Comments on: Resurrect own page from abandoned site?

Question: Resurrect own page from abandoned site?

Ethereal Bligh — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 23:41:59 -0800

Back in 1994, I wrote up a web page on a famous mathematical puzzle; it was the second page to appear on it. It got wide noteriety, it's cited and linked widely. But two years ago I changed my ISP.

...and I didn't arrange for redirection. 'Cause they would have charged me for it. It had been the #1 link on Google for the problem, all the links to it are now dead.

I didn't really do anything about it at the time, thinking that, hell, I hadn't updated the page in years and I might as well let it die. And it was also one of those things where I was proud of myself for it, but at the same time sorta embarassed that I was. So, I thought, hey, let it die.

But I've changed my mind. I got a specific domain for it, and resurrected the page. Oh, a few months ago. (Although I'd made it available on my personal domain in response to a discussion of the problem last year).

One thing I thought I could do would be to Google for everyone that links to the (dead) page and email them with the new URL. Is that a good idea? Will it annoy the people I email? And it's probably unlikely that it will ever be Google's first link again, isn't it?

Does anyone have any other ideas? And, I guess, I'm asking whether people think that I should just leave it alone.

By: Lush

Lush — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:03:07 -0800

I say go ahead and e-mail them. Pages change URLs all the time. Any self-respecting webmaster would hate to have broken links, so it would be helpful, not annoying/spammy, for the author to correct them with the new, proper one.

By: Gyan

Gyan — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:16:23 -0800

The WebPrisoner's Dilemma. Just leave it on your personal domain, unless you don't want it to be known i.e. your personal domain. If you sincerely want some of the popularity back, go to Wikipedia and link it as an external resource. Over a year, if people click and like it, who knows.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:34:02 -0800

Let them know. If they care about the topic (Monty Hall?), and of course if you're generous with linking back, they'll be glad you helped them. After they switch, it should be easy enough to get the top Google spot again.

By: advil

advil — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:03:25 -0800

I've gotten an email or two like this for a list of resources on a particular topic that I maintain. I was rather grateful, since it's something that I don't have a lot of time to maintain, and this way I didn't have to look around to figure out where the new site was. So I think (but maybe other people are different) that people who maintain similar lists for whatever topic your site falls under would be grateful to hear about a change in location for it.

By: triv

triv — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 03:03:46 -0800

If I were linking to a useful and interesting site, I'd want to know about any change in url and I wouldn't find an updated link annoying or spammy. Keep it simple and brief, and I reckon that most people would be pleased with the heads up.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:50:30 -0800

I'm always glad to be told about new links to replace ones that have gone dead.
Um, but like triv says, keep it simple and brief...

By: mendel

mendel — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:01:48 -0800

If you sincerely want some of the popularity back, go to Wikipedia and link it as an external resource.

Expect that to last about a day, though. Wikipedia is not a repository of links, and using it to generate traffic to your own site is considered abuse.

By: aspenbaloo

aspenbaloo — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:41:13 -0800

What is the problem and where is the website? You've piqued my curiosity!

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 11:18:40 -0800

montyhallproblem.com

...as someone upthread guessed.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm going to make a very concise, obvious email informing people of the URL change.