For this issue, you could implement something like a ‘first seen’ timestamp in your link database and only create the final archive & substituting after a certain time period—I think a period like 3 months would capture 99% of the changes which are ever going to be made, while not risking exposing readers to too much linkrot.
This makes sense, but it takes a lot of activation energy. I don’t think a practice like this will spread (like even I probably won’t chunk out the time to learn how to implement it, and I care a bunch about this stuff).
Plausibly “(a)” could spread in some circles – activation energy is low and it only adds 10-20 seconds of friction per archived link.
But even “(a)” probably won’t spread far (10-20 seconds of friction per link is too much for almost everyone). Maybe there’s room for a company doing this as a service...
But even “(a)” probably won’t spread far (10-20 seconds of friction per link is too much for almost everyone). Maybe there’s room for a company doing this as a service...
If adoption is your only concern, doing it website by website is hopeless in the first place. Your only choice is creating some sort of web browser plugin to do it automatically.
This makes sense, but it takes a lot of activation energy. I don’t think a practice like this will spread (like even I probably won’t chunk out the time to learn how to implement it, and I care a bunch about this stuff).
Plausibly “(a)” could spread in some circles – activation energy is low and it only adds 10-20 seconds of friction per archived link.
But even “(a)” probably won’t spread far (10-20 seconds of friction per link is too much for almost everyone). Maybe there’s room for a company doing this as a service...
If adoption is your only concern, doing it website by website is hopeless in the first place. Your only choice is creating some sort of web browser plugin to do it automatically.
The script now exists: https://www.andzuck.com/projects/archivify/
Update: Brave Browser now gives an option to search for archived versions whenever it lands on a “page does not exist”
Not my only concern but definitely seems important. (Otherwise you’re constrained by what you can personally maintain.)
A browser plugin seems like a good approach.