The Wayback Machine debuts a new plugin designed to fix the internet's broken links problem | TechCrunch

""Link rot" is the unfortunate phenomenon whereby online articles become populated by broken links - URLs that once led to active pages but now result in error messages or dead ends. A Pew Research study from 2024 showed that nearly 40% of links that existed in 2013 were no longer active. Such "digital decay" occurs across a broad diversity of webpages, from news and government sites to Wikipedia pages to tweets."

"Automattic says that its new plugin works by scanning your WordPress posts for outbound links, then cross-referencing the Wayback Machine for archived versions of those links. If there are none, it will automatically take new snapshots of the articles in question. Should a linked webpage go offline, the new feature will then redirect readers to the archived versions, so that there is no drop in service. The tool also archives a user's own posts, helping to ensure their longevity."

"The tool is designed to keep a site's visitors reading the best available version of a webpage. Indeed, Automattic's plugin perpetually checks a webpage's links and, if an original link that had gone offline is resurrected, the plugin will start redirecting the user to that original page again instead of the archived version. A write-up on Github shows that the plugin's controls are relatively easy to maneuver and offer convenient customization."

The Internet Archive and Automattic released a WordPress plugin called the Link Fixer to address link rot by integrating the Wayback Machine with WordPress sites. The plugin scans posts for outbound links, cross-references archived versions, and creates snapshots when none exist. When a linked page goes offline, the plugin redirects visitors to the archived copy to avoid broken links and service interruptions. The tool also archives a user's own posts to improve longevity. The plugin continuously monitors links and will revert redirects back to original URLs if those pages are restored. Controls on GitHub are user-friendly and customizable.

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