READ ONLY ATS

As membership scrambles to find a way to "save" ATS, one of the biggest concerns seems to be preserving the data here. Stuff, for example by IssacKoi, or other threads preserving the input from members here throughout time, and yes even things involving politics to reflect on at a later time. A time years ahead of us now.

That leads me to a question. Would it be hard for the ownership to put ATS into a "read only" status? One where no longer can there be interaction, but old threads preserved and viewable. Much like how closed threads are today.

What would the cost be to simply maintain that? Would it be much? Thewaybackmachine currently does this for websites looooong forgotten.

How hard would it be to do? I'm not tech savvy enough to know, but surely someone does? Perhaps the "archive" would have to be placed on a different domain since I suppose "abovetopsecret" would cost too much?

Seriously wondering.

Interesting idea! Just like an encyclopedia of news, information, events, opinion, and speculation.

I'm sure we all agree that the best outcome is preserving ATS as close as possible to how it currently exists, with all members having the ability to author and opine on new threads. But if this should prove to be an impossibility, then saving the unfathomable wealth of knowledge, this beautiful and unique chronicle of all things both human and mysterious, would be a pretty good consolation prize.

S#, I've been coming here for 15 yrs. And I know for certain I've only scratched the sunny surface of this site, probably only read a hundredth of a percent of what's on here!

a reply to: Wookiep

If the site cannot continue as is this is the only question that matters

Whether it becomes a matter of copyright ownership so it's all getting removed from view ,

Or if the management would like to see it all preserved in line with the community/ userbase wishes , the interests of history , perhaps safety and legal recommendations ,

That's all unknown or hasn't been decided as yet , no clear answers forthcoming except that if the servers are inoperative the whole shebang disappears .

Unless , put it on wayback machine etc , and if not that , why not .

Pursue

a reply to: Wookiep

Download ATS...

I know it's not that hard to do. Would take time, a dedicated computer and lots of storage space.

But if you had all the data on this website to view offline..! I would bet someone has done this already.

Think about it. EMP strikes, all com's down. You open your Faraday closet and set up your SHTF computer. Switch over to your homemade power and surf ATS while the world burns.

ETA - Plan Z? Maybe digital downloads of ATS could be sold by the owners. Break it up into pieces by year or month and sell it. I do hope the information on this website stays available to all, somehow.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Hmm, sounds realistic. Can you tell me how to do it? Download ATS? Do you know how? Maybe, if you can show us, we can all do it. And make it a "thing".

a reply to: Wookiep

There are many free Linux programs that will do just that. I have played around with a few, years ago. I bet we have members that know all about it.

Basically just Install Linux and the needed software. ( I am sure there are window programs too.) Connect storage. Open the program, set your settings and type in the URL of ATS and wait.

If you are interested I will post some links tomorrow.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

At least for the interest of ATS, I can't see it hurting anything for you to post the links. Thank you!

originally posted by: Wookiep
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Hmm, sounds realistic. Can you tell me how to do it? Download ATS? Do you know how? Maybe, if you can show us, we can all do it. And make it a "thing".

One thing :
A few folks trying would most likely bring the server down.
Unless the pipeline was throttled.

a reply to: Wookiep

Here is a pretty good list.

7 Free Tools To Download Entire Websites For Offline Use Or Backup

With today’s internet speed and accountabilities, there is not much reason to download an entire website for offline use. Maybe you need a copy of a site as backup or you place to travel somewhere remote, these tools will enable you to download entire website for offline reading.

Here’s a quick list of some of the best website downloading software programs to get you started. HTTrack is the best and have been the favorite by many for many years.

HTTrack is a free (GPL, libre/free software) and easy-to-use offline browser utility. It allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer. HTTrack arranges the original site’s relative link-structure. Simply open a page of the “mirrored” website in your browser, and you can browse the site from link to link, as if you were viewing it online. HTTrack can also update an existing mirrored site, and resume interrupted downloads. HTTrack is fully configurable, and has an integrated help system.

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Wookiep
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Hmm, sounds realistic. Can you tell me how to do it? Download ATS? Do you know how? Maybe, if you can show us, we can all do it. And make it a "thing".

One thing :
A few folks trying would most likely bring the server down.
Unless the pipeline was throttled.

Good point, but I don't think so. This site has DDOS protection from what I have read. It may get picked up and throttled along the way by someone like an ISP too. And there are setting to download slow, which actually is the recommenced way to do it.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I think all of the site data is less than 10 TB, probably much less as you're not downloading the back-end stuff that members don't have access to

a reply to: Hypntick

How sure are you about that. All the pics alone have to be more than 10. Man, if that is true it is doable.

Anyone that is going to try this should make an OP and we should do it one at a time. I have a few old computers.

Some Linux, unlike Windows, runs really good on old computers. Gonna have to check out the hardware cost for a storage system (needs to be redundant).

Who's going first?

originally posted by: LookingAtMars

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Wookiep
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Hmm, sounds realistic. Can you tell me how to do it? Download ATS? Do you know how? Maybe, if you can show us, we can all do it. And make it a "thing".

One thing :
A few folks trying would most likely bring the server down.
Unless the pipeline was throttled.

Good point, but I don't think so. This site has DDOS protection from what I have read. It may get picked up and throttled along the way by someone like an ISP too. And there are setting to download slow, which actually is the recommenced way to do it.

It is no way related to DDoS attacks.
It is the pure load on the host's external storage.
Which is most likely some form of central SAN Fabric.
Which feeds all of the host's clients.

And , if the load got too much , they would just shut ATS's pipeline down .

This is thread number 1,267,120.

Some of those other 1,267,119 threads have been removed, others are hidden... but that's still a lot of threads. In addition, some can go on for hundreds of pages. Then one would need to parse all those pages and change the "abovetopsecret.com" urls to whatever local directory is being used to allow for cross referencing. Also, the scripts that call ATS will no longer function and would be better off removed.

It could be done, but it would take a lot of time to download all those pages. I would also be loathe to try it during the daytime when the server load is normal. I have the storage space here, and a server to house the downloaded/parsed pages could probably be found that wouldn't be too expensive. However, I'm not going to start something like that with no way to know if I can finish it in time. Software is not my forte anyway.

Legally, all posts belong to the authors. ATS has a non-exclusive, non-revocable right to publish them. I am not sure f that right could be transferred; that would be a question for a lawyer. If it were possible, it would have to be with the official approval of ATS.

TheRedneck

Right.

I do know cryptome.org backs up it's data via CD, which are purchasable.

Such purchases could help fund maintenance or costs, etc.

I'll admit that I've no idea what that entails, time and cost wise that is.

Just tossing out ideas.

a reply to: Wookiep
I saw a member mention the wayback machine website. It's one option.

Please upload all the site to a online ftp before deleting.
There are information on this site that is very important.

a reply to: Wookiep

it would be interesting to save the political threads.
come back in 10 or 20 years and compare what we are saying now to what the mainstream historians say happened.
let's see how much is twisted or how much truth is delivered.

a sort of time capsule.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
Some of those other 1,267,119 threads have been removed, others are hidden... but that's still a lot of threads. In addition, some can go on for hundreds of pages. Then one would need to parse all those pages and change the "abovetopsecret.com" urls to whatever local directory is being used to allow for cross referencing. Also, the scripts that call ATS will no longer function and would be better off removed.

That's what the programs to download sites do, they change all references to local references (or change absolute links with relative links). The only things that would stop working would be things that need a server response, like giving a star or a flag.

PS: I have used one program like that, HTTrack, for many years, and it rarely fails, although sometimes it takes longer to find the right options to work with a specific site.

a reply to: ArMaP

That's the one I liked. I downloaded a few Mars pic websites. Took a little playing around with the settings to get it right. After a couple of try's it was good to go.

It worked just like you were online but much faster. You can also use it to add to your already downloaded site. If you ran it everyday you would lose less than 24 hours worth of posts if the site goes dark.

It can also be used to mirror a site. Anyone know anything about the dark web?