POWN.IT Archive

▶ Live demo

Background

Pown.it (ca. 2008-2019) was a website that hosted Adobe Flash-based video loops. This repository is an unofficial fan archive and tribute, unaffiliated with the original site or its creators, adding some modifications and enhancements.

Article for more info (in german): "Schräger Scheiß mit geiler Mucke: Pown.it war mein TikTok" by Peter Vogl

Setup

1. Install dependencies

npm install

2. Set up environment variables

Copy the example env file:

cp .env.example .env

The defaults work for local development. Edit .env for production (e.g. NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL, ADMIN_KEY, ADMINER_PASSWORD).

3. Set up the Caddyfile

Copy the example Caddyfile and edit it for your hostname if needed:

cp caddy/Caddyfile.example caddy/Caddyfile

The default Caddyfile.example works for localhost. In production, edit caddy/Caddyfile to use your real hostname.

4. Place SWF files

Download the SWF archive and place the files in data/swf/:

https://archive.org/details/pown.it

5. Set up thumbnails

Download the thumbnails archive and place the files in data/thumbnails/: TODO

They can also be generated automatically from the swf files:

npm run generate-thumbnails

6. Set up the database

Run migrations to create the schema:

npm run db:migrate

Run the seeder (only seeds ids):

npm run db:seed:loops

7. Start the dev server

docker compose watch

docker compose watch enables hot module reload, docker compose up does not.

How to find sources of a loop

Images: Google Lens

Music: Shazam app, AHA Music Chrome Extension, Google Voice

You can also use web.archive.org to look at the comment section of the original website for clues: https://web.archive.org/web/20151102010758/pown.it/681