A: Emmortality.net is a web site that is home to personal content created by its users. What makes it unique is that users only pay once, and their content will be preserved and available in perpetuity.

A: Part of the sign-up fee you pay to open your Emmortality account goes into an investment fund. It is similar to the way that everything from college scholarship funds to the Ford Foundation are funded. The principle (your money) is invested and the income from it is used to perpetuate the Emmortality database. The invested funds are never touched! Only the income can be spent, and only for the purpose of perpetuating the site. As a result, the principle is still available and the income continues in perpetuity.

A: Well, almost no way. There are certain cataclysmic events that could make it impossible for the site to continue. But they are extremely unlikely. Here is a short list of what could do that:

1. A comet could collide with the Earth.
2. The Internet could go away without being replaced by something equivalent or better.
3. The entire economic system on the planet Earth could collapse.
4. We could find ourselves in a global thermonuclear war.

Now none of these things is literally impossible. But if any of them actually happened, losing Emmortality would be the least of our problems.

A: In essence, yes. Since your payment contributes to a sustainable investment fund, and since that fund continues to make money (actually, more than enough to keep the site on-line), it needs nothing more from you--unless you want to use more space.

A: You simply buy some more--again, for a one time payment. Never a monthly or annual fee for space (unless you choose a limited term payment plan, which has a fixed term after which you owe nothing more).

A: Theoretically, there is no limit. Even the practical limits are far in excess of anything you would want (or would be able to afford).

A: That's entirely up to you. You decide who can see what and under which circumstances. You could make it all available to the world immediately, or you could set it up so that no one could see any of it until 100 years after you're dead. What's more, each area within your space can have its own rules about who can see it and under what circumstances.

A: Certainly. But that person must actually sign up themselves.

A: Yes. If you do, you might want to consider letting friends and family participate in the creation of the content.

A: Virtually anyone who wants to and has the required purchase price.

A: Basically, anything that can be put into digital form. This includes, but is not limited to: text, photos and other graphics, videos, and music. You can save letters to your great-great-great-grandchildren, your favorite books (and why they are), your favorite vacation spots, an autobiography, or anything else that you wish to preserve or be remembered for. The only fundamental limitations are your own desire and imagination. We and your fellow users will give you a growing number of suggestions to stimumate your imagination. In the end, of course, it is up to you to decide and create or upload the content.

A: No one can claim to create anything that will be around literally forever. The future is not that predictable. What perpetuity really means, in a more practical sense, is on-going indefinately barring unforseeable catastrophic intervention. Obviously, there are some circumstances that could make it impossible for Emmortality, or anything else man-made, to continue to exist. Take a look at this previous answer for some possible examples. Suffice it to say that your odds of winning the Lottery are considerably higher than any of them.

A: Not at all. If you can write an email or a word processing document, you can create content for Emmortality. Of course, the fancier you want to get, the more you must know. But the tools we provide are extremely simple to use and are very similar to those you are probably already familiar with. Plus we offer a support forum through which you can ask question and get help not only from our own staff, but from the entire base of Emmortality members.