FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Fixing Broken Links on U.S. State and State Topic Pages

Current Projects page Fixing Broken Links on U.S. State and State Topic Pages

Purpose
This project will help locate and fix broken links found on U.S. State pages and their State topic pages. Using a spreadsheet, the team member will first check the page for broken links, then fix any broken links found on the page.

Project Contact
Jane Colmenares

Task Page
Task List

Project Instructions
Video Instructions for project

Step 1
Go to the Task List and select a state that has not been assigned to work on. Enter your name on the table for the state you select so no one else will work on the same pages. Also, use the link there to locate the spreadsheet for your state.

Step 2
Find broken link on the spreadsheet.

Step 3
Copy the broken link and go to: https://archive.org/web/ This website has what is called a Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine has a history of what a URL used to contain.

Step 4
In the Wayback machine URL field, paste in your link. Then press the “Browse History” button



Step 5
You will now see a calendar that lists when the webpage was archived. Choose a date that has a blue circle around it to see what the page looked like. It is suggested to try a day in the previous year. If the page shows up as a broken link, then try a date 6 months earlier until you see a web page.



Step 6
If the Wayback machine does NOT have an original version of the page, try CachedPages.com to see if it contains a copy. Go to: http://www.cachedpages.com/

Delete the http:// in the Enter URL field and paste the broken URL.



Step 7

 * Once you find the old webpage, go to Google and searching for the new URL. Try taking the beginning portion of the URL to locate a possible page. Also try googling some key words on the old page along with the first part of the URL. '
 * For the broken link: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/marriage.html from the Wayback Machine you see the words: the name of the website: Illinois State Archives and the database it’s linking to: Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900
 * Type in google: Illinois state archives statewide marriage index 1763-1900
 * Try out each of the URLS until you find a good match. For this example, the correct match is: http://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/marriagesrch.jsp

Step 8
With the correct new URL, go to the wiki county page and replace the broken link with the new one you have found. Be sure to check the page once you have updated it to be sure the new link you added works.

If you are unable to locate a new link for the broken one, go to the county page and remove the information pertaining to that link (the URL and any description).

Step 9
Record on your spreadsheet the new URL and the day it was fixed.