Abandoned websites should be taken down.

There are 162,662,052 websites on the Internet, yet only 65,600,000 of them are active.*

The others just take up valuable server space. They are also very irritating because they clog up the search engines, making it difficult to "sort the wheat from the chaff".

For example, take a look at this online outrage:

http://www.geocities.com/brian_eggleston/

This insult to the Internet hasn't been updated for over five years, yet if you Google "comedy scripts" it's right up there with proper comedy websites produced by really funny people. Indeed, so far this year it has wasted the time of 40,643 joke-seekers.

Web-based dens of iniquity like this are a wicked waste of web space and they should be closed down forthwith. Furthermore the owners should be permanently barred from setting up new websites as punishment for their crimes against cyberspace.

* Source: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2008/03/26/march_2008_web_server_survey.html

I am going to go out on a limb and try this one. We will see how it turns out ;)

I have one simple argument: Websites that are not being used should not be raken down because they are personal property. That server space is bought and pated for, and taking it down would be comparable to stealing.

If you buy abox of fruit simply to let it sit on your porch and rot, nobody hasd anything to say about it. It is your box of fruit. Same with a website. If you used your server space for absolutely nothing of any importance, nobody should have the right to remove it without your permission.

If they start removing personal server space, what next? Cars that have not been driven in a certain amount of time? Houses tha are only used once every two years?

Thanks,

Renzzy

Thanks for joining the debate, Renzzy.

I will make my reply brief as I am pushed for time.

You say websites are personal property, but I'm not sure this is really the case.

For example, the website I cited as an example in R1 is hosted by Yahoo! completely buck shee! - It has never cost the webmaster a penny!

It is like someone lending you their car free of charge. Very generous of them, surely? However, if one day they want it back, you can hardly refuse, can you?

Anyway, must dash but I look forward to reading your reply.

Cheers!

This may be the with some, namely the fluff-websites like the one you cited, but not all. Many, many of the unused sites are simply outdated, or just there for no reason. They are, however, personal property. For the ones that are lent, by all means let them be retaken. For the ones that are personal property, let them be as long as the owner desires them to be.

Thank!

Renzzy