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Waterdeep Ways Means C
Acolyte
USA
4 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Jun 2018 : 23:23:33
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Anyone know where I can find a list of WOTC articles/website errata for the mid/late 90's? They used to have it archived for that time (at least they did back in the 2000's), but I they don't know (or at least since they switched sites years back).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36819 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jun 2018 : 23:31:43
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90's era stuff from WotC? Good luck on that one... WotC has rearranged their website numerous times since then, and they don't bother updating any links when they make changes -- so even if you can find a reference to something, it's usually no longer at the original link.
And to be honest, I don't recall them having a lot of content on their site before around 2000ish, anyway. I think it was 2000 when they posted the complete Roll of Years and a couple odd RTF files that took me a year or two of off-and-on searching to find. It was a couple years after that before they really jumped in and started regular updates with all sorts of free content. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2441 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jun 2018 : 01:25:41
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| Some 3.x era stuff is on archive.wizards.com, AD&D2/PO era is mostly via crawling webarchive. Amusingly, some survived shuffling of their site - e.g. Player's Handbook 2nd edition (Revised) didn't get on 3.x errata list, but it's still there. |
People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3745 Posts |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36819 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jun 2018 : 04:13:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
-Would using the Wayback Machine work for those links?
I've had some luck with doing that, but not always.
I know that it's not their main concern, but it still bewilders me that a company can make such a mess of their own website. I'd be willing to lay money on WotC's own web people being unable to find everything that's gotten shuffled away to odd corners and forgotten.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11878 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jun 2018 : 18:40:16
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| I'd bet more than anything that's due to employee turnover and lack of documentation to the next generation. I'd be surprised if they had more than 2 or 3 in their IT group, and probably they were gamers too who weren't dedicated to the job. I wouldn't be surprised if Alaundo has been running this site longer than the admins have at WotC. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36819 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jun 2018 : 21:31:44
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I'd bet more than anything that's due to employee turnover and lack of documentation to the next generation. I'd be surprised if they had more than 2 or 3 in their IT group, and probably they were gamers too who weren't dedicated to the job. I wouldn't be surprised if Alaundo has been running this site longer than the admins have at WotC.
Turnover or not, that doesn't explain moving things to new locations without bothering to update anything -- including links on the pages you're moving. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11878 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jun 2018 : 23:04:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I'd bet more than anything that's due to employee turnover and lack of documentation to the next generation. I'd be surprised if they had more than 2 or 3 in their IT group, and probably they were gamers too who weren't dedicated to the job. I wouldn't be surprised if Alaundo has been running this site longer than the admins have at WotC.
Turnover or not, that doesn't explain moving things to new locations without bothering to update anything -- including links on the pages you're moving.
Yeah it does. The new person is only concerned with the new stuff, not researching the past. Servers or directories just get shunted off to just get archived without someone actually noting what's in them. I'm not saying its a good thing. However, I can readily see how it happens. I'm betting a lot of those IT guys were doing the job in the hopes of being able to game and work... then life happens. Again, not liking it, but at my current job compared to previous places.... yeah, I can see how it happens. Its a difference between a company having a guiding vision to see them into the years ahead... and a group of managers just looking at what they need "right now". |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36819 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jun 2018 : 01:24:43
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| I disagree. If you have the page right in front of you, and you're moving it, you update it or put a redirect to the new location in place. It should be part of the process, not something you leave for later. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3745 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jun 2018 : 02:21:58
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| -Look at all of the issues with the Gleemax transformation and reverting things back, the attempted implementation of the social media stuff or whatever it was...Their online presence was not very well managed, public and probably back end. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
972 Posts |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2441 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jun 2018 : 12:29:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
-Would using the Wayback Machine work for those links?
"webarchive" as in web.archive.org, yes.
If the link is dead, the first option is simply replacing "www.wizards.com" with "archive.wizards.com" (I set up Redirector add-on to do this automatically for some URL patterns), the second is "web.archive.org/web/1/<original link>" and from there to later versions if needed.
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I know that it's not their main concern, but it still bewilders me that a company can make such a mess of their own website.
Microsoft... Ditto for Candlekeep, but it wasn't shuffled around because some marketroid confused website with ad board or said "we need more big pictures for idiots".
quote:
Originally posted by TomCosta
Check here to start: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/fr
Also at least http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/products (3.x Errata, Web Enhancements, galleries) and http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/retired (some more articles).
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People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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Waterdeep Ways Means C
Acolyte
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jun 2018 : 00:50:36
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Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll definitely do that, TBeholder. quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
-Would using the Wayback Machine work for those links?
"webarchive" as in web.archive.org, yes.
If the link is dead, the first option is simply replacing "www.wizards.com" with "archive.wizards.com" (I set up Redirector add-on to do this automatically for some URL patterns), the second is "web.archive.org/web/1/<original link>" and from there to later versions if needed.
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I know that it's not their main concern, but it still bewilders me that a company can make such a mess of their own website.
Microsoft... Ditto for Candlekeep, but it wasn't shuffled around because some marketroid confused website with ad board or said "we need more big pictures for idiots".
quote:
Originally posted by TomCosta
Check here to start: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/fr
Also at least http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/products (3.x Errata, Web Enhancements, galleries) and http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/retired (some more articles).
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Gelcur
Senior Scribe
526 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jun 2018 : 05:21:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I disagree. If you have the page right in front of you, and you're moving it, you update it or put a redirect to the new location in place. It should be part of the process, not something you leave for later.
I agree with you wholeheartedly with the caveat that I feel the real issue is poor future planning. A properly designed website should just sit there and work. It would have been so easy to just use sub-domains, 3e.dnd.wizards.com vs 4e.dnd.wizards.com. They already use sub-domains for dnd vs magic.
You make a sweeping change just get a new sub-domain and leave everything else where it is. Lock all your boards so no new posts can be made and you have an archive... *sigh* so much lost information. |
The party come to a town befallen by hysteria
Rogue: So what's in the general store?
DM: What are you looking for?
Rogue: Whatevers in the store.
DM: Like what?
Rogue: Everything.
DM: There is a lot of stuff.
Rogue: Is there a cart outside?
DM: (rolls) Yes.
Rogue: We'll take it all, we may need it for the greater good. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11878 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jun 2018 : 22:37:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Gelcur
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I disagree. If you have the page right in front of you, and you're moving it, you update it or put a redirect to the new location in place. It should be part of the process, not something you leave for later.
I agree with you wholeheartedly with the caveat that I feel the real issue is poor future planning. A properly designed website should just sit there and work. It would have been so easy to just use sub-domains, 3e.dnd.wizards.com vs 4e.dnd.wizards.com. They already use sub-domains for dnd vs magic.
You make a sweeping change just get a new sub-domain and leave everything else where it is. Lock all your boards so no new posts can be made and you have an archive... *sigh* so much lost information.
Agreed on new URL's, but then that old server will eventually need to be updated, and businesses tend to do that more than private folk because they worry about vulnerabilities, etc... I mean, if we're only talking 8 years back, that's one thing, but more than 20? |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36819 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jun 2018 : 01:37:48
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| Data can be copied from server to server, and when the content in question is just free web articles, there's not much of a security concern in moving it to a new location. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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cpthero2
Great Reader
USA
2286 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2020 : 00:11:17
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Acolyte Waterdeep Ways Means,
First off: your username is epic. If that has anything to do with a wink to the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, you are awesome. haha
Second: you were spot on! Thank you! Getting those articles now!
Best regards,
quote:
Originally posted by Waterdeep Ways Means C
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll definitely do that, TBeholder. quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
-Would using the Wayback Machine work for those links?
"webarchive" as in web.archive.org, yes.
If the link is dead, the first option is simply replacing "www.wizards.com" with "archive.wizards.com" (I set up Redirector add-on to do this automatically for some URL patterns), the second is "web.archive.org/web/1/<original link>" and from there to later versions if needed.
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I know that it's not their main concern, but it still bewilders me that a company can make such a mess of their own website.
Microsoft... Ditto for Candlekeep, but it wasn't shuffled around because some marketroid confused website with ad board or said "we need more big pictures for idiots".
quote:
Originally posted by TomCosta
Check here to start: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/fr
Also at least http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/products (3.x Errata, Web Enhancements, galleries) and http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/retired (some more articles).
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Higher Atlar
Spirit Soaring |
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90's WOTC website errata/articles
