Source links that are no longer valid

Question

While reviewing several adopted person profiles I have found several source links that no longer are valid. A fair number of these pertain to documents that once were attached to Rootsweb pages, but others appear to have been on hosted servers that no longer exist.  In some cases I have been able to find the mentioned documents elsewhere and I have updated the link and citations accordingly but unfortunately there are still some without an identified new source to link.

What is the appropriate protocol for handling the old sources links that once were valid but no longer are and replacement sources cannot be located?  I'm hesitant to delete the source references in case updated sources are identified in the future, but wasn't sure if there was a standard way to denote the sources with invalid/ dead links.

Answer 1

The first thing I would check is https://archive.org/web and see if there is an archived version of the link available; if there is, you can update the profile accordingly.

If no luck with that, I would agree with you to not delete it entirely, but just to notate it in the profile as a dead link - someone may come along in the future who knows where the site moved to (if anywhere), or an alternate link with equivalent information.

Comments

Is there a standard format to denote a dead link?  I couldn't find anything in the help and wanted to make sure that I don't do something that might trigger a profile data error later.

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I'm not aware of a standard... I've just seen written next to the link, e.g.

"The Smith Family" by John Smith, https://smithfamily.bad-fakelink.com (broken link as of 2023-06-16 -- Sullivan-17177)

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One thing NOT to do: Don't delete entire source citations just because the URL is dead. If the cited source was the basis for facts in the profile, it's still the source of those facts even if it's no longer available online. Information about the now-inaccessible source may help someone else find it somewhere else on the Internet or in the real world, or perhaps find a completely different source for the information to replace the lost source.

Answer 2

I have run into a rather widespread "dead links" issue, entirely of my own making though I didn't realize it was going to turn out this way.

When the COVID lockdowns went into effect, I decided that rather than twiddling my thumbs I would get serious about exploring the family genealogical woodpile.

Being new to the "game" it never occurred to me that when I cited a source found in the Ancestry public library version that was made available to home users for the duration (since the libraries were closed), eventually those links would go bad, and I should try harder at the outset to find an alternate source (Familysearch, perhaps). Or to just download the document to begin with, by screencap if nothing else.

So I now have a huge number of sources on countless profiles linked to "ancestrylibrary.com" for which outside (of the library) access no longer exists. As I run across them, I'll look for the same source document on Familysearch, and if it can't be found there, it goes on a list I'm creating for a time when I will physically go into the library and start downloading the broken-linked source documents.

So the overall lesson going forward is, when you (or I) find an actual birth or marriage or death (or some other) record staring at us from the screen, SCREENCAP the bloody thing and save it! So at least we'll have a copy of it if its online source vanishes at some future point.

Comments

If you find these sources again, use the WikiTree Sourcer.  This produces a linked citation AND a free sharing link which does not depend on the viewer having an Ancestry account.  I don't know what I'd do without it! :)

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I love those free Ancestry image sharing links, but I can relate to Carolyn's problem as well.  A point of order:  The WikiTree Sourcer is a browser extension, and for those who use the library edition of ancestry, your library would very likely take a dim view of your adding a browser extension to one or more of their computers.  There's a workaround for creating the sharing link manually using the process described by Deb Durham a few years ago:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/792811/creating-a-free-to-view-image-link-from-ancestry-com

but this is also a bit awkward to use at the library.  You'll either need to be logged into both ancestry and your WikiTree account in separate browser windows or tabs and create and post your source citations in real time, or else copy and save data to a flash drive, or e-mail data to yourself, so you can finish the job at home later.  I think you'd have to develop your own process that you're comfortable with, and it may be a bit confusing, but the process for creating the sharing links does work with the ancestry library edition.

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I think Carolyn is working on her own computer, so she can install WikiTree Sourcer and start trying it out on these profiles.

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I had a friend who worked at the library and she told me she THOUGHT (but wasn't sure) I could work from my own laptop at the library, as I'd be logging into Ancestry from the library's IP address. I have yet to test this theory.... And it might vary from one library to another. Meanwhile, one of these days I'm going to actually install the sourcer in my browser and figure out how to use it. :)