Re: Firefox addin to replace 404 pages with archived pages from wayback machine

Melvin Carvalho <[email protected]> Tue, 9 Aug 2016 05:58:26 +0200
Newsgroups gmane.org.w3c.tag
Message-ID <CAKaEYhKxzAFSEh42gz3CuOwRza85Sbw4qfW4Dg9ovcnafWESqA@mail.gmail.com>
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On 8 August 2016 at 17:02, Noah Mendelsohn <[email protected]> wrote:

> Just to be clear, I said in my initial post that as long as the addin or
> feature was running at the user's request with clear indication of which
> content is from 404 pages, I don't think there's a violation of Web arch.
>
> My point was that: whether or not deleting pages (I.e. taking URIs that
> were 200 or 3XX and making them 404) is something we discourage on policy
> grounds, it's a supported and important part of Web arch. When I make a
> page 404 I usually have good reasons, and in general I expect users to see
> the page I return with the 404. I believe that's that the pertinent
> specifications call for, and should remain the default behavior of user
> agents.
>

Let's say a user has bookmarked a page for reference.  And that page has
moved, but is yet archived.  I can see value for a user to see the material
that she had seen before, from an archived version.

4xx is indicated to the user agent, and I think that fundamentally in web
arch the user is the ultimate curator of the content presented.


>
> Thank you.
>
> Noah
>
> On 8/5/2016 4:58 PM, Herbert Van de Sompel wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 10:23 AM, Noah Mendelsohn <[email protected]
>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>
>>     See [1].
>>
>>     I thought this might be of some interest to the TAG. Seems to me that
>>     this is OK insofar as the addin is a modification to a user agent, and
>>     is presumably activated only with the user's consent.
>>
>>     Nonethess, this seems to embody a slightly skewed view of Web
>>     protocols: if I as a URI authority serve a new or updated page, your
>>     browser will do what I intend and show the user that new content. If I
>>     delete a page, the browser will not honor that deletion, but will show
>>     content anyway. This seems to me just a bit of a slippery slope. A 404
>>     is just as meaningful in Web protocols (no such page) as a 200 IMO.
>>
>>
>> The Memento Extension for Chrome (http://bit.ly/memento-for-chrome)
>> handles
>> 404 and much more. It covers archived resources in many web archives, see
>> http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/about/. And its behavior is completely
>> under control of the user because it works by right-clicking links or
>> pages.
>>
>> Right clicking yields a Memento menu with several options:
>> * Get near current date: Retrieves the most recently archived resource,
>> and
>> hence can be used to address 404.
>> * Get near saved date: retrieves an archived resource with archival
>> datetime closest to the date set in a calendar picker
>> * Get near memento-datetime: if the page is itself an archived resource in
>> a web archive, retrieves an archived resource of a linked resource with
>> archival datetime closest to the date expressed in the page's
>> Memento-Datetime header.
>> * Get near page date: retrieves an archived resource with a datetime
>> closest to the page datetime if it is provided in a machine-readable
>> manner
>> * Get near link date: retrieves an archived resource with a datetime
>> closest to date expressed in the data-versiondate link decoration
>> attribute, as defined in http://robustlinks.mementoweb.org/spec/
>>
>> Note that the Memento protocol is not only for web archives. It can also
>> be
>> supported by version control systems, wikis, etc. For example, the W3C
>> wiki
>> and all versions of the W3C specs are accessible using Memento. Using,
>> e.g.
>> Memento for Chrome, one can seamlessly navigate to the version of a wiki
>> page or W3C spec as it was at a certain date. And, of course to versions
>> of
>> linked resources, using right-click as described above. Using the Time
>> Travel API, see http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/guide/api/, one can use
>> a
>> URI of this form to get to a version of a W3C spec as it existed at a
>> given
>> date:
>> http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/memento/20031112/https://ww
>> w.w3.org/TR/webarch/
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Herbert
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     I'm not proposing that the TAG do anything about this or devote
>>     significant time to it right now, just pointing it out in case it's of
>>     interest.
>>
>>     Thank you.
>>
>>     Noah
>>
>>
>>     [1]
>>     http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/firefox-will-try-to-show-y
>> ou-saved-archive-of-a-page-instead-of-404-error-869482
>>     <http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/firefox-will-try-to-show-
>> you-saved-archive-of-a-page-instead-of-404-error-869482>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Herbert Van de Sompel
>> Digital Library Research & Prototyping
>> Los Alamos National Laboratory, Research Library
>> http://public.lanl.gov/herbertv/
>> http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0715-6126
>>
>> ==
>>
>
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><br><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><div class=3D"gmail_quo=
te">On 8 August 2016 at 17:02, Noah Mendelsohn <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a hre=
f=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a=
>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 =
0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Just to be clear, I s=
aid in my initial post that as long as the addin or feature was running at =
the user&#39;s request with clear indication of which content is from 404 p=
ages, I don&#39;t think there&#39;s a violation of Web arch.<br>
<br>
My point was that: whether or not deleting pages (I.e. taking URIs that wer=
e 200 or 3XX and making them 404) is something we discourage on policy grou=
nds, it&#39;s a supported and important part of Web arch. When I make a pag=
e 404 I usually have good reasons, and in general I expect users to see the=
 page I return with the 404. I believe that&#39;s that the pertinent specif=
ications call for, and should remain the default behavior of user agents.<b=
r></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Let&#39;s say a user has bookmarked a pa=
ge for reference.=C2=A0 And that page has moved, but is yet archived.=C2=A0=
 I can see value for a user to see the material that she had seen before, f=
rom an archived version.<br><br></div><div>4xx is indicated to the user age=
nt, and I think that fundamentally in web arch the user is the ultimate cur=
ator of the content presented.<br></div><div>=C2=A0</div><blockquote class=
=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padd=
ing-left:1ex">
<br>
Thank you.<span class=3D"HOEnZb"><font color=3D"#888888"><br>
<br>
Noah</font></span><span class=3D""><br>
<br>
On 8/5/2016 4:58 PM, Herbert Van de Sompel wrote:<br>
</span><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-=
left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class=3D"">
On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 10:23 AM, Noah Mendelsohn &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:nrm@=
arcanedomain.com" target=3D"_blank">[email protected]</a><br></span><div=
><div class=3D"h5">
&lt;mailto:<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank">nrm@ar=
canedomain.com</a>&gt;&gt; wrote:<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 See [1].<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 I thought this might be of some interest to the TAG. Seems to=
 me that<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 this is OK insofar as the addin is a modification to a user a=
gent, and<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 is presumably activated only with the user&#39;s consent.<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 Nonethess, this seems to embody a slightly skewed view of Web=
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 protocols: if I as a URI authority serve a new or updated pag=
e, your<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 browser will do what I intend and show the user that new cont=
ent. If I<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 delete a page, the browser will not honor that deletion, but =
will show<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 content anyway. This seems to me just a bit of a slippery slo=
pe. A 404<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 is just as meaningful in Web protocols (no such page) as a 20=
0 IMO.<br>
<br>
<br>
The Memento Extension for Chrome (<a href=3D"http://bit.ly/memento-for-chro=
me" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">http://bit.ly/memento-for-chr<wbr>=
ome</a>) handles<br>
404 and much more. It covers archived resources in many web archives, see<b=
r>
<a href=3D"http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/about/" rel=3D"noreferrer" targ=
et=3D"_blank">http://timetravel.mementoweb.o<wbr>rg/about/</a>. And its beh=
avior is completely<br>
under control of the user because it works by right-clicking links or pages=
.<br>
<br>
Right clicking yields a Memento menu with several options:<br>
* Get near current date: Retrieves the most recently archived resource, and=
<br>
hence can be used to address 404.<br>
* Get near saved date: retrieves an archived resource with archival<br>
datetime closest to the date set in a calendar picker<br>
* Get near memento-datetime: if the page is itself an archived resource in<=
br>
a web archive, retrieves an archived resource of a linked resource with<br>
archival datetime closest to the date expressed in the page&#39;s<br>
Memento-Datetime header.<br>
* Get near page date: retrieves an archived resource with a datetime<br>
closest to the page datetime if it is provided in a machine-readable manner=
<br>
* Get near link date: retrieves an archived resource with a datetime<br>
closest to date expressed in the data-versiondate link decoration<br>
attribute, as defined in <a href=3D"http://robustlinks.mementoweb.org/spec/=
" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">http://robustlinks.mementoweb.<wbr>o=
rg/spec/</a><br>
<br>
Note that the Memento protocol is not only for web archives. It can also be=
<br>
supported by version control systems, wikis, etc. For example, the W3C wiki=
<br>
and all versions of the W3C specs are accessible using Memento. Using, e.g.=
<br>
Memento for Chrome, one can seamlessly navigate to the version of a wiki<br=
>
page or W3C spec as it was at a certain date. And, of course to versions of=
<br>
linked resources, using right-click as described above. Using the Time<br>
Travel API, see <a href=3D"http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/guide/api/" rel=
=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">http://timetravel.mementoweb.o<wbr>rg/gui=
de/api/</a>, one can use a<br>
URI of this form to get to a version of a W3C spec as it existed at a given=
<br>
date:<br>
<a href=3D"http://timetravel.mementoweb.org/memento/20031112/https://www.w3=
.org/TR/webarch/" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">http://timetravel.me=
mentoweb.o<wbr>rg/memento/20031112/https://ww<wbr>w.w3.org/TR/webarch/</a><=
br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Herbert<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 I&#39;m not proposing that the TAG do anything about this or =
devote<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 significant time to it right now, just pointing it out in cas=
e it&#39;s of<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 interest.<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 Thank you.<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 Noah<br>
<br>
<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 [1]<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 <a href=3D"http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/firefox-will-try=
-to-show-you-saved-archive-of-a-page-instead-of-404-error-869482" rel=3D"no=
referrer" target=3D"_blank">http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/n<wbr>ews/firefox-=
will-try-to-show-y<wbr>ou-saved-archive-of-a-page-ins<wbr>tead-of-404-error=
-869482</a><br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 &lt;<a href=3D"http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/firefox-will=
-try-to-show-you-saved-archive-of-a-page-instead-of-404-error-869482" rel=
=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/<wbr>news/fi=
refox-will-try-to-show-<wbr>you-saved-archive-of-a-page-in<wbr>stead-of-404=
-error-869482</a>&gt;<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Herbert Van de Sompel<br>
Digital Library Research &amp; Prototyping<br>
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Research Library<br>
<a href=3D"http://public.lanl.gov/herbertv/" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=3D"_=
blank">http://public.lanl.gov/herbert<wbr>v/</a><br>
<a href=3D"http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0715-6126" rel=3D"noreferrer" target=
=3D"_blank">http://orcid.org/0000-0002-071<wbr>5-6126</a><br>
<br>
=3D=3D<br>
</div></div></blockquote>
<br>
</blockquote></div><br></div></div>

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