wiki.archiveteam.org

You can support Archiveteam in four main ways: run the Warrior client to donate bandwidth and computing power, donate money to keep projects running, report sites that are shutting down, and contribute code or coordination through IRC. The right choice depends on what you can offer — a spare machine and bandwidth, money, a tip about an at-risk site, or technical labor.

Archiveteam describes itself as "a loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage," active since 2009 and focused on shutdowns, shutoffs, mergers, and deletions. Its wiki is an "offloading point and information depot" for archiving projects and advice on rescuing data.

Run a Warrior to donate bandwidth and compute

The most direct hands-on contribution is running a Warrior. The main page states plainly: "Help us: ☞ Download and run your warrior ☜." This is the entry point for volunteers who want to contribute machine resources rather than money.

What happens when you run it: the Warrior pulls work items for active projects and mirrors data back to the team. Progress is visible on the online tracker linked from the main page, so you can confirm your machine is actually contributing.

A practical example: if you have an always-on home server or an idle desktop with spare disk and bandwidth, running a Warrior turns that idle capacity into archiving work without you choosing targets manually.

One caveat worth knowing: the main page notes a separate Warrior build for machines "that don't have the update to pick a project at random from a weighted list." If your client can't select projects automatically, you may need the Telegram-specific build instead.

Donate to keep projects running

The main page includes a direct ask: "Donate to keep our projects going." This is the option for people who want to support the work without running software or writing code. The site presents donation as one of the core ways to sustain active projects, alongside volunteering compute.

Report at-risk sites and data

Archiveteam finds work through tips. The main page asks: "Anything shutting down? Put it on the Deathwatch or tell us on IRC!" Two channels exist for this:

• Deathwatch — the wiki's listing for sites and services that appear to be shutting down.
• IRC — for direct reports and discussion.

This matters because the team's whole model is reacting to shutdowns, mergers, and deletions. A timely report can be the difference between a site being saved and lost.

Contribute code or coordination

If you want to work on the tooling itself, the main page points to a starting point for coding for Archive Team. Coordination happens on IRC, with project-specific channels listed for each effort.

Current project channels

All channels are on hackint. The main page also lists Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Voice of America as medium-term projects, and notes that short-term urgent projects are currently none.

Which option fits you

• Spare machine and bandwidth, no money to give: run a Warrior.
• Want to help without running software: donate.
• Know a site about to disappear: post it on the Deathwatch or report it on IRC.
• Can write code or help coordinate: start with the coding entry point and join the relevant IRC channel.

The main page frames all of this around one message: "IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY." Support can be as small as a tip about a closing site or as involved as maintaining crawler code — the team's structure is built to absorb both.

Archiveteam does not use a fixed scoring rubric. Its own description says it is a "loose collective" that reacts to "shutdowns, shutoffs, mergers, and plain old deletions," and its main page frames the mission as saving digital heritage before it is lost. In practice, selection is driven by perceived risk of loss, community tips, and the availability of a crawl method that volunteers can actually run. The site is an "offloading point and information depot" for projects "related to saving websites or data that is in danger of being lost."

The core criterion: risk of disappearance

The clearest signal is imminent or likely loss. Archiveteam says it has caught wind of shutdowns, shutoffs, mergers, and deletions since 2009. That means a site does not need to be famous to qualify; it needs to be at risk. A small forum with a shutdown notice can be a stronger candidate than a large platform with no announced changes.

How candidates surface

Two public channels are named on the main page:

• Deathwatch — a place to flag anything shutting down.
• IRC — an alternative way to tell the team directly.

Anyone can submit a lead through these routes. The main page also asks, "Anything shutting down? Put it on the Deathwatch or tell us on IRC!" This is the front door for new projects.

How projects are classified

Once a candidate is accepted, it is sorted by urgency and scope rather than by topic. The main page uses these buckets:

The medium-term list shows that news value and public-interest significance matter. Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Voice of America are described as media organizations "at risk of closure," which is both a risk signal and a cultural/political one. The US Government project is similarly framed as archiving government material.

Technical feasibility shapes the list

A site also has to be crawlable in a way the team can distribute. The long-term list includes "Distributed recursive crawls" for "large websites that have no clear structure that can easily be split into work items." That entry is essentially a description of a technical problem: if a site cannot be divided into work items, it needs a different crawling approach. So selection is not only "is this worth saving?" but also "can we actually save it with the tools and volunteers we have?"

What this means if you want to nominate something

If you have a site in mind, the practical path is:

1. Check whether it is already listed under an active, finished, or upcoming project.
2. If it is shutting down or being deleted, add it to the Deathwatch or raise it on IRC.
3. Expect the team to weigh urgency, public interest, and whether the crawl can be split into work items.

There is no published formula beyond that. The main page presents the process as reactive and community-driven, not as a formal review board.

Archiveteam is a loose collective of volunteers—archivists, programmers, writers, and others—dedicated to saving digital heritage that is at risk of disappearing. The site wiki.archiveteam.org serves as an information hub and coordination point for archiving projects, mainly focused on rescuing websites and data facing shutdowns, mergers, or deletions. If you want to understand what the group does, find active projects, or learn how to contribute, this wiki is the central place to start.

What Archiveteam Is

According to the site's main page, Archiveteam describes itself as a "loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage." Since 2009, the group has tracked shutdowns, shutoffs, mergers, and deletions, working to save history before it is lost.

The organization is not a formal institution. It operates as a volunteer-driven effort with a clear message: "IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY"—meaning that losing digital history is not inevitable if people act to preserve it.

What the Wiki Does

The wiki functions as an "offloading point and information depot" for archiving projects. Its main purposes include:

• Coordinating team-based archiving efforts: Volunteers pull down and mirror data from websites at risk.
• Providing advice on managing and rescuing data: Beyond group projects, the site offers guidance for individuals.
• Listing active, upcoming, and finished projects: So contributors can see where help is needed.

How to Get Involved

The main page highlights several entry points for participation:

Run a Warrior

The primary way to contribute is by downloading and running a "warrior"—a tool that helps archive data as part of a distributed effort. The site directs newcomers to download and run their warrior, with an online tracker showing what's being archived.

Join a Project

Projects are organized by type and duration:

Report a Shutdown

If you know of a website or service shutting down, the site suggests adding it to the "Deathwatch" list or reporting it via IRC.

Contribute Code

For those who want to program for Archiveteam, the wiki provides a starting point for developers.

Why It Matters

The wiki exists because digital content disappears regularly—when companies shut down, merge, or simply delete data. Archiveteam's response is organized, volunteer-driven archiving. The site makes that work visible and accessible: you can see what's at risk, what's being saved, and how to help.

Whether you want to run a warrior, report a shutdown, or just understand what digital preservation looks like in practice, wiki.archiveteam.org is the place to begin.

You can start contributing to Archiveteam in minutes by downloading and running the Warrior client, which pulls work items from active archiving projects automatically. The only requirements are a computer with an internet connection and enough disk space and bandwidth to handle the data you crawl. If you want to do more than run the client—such as coding, reporting at-risk sites, or coordinating on IRC—there are separate paths for each.

What Archiveteam Is

Archiveteam describes itself as "a loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage." Since 2009, the group has tracked shutdowns, mergers, and deletions and worked to save that material before it disappears. The wiki at wiki.archiveteam.org is the coordination hub: it lists active projects, hosts the Deathwatch of sites at risk, and points volunteers to the tools they need.

The Easiest Way In: Run a Warrior

The Warrior is Archiveteam's distributed crawling client. You install it, and it automatically grabs work items from projects that need help, crawls the assigned URLs, and uploads the results.

Steps:

1. Go to the main page and find the "Archive Team recruiting" section.
2. Follow the "Download and run your warrior" link.
3. Install and launch the client on your machine.
4. Leave it running. The Warrior selects projects for you, so you don't need to configure anything manually.

What to expect: The client will start downloading and uploading data on its own. You can watch progress through the online tracker linked from the main page. Bandwidth and disk usage depend on the projects currently active.

Common snags: Some projects are weighted so the Warrior picks them more often (Telegram currently has a weight of 1.0, making it the default choice). If your Warrior is on an older version that can't pick from a weighted list, it may need an update to follow the current project selection.

Check What's Active Before You Commit

Not all projects run at the same intensity. The wiki groups them so you can decide where your resources go.

The online tracker shows what's actually being worked on right now, so check it before assuming a listed project needs help today.

Report a Site That's About to Disappear

If you know of a service shutting down, merging, or deleting data, the wiki has a Deathwatch page for exactly this. Add the site there, or tell the team on IRC. This is how new projects get started—someone notices a closure, and the collective mobilizes.

Talk to the Team on IRC

Each project has its own IRC channel on hackint, listed next to the project on the main page. Examples include:

• #fads — Meta Ad Library
• #UncleSamsArchive — US Government
• #telegrab — Telegram
• #burnthetwitch — Twitch
• #urlteam — URLTeam
• #Y — Distributed recursive crawls

Joining a channel is the fastest way to ask what needs doing, get help with the Warrior, or volunteer for manual work that isn't handled by the client.

Contribute Code or Run Manual Projects

The main page notes that if you want to code for Archiveteam, there's a starting point linked from the recruiting section. Manual projects—those not handled by the Warrior—are also listed separately. These are for people who can run targeted scripts or processes rather than rely on the distributed client.

Keep the Effort Going

Archiveteam asks for donations to keep projects running, and the main page links to a donation option. If you can't run a Warrior or write code, donating is a direct way to support the work.

A practical starting sequence: run a Warrior first, check the tracker to see it working, then join the IRC channel for whichever project interests you. If you spot a shutdown that isn't listed, put it on the Deathwatch. That covers the full loop from passive contribution to active coordination.

Archiveteam's active work is organized by how you contribute and how long the project is expected to run. As of the current wiki.archiveteam.org main page, the projects fall into four groups: Warrior-based projects (run through the distributed Warrior client), short-term urgent projects (none listed at present), medium-term projects, and long-term projects. Each project below is drawn from that page, including its assigned IRC channel where one is listed.

Warrior-based projects

These are the projects you contribute to by downloading and running the Warrior, Archiveteam's distributed crawling client. The main page states the current "Archiveteam's Choice" is Telegram, with a weight of 1.0.

• Telegram — the default weighted pick for Warriors. A separate entry exists for Warriors that don't have the update allowing them to pick a project at random from a weighted list.
• The page notes that short-term, urgent projects are none currently.

If you want to help but don't want to choose a project yourself, running the Warrior and letting it take the weighted default is the intended path.

Medium-term projects

These are ongoing efforts expected to run for a moderate period. The main page lists:

The three media entries (Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America) are grouped together on the page, all described as USAGM-owned or -operated organizations.

Long-term projects

These run indefinitely or until the target is exhausted. The main page lists:

• Distributed recursive crawls — recursively crawling large websites that have no clear structure that can easily be split into work items. IRC: #Y (on hackint).
• Telegram — archiving public messages in various newsworthy and/or otherwise notable Telegram channels. IRC: #telegrab (on hackint).
• Twitch — archiving metadata and select videos. IRC: #burnthetwitch (on hackint).
• URLTeam — archiving URL shorteners. IRC: #urlteam (on hackint).
• URLs — a random collection of stuff.

Note that Telegram appears both as a Warrior-based choice and as a long-term project; the Warrior entry is the client-side assignment, while the long-term entry describes the underlying archiving effort.

How to pick a project

1. If you want the lowest-effort entry point, download and run the Warrior. The page's "Archive Team recruiting" section directs you to do exactly that, and the online tracker shows what's currently being worked on.
2. If you want a specific cause, pick from the medium- or long-term lists above and join the corresponding IRC channel on hackint.
3. If you know of something shutting down, the page asks you to put it on the Deathwatch or tell the team on IRC.
4. If you want to write code for Archiveteam, the page points to a starting point for developers.

The main page also notes that donations keep the projects going, and that the site functions as an offloading point and information depot for archiving projects aimed at saving websites or data at risk of being lost.