“ 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: December 4th, 2024
The numbers, usually at the bottom of every page (though some pages may have an absense of them), deciphered and compiled here.
The numbers are from the A1Z26 cipher. These were originally deciphered using a brute-force decipherer, which resulted in incomplete deciphers that I just took at face value (because I didn't read that the decipherer only deciphers a chunk of the message for optimization purposes). After seeing another reader's completed ciphers, I decided to go through them again and decipher them myself.
Home - ITBEGINSHOWITALWAYSDOES (IT BEGINS HOW IT ALWAYS DOES)
Navigation - THEWAYFORWARDWILLSHOWITSELFUNTILTHENIWILLWANDERANDWAIT (THE WAY FORWARD WILL SHOW ITSELF, UNTIL THEN I WILL WANDER AND WAIT)
About - IAPPRECIATEWANTINGTOKNOWMORE (I APPRECIATE WANTING TO KNOW MORE)
Credits - JUSTMEMYSELFANDMYBETAREADERSIKEEPLOCKEDINMYBASEMENT (JUST ME, MYSELF, AND MY BETA READERS I KEEP LOCKED IN MY BASEMENT)
Support - CASHMONEYDOLLARDOLLARBILLS (CASH MONEY DOLLAR DOLLAR BILLS)
// Interview 13_21 & // Interview 14 - TRYINGTOCONNECTTRYINGTOCONNECTTRYINGTOCONNECT (TRYING TO CONNECT TRYING TO CONNECT TRYING TO CONNECT)
// 001 - AREYOUTHERECANYOUHEARME (ARE YOU THERE CAN YOU HEAR ME)
// Maintenance 1.1 - YOUREMISREMEMBERINGYOUHADONEJOB (YOU’RE MISREMEMBERING YOU HAD ONE JOB)
// 002 - IFIAMTRAPPEDHERESOAREYOU (IF I AM TRAPPED HERE SO ARE YOU)
// Dramatis Personae 01 - OURROLESWEREMADETOBEREPRISED (OUR ROLES WERE MADE TO BE REPRISED)
// Stage 1 - IDONTWANTTOREMEMBERTHIS (I DON’T WANT TO REMEMBER THIS)
// Recovery 01 - LIKETWOCHILDRENSQUABBLING (LIKE TWO CHILDREN SQUABBLING)
// 1_YEAR / 1_MONTH - CLOSERANDCLOSERANDCLOSER (CLOSER AND CLOSER AND CLOSER)
// Dramatis Personae 05 - THISCANONLYENDONEWAY (THIS CAN ONLY END ONE WAY)
// Stage 5 - IAPOLOGIZETHATYOUHADTOSEEIT (I APOLOGIZE THAT YOU HAD TO SEE IT)
// 005.1 - YOUHAVENOTHINGTOWORRYABOUT (YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT)
// Maintenance 5 - THEREISSTILLMORETODO (THERE IS STILL MORE TO DO)
// RETURN_005 - IKNOWYOUCANBEARTHIS (I KNOW YOU CAN BEAR THIS)
// 005.2 - WHOAREYOU (WHO ARE YOU)
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).
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.
This is the same with the terminal command, "JUDGMENT" (or its other variants). This command provides the path for // ADAGE 2.
ROT-13 ciphers of "first" and "second".
Have fun reading.
Just extra stuff I thought was neat, funny, and/or didn’t fit in other categories.
In Link Rot's main CSS, there are various classes called "revealthatdude" (reveal that dude; there are multiple "revealthatdude"), "chatterrrrrrr", "girlsaretalking" (girls are talking), "whoisthislol" (who is this lol), "diosmio" (dios mio), and "whatifikillmyself" (what if i kill myself; there is also "whatifikillmyself2").
NOTE: As Link Rot updates, there's probably going to be a bunch of silly classes and id's within the HTML code of Link Rot, so I may not include all of them unless they're especially silly and/or specific.
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 // 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). There is also a comment that says "SCENE TWO START jesus christ this is long. sorry if anyone is looking through this. love you."
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 // 003, there is a class called "cracker", which turns the text white.
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".
In // 004, there is a class called "stupidfuckingrobot" (stupid fucking robot).
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