Web archiving: Difference between revisions

'''Web archiving''' is the attempt to collect and preserve content available on the {{tag|internet}} – AKA the 'world wide web'.

Unlike paper documents or digital media on physical carriers like CD or DVD, information presented on websites are not only easily accessible via internet, but also easy to change, and prone to erosion of many kinds: from hacker attacks, to any possible reason why a server may be damaged or a project may fail.  In order to counteract those chances for loss of information once available, there have been numerous attempts to build archives to {{tag|digital preservation|preserve}} content in digital form, and make said content available via internet and other channels.

Since [[WikiIndex]] is not only meant to act as a kind of 'yellow pages' for all available [[WhatIsWiki|wikis]] on the net, but also for collecting information about the [[wikisphere]] in general and its history, we ''do'' keep entries about wikis that got lost and if possible about how their rise and fall has happened. This kind of [[wiki]] history shall help wiki people to build better wikis in more stable projects.

Regarding wikis we have an article page about – we therefore do not simply move them into [[:category:Dead]] after they became unavailable. If possible, we add URL and / or [[interwiki]] links to an archiving project where at least parts of that wiki have been preserved, and shift that wiki article from [[:category:Active]] to [[:category:Archived]].  Naturally, this requires, that someone had done something to add the information about said wiki to any of those archives while the wiki content was still live and available on the internet.  Therefore, it is good practice to make sure that at least one archive project is informed about that wiki, whenever you create a new article about another wiki here.

[[Category:WikiIndex]]