Temporary.cc sounds like an html version of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Basically, it’s a webpage that, with each unique visitor, deletes a bit of itself. When I visited, it was about 3/4 malformed code, with some chunky blocks of colour at the very bottom. As more and more people visit, it will eventually disappear entirely.
But, the questions that it raises live on. Am I partially responsible for the demise of this webpage? Should I feel guilty? Is it really a static webpage at all? Or should it be more properly thought-of as a slow-motion animation, where you can only see one frame at a time, and which requires collaboration to advance.
The designers say:
These deletions change the way browsers understand the website’s code and create a unique (de)generative piece after each new user. Because each unique visit produces a new composition through self-destruction, Temporary.cc can never be truly indexed, as any subsequent act of viewing could irreparably modifiy it.
Eventually, like tangible media, Temporary.cc will fall apart entirely, becoming a blank white website. Its existence will be remembered only by those who saw or heard about it.
Grant Hamilton
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Update — looks like all the coloured blocks are gone now and it’s all just malformed code.