Missing links

[desimaui]

When I was younger there used to be a wrestler called the Missing Link. He was big and mean and kind of nasty. I not not talking about that kind of missing link here. Seriously, in the nicest way possible, I am suggesting that you assign someone to go through all of the games you have listed here on this site. There are quite a few of them that have broken or incorect links. When you click on them, you are taken to one of 3 things:
1; nothing
2 Some stupid ad for something unlreleated
3. A link that says the game is no longer available.

Don't you think if the game is no longer playable or the link is not there, you should remove it? Nothing is more frustrating then for a player like me to click on 4 or 5 games in a row only to find out they are useless.
Thanks for listening.

[Akatosh]

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=37851.msg497490#msg497490

[Leon]

If you're looking for a particular game, let me know or post it in the gameseek department. I'm sure I/we can help you find what you're looking for.

[Ishmael]

The first step is to contact the author and a) notify them the link is broken, b) ask them if they can fix it and c) ask them if they know another place to get the game from. If all that fails for a reason or another there's always the forementioned rest of the community to help you out finding them.

[Trent R]

But as in the thread Tosh linked, many of the links are recently broken because of BfS is down. When that gets back up, or a replacement, I think a proactive link fixing operation can be done (especially in prep for a new design)


~Trent

[Stee]

I have quite a lot of the BfS links up on my site. Feel free to have a look, although the site isn't finished yet.

http://www.agsn.co.uk

P.S if anyone would like to help out with the site, let me know.

[m0ds]

Bikes for slugs is down still?

We need a new archive..

[Leon]

I don't mind creating and maintaining one, if someone can come up with (suggestions for) about 15gb of online storage, I've got the files.

[Llama Val]

I have 15gigs of space available and a hundred gigs of bandwidth spare for a noble cause such as this.

[Leon]

That sounds promising... I'll contact you shortly.

To find more sources, is there a way to find out where the games.php page in the games db is pointing to? Right now it's like e.g. http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=597, but where is the destination of this link? Is that only visible in the database and if so, is there a way for me to find out what the original host was? I then can search more efficiently in archives and histories...

[m0ds]

Well ags.org could supply unlimited space and bandwidth, couldn't it? And for £60 a year it's not a bad option. Yet another useful reason for an AGS donate now button...

[Stee]

I have "unlimited" space and bandwidth

[AGA]

When I was younger there used to be a wrestler called the Missing Link. He was big and mean and kind of nasty. I not not talking about that kind of missing link here. Seriously, in the nicest way possible, I am suggesting that you assign someone to go through all of the games you have listed here on this site. There are quite a few of them that have broken or incorect links. When you click on them, you are taken to one of 3 things:
1; nothing
2 Some stupid ad for something unlreleated
3. A link that says the game is no longer available.

Don't you think if the game is no longer playable or the link is not there, you should remove it? Nothing is more frustrating then for a player like me to click on 4 or 5 games in a row only to find out they are useless.
Thanks for listening.

The AGS rating panel is supposed to check game links are live as they go through and rate games. Most of this was done in the last year, so most links should be valid really. If you find one that isn't, let someone know!

The bike isn't likely to come back currently, since the server it was on broke and had no backups, afaik. It could probably be organised so people can start uploading stuff again, but people will need to contribute all the missing stuff again.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I also have 'unlimited' space and bandwidth on www.bryvis.com

[Leon]

I have a full copy of the Bike so if needed it can be restored. But one can question the organisation behind it (as discussed many times before).

- Should the availability of a game be the responsibility of the gamemaker and thus keep the situation as is with dead links...
or
- Should there be an organised archive with a keeper of records who manages and maintains the binaries.

The latter option is time consuming and the person responsible should have access to the games DB to correct the links. However, it is the most elegant solution and keeps the database neat and tidy. Game makers can add their own games like it is now, but there should be a way to 'moderate' the entries and direct broken links to the 'archive' That's how I've organised my pages at the moment. I try to keep as much traffic as possible from the bike- server by searching alternative links. If they are not available, end up at the archive. But the final result is a game that's always downloadable.

You can question and discuss the functionality and future of the games db. Is it something of the game maker or is it something of AGS? The game maker should always have the last say in this matter. If he doesn't want his/her game to be available anymore (like Tobias' games recently in the RoN db) you should respect that and remove the entries. But always keep a copy hidden for historical reason. I think the way the RoN games db works at the moment is a good example of how you should organise the games.

I don't mind being the keeper. I have an offline archive of almost all games from the past and present and am still (actively) hunting for the missing ones. Give me access and I'll set up an archive. Give me access to the games DB and I can check all links and correct them if needed.

[jetxl]

...
To find more sources, is there a way to find out where the games.php page in the games db is pointing to? Right now it's like e.g. http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=597, but where is the destination of this link? Is that only visible in the database and if so, is there a way for me to find out what the original host was? I then can search more efficiently in archives and histories...

That stupid link to the AGS download counter irks me too. How many times have I downloaded a html page instead of a game. I always move the cursor over an url before I click it (look before you leap) but strangely I can't do that with something as safe and familiar as the AGS game db.

[LimpingFish]

To elaborate on what I said in a previous thread...

The reason we have a fair few dead links at the moment is that, back in the early days of the panel, we fixed most non-working links by finding the relevant files on the Bike; the Bike being the largest readily available archive of games to hand.

Now that the Bike has had it's wheels stolen by a gang of pikeys, all those links have died again.

The idea of a central "master" server has been discussed many times during the course of the panel's lifetime, and attempts were made to begin a reshuffle of the contents of the BforS server. Wouldn't have mattered in the end, I suppose.

That stupid link to the AGS download counter irks me too. How many times have I downloaded a html page instead of a game. I always move the cursor over an url before I click it (look before you leap) but strangely I can't do that with something as safe and familiar as the AGS game db.

I know what you mean. I also like to see exactly where I'm going before I click a link. Maybe CJ could tweak the script during any future upgrades to the DB.

Of course, panel members can see the contents of the download field when editing a games rating, length, etc.