Blast from the past! Access to the MGH BTC 'archives' via the 'WayBack' machine . . .

[TrimTab]

The so called 'WayBack' machine was terrible, far more than half the pages one would try to view, failed to appear due to some problem or another. Apparently, though, they have upgraded their systems and I have been able to access practically every page they recorded fairly easily. For many, this is the original BrainTalk, with material from January 2000 through April 2004 - before 'the server' left MGH.

If you are among the original Braintalk members, here are the starting urls for the 'top' level of the archives of the MGH BTC (the content existing before vBulletin) as available through 'WayBack:'

Top
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

General
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

A-L
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

M-Z
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

Of course, even if you were not among those members, these urls should still work . . .

[mcfox]

Gosh, brings a bit of a lump to the throat seeing all the familiar names, some of whom are sadly no longer with us :( - wonder what happened to everyone else?

[tic chick]

hey trim tab!

thanks for that!

i tried the wayback machine about a year ago and was getting nothing, so it does seem like they have improved it.

how do you get posts from the years 2005-2006?

thanks,
jeannie

[TrimTab]

access to older BTC web pages

You're welcome!

I think there are two big gaps, the one you just mentioned, which I think John Lester might possess and the one before 2000, i.e. 1993 through 2000.

I tried 'WayBack' to get this set (2000-2004) but could not, then I started going through my old e-mails and discovered an operative URL in 'WayBack' for BTC. Once I found one page I was able 'wonder around' to BTC's 'top level' URLs in other 'WayBack' pages for that period. 'WayBack' may have more pages, there is a better chance for the older ones, and I will try to find a way to access them but right now I am busy . . . this is a very bad week for me, so next week I hope I will have the opportunity to be more thorough. There is a way to tell 'WayBack' to get lost (a 'don't record this site' command) - I don't think anyone activated that on purpose at BTC but they might have do so inadvertently (software upgrades have default settings that can be bad choices and tend to 'overrule' the settings of earlier versions) . . . so there is some chance the gap in the 2004-2006 range is not in 'WayBack.' The pre-2000 is before my time but I remember finding useful information there. I think MGH had it on their web site but I also think that it is no longer on MGH's web site.

[mcfox]

how do you get posts from the years 2005-2006?

Braintalk was actually hosted on the domain, brain.hastypastry.net, from about 2004 - 2008 ish, so to view posts from those years you would need to use that url, not the neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu one posted by TrimTab in the first post.

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

[TrimTab]

Thanks, McFox, that is what I was going to do.

I have tried to appraise the 'WayBack' in this time region and so far I have found it to be more like the old 'WayBack' rather than the new 'WayBack' for BTC's older (2000-2004) 'archive' . . . many of the pages do not seem to want to down load. The 'archive' version is easier to obtain but even this will not load for a great deal of BTC's content in the period from, apparently, 2004-2009. Hopefully, in time, 'WayBack' will have corrected this also. But I couldn't really find what I was searching for . . . it might be there. I found a little information but often the threads would not show, only the list of forums.

Thanks for the url none the less.

[TrimTab]

Re: brain.hastypastry.net

April 6, 2009 at 19:44:29 seems to be their last entry for brain.hastypastry.net

I have found some stuff, but a great deal seems to return the equivalent of a time-out error, I'm not sure why . . . some messages seem to be saying that they try to access the 'current' site but since it isn't there it doesn't respond. At this location they are blocking the pages except the top levels due supposedly to advertising . . . strange. I don't think BTC has ever allowed advertising, although it once had a google ads banner.

[Headspin]

It's really interesting to look into all of that, and see those who have come and gone, and some who have left us for good. I started Braintalk in April of 2001, and yet I cannot believe it has been that long ago. I am blown away as to how that time has simply passed by.