Help:Archiving a source
This help page is a how-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus. |
On Wikipedia you can archive sources to prevent link rot. A comprehensive list of web archive sites can be found at WP:WEBARCHIVES (technical documentation) and List of Web archiving initiatives. Below are some of the most common.
See WP:Link rot for more detailed information about archiving sources.
Internet Archive Wayback Machine
[edit source]{{#section:Wikipedia:Using the Wayback Machine|lead_section_text_and_example_code}}
Archive.today
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Perma.cc
[edit source]Megalodon.jp
[edit source]When archiving on Megalodon.jp, insert the URL in the "魚拓をURLで検索・取得" field and click "検索と確認". Complete the captcha under "このまま魚拓をとる", and then click "取得" to start the archival process.
Conifer
[edit source]Conifer was previously called Webrecorder. When adding https://conifer.rhizome.org/ links, it's recommended to add a {{cbignore}} to keep IABot from removing it.
There is some info at Wikipedia:Using Webrecorder.
Ghostarchive.org
[edit source]Ghostarchive.org uses the Webrecorder technology and is thus able to save dynamic content such as YouTube videos, JavaScript etc. it is a general purpose archive service on demand with no login or usage cap requirements.
Usage instructions:
- For the moment (as of September 2021), it's recommended to add a
{{cbignore}}following the citation template using ghostarchive.org to keep IABot from removing it, which it might do automatically until IABot has been programmed to recognize it.- Tracked at Phabricator: T291588; marked resolved, but unclear if still problematic: comment: phab:T291588#7980573
- The site has default URL shortening e.g. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/fwAS7 .. this is disallowed on Wikipedia per RfCs and policy to prevent abuse. Use the long form URL instead. The long URL can be found by checking another URL first:
- For regular web pages:
- For video pages eg.YouTube:
- For Instagram pages:
- Thus it is a two step process: determine what the long URL is; add it to Wikipedia.
- To find the earliest and latest archive available use a timestamp of "1990" or "3000" e.g.
- https://ghostarchive.org/archive/1990/https://rms-support-letter.github.io/will find the earliest archived copy of that webpage, while
- https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3000/https://rms-support-letter.github.io/will find the latest.
- Note: Do not use 1990 or 3000 in Wikipedia it should be the actual timestamp.
Further technical information: Wikipedia:List_of_web_archives_on_Wikipedia#Ghost_Archive
WebCite
[edit source]As of July 14, 2019, WebCite does not accept any new archive requests. |