
Donate to the Internet Archive - jakeogh
https://archive.org/donate/index.php
======
chroma
I've donated to the Internet Archive and I'm a big fan of Jason Scott, but the
Internet Archive _is not an archive_. Any site on it can go down without
warning, thanks to the fact that they apply current robots.txt rules to past
archives. Once a domain squatter or regretful admin forbids archivebot (or
crawlers in general), archive.org's copy goes down.

This has ruined many supposedly permanent links. The infamous "She's a Flight
Risk" blog from a decade ago is down.[1] My first website is missing. Even
public domain stuff like NASA's report on nuclear propulsion is gone.[2]

With just a small rule change (obey robots.txt at the time of crawling), they
could eliminate the risk of a page disappearing. Instead, we're stuck with a
slower version of the link rot we're used to. It doesn't stop me from
supporting them, but it's incredibly frustrating.

1\.
[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.aflightrisk.blogspo...](https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.aflightrisk.blogspot.com)

2\.
[http://web.archive.org/web/20121029225832/http://ntrs.nasa.g...](http://web.archive.org/web/20121029225832/http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19770085619_1977085619.pdf)

~~~
textfiles
Just for the record, we are an archive, just one with some policies (that I
myself have been working to have tuned) that you might not like. I understand
that you don't like the policy.

~~~
chroma
Wow, _the_ Jason Scott! While you're here, can you please answer two
questions:

Does the Wayback Machine retain data excluded by new robots.txt rules? (In
other words: If you change your policy in the future, can the change be
retroactive?)

Why does archive.org keep this policy? It drastically limits what The Wayback
Machine could be. I've searched quite a bit, but I haven't found a satisfying
answer.[1]

1\. [https://archive.org/post/1019415/retroactive-robotstxt-
remov...](https://archive.org/post/1019415/retroactive-robotstxt-removal-of-
past-crawls-aka-oakland-archive-policy) contains links to previous discussion
on archive.org.

~~~
textfiles
Answer One: Archive.org does the right thing. Answer Two: Long ago agreed to
this policy:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20130628205733/http://www2.sims.b...](http://web.archive.org/web/20130628205733/http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/conferences/aps/removal-
policy.html)

The irony that the policy can only be viewed through the wayback machine is
not lost on me.

------
striking
They need a whole $75/person instant as compared to Wikipedia's $3/person
instant and they're not resorting to shouty, loud boxes that open modals on
mobile platforms.

I love you, Internet Archive.

~~~
cmelbye
I don't know about mobile (I've only noticed a small banner on at the bottom
of the page on WP), but it appears they're using the exact same style of
banner that Wikimedia use? They even explicitly give thanks to Wikimedia in
the footer of their fundraising banner. I think both services are great, so I
don't really mind if either of them decide to optimize their conversion rates,
just like any other startup would.

------
benbreen
Archive.org has been an absolute godsend for historians and others who use
rare books. Case in point: when I was doing PhD research in Lisbon three years
ago, I had to search several rare book shops and ended up paying 80 euros for
a very rare 19th century Portuguese book I needed for my research. Here it is
on archive.org in multiple editions, all text-searchable:
[https://archive.org/search.php?query=duarte%20ribeiro%20de%2...](https://archive.org/search.php?query=duarte%20ribeiro%20de%20macedo)

------
allworknoplay
I hate to sounds bitter, but I've been a donator for ~8 years, and the one
time I asked for help (really: filed a bug report re: an archive they said
they had but which didn't acually resolve & which I needed access to) they did
not get back to me, ever, despite numerous support requests and additional
donations.

I'm not sure whether that means they need more funding or whether they're
simply unresponsive, but it definitely didn't help me solve my problems with a
trademark troll.

------
brewsterkahl
There have been a bunch more donations since this has been posted on HN. The
easiest way to see this is the subset that is donated via bitcoins:
[https://blockchain.info/address/1Archive1n2C579dMsAu3iC6tWzu...](https://blockchain.info/address/1Archive1n2C579dMsAu3iC6tWzuQJz8dN)
more disks and bandwidth!

------
dmethvin
Just in case you'd like to look at their financials before donating, they are
at faqs.org [1]. I couldn't find the official IRS Form 990 online.

[1] [http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/CA/Internet-
Archive.html#anal...](http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/CA/Internet-
Archive.html#analysisOfRevenueAndExpenses)

~~~
toomuchtodo
Their 2012 990PF:
[http://207.153.189.83/EINS/943242767/943242767_2012_09c9e75b...](http://207.153.189.83/EINS/943242767/943242767_2012_09c9e75b.PDF)

[http://www.eri-nonprofit-
salaries.com/?FuseAction=NPO.Summar...](http://www.eri-nonprofit-
salaries.com/?FuseAction=NPO.Summary&EIN=943242767&BMF=1&Cobrandid=0&Syndicate=No)

------
pkaye
I just donated... I use them all the time to look up old computer magazines
from the 90s.

~~~
cogburnd02
That's how I read BYTE. It's also a good source/reference for (some
(specific)) WP articles.

[https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine](https://archive.org/details/byte-
magazine)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CHIP-8&diff=585383...](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CHIP-8&diff=585383077&oldid=580877928)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halt_and_Catch_Fir...](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halt_and_Catch_Fire&diff=593246287&oldid=580194900)

~~~
pkaye
Look how many computer magazines are available:
[https://archive.org/details/computermagazines](https://archive.org/details/computermagazines)

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jws
Sounds reasonable. I did just have to use them as "backup of last resort" to
recover a web site. A little scraping turned "sorry, its gone", into "web site
is back online".

------
benjaminRRR
This is something I am happy to donate for. These guys have been plugging away
quietly for a long time to give us a record that would otherwise literally
disappear into thin air.

------
smeyer
Here's a link to the donation page (rather than to the main page, which
happens to have a donation banner now):
[https://archive.org/donate/index.php](https://archive.org/donate/index.php) .

~~~
sctb
Thanks, we changed it from [https://archive.org](https://archive.org).

------
equivocates
Are you kidding me, I'm trying to take down my internet history, not keep it
around.

~~~
cogburnd02
Except _internet_history_ is no-one's to control; once something is on the
internet, it belongs to The People.

~~~
abootstrapper
Right, like revenge porn and Celebgate! Once someone has seen it online,
everyone has the RIGHT to see it until the end of time.

~~~
voltagex_
Who gets to decide what is and isn't of historical value?

