I suspect everyone, or at least most of you all have heard of, strolled down memory lane on, the Wayback Machine.
For instance here’s a fun example: Punaweb’s history in 338 snapshots.
Imagine that, 338 snapshots of this far and away obscure corner of the internet taken from between August 4, 2003 and September 28, 2025. 338 archived moments in PW history.
And the same holds true for practically every website on the net. Some of my domains go back as far as 1995. It’s fun, in a looking back at from where we have come sort of way. And, of course, historians, and writers, reports, and people from all walks of life make use of it everyday. It’s entertaining, educational, and informative.
A few months ago CNN did a feature of the organization that runs the place, and the San Fransisco Examiner also had an in-depth celebration of their one trillionth page archived in which they begin..
Internet Archive relishes its ‘phenomenal, fabulous success story'
The Internet Archive finally had something to celebrate this month, after years of battling bruising lawsuits: the archiving of its trillionth web page.
The San Francisco-based institution — which bears the not-so-modest mission of building a digital compilation of all human knowledge and making it available to everyone — celebrated last week with a rally at City Hall, guided tours of one of its facilities in Richmond, a countdown to 1 trillion inside its headquarters in The City’s Richmond district, and a street party outside it.
But did you know that they have also been archiving books (they have entire libraries digitally archived), and videos, and music as well?
For instance, they have amassed over 18,000 live recordings of almost every Grateful Dead show ever. Over 3,500 show in soundboard as well as audience quality.
It’s a gem for sure.
But have you considered just how fast, and timely, they are functioning now?
As it is they are archiving the news, every news website, and every article on each, almost as fast as they are being published, posted, online. So much so that one can go to any site, even paywall limited sites, and if that paywall pops up rather than being discouraged just put this line..
archive.is/
In front of the paywalled URL and in most cases it will take you to an unlimited version of the page.. right now. This doesn’t work flawlessly, but for most sites you will have the article you want instantly.
And if they have not already archived a page, they offer a way for you to do it yourself right there. Just select “archive this site” from the options that come on screen, which will take you to a second page with the option that reads "My url is alive and I want to archive its content”, and a save button. Hit that button and you can watch it archive the page, and when done there it is. Ready to read.
Some pages, some sites, have figured out how to prevent this, or archive.org hasn’t figured out how to archive them yet, but for the most part, any big named site is already archived.. within minutes of it going live. More obscure pages, like our local rags, aren’t as easily accessed., but I figure it's only a matter of time before they are.
In any event I find this to be such a valuable service, and use it daily, that I thought I’d share it here. And besides, looking back at the history of Punaweb is pretty cool. Seriously, remember the old yellow-orange look, the logo, the difference in tone, the subject matter of the discussions over the years, the many friends who have come and gone? It's all there. Just follow the links from the Punaweb home page and if you haven't already I am pretty confident you'll be amazed when you do.
Have fun!
For instance here’s a fun example: Punaweb’s history in 338 snapshots.
Imagine that, 338 snapshots of this far and away obscure corner of the internet taken from between August 4, 2003 and September 28, 2025. 338 archived moments in PW history.
And the same holds true for practically every website on the net. Some of my domains go back as far as 1995. It’s fun, in a looking back at from where we have come sort of way. And, of course, historians, and writers, reports, and people from all walks of life make use of it everyday. It’s entertaining, educational, and informative.
A few months ago CNN did a feature of the organization that runs the place, and the San Fransisco Examiner also had an in-depth celebration of their one trillionth page archived in which they begin..
Internet Archive relishes its ‘phenomenal, fabulous success story'
The Internet Archive finally had something to celebrate this month, after years of battling bruising lawsuits: the archiving of its trillionth web page.
The San Francisco-based institution — which bears the not-so-modest mission of building a digital compilation of all human knowledge and making it available to everyone — celebrated last week with a rally at City Hall, guided tours of one of its facilities in Richmond, a countdown to 1 trillion inside its headquarters in The City’s Richmond district, and a street party outside it.
But did you know that they have also been archiving books (they have entire libraries digitally archived), and videos, and music as well?
For instance, they have amassed over 18,000 live recordings of almost every Grateful Dead show ever. Over 3,500 show in soundboard as well as audience quality.
It’s a gem for sure.
But have you considered just how fast, and timely, they are functioning now?
As it is they are archiving the news, every news website, and every article on each, almost as fast as they are being published, posted, online. So much so that one can go to any site, even paywall limited sites, and if that paywall pops up rather than being discouraged just put this line..
archive.is/
In front of the paywalled URL and in most cases it will take you to an unlimited version of the page.. right now. This doesn’t work flawlessly, but for most sites you will have the article you want instantly.
And if they have not already archived a page, they offer a way for you to do it yourself right there. Just select “archive this site” from the options that come on screen, which will take you to a second page with the option that reads "My url is alive and I want to archive its content”, and a save button. Hit that button and you can watch it archive the page, and when done there it is. Ready to read.
Some pages, some sites, have figured out how to prevent this, or archive.org hasn’t figured out how to archive them yet, but for the most part, any big named site is already archived.. within minutes of it going live. More obscure pages, like our local rags, aren’t as easily accessed., but I figure it's only a matter of time before they are.
In any event I find this to be such a valuable service, and use it daily, that I thought I’d share it here. And besides, looking back at the history of Punaweb is pretty cool. Seriously, remember the old yellow-orange look, the logo, the difference in tone, the subject matter of the discussions over the years, the many friends who have come and gone? It's all there. Just follow the links from the Punaweb home page and if you haven't already I am pretty confident you'll be amazed when you do.
Have fun!
