archive.org

From Encyclopedia Dramatica
(Redirected from Wayback Machine)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Welcome to the holy greek temple of the Internet!
An excellent trolling resource.

archive.org, is a site that tries to save the entire Internets. It allows people to look at saved versions of websites from years ago and comes greatly in handy when writing ED articles about sites that no longer exist, or digging up past lulz that is otherwise being removed from the Internets. When it's working, that is. The thing craps out a dozen times a week.

The Wayback Machine

ED main page from at least 100 years ago. Doesn't it look n00bish?

When a re-re decides to delete their LiveJournal after the trolls descend and they just can't take it any more, the Wayback Machine allows us to laugh at their stupidity for all eternity. Unfortunately it is possible for websites to request exclusion from the archives by putting the file robots.txt in your home directory. This prevents websites from getting robo-stalked—as is the case with MySpace—which tampers with the ED writers' trolling arsenal.

Apparently the name of the site is a reference to an episode of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. While this reference to a shitty TV show that died before anyone can remember makes the website look like garbage, don't be fooled, it is in fact quite useful. Unless you're looking up a MySpace, in that case, use archive.is—archive.is doesn't care about robots.txt.

Pages pulled up by archive.org can be used as blackmail, as demonstrated by professional webcomics troll Scott Kurtz when he bitched about another web cartoonist re-publishing a blog post he wrote. Ironically, he has now apparently deleted that post, thus making the circle of lulz complete.

Deleted from the archives

Unfortunately, archive.org is not dedicated to archiving the entire web. Notably, KiwiFarms was excluded after causing too many lulz.

Other services

archive.org also has a huge archive of 1900-1989 B movies. When you see them, you'll shit bricks. Hundreds of Mujahideen Videos are also submitted every day to the archive, only a handful being deleted. Another reason to go to archive.org is the massive population of experimental musicians. Deleted CP sites are also archived.

See Also

External Links


archive.org is part of a series on

Sites

Visit the Sites Portal for complete coverage.

Featured article May 22, 2011
Preceded by
The Rapture
archive.org Succeeded by
Jewish Internet Defense Force