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HISTORY IS OUR FUTURE
And we've been trashing our history
Archive Team is a loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage. Since 2009 this variant force of nature has caught wind of shutdowns, shutoffs, mergers, and plain old deletions - and done our best to save the history before it's lost forever. Along the way, we've gotten attention, resistance, press and discussion, but most importantly, we've gotten the message out: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.
This website is intended to be an offloading point and information depot for a number of archiving projects, all related to saving websites or data that is in danger of being lost. Besides serving as a hub for team-based pulling down and mirroring of data, this site will provide advice on managing your own data and rescuing it from the brink of destruction.
Currently Active Projects (Get Involved Here!)
Archive Team recruiting
Warrior-based projects
- URLTeam: URL shorteners were a fucking awful idea. IRC Channel #urlteam (on hackint).
There will be fewer Warrior projects than usual due to the virtual appliance being unable to run many newer projects that utilize wget-at. It will take a little bit of time before an updated version is available that can run it.
Scripts only
- .EU domains: The Brexit deal is done, and with that comes a purge of UK-based sites no longer eligible to use the .EU domain as of 2021. IRC Channel #noteurdomain (on hackint).
- Endomondo: GPS workout tracker with optional social networking features, shutting down 2020-12-31. IRC Channel #findelmundo (on hackint).
- Flash domains: An effort to preserve what remains of a storied legacy of websites hosting Adobe Flash Player content before the web industry takes it behind the shed. IRC Channel #flashbang (on hackint).
- Classic Google Sites: Making more sites inaccessible to the public starting September 1, 2021. IRC Channel #nearlylostmygoogles (on hackint).
- Reddit: Banning communities that generate bad PR for Reddit Inc. Currently grabbing new material. IRC Channel #shreddit (on hackint).
- GitHub: Embraced-uh, I mean, bought by Microsoft. IRC Channel #gitgud (on hackint).
Manual projects
- 2019-2020 coronavirus outbreak: Documenting and preserving data, events, and impacts of the virus on society. IRC Channel #coronarchive (on hackint)
- ArchiveBot: For those with lots of disk space, bandwidth and long-term commitment. IRC Channel #archivebot (on hackint).
- WikiTeam: Saving wikis dumps (XML). And their external links for the Wayback Machine (WARC) as well as exporting MediaWiki databases. Permanent effort, everyone can help (you choose the size of your downloads). IRC Channel #wikiteam (on hackint).
- MP3.com: Digging through the WayBack Machine's archives to build a database of all the DAM CDs made available through the site.
Upcoming & proposed projects
- Fast.io: A CDN for cloud storage services which will evaporate completely on 2021-01-15. IRC Channel #slowio (on hackint).
- Halo: Back to finishing off unfinished business before Bungie kills the original website on February 9, 2021. IRC Channel #yolohalo (on hackint).
- Webs: Vistaprint is killing off the Freewebs you knew from the 2000s on March 31, 2021, unless you pay up. IRC Channel #webbed (on hackint).
- Periscope: Another Twitter acquisition, another shutdown. This time, its live-streamer gets to join Vine in the bin at the end of March. IRC Channel #microscope (on hackint).
- Google Poly: A 3D art repository that Google will send to the trash compactors on June 30, 2021. New uploads cease April 30. IRC Channel #polygone (on hackint).
- Chrome Web Store: Google has announced a timeline of policy changes that will lead to content being removed between December 1, 2020 and June 2022. IRC Channel #chromeweblore (on hackint).
- Kinja: Deleting all user pages, maybe? IRC Channel #gokinjagokinjago (on hackint).
- Twitter: Deleting inactive accounts
2019-12-11 sometime. IRC Channel #twitterdead (on EFnet).
- MediaFire: Setting fire to accounts and files it deems "abandoned" starting in January 2021. IRC Channel #mediaonfire (on hackint).
- Imgur: Image hoster decided that using it for hosting images is not permitted. IRC Channel #imgone (on EFnet).
- JamiiForums: the Tanzanian government would like this gone. IRC Channel #jammedforums (on EFnet).
- LiveJournal: Very old, widely regarded as in decline, and has a lot of important stuff buried in it. IRC Channel #recordedjournal (on EFnet).
- Ownlog: Ownlog is losing popularity and support from its owners. IRC Channel #pwnlog (on EFnet).
- The Pirate Bay: Recently came back up, grabbing an archive for sanity's sake. IRC Channel #yarharfiddlededee (on EFnet).
- Valhalla: Where to store what even the Internet Archive doesn't have space for? IRC Channel #huntinggrounds (on EFnet).
- Giphy: Bought by Facebook, to be "integrated" (assimilated) into Instagram https://news.knowyourmeme.com/news/facebook-to-buy-giphy
Recently finished projects
- SmackJeeves: Webcomics host being tossed into the incinerator on 2020-12-31. IRC Channel #archiveteam-bs (on hackint).
- Voat: A reddit competitor from the Ellen Pao days gives its users a Christmas present: it's fucking dead! IRC Channel #scrapevoat (on hackint).
Hiatus / Missed the Mark
ArchiveTeam primarily uses the hackint IRC network – ircs://irc.hackint.org:6697 (TLS required) – webchat: https://webirc.hackint.org/ – More info
ArchiveTeam also has some channels left on the EFnet IRC network – irc://irc.efnet.org – webchat: http://chat.efnet.org:9090 – More info
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What is What
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- Deathwatch is where we keep track of sites that are sickly, dying or dead.
- Fire Drill is where we keep track of sites that seem fine but a lot depends on them.
- Projects is a comprehensive list of AT endeavors.
- Philosophy describes the ideas underpinning our work.
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Some Starting Points
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- Software will assist you in regaining control of your data by providing tools for information backup, archiving and distribution.
- Formats will familiarise you with the various data formats, and how to ensure your files will be readable in the future.
- Storage Media is about where to get it, what to get, and how to use it.
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Quote of the Moment
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"[Yahoo!] found the way to destroy
the most massive amount of history
in the shortest amount of time
with absolutely no recourse"
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Internet Atrocity! GeoCities' Demise Erases Web History
By Dan Fletcher, TIME Magazine, Monday, Nov. 09, 2009
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In The Media
- Katie Notopoulos, Buzzfeed News, 2019-12-28
- Hannah Knowles, Washington Post, 2019-12-11
- Daniel AJ Sokolov, heise online, 2019-12-11
- Ryan Whitwam, ExtremeTech, 2019-12-10
- Harrison Weber, Fast Company, 2019-12-10
- Karl Bode, Motherboard, 2019-12-09
- Neda Ulaby, NPR All Things Considered, 2019-12-09
- Kate Cox, Ars Technica, 2019-12-09
- Aaron Mak, Slate Magazine, 2019-12-09
- Carly Page, The INQUIRER, 2019-12-09
- More...
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