Wikipedia:Using the Wayback Machine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page gives information about using the Wayback Machine to cite archived copies of web pages used by articles. This is useful if a webpage has changed, moved, or disappeared; links to the original content can be retained.
Any link to the Wayback Machine starts with http://web.archive.org/web/. This is followed by a date reference, and then the URL of the site. For example:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wikipedia.org
this links to all versions of the main page of Wikipedia. The asterisk is a wild card for all dates.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020930123525/http://www.wikipedia.org
this links to the version of the main page of Wikipedia on the date on September 30, 2002 at 12:35 pm (and 25 seconds). the date format is
http://web.archive.org/web/2/http://www.wikipedia.org
YYYYMMDDhhmmssthis links to the most current version of the main Wikipedia page. While this is possible, it is discouraged; the most recent version is subject to change, defeating the purpose of using the archive.
See also: Advanced URL locator hints and tips - Internet Archive
[edit] Wayback templates
{{wayback}} can create these links for you; use the 'url' and 'date' parameters to specify the URL and date. For example:
{{wayback|url=http://www.wikipedia.org}}
→ Archive copy at the Internet Archive
→ Archive copy at the Internet Archive
Note that the date parameter defaults to '*'.
[edit] Cite templates
{{cite news}}, {{cite study}}, and {{cite web}} support the archiveurl parameter
→ "Wikipedia Main Page". Archived from the original on 2002-09-30. Retrieved on 2005-07-06.{{cite web |url=http://www.wikipedia.org |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020930123525/http://www.wikipedia.org |archivedate=2002-09-30 |title=Wikipedia Main Page |accessdate=2005-07-06 }}
