1 00:00:09,562 --> 00:00:16,122 Speaker 1: Originals. This is an iHeart original. Thanks for listening to 2 00:00:16,282 --> 00:00:22,922 Speaker 1: main accounts. The story of MySpace bonus episode here. When 3 00:00:22,962 --> 00:00:26,322 Speaker 1: we first reached out to Jason Scott, the digital archivist 4 00:00:26,402 --> 00:00:29,842 Speaker 1: featured in episode five, we knew he'd have a lot 5 00:00:29,882 --> 00:00:34,082 Speaker 1: to say about the MySpace data loss. It turns out 6 00:00:34,202 --> 00:00:38,202 Speaker 1: Jason has a lot more to say about MySpace. He 7 00:00:38,282 --> 00:00:42,762 Speaker 1: has a story which is actually known in certain corners 8 00:00:42,842 --> 00:00:45,762 Speaker 1: as the Jason Scott MySpace story. 9 00:00:48,442 --> 00:00:51,322 Speaker 2: There will be a segment of people who will be 10 00:00:51,482 --> 00:00:56,522 Speaker 2: furious if they find out you interviewed Jason Scott and 11 00:00:56,562 --> 00:00:59,082 Speaker 2: you don't know the MySpace story. Do you know that 12 00:00:59,202 --> 00:01:00,842 Speaker 2: Jason Scott MySpace story? 13 00:01:01,042 --> 00:01:03,762 Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm sorry. 14 00:01:03,762 --> 00:01:05,562 Speaker 2: I didn't go No, no, no, no, no, that's fine, that's fine, 15 00:01:05,562 --> 00:01:07,962 Speaker 2: it's fine. But I'm doing this for you. I'm going 16 00:01:07,962 --> 00:01:09,482 Speaker 2: to give you so much. I'm going to give you 17 00:01:09,522 --> 00:01:11,242 Speaker 2: this story because they're going to go you talked to 18 00:01:11,322 --> 00:01:16,802 Speaker 2: Jason Scott and you didn't talk about blank, and that 19 00:01:16,842 --> 00:01:20,042 Speaker 2: will be And again, I'm not telling you this story 20 00:01:20,162 --> 00:01:22,682 Speaker 2: because I'm like, this needs to go in got it. 21 00:01:23,122 --> 00:01:26,802 Speaker 2: I'm telling you this story because otherwise people will literally. 22 00:01:27,082 --> 00:01:31,442 Speaker 1: It's a funny and illustrative example of how images worked 23 00:01:31,442 --> 00:01:36,122 Speaker 1: on the social network and something known as hotlinking. I'll 24 00:01:36,162 --> 00:01:38,722 Speaker 1: let Jason take it from here, all. 25 00:01:38,682 --> 00:01:40,482 Speaker 2: Right, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's do let's 26 00:01:40,482 --> 00:01:45,562 Speaker 2: do it all right. So I run a site called 27 00:01:45,642 --> 00:01:48,842 Speaker 2: text files dot com, and text files dot com is 28 00:01:48,882 --> 00:01:52,762 Speaker 2: a collection of bulletin boards system era files items from 29 00:01:52,882 --> 00:01:56,362 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties when people would write lots of things 30 00:01:56,402 --> 00:01:59,122 Speaker 2: in text and transfer them by modem. And I was 31 00:01:59,282 --> 00:02:02,722 Speaker 2: very worried in the nineteen nineties that with this brand 32 00:02:02,802 --> 00:02:07,362 Speaker 2: new Internet everything was going to disappear of the bulletin 33 00:02:07,402 --> 00:02:11,562 Speaker 2: board system era. So I gathered up everything i'd collected, 34 00:02:11,842 --> 00:02:14,962 Speaker 2: registered the name text files dot com, and I put 35 00:02:14,962 --> 00:02:17,642 Speaker 2: it up and it was very popular for the time, 36 00:02:17,762 --> 00:02:20,962 Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands of people a month. People just loved 37 00:02:21,122 --> 00:02:25,162 Speaker 2: having that old history. Some of them it was personal history, 38 00:02:25,242 --> 00:02:27,522 Speaker 2: and for others it was like weird views of what 39 00:02:27,562 --> 00:02:32,202 Speaker 2: the world was like. And so over time, though, I 40 00:02:32,282 --> 00:02:35,402 Speaker 2: discovered that it was really a job that was never 41 00:02:35,442 --> 00:02:38,922 Speaker 2: going to end because there were other aspects. There were 42 00:02:39,402 --> 00:02:47,322 Speaker 2: things like old demo seeing artworks, you know, beautifully drawn pictures, 43 00:02:47,442 --> 00:02:52,322 Speaker 2: beautifully created music using very old music formats that would 44 00:02:52,362 --> 00:02:55,882 Speaker 2: be like MIDI, and so I started to make more 45 00:02:55,962 --> 00:03:00,482 Speaker 2: and more and more sites associated with text files dot com, artsecene, 46 00:03:00,562 --> 00:03:04,042 Speaker 2: dot text files dot com, and even pdf dot text 47 00:03:04,082 --> 00:03:07,722 Speaker 2: files dot com for documents. About that time, so Here, 48 00:03:07,762 --> 00:03:11,362 Speaker 2: I was minding my own business with a nice sight 49 00:03:11,562 --> 00:03:16,282 Speaker 2: that I ran no ads as my own little place, 50 00:03:17,522 --> 00:03:21,882 Speaker 2: and one day I noticed that my bandwidth was being 51 00:03:22,042 --> 00:03:27,362 Speaker 2: used like a lot, like wow, it's like a hundred 52 00:03:27,402 --> 00:03:30,642 Speaker 2: times more than it used to be. It keeps going, 53 00:03:30,722 --> 00:03:34,682 Speaker 2: in fact, and I run some of my log analyzers 54 00:03:34,722 --> 00:03:40,322 Speaker 2: and I go, it's one image. It's just one image, 55 00:03:40,762 --> 00:03:43,882 Speaker 2: and it's of a grim reaper and it's from this 56 00:03:44,362 --> 00:03:48,522 Speaker 2: piece of art, you know, that was part of some 57 00:03:48,922 --> 00:03:53,362 Speaker 2: art scene creation. It was. It was nice, it's beautiful, 58 00:03:53,882 --> 00:04:00,082 Speaker 2: but it was being accessed like literally hundreds of thousands 59 00:04:00,162 --> 00:04:04,802 Speaker 2: of times an hour, and I couldn't figure it out. 60 00:04:05,922 --> 00:04:08,802 Speaker 2: So I started to do some research and I discovered 61 00:04:09,322 --> 00:04:14,002 Speaker 2: it was on MySpace, and there was a MySpace theme, 62 00:04:15,082 --> 00:04:18,482 Speaker 2: you know, because you could order a MySpace theme so 63 00:04:18,522 --> 00:04:22,402 Speaker 2: that it would be this color text and this graphic 64 00:04:22,522 --> 00:04:26,442 Speaker 2: background and so on, so people could make themes. And 65 00:04:26,482 --> 00:04:30,002 Speaker 2: there was a theme that was really really popular with people, 66 00:04:30,722 --> 00:04:37,602 Speaker 2: and it hot linked to my grim Reaper. Now I 67 00:04:37,602 --> 00:04:39,642 Speaker 2: don't know what to do, and I hadn't paid too 68 00:04:39,682 --> 00:04:41,482 Speaker 2: much attention to my Space, and that was when I 69 00:04:41,482 --> 00:04:44,762 Speaker 2: found out, to my horror that there was no buffering 70 00:04:44,802 --> 00:04:47,522 Speaker 2: going on. So every time you read a new message, 71 00:04:47,682 --> 00:04:49,802 Speaker 2: every time you clicked on a link and that was 72 00:04:49,802 --> 00:04:51,802 Speaker 2: in the background, it would load it for me again, 73 00:04:52,722 --> 00:04:55,842 Speaker 2: over and over and over and over and over. So 74 00:04:56,922 --> 00:04:59,762 Speaker 2: it's not a financial lean because of the way I 75 00:04:59,762 --> 00:05:02,482 Speaker 2: had things set up, but it was definitely a bandwidth leen. 76 00:05:02,922 --> 00:05:05,362 Speaker 2: It was definitely like, my god, what are they doing 77 00:05:05,402 --> 00:05:13,122 Speaker 2: to me? So I replaced the image, and I replaced 78 00:05:13,122 --> 00:05:19,242 Speaker 2: the image with goats, with this horrifying image that at 79 00:05:19,242 --> 00:05:22,242 Speaker 2: the time was it was unsure where it had come from. 80 00:05:22,642 --> 00:05:25,842 Speaker 2: It was a bizarre photo of somebody pulling apart the 81 00:05:25,922 --> 00:05:29,442 Speaker 2: cheeks of their own buttocks at the camera and it 82 00:05:29,482 --> 00:05:32,282 Speaker 2: was a shock image, and I wrote at the bottom. 83 00:05:32,682 --> 00:05:35,442 Speaker 2: I added text to it and said, hey, MySpace, look 84 00:05:35,482 --> 00:05:41,282 Speaker 2: what you did to my ass. Please stop. And then 85 00:05:41,642 --> 00:05:48,882 Speaker 2: chaos erupted on my Space. So it's going everywhere. Nobody 86 00:05:48,962 --> 00:05:52,162 Speaker 2: knows how to get rid of it. You can see 87 00:05:52,202 --> 00:05:54,882 Speaker 2: posts from people saying I don't know what to do. 88 00:05:55,482 --> 00:05:58,922 Speaker 2: I don't know how to fix the problem. Oh my god, 89 00:05:59,442 --> 00:06:04,602 Speaker 2: you know, just this shock and I watched it get 90 00:06:04,642 --> 00:06:10,922 Speaker 2: grabbed hundreds of thousands of times. But now I was 91 00:06:11,002 --> 00:06:18,362 Speaker 2: the master. I was in control until finally the company 92 00:06:19,042 --> 00:06:23,162 Speaker 2: that was selling the theme of the Grim Reaper they 93 00:06:23,162 --> 00:06:28,442 Speaker 2: were charging people, contacted me, telling me I needed to 94 00:06:28,522 --> 00:06:33,522 Speaker 2: change it because it was ruining their product. And I 95 00:06:33,602 --> 00:06:41,082 Speaker 2: went no, and I left it up there forever. And 96 00:06:41,762 --> 00:06:46,722 Speaker 2: at the time, I thought, there's actually some consequences to this, 97 00:06:48,042 --> 00:06:54,122 Speaker 2: like this interlinking Internet, this idealistic way of putting things together. 98 00:06:54,722 --> 00:06:58,122 Speaker 2: And I wrote a blog post called Freedom, Justice, and 99 00:06:58,162 --> 00:07:02,522 Speaker 2: a disturbingly Gaping Ass back in the early two thousands 100 00:07:03,162 --> 00:07:05,602 Speaker 2: that is one of my most popular essays about the 101 00:07:05,642 --> 00:07:08,282 Speaker 2: pros and cons of an interlin world that lives with 102 00:07:08,362 --> 00:07:14,522 Speaker 2: bad actors. And from then on, I promise you, because 103 00:07:14,562 --> 00:07:18,682 Speaker 2: no matter what I've accomplished, three documentaries, working for the 104 00:07:18,722 --> 00:07:23,522 Speaker 2: Internet Archive, doing presentations and speeches and Archive team and 105 00:07:23,602 --> 00:07:28,042 Speaker 2: all of these things I've done, somebody somewhere deep in 106 00:07:28,042 --> 00:07:34,042 Speaker 2: the comments we'll mention MySpace and there's nothing I can 107 00:07:34,082 --> 00:07:37,442 Speaker 2: do about it. And it's gonna be on my grave 108 00:07:37,522 --> 00:07:44,322 Speaker 2: when I die. So anyway, that's the Jason Scott MySpace story. 109 00:07:44,802 --> 00:07:49,362 Speaker 1: Okay, that is definitely a MySpace story. Thanks for listening 110 00:07:49,362 --> 00:07:53,242 Speaker 1: to Maine Accounts The Story of MySpace and iHeart Original 111 00:07:53,282 --> 00:07:58,282 Speaker 1: podcast Main Accounts. The Story of MySpace is written and 112 00:07:58,322 --> 00:08:02,522 Speaker 1: hosted by me Joanne McNeil. Editing but sound design by 113 00:08:02,562 --> 00:08:07,482 Speaker 1: Mike Coscarelli and Mary Do Original music by Alice McCoy, 114 00:08:07,802 --> 00:08:11,922 Speaker 1: Mixing and mastering by Josh Fisher, Research and fact checking 115 00:08:12,162 --> 00:08:16,922 Speaker 1: by Austin Thompson, Joson Sears, and Marissa Brown. Show logo 116 00:08:17,122 --> 00:08:22,162 Speaker 1: by Lucy Kintania. Special thanks to Ryan Murdoch Grace Views 117 00:08:22,442 --> 00:08:26,082 Speaker 1: at the Head Frasier. Our associate producer is Lauren Phillip, 118 00:08:26,282 --> 00:08:30,242 Speaker 1: our senior producer is Mike Coscarelli, and our executive producer 119 00:08:30,442 --> 00:08:33,722 Speaker 1: is Jason English. If you're enjoying the show, leave us 120 00:08:33,722 --> 00:08:37,482 Speaker 1: a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform Sadly, 121 00:08:38,202 --> 00:08:41,082 Speaker 1: my MySpace page is no longer around, but you can 122 00:08:41,122 --> 00:08:43,882 Speaker 1: find me on Twitter at Joe Mick. Let us hear 123 00:08:43,962 --> 00:08:49,842 Speaker 1: your MySpace story and check out my book Lurking Main Accounts. 124 00:08:49,922 --> 00:08:55,162 Speaker 1: The Story of MySpace is a production of iHeart Podcasts.