A Closer Look

You submit something — a voice recording, a written fragment, an audio file. It's stored securely while a human reviews it. If it's accepted, it's permanently archived on a decentralized network and a QR code is generated. That code is printed and placed somewhere in the real world. That's the whole system.

You could upload a voice memo to social media or drop a file in cloud storage. But those aren't the same thing.

When you post to a platform, your content lives on their servers, under their rules. They can delete it, hide it, or change the terms at any time. If the company shuts down, your content goes with it. And everything you post is tied to you — your account, your name, your data.

Ex Oblivione is different in three ways:

It's permanent. Submissions aren't stored on a company's servers. They're archived on a decentralized network where the underlying data can't be deleted or modified by anyone. The QR codes that link to them are maintained by us — we're the curators, not the archive itself.

It's anonymous. There's no profile, no login, no tracking. Your submission exists on its own — disconnected from any identity. We don't know who you are, and we designed it that way on purpose.

It's physical. Archived stories aren't browsable on a website. They're linked to QR codes placed in real locations — on walls, benches, lampposts. You don't scroll to find them. You stumble on them. The experience is closer to finding a letter in a bottle than clicking a link.

Every submission passes through four stages:

1. Capture — you record, write, or upload directly in the browser. No app to download, no account to create.

2. Holding — your submission is stored temporarily while it waits for review. During this time, it can still be deleted.

3. Review — a real person reads or listens to every submission. This is never automated. We're looking for honesty, not perfection.

4. Archival — accepted submissions are uploaded to Arweave and become permanent. A QR code is generated and placed somewhere physical — a wall, a bench, a stairwell.

Ex Oblivione is a curated archive, not an open platform. Submitting something doesn't guarantee it will be published. Every submission is reviewed by a person — not for quality or polish, but for intent. We're looking for honesty, vulnerability, and creativity. We're not looking for promotion, hate, or content that belongs to someone else.

If a submission is accepted, it's archived permanently and linked to a physical QR code. But "permanently archived" doesn't mean "permanently accessible through us." If we discover that published content is defamatory, includes copyrighted material, or causes harm, we will deactivate the QR code so it no longer leads anywhere.

The underlying data may still exist on Arweave — that's how permanent storage works — but we control the path between the QR code and the content. We can and will break that path if necessary.

Think of it this way: the archive is the vault, and the QR code is the door. We can't empty the vault, but we can lock the door.

Arweave is a decentralized storage network built for permanence. When data is stored on Arweave, it's replicated across a global network of computers whose operators are paid to keep it available — not for a subscription period, but indefinitely.

You pay once. The economics are designed so that the upfront cost covers storage for centuries, based on the well-documented trend of storage getting cheaper over time. There's no company that can pull the plug, no server that can go down and take everything with it.

Once something is on Arweave, no one can edit or delete it. Not us. Not you. Not anyone. That's by design — and it's why we ask you to only submit what you're comfortable existing forever.

We don't collect your name, email, or any account information — because there are no accounts. There are no cookies tracking you across the web. There are no analytics that can identify individual visitors.

The only information attached to your submission is the content itself, the language you selected, and when you submitted it. That's it. We designed the system this way deliberately: we wanted to make it so that even we couldn't identify you if someone asked us to.

Bot protection runs invisibly in the background to make sure submissions come from real people, not scripts. It doesn't track you or store your data.

"Forever" is a strong word. Arweave's permanence model is the most credible solution that exists today, but no one can truly guarantee anything for centuries. We believe in it enough to build on it.

QR codes are fragile. They can be torn down, painted over, or weathered away. The story behind them survives on Arweave regardless — but the physical discovery experience can be lost.

Review is subjective. A person decides what gets archived. We try to accept anything honest and reject anything harmful, but there's no algorithm — just judgment.

This website is not the archive. If this site goes offline tomorrow, every archived submission is still accessible directly through Arweave. The site is just a door.