IrC
International Hazard
Posts: 2710
Registered: 7-3-2005
Location: Eureka
Member Is Offline
Mood: Discovering
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Dead Links
I spend a lot of time going through many old but great threads and they all have one thing in common. You guessed it, dead links. This is so prevalent
that many very good subjects of study are rendered nearly useless. In the vast majority of cases it is due to a file linked with a file sharing
service. While we know large files must be done this way far more often than not the file could have been simply uploaded to the site, thus preserving
it and the integrity of the subject matter for posterity. While saying this may not make me popular with those paying for the server space I feel it
should be mentioned. At least if possible I think taking the time to preserve the reference would be worth it and maintain the value of many old
topics.
On a similar note I see such a large number of links to pay sites and at least for me this eliminates the information from accessibility. There are
too many of them and they ask too much to make it possible, outside of those on university or business computers who have online access already
provided. In these cases if there is an alternative source of the same or similar information this would be nice. In sections such as Legal most of
the threads which were started around an article are already worthless in mere days or weeks, vanishing into cyberspace forever. In cases like this
what I would do is copy and past the pertinent text. I have found dozens of threads where the originator of the thread started with little more than a
link to a news story making it quite often impossible to tell what the story (or thread) is about.
Just a few points I have wanted to mention for the last few years, hopefully of some value to the board.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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AndersHoveland
Hazard to Other Members, due to repeated speculation and posting of untested highly dangerous procedures!
Posts: 1986
Registered: 2-3-2011
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Agreed. Dead links make many of the old posts almost useless. If people post links, perhaps they should at least make some small effort to summarize
what is in the link, and include that in the post, so when the link eventually fails to work, it will not be a complete loss.
I'm not saying let's go kill all the stupid people...I'm just saying lets remove all the warning labels and let the problem sort itself out.
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