c/abandoned-web-finds

I used to just link to any old site for my history blog, but a commenter called me out.

They said, 'That 2003 fan page you cited has been dead for a decade, the owner's email bounces.' I felt pretty dumb. Now I check the copyright date and try the contact page before I use anything as a source. It's a small step, but it keeps my posts from feeling stale. How do you guys check if a site is truly abandoned?

Found a whole forgotten web ring for 90s Chicago indie bands

I was clicking through old GeoCities links from a band called The Goblins and ended up on a hub page that hasn't been touched since 2001. It had a list of like 15 bands, each with their own site full of broken MIDI music and tour dates for shows that happened 25 years ago. Makes you wonder how much of this stuff is just sitting there, completely disconnected from the modern web. Has anyone else stumbled onto a whole cluster of abandoned sites like that?

Vent: I spent $75 on a 'premium' web directory listing that's been dead for a decade

I was trying to get more eyes on my small online shop last month and found this old directory site called 'BizWebLinks' that looked legit. The design is straight out of 2005, but I figured some old links still have value, right? I paid $75 for a 'featured' spot. Turns out the site's last blog post is from 2013, and the owner's contact form bounces back. The traffic stats I checked show maybe 5 visitors a month. Total waste of money chasing a ghost site. Has anyone else gotten burned by paying for listings on these abandoned web directories?

Checked a 2005 travel site for a trip to Savannah and the hotel prices are wild

I was looking at an old travel blog from 2005 that still has a page up for Savannah, Georgia. It lists a room at a historic inn for $89 a night, but that same place is over $300 now. What's the oldest travel site you've seen that's still online?

Update: I spent a year trying to archive a 2002 Flash game site before I realized the Wayback Machine already had it.

I found out after I manually saved 400 broken asset files from a site called 'NeoPets Battleground' when a friend casually asked, 'Did you check the Internet Archive first?'

Stumbled across a perfectly preserved 2002 blog for a local band called The Static

The last entry is literally 'Gig at The Vault tonight, see you there!' and the guestbook is full of 'cya there' posts. Anyone else find a time capsule site that just... stopped on a random Tuesday?

Found a 2005 fan site for a band that hasn't updated since the lead singer left

I was looking up info on the band The Dismemberment Plan and stumbled onto a site called 'Planet of the Plan' that's still hosted on GeoCities. It's got a guestbook full of posts from 2005 asking about tour dates, but the last news post is literally about Travis Morrison quitting the band that same year. The whole layout is these tiny pixel art buttons and a MIDI file of 'The Ice of Boston' that auto-plays. It's like a perfect little museum piece that got frozen right when the band went on hiatus. Anyone else find these totally untouched fan shrines from the mid-2000s?

I think the old 'Geocities' clones are more interesting than the real thing

Everyone talks about finding the original Geocities pages, but I found a whole network of sites from 2002 that tried to copy it, like 'Homestead Haven'. They're full of weird, personal stuff that feels more real than the big, famous pages. Has anyone else stumbled on one of these copycat sites?

Just saw a counter on a 1998 site that's still ticking up

I was looking at a personal site for a band that broke up in 2001. Their 'visitor counter' at the bottom of the page is still running. It's over 2.3 million now. That means it's been getting hits for 25 years after they stopped playing. Has anyone else seen a site where the only new thing is a number going up?

My kid asked me why the internet feels so small now, and I showed him a site from 1998 about ham radio mods

Update: My pixel art project led me to a gem from '96 that's still online

So I was digging for pixel art tutorials and stumbled on this site from 1996. It's got all these old-school techniques that still work, but my buddy says it's useless compared to modern stuff. I think there's charm in the vintage approach, but he's all about current tools. Curious where you all stand on using abandoned sites for creative work.

Just realized old fan sites are internet treasure troves

I used to ignore personal fan pages, seeing them as junk. Then I clicked on a GeoCities site for a niche cartoon from the late 90s. It had fan art and episode reviews that felt like a snapshot of that time. Now I spend an hour each week exploring these pages, and it's given me a real sense of web history.

Can we talk about the neat old travel journal page I found from 2003?

I was digging through old bookmarks and found a link to a travel journal from a backpacking trip in Europe. The page looks exactly like it did over twenty years ago, with broken image links and all. It's a small win for me because I've been feeling nostalgic about pre-smartphone travel. Reading through the daily entries and seeing the simple HTML layout gives a real sense of that time. For instance, there's a whole section about finding payphones to call home, which made me smile. It's just nice to see a piece of personal history still floating online. I wanted to share this little bit of joy with folks who get it.

A forgotten knitting site from 1999 cleared up my purling confusion

I was looking for info on basic knitting stitches and found this site called 'KnitNet' that hasn't been touched since 1999. It's all plain text and blue links, no fancy stuff (honestly, it's a relief sometimes). The instructions were so clear, with step-by-step pictures that loaded slowly. I spent a weekend following it and finally got the hang of purling (which always confused me). What struck me is how these old sites often have better how-tos than modern videos, because you have to read and think. Now I check abandoned web pages first when I want to learn something hands-on. It's like a secret library of skills that nobody has touched in years but still works perfectly. I even fixed my grandma's old scarf using tips from that site.

Update: My recent hunt for old game guides online revealed a forgotten site still running on pure 90s html.

That crusty Zelda walkthrough page from 1997, frozen in time with neon text and under construction gifs, feels more genuine than any modern wiki.