Link Rot
“ Link rot (also called link death, link breaking, or reference rot) is the phenomenon of hyperlinks tending over time to cease to point to their originally targeted file, web page, or server due to that resource being relocated to a new address or becoming permanently unavailable. ”
This page is dedicated to documenting “secrets” within qrowscant’s web serial, Link Rot. This will not include things that are interactable within the story (such as extra text when you hover over certain passages or clickable words/phrases that reveal more text or change how the site looks visually).
This is purely just a “secret collecting” page, and it will not be something that does analysis on the happenings within Link Rot (I just don’t have the analysis skills to make something that sounds coherent haha).
Last updated: August 21st, 2024
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Footers: Number Deciphers
The numbers, usually at the bottom of every page (though some pages may have an absense of them), deciphered and compiled here.
I’m going to be honest. I just slapped these numbers in a cipher identifier, took the closest decipher, and took what I thought were the best answers using the brute-force method.
Home - ITBEGINSHOWITALWAYSD (IT BEGINS HOW IT ALWAYS D[OES])
Navigation - THEWAYFORWARDWILLSHO (THE WAY FORWARD WILL SHO[W])
About - IAPPRECIATEWANTINGTO (I APPRECIATE WANTING TO)
Credits - JUSTMEMYSELFANDMYBET (JUST ME, MYSELF, AND MY
BET)
Note:
Not sure if this is the correct cipher and what the
remaining message is supposed to be, or if there even is
one. It could just be a bet.
Support - CASHMONEYDOLLARDOLLA (CASH MONEY DOLLAR DOLLA[R])
// Interview 13_21 & // Interview 14 - TRYINGTOCONNECTTRYIN (TRYING TO CONNECT TRYIN[G])
// 001 - AREYOUTHERECANYOUHEA (ARE YOU THERE CAN YOU HEA[R ME])
// Maintenance 1.1 - YOUREMISREMEMBERINGY (YOU’RE MISREMEMBERING Y-)
// 002 - IFIAMTRAPPEDHERESOAR (IF I AM TRAPPED HERE SO AR[E YOU])
// Dramatis Personae 01 - OURROLESWEREMADETOBE (OUR ROLES WERE MADE TO BE)
// Stage 1 - IDONTWANTTOREMEMBERT (I DON’T WANT TO
REMEMBER T[HIS])
Note:
Not sure if this is the correct cipher and what the
remaining message is supposed to be, or if there even is
one. Before I remembered brute-forcing was an option,
the end would decipher to “th”, so I assumed the last
word to be “this”.
// Recovery 01 - LIKETWOCHILDRENSQUAB (LIKE TWO CHILDREN SQUAB[BLING])
// 1_YEAR / 1_MONTH - CLOSERANDCLOSERANDCL (CLOSER AND CLOSER AND CL[OSER])
Page Not Found : Terminal Commands
This will simply be a list of possible commands you can input in alphabetical order. Not the results of inputting the commands in the PNF terminal. You can find out what the commands do yourself. I think it’s more fun and immersive that way. However, there may be exceptions (because I get excited about them), and some may get further explanations.
I will say, if you input the commands yourself, you will see their connections to each other and how it leads to discovering more commands (and that the order you input the commands in matter, storytelling-wise).
The commands are case-sensitive (meaning upper- and lowercase letters matter).
02813
1336
18/XX (or) 18XX
19/XX (or) 19XX
20/XX (or) 20XX
21/XX (or) 21XX
22/XX (or) 22XX
23/XX (or) 23XX
Angel (or) angel
ADAGE (or) Adage (or) adage
BIT
EIR
fodder
help
i_cant
im_sorry
IS (or) is
IS-OT (or) is-ot
its_not_that_simple
Mole (or) mole
OT (or) ot
Rhodes (or) rhodes
something_terrible_happened
UTAH
Vidal (or) vidal
XX/XX (or) XXXX
ADAGE
Upon entering the terminal command, "ADAGE" (or its other variants), a path will be returned. Putting this path after the main website's link will bring you to // ADAGE 1.
Have fun reading.
Xtra Transmissions
Just extra stuff I thought was neat, funny, and/or didn’t fit in other categories.
The picture of Fodder and OT in the Home page is called “gooby_wooby.png”. This is because Fodder and OT’s real names are actually Gooby and Wooby (this is not serious).
The entire intervew in // Interview 13_21 is kept in a div with a class called “fuckkkkkkkkk”.
The picture of qrowscant’s kitties in the Credits page is called “ifyourereadingthisyousmell.jpg” (if you’re reading this you smell).
In // 002, there is an id called “reddd”.
In // Dramatis Personae 01, there is a div class called “oohlala”.
In // Stage 1, there are span classes called “fuckassnumbers” and “fuckassnumbers2” (fuck ass numbers [2]), and a toggle for, assumably an id, called “theyapperrr” (the yapperrr).
Rhodes's picture within the terminal is called "inaction.png" and Vidal's picture is called "wretch.png".
In // ADAGE 1, there is a class called "myfriendisplayingrustylakerightnowandimwatching" (my friend is playing rusty lake right now and i'm watching).
In // Test 01, there is a comment that says "Haha, One" for Section One. There are a few other comments that have letter spam and are just labelling the test sections in the HTML. The comment for Section Four says "give it up for number four. this is so long. how was your day? mine was bad but its like, fine".
In // Recovery 01, there is a comment that says "im literally gay".