Attention: Serious concern about loss of information relating to UFO's on the Internet

As many readers on the topic are aware, countless websites that are dedicated to providing information, photographs or witness accounts seem to be independent websites started by web design amateurs. They are often old judging from their updates and appearance and there is no way to get in contact with the website owners, and if you do, little chance of a reply.

What happens if these websites one day disappear for one reason or another? Some of these websites having amazing archives, and we risk to lose these. This USO website, for example, is unmatched in detail and referencing.

What I intend to do soon is save these entire pages, articles, drawings, photos and references - and if i'm unable to get in contact with the owners - reference them as the source on my own website and in turn share that archive with anyone else who is interested so there will always be a copy of this information.

So next time you visit a website that fits this description, bookmark it and Save As (the html file onto your computer), link the url of the site here so others can do the same so we can ensure these archives remain. If you find an interesting article with references, save both the article, that reference and any other reference relating to that story that you can find on the Internet. Save them in organised folders on your computer.

Don't let this information die and be forgotten.

reply to post by Shino


Good idea Shino
HERE is a collection list post from a thread with some of the best, imo, ATS works on ufo, mostly from our veteran members, but there are numerous source links and documentation within.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by Shino


Good move. I just tried a reference site from your posting and it said, site not found 404. Saving the pages and info is a very good idea. I've noticed several ufo sites that can no longer be visited. Thanks.

its only a matter of time before the information leaves the net and goes
directly into our minds
maybe thats what is happening

Originally posted by Magnificient
reply to post by Shino

 

Good move. I just tried a reference site from your posting and it said, site not found 404. Saving the pages and info is a very good idea. I've noticed several ufo sites that can no longer be visited. Thanks.

Yeah it is sad.

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but have you guys checked www.archive.org...

They keep old cached versions of a lot of pages - even the sorts of pages that you might not expect. Google cache also keeps a snapshot of a lot of older pages.

Originally posted by TheStev
Apologies if this is a dumb question, but have you guys checked www.archive.org...

They keep old cached versions of a lot of pages - even the sorts of pages that you might not expect. Google cache also keeps a snapshot of a lot of older pages.

True, but there are two drawbacks. First you'll need to know of the URL of the website that you're looking for, and second you'll need a timemachine portal like this to use it - something of which most people don't know about. It'd be more effective to build a repository. Google Cache doesn't always save the images, either.

Heck man!

No star or flag is gonna do justice to forward thinking like this!

Yes I agree with the OP, everybody should do their part to archive older websites, files, PDFs, documents and so on before they disappear. That's what I did with a whole bunch of Star Wars files from the old gaming websites and stories & articles from the now defunct Hyperspace fan club.

reply to post by Shino
Yeah, a lot of websites go down the plughole and it's a myth that what goes on the internet is forever.

You'll find this program - HTTrack - very useful at saving websites to your hard-drive. It increases the chances of preserving little-known gems and also means you can read websites whilst you're off-line or travelling.

Of course, the copyright is always in the hands of the website creators and shouldn't be mirrored on other sites without their permission. The internet can be anarchic, but courtesy is free.

A cautionary warning! Be careful which sites you choose to save. A small site can be 50mb (easy and quick) whereas others can be 10 or 20 times bigger.

Well if someone wants to shut down their website with TONS of material on it without allowing it to be shared amongst the Internet when it is gone, is being greedy and deceitful. Basically I think that once something hits the Internet, and unless you SPECIFICALLY say what can and can not be copied......it's free game.

reply to post by Shino


Thank you for this, Shino
Karl12 will appreciate your effort.
S&F.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


And thank you to you too, speculativeoptimist.
A very compelling thread!
Stars!

Originally posted by Shino
What I intend to do soon is save these entire pages, articles, drawings, photos and references - and if i'm unable to get in contact with the owners - reference them as the source on my own website and in turn share that archive with anyone else who is interested so there will always be a copy of this information.

Not if SOPA passes you won't

reply to post by Shino


I'm way ahead of you. I've got a horde of old websites archived on my personal server:

* CFI's old content

* Patrick Gross's old ufologie.net

And a couple of others like project1947 (which went missing for a month or so).

Basically just let me know if you find a site that you want archived. I'll make sure I send my spider to go grab it all.

Also for people who want a local archive might I suggest, "A case repository from 3000 BCE to Present - Xt's UFO Scrapbook." It's got 3.1 GBs of scrapbooked goodies.

Cheers folks!

Originally posted by Xtraeme
reply to post by Shino

 

I'm way ahead of you.

I've got a horde of old websites archived on my personal server:

* CFI's old content

* Patrick Gross's old ufologie.net

And a couple of others like project1947 (which went missing for a month or so).

Basically just let me know if you find a site that you want archived. I'll make sure I send my spider to go grab it all.

Also for people who want a local archive might I suggest, "A case repository from 3000 BCE to Present - Xt's UFO Scrapbook." It's got 3.1 GBs of scrapbooked goodies.

Cheers folks!

edit on 20-1-2012 by Xtraeme because: (no reason given)

Thank you for the offer, but I've managed to download websites before. I have a 500GB external HDD so there is plenty of space to save them on. The only thing we need is people here recommending web sites to archive.

reply to post by Shino

The more backups the merrier. The real problem is once you have the site, if you ever plan to expose it to the net you'll need to create a couple of scripts to reformat the links. Other than that shouldn't be much of a problem. As far as what websites to archive, each person is going to have a different opinion of what sites are worthy of the disk space. Perhaps others who make their way into this thread should just write out the domain names of the sites they currently have archived? That way we have an idea of who has what.

I would expend your plea to safeguard online data to include books about the UFO subject.
.
In the half century of the UFO involvment with Earth, there are hundreds of books, many of which are absolute classics that step-by-step detail the meeting of our world's cultures with this unusual phenomenea. Some of these great classics even include books denying the UFOs as did Sagan in his, "UFOs: A Scientific Debate."

The absolutely best book to acquire is Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt's "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects." The former head of the air force's Project Blue Book is an amazing read when you read between the lines.

I will say, having been on the scene from virtually day one, that most of you on ATS today will be utterly amazed at the content and far-reaching insights into some of these important books.

If you believe that the UFOs are legimate craft from other worlds and that eventually the truth will out, then these books will be highly prized at that time as collector items. Many of those books contain details that certain forces won't want to be remembered once they ease us into knowing that the UFOs actually do exist. They will write the history of the UFOs in a far more flattering tone of themselves. The truth is out there--in those old books!

So, frequent used book stores and collect a few of the older classics by Keyhoe, Edwards, Vallee, Fuller,Flower, Stringfield, Hynek, and many, many others. Once they are gone, UFO history can be rewritten as desired.

reply to post by Shino


I have been doing the same thing to a lesser extent for years now. You're idea is way better I must say! Star and flag for you

I've done www.ufos-aliens.co.uk...

Next,

www.ufoevidence.org...
www.intrudersfoundation.org...