Internet ArchiveReviews of archive.org

Internet Archive is a valuable project, and I genuinely respect the original idea behind making archived web content freely accessible to everyone. But at some point, good intentions are no longer enough. For over a month, I've been experiencing HTTP 429 errors after manually opening as few as eight archived records. No scraping, no automation, no bots. Just normal, light personal use. I've reported this issue repeatedly. My emails have been ignored, and on several occasions I've been told the problem was fixed when it clearly wasn't. A month later, absolutely nothing has changed. I understand that AI bots and large-scale scraping are putting enormous pressure on services like the Internet Archive. But why are ordinary users being punished for it? Why should someone manually browsing a handful of archived pages face the same restrictions intended to stop automated scraping? And perhaps more importantly, why is Internet Archive still trying to maintain a model that increasingly seems unable to distinguish legitimate users from abusive traffic? I've even suggested introducing a reasonable paid subscription for users who want reliable access. I'd gladly pay for a service that actually works. Free access could remain available, but there needs to be a better solution than simply restricting everyone and leaving legitimate users dealing with constant errors. I appreciate the philosophy of keeping knowledge freely accessible. But that philosophy loses much of its meaning when the service becomes unreliable and the people reporting problems are ignored. The internet has changed. AI has changed how websites are accessed and scraped. Perhaps it's time Internet Archive reconsidered how it operates instead of continuing to rely on an approach that clearly isn't working for everyone. What disappoints me most isn't even the technical problem. It's the lack of accountability, the poor communication, and the apparent unwillingness to acknowledge that something is fundamentally wrong. A valuable mission doesn't excuse poor execution or disrespectful treatment of users. STOP BEGGING PEOPLE FOR DONATIONS AND START FIXING YOUR BROKEN SERVICE! It's absolutely PATHETIC to constantly ask for money while ignoring users, leaving basic issues unresolved for months, and pretending everything works. FREE DOESN'T EXCUSE INCOMPETENCE. What a disgrace!

This site is removing information continuously most of the content I mean video content has no sound. Videos that we’re available a year ago are missing from the site now. It also spreads a lot of disinformation as most of the videos are completely false and I verified and tested these just to check if what they were saying was realistic, and it’s the furthest thing from the truth. Now they do say that they can’t police it all and when they do find something misleading, they remove it but there’s a ton of information that misleading. I have to wonder who is funding this archive site although it’s listed as a nonprofit they seem to get funding elsewhere I’ve donated money to them, but I’m reluctant to donate anymore because the site does not work properly. They have numerous problems.

The website made to help stop lost media helps it by taking down stuff all the time for copyright yet allows porn and other bad stuff stay all the time. And as a bonus it is ether down or so buggy it's unusable.

Ignorant, lazy , and absolutely pointless.if I Could score minus 5 I would.

The Internet Archive supports pedophiles that upload CSAM. I have reported several times the same user that uploads PDF files from European Countries featuring underage girls in magazines. IA refused to take the content down. They simply made it Log-In only to view? Sick. The User also added his own Candid Photos he took of girls on nude beaches from a distance that he claims are "over 18". How can he guarantee this? A better question is why should Archive stay online after this? Children can access this content and the user should be blocked and reported. IA is disgusting for allowing this content and should be doing all they can to eradicate it from their site, but they obviously do not care and let it remain. Pathetic, VILE, and Sad that IA would risk their entire website while begging their users for donations for one User.

I got an 502 error when I tried to get into that section where I was able to read old books

Terrible service that doesn't even work most days. There are server errors and outages left and right. It is totally unusable. No longer a viable reading option.

I had not visited this site in a few months. It now seems to be a right wing propaganda spewing machine. Seriously, in a drop down menu, one option is "Donald tru#Sp's Tweets". Movies I previously found easily no longer exist on the site.