I’ve been thinking a lot about Elise since she turned off her sites (opinebovine.com and elisetomek.com). I don’t know why she did. I didn’t get a special e-mail just for me explaining why she did. Why would I? I’m just a reader who sent her a couple e-mails telling her how much I enjoyed her sites and background images. It’s like she died. She’s just gone. No more blogging to share with everyone. No more funny wallpaper or Ask Lucy. There’s a void and ::poof:: she’s gone.
I’m sure a lot of personal sites disappear every day. I’m not sure why her’s makes me think about the idea of the death of online lives. I think it’s because I still have Opine Bovine in my bookmarks and try to get to the site every week or so, hoping she changed her mind and decided to set up shop again. The first digital life I saw snuffed out was This Girl. Her’s was actually the first blog I ever visited, long before the word was invented. After a while, the new posts stopped and I stopped visiting. I’d check back every couple months in the hope she’d posted something new, but she never did.
How does someone decide that it’s time to call it quits and ditch their sites that they’ve obviously put a lot of work and time into? Boredom? Privacy? They’ve discovered a new hobby? I’m not sure, and I’m not exactly sure why I’m writing this other than to say that it’s an odd mourning to experience.