Adi (21 April 2020). "This website deletes itself if people stop posting". theverge.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ a b c Maiberg, Emanuel (21 April 2021). "This Website Will Self Destruct If You Stop Posting". Vice.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
- ^ a b c Beschizza, Rob (12 December 2023). ""This site will self-destruct" finally self-destructs after no-one signs guestbook for 24 hours". BoingBoing.net. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ a b c Smith, Ian (2 August 2021). "'This website will self-destruct': The site you can share your anxiety with that disappears". Euronews. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ a b Wells, Sarah (3 June 2020). ""This Website Will Self-Destruct" is the website we need in the chaos year, 2020". Inverse. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
- ^ Goldman, Alex; Dzotsi, Emmanuel (24 June 2021). "#175 This Website Will Self Destruct". Reply All (Podcast). Gimlet Media. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
- ^ Roston, Brittany (20 June 2021). "SELF-DESTRUCTING WEBSITE IS A TIME CAPSULE OF PANDEMIC MESSAGES". SlashGear. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2024.