FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Fixing broken links

Current Projects page

Fixing broken links

Purpose

This project will help you determine the correct links to replace broken links found on Wiki pages. This is especially helpful for English websites and may not cover those in other languages.

Project Contact

Danielle

Task Page

Task List

Project Instructions

Step 1

• Go to the Task List and choose a line in gray that has a broken link to work on. Those in orange will be completed by someone else in another project. Put your name in column I so no one else will work on the link.

Step 2

• Copy the broken link found on the spreadsheet.

Step 3

• Go to: https://archive.org/web/. This website has the Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine has a history of what a URL used to contain. This will help you know what the page contained so you can Google and locate the page more easily.

Step 4

• In the Wayback machine URL field at the very top of the page, paste in your link. Then press the “Browse History” button
  

Step 5

• You will now see a calendar that lists when the webpage was archived. Choose a date that has a blue or yellow circle around it to see what the page looked like. It is suggested to try a day 2 or 3 years earlier. If the page shows up as a broken link, then try a date a year earlier until you see a web page.

Step 6

• If the Wayback machine does NOT have an original version of the page, try CachedPages.com to see if it contains a copy. Go to: http://www.cachedpages.com/
  

Delete the http:// in the Enter URL field and paste the broken URL.

Step 7

• Once you find the old webpage, review the old page and determine key words to use for when you use Google to locate the new URL.
• Go to Google and search for the new URL.
  • Try taking the beginning portion of the URL to locate a possible page.
  • Try googling the title of the page with quotation marks around it to narrow down your results

EXAMPLE

• For the broken link: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/marriage.html the Wayback Machine gave the original web page
• The title of the page is: Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900 and you can see it is on the Illinois State Archives
• Type in google: Illinois state archives "Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900"
• The first result on the list is: https://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/marriagesrch.jsp and you will see that it is the same page as found in the Wayback Machine.

Step 8

• With the correct new URL, go to the wiki county page and replace the broken link with the new one you have found. Be sure to check the page once you have updated it to be sure the new link you added works.

Step 9

• Return to the spreadsheet and record the date in column J and the new URL you used on the Wiki page in column K. You can use column L to add any notes.
  
  

If you can't find a new URL

• If you are unable to locate a new link for the broken URL, put the link and identifying information on this spreadsheet. Leave the reference on the wiki page and we will double check it.
• In column J of the Task List, type, no URL found.