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  "path": "/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2026-03-10/Technology_report",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-10T00:00:00.000Z",
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  "tags": [
    "PDF download",
    "Mastodon",
    "LinkedIn",
    "Facebook",
    "X (Twitter)",
    "Bluesky",
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    "previously reported",
    "almost 690 thousand times on Wikipedia",
    "Wikimedia Product Safety and Integrity team",
    "Le Bistro/21 février 2026",
    "index has been created",
    "5] Over on Meta-Wiki, an administrator [declined a request",
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    "over 13 thousand views",
    "9093 views",
    "\"Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today, starts removing 695,000 archive links\"",
    "blacklist request",
    "relevant discussion",
    "+ Add a comment",
    "add the page to your watchlist",
    "purging the cache",
    "Suggestions"
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  "textContent": "English Wikipedia deprecates archive.today after DDoS against blog, altered content: After the archive site launched a DDoS campaign against a small blog in January 2026, a request for comment was started, with consensus to deprecate the site used almost 700 thousand times.\n\n\n\n← Back to Contents\n\nView Latest Issue\n\n10 March 2026\n\n\n\n\n\nFile:Ddos-attack-ex.png\n\nNasanbuyn\n\ncc-sa 4.0\n\n300\n\nTechnology report\n\n## English Wikipedia deprecates archive.today after DDoS against blog, altered content\n\nContribute —\n\nShare this\n\n  * PDF download\n  * E-mail\n  * Mastodon\n  * LinkedIn\n  * Facebook\n  * X (Twitter)\n  * Bluesky\n  * Reddit\n\n\n\nBy Mitchsavl\n\n\n\n    _For further_ Signpost _content on this topic, see previous _Signpost_ coverage, and coverage in this issue's In the media and News and notes sections._\n\nAfter the website archive.today launched a DDoS campaign against a small blog in January 2026, a request for comment was started. After the discovery of tampered archives, consensus was reached to deprecate the site used almost 700 thousand times on the English Wikipedia.[1]\n\n_Note: archive.today is not to be confused with archive.org, which is the domain of the unafilliatedInternet Archive._\n\n### DDoS attack discovered, discussion begins\n\n\n\nAn archive website is used to store webpages, to prevent them from becoming lost media.\n\nOn February 5, a suspicious script, added to archive.today's CAPTCHA page, was mentioned at Village Pump (Technical) by a Wikipedian, after it had been previously reported on Hacker News in January. This developed into a request for comment on February 7 over what to do about the site, as addressing the widespread use of the site could lead to significant disruption. With archived web pages being used to verify information across the wiki, concerns were raised about the impact of deprecation or blacklisting. Other Wikipedians raised safety concerns over linking to a website which is running malicious code in user browsers, and some argued that it was a breach of trust, and brought up previous discussions over the sites practices.\n\narchive.today has been cited  almost 690 thousand times on Wikipedia, and the main objection to deprecation was on the grounds of losing access to many sources exclusively archived there. While the RFC was still ongoing, several editors began discussing ways to \"deprecate without losing verifiability\" by creating archives on the Wikipedia platform, using a tool that would fetch content from the archive.today site and remove Javascript.[2]\n\n\n\nFlowchart showing how a user's computer may be caught up in the attack\n\nAlternative archiving websites, such as the unrelated Internet Archive (archive.org), Megalodon, and Ghost Archive were also brought up several times in discussions. Editors also brought up the four previous RFC's,3] and the consensus to blacklist the site in 2013, because of concerns over linkspamming, the operations of the site, and the use of unauthorised bots linking to the sites archives. This was later [overturned in 2016.\n\nThe process was monitored by the  Wikimedia Product Safety and Integrity team, who left a note explaining their approach and that their view, and encouraged the community to \"carefully weigh the situation before making a decision on this unusual case.\"\n\n###  Evidence of tampering leads to RFC closure\n\n“ |  This is scary stuff. I don't know what to make of it. |  ”\n---|---|---\n— Wikipedia (archive.is RFC 5)\n\nOn February 18, evidence emerged that some archived pages had been modified by the webmaster, where an alias of the webmaster was replaced with the name of the owner of the blog.4] This led to the RFC being closed February 20 with a consensus to deprecate the source, remove links to the site, and eventually add it to the [Spam blacklist.\n\n“ |  There is consensus to immediately deprecate archive.today, and, as soon as practicable, add it to the spam blacklist (or create an edit filter that blocks adding new links), and to forthwith remove all links to it. There is a strong consensus that Wikipedia should not direct its readers towards a website that hijacks users' computers to run a DDoS attack (see WP:ELNO#3). Additionally, evidence has been presented that archive.today's operators have altered the content of archived pages, rendering it unreliable. Those in favor of maintaining the status quo rested their arguments primarily on the utility of archive.today for verifiability. However, an analysis of existing links has shown that most of its uses can be replaced. Several editors started to work out implementation details during this RfC and the community should figure out how to efficiently remove links to archive.today. |  ”\n---|---|---\n\n### Community members develop guidance\n\nSeveral members of the community have created guidance to editors on how to proceed with the removal of links to the archive, and have provided resources to aid and direct the process, such as a list of high traffic articles linking to the archive, instructions for users who need to visit the site, and a CSS script which highlights references linking to the domain or any of its mirror sites.\n\n“ |  It seems to me that we would be well advised to follow the example of English Wikipedia, even if removing links to archive.today and other associated sites (archive.is, etc.) will require quite a bit of work. |  ”\n---|---|---\n— French Wikipedia,  Le Bistro/21 février 2026. _Translated from French with Google Translate._\n\nDiscussions are ongoing on other Wikimedia projects, and an index has been created on Meta-Wiki. The French Wikipedia followed the English language edition, with the service added to their spam blacklist.5] Over on Meta-Wiki, an administrator [declined a request to globally blacklist the archive, as \"There are too many usages on too many wikis. [English Wikipedia's] consensus alone isn't going to be sufficient to blacklist this domain globally.\" They added that \"the next step would be to open a global RfC.\"\n\nThe incident has drawn widespread attention, with the RFC having  over 200 participating editors, 30 thousand pageviews, and more than one thousand total edits. Additionally, the guidance page has had  over 13 thousand views, and the archive.today article peaking at 9093 views on February 21, a day after the site was deprecated. Several media outlets including _Ars Technica_ and _The Times of India_ also produced news coverage of the decision; see this issue's In the media for further information.\n\n#### Footnotes\n\n  1. **^** Brodkin, Jon (2026-02-21). \"Wikipedia blacklists Archive.today, starts removing 695,000 archive links\". _Ars Technica_.\n  2. **^** See WP:NOMOREARCHIVETODAY#Migrating or cloning archives and #Sanitized proxy.\n  3. **^** Previous RFC's: 1, 2, 3 and 4\n  4. **^** see Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Archive.is RFC 5#Evidence of altering snapshots\n  5. **^** see the  blacklist request and  relevant discussion\n\n\n\n← Previous \"Technology report\"\n\n In this issue\n\n10 March 2026 (all comments)\n\n\n  * Interview\n  * News and notes\n  * Special report\n  * In the media\n  * Recent research\n  * Obituary\n  * Opinion\n  * Technology report\n  * Op-ed\n  * Essay\n  * In focus\n  * WikiProject report\n  * Community view\n  * Traffic report\n  * Crossword\n  * Comix\n\n\n\n + Add a comment\n\n## Discuss this story\n\nTo follow comments,  add the page to your watchlist. If your comment has not appeared here, you can try  purging the cache.\n\nNo comments yet. Yours could be the first!\n\n + Add a comment\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n_The Signpost_ needs your help putting together the next issue.\n\nHome\n\nAbout\n\nArchives\n\nNewsroom\n\nSubscribe\n\n Suggestions",
  "title": "Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2026-03-10/Technology report"
}