Tips for Handling Broken Links to Fics and Fanworks

Can’t find an older fic or other fanwork that your’re dying to get your hands on? Sometimes a link isn't really broken. The content may still be accessible, if you know where to look.

Here are some strategies to try (in no particular order), especially for works in fandoms that were most active on Livejournal (LJ) and Dreamwidth (DW).

Please let me know in the comments if you'd like some clarification, or have any other tips to add. I'm open to all types of feedback, and plan to tweak this document as needed. Thanks!

AO3 is missing the comments!

Presumably, if you're reading this on AO3, you've thought of this. :) The author may have uploaded the work here. Here’s how to search and browse on AO3.

Important: The works saved to the AO3 only include the body of the post, not the original comments.

If only encounter a work here, you’re probably missing out wealth of comments and conversations that you may want to read. And definitely add to the original comments!

Feed the authors and creators!!! Find new fandom friends!! Strike up conversations!! Many people will still get alerts when you post, even if they’re not active on that platform much these days. Feel free to cross-post your comments on AO3, too, so other fans will know that the work is worth clicking on.

See the section below for resources about writing and leaving comments.

Try the Wayback Machine.

Paste the URL at https://web.archive.org/ to see if someone archived the desired page or site in the past. If the most current archived version you can find doesn’t the content you need (it might be a 404 error page or junk that took over when the domain name expired), the Wayback Machine may have versions that were archived on earlier dates when the right content was still there.

It’s possible to save any URL to the Internet Archive so it’s accessible via the Wayback Machine. In fandom contexts, you should preferably save a community page, where someone has posted their work for public consumption. Not everyone will be comfortable with someone archiving their personal journal, so please be respectful of that.

Try a search engine.

In the search bar, put the work’s title in quotes, and you can also include the author’s name, one or more character names, and/or fandom name, such as "house md." If you put a specific word or phrase in quotes, the search engine should show results that definitely have those words.

If you live in the US, sometimes putting "house md" in the search bar makes you wade through search results about buying houses in Maryland (MD), or reviews of doctors (MD). Try putting a minus directly before the word that you don’t want to show up in the results, such as -maryland. You can’t always get what you want. But if you scroll for some time, well you might find you get what you need. :)

Let's say you want to search within a particular journal (or other site) for a work's title or author. In a new browser tab, type this in the search bar, with this exact spacing, punctuation, and word order. It only works if you do not include the http://
"title of the work" site:accountname.dreamwidth.org

There are many other search engine tricks like these that will help your searches become more targeted. You can use several in one search, adding and removing different ones to filter things as needed. These examples of Google search operators may also work in other search engines. Look in your favorite search provider's support topics for terms like search operators, search syntax, or advanced search to see what your options are.

Tip: You can also use search operators in Gmail and other email programs. Maybe your AO3 alerts or LJ comments notifications from long ago have the fic or author you're looking for!

Try contacting the author.

Maybe they took this work down because they thought people didn't want to read/view it, but you can let them know YOU do! (Leave comments, people! Let the authors know they're not just posting into the void where no one ever let them know they read it!).

Maybe they still have a copy and wouldn’t mind sharing it with you. Just know that each author has their own reasons for taking down their work, and may not feel comfortable with you having a copy, and/or may not want to be contacted about those works.

On some people’s Livejournal or Dreamwidth, certain posts still exist, but are friends-locked (f-locked). You can try messaging the author to request access.

Maybe the author still has the post freely available, but at one point had technical difficulties and had to take it down and then re-post it. In that case, it might now have a different URL. Ask the author if there’s a new link to the original post.

Try asking other fans.

Some fans may have copies of the fics or fanworks you haven't been able to find. (AO3 knows the struggle is real; there's a Download button at the top of every work.) Or they may be able to suggest a journal, comm, or platform you didn't even know to look on. Other fans might also know where else you can try contacting the author.

There may still be some fic-finding sites or ship-based comms up and running (if less active than at a fandom's apex) where you can post a query. On Livejournal and Dreamwidth, check the profile page to see who to contact. (More about finding mods below, in the section about navigating LJ and DW.)

If you're still not sure where to find people who can help, you could also look over your list of favorite works in that fandom, and consider contacting one of those authors/creators.

Try re-formatting the URL on Livejournal.

Livejournal (LJ) changed how it handles links to account names that start or end with an underscore. If you click on the URL with the underscore, it will look like the page has been deleted, but it’s actually still there!

First, change each underscores to a hyphen, then convert the URL to the following formats.

For an individual person’s journal:

BROKEN: https://_username.livejournal.com/
FIXED: https://users.livejournal.com/-username/

For a community (comm) journal:

BROKEN: https://_communityname.livejournal.com/
FIXED: https://community.livejournal.com/-communityname/

If the original link had a post identifier at the end, such as 5309.html, then that still goes at the end, right after the final slash:
https://users.livejournal.com/-username/5309.html
or
https://community.livejournal.com/-communityname/5309.html

Try Dreamwidth.

Some people imported their LJ journals to Dreamwidth (DW) when LJ made changes to its terms of service, including the right to delete LGBT content. In the original URL, try replacing "livejournal.com" with "dreamwidth.org" to see if the same account name exists there. Make sure it says dreamwidth.ORG, not .COM. Unlike the for-profit LJ, DW is a project brought to you by the same amazing nonprofit organization behind AO3. Yay!

The DW version might have a different account name than it did on LJ. To find the new URL, ask other fans or authors that you know how to contact, or post a query on a fic-finding community.

Navigate efficiently through LJ and DW.

Once you've reached the LJ or DW journal you want to search through, it's best if you don't have to scroll through every single post of a journal, or click around aimlessly. Here's how to narrow things down.

Most journals have links to recent entries, calendar, profile, and so on. But users can name those links pretty much anything. That's why I'm giving you the actual URLs, instead of telling you what words to click on.

The site search technique described above is worth a try, even though it might miss some content, due to the way search engines have or have not stored the pages you need. Here's that search format for you again:
"word or phrase" site:accountname.dreamwidth.org

Tags

With luck, the LJ or DW journal you can access will have a clear and consistently-applied tagging system to help you find the post you need. To reach the list of tags, go to
https://accountname.dreamwidth.org/tag

Calendars and Dates

There are two ways to go about finding posts by date on LJ and DW. First, to see a list of years and months that have posts in them, go to
https://accountname.dreamwidth.org/calendar

Or, to view posts from a specific year, month, or day, then instead of the word "calendar" you can enter it in YYYY/MM/DD format. You can enter just the year, or the year and month, or all three. For May 24, 2007 type
https://accountname.dreamwidth.org/2007/05/24

The layout of the calendar/date-based information can vary widely depending journal's theme. If you don't already see a list of posts with titles (and the username of the person who posted it, if it's a community), look for a link called "View Subjects," or click on the name of a month.

The key is that once you get to the month level, all the posts from that month will show up in a nice, simple list.

Skimming through just the post titles is much more efficient than scrolling through pages and pages of actual entries. It’s always nice when the post title says exactly what you need it to say. For example "Fic: A Dark and Stormy Night - part 1/3." If it doesn’t, keep clicking post titles to see what you can find.

Give thanks to the authors and community mods who used well-named and well-structured tags and post titles to help you in your quest. Let them know via the journal where you found the post, or on any platform where you get them a message or comment.

Ask the Mods (Moderators) / Administrators

These are the people who started and/or tended the comm. It's likely they're passionate about a fandom or pairing, and may have invested a lot of time interacting with fans and organizing or discussing fics and fanworks. They may have some fandom knowledge that can help you find the work you're looking for. Message them on LJ, DW or other platforms where you may find them.

To find out who the mods are, use the word put the word "profile" at the end of the URL:
https://accountname.dreamwidth.org/profile

Scroll down to the section called "Administrators." On DW profiles, there's just one straightforward list of administrators.

On LJ profiles, there may be 3 separate administrator listings (owner, maintainers, moderators), but you have to click to reveal them, and depending on the journal layout or browser, the place to click might be easy to miss. To be sure you see the whole list of people, here is what the URL looks like when you access those 3 different administrator listings:
https://accountname.livejournal.com/profile?admins=owner
https://accountname.livejournal.com/profile?admins=maintlist
https://accountname.livejournal.com/profile?admins=moderlist

Fix Legibility Issues.

Older sites may have colors, fonts, or background images that you can easily whisk away so you can binge in peace. :) Here are some options:

• Select-all to highlight all the text, which might be enough.
• Click on the readability feature if available. Depending on the browser, it might be called Reader View or Reader Mode. In some browsers, an icon will appear next to the URL bar to indicate that this feature is available for the page you're on. Assuming the page was coded correctly, clicking on that icon will strip the page down to just the main content section (no ads, sidebars, etc.), with the text/background color theme of your choice.
• In your browser settings, turn off background images and/or change your browser theme colors.
• Install Dark Reader or similar browser extension.
• Bookmarklets! To install a bookmarklet in your browser, just make sure your bookmarks bar is visible, then highlight and drag the bookmarklet link to the bookmarks bar.
  • Bookmarklets for Zapping Annoyances - Lots of options here, such as "zap colors," and "zap white backgrounds" (and if you use them in that order, that makes the page black on beige). This site is from way back in the day, so just ignore the part where it specifies compatibility with various (very, very old) browser versions. Modern browsers do just fine with them. But if you land on an ancient page that uses marquee scrolling or blinking text, there's a bookmarklet for that! :) Some of the other ones I use a lot are "view passwords," "printer friendly," and "zap timers."
  • Revised "Darken" Bookmarklets - Several bookmarklets to change the font and the colors of the text, links, and background.

Don't forget to leave comments!!

Many people are are thrilled to talk about an older fandom, when opportunity arises. And it’s never too late to let authors, vidders, podficcers, and artists know you’re exploring their work, no matter when it was originally published.

I encourage you to read and comment on the platforms where the work was first posted (often Livejournal or Dreamwidth in this fandom), so you can take advantage of reading and adding to the community discussions about those works.

You can also contact authors or leave comments on any platform where you spot them. For a sampling of platforms where fannish things happen these days, see copperbadge’s Tumblr "Find Me" Directory.

Here are some tips on leaving feedback, small or large, for authors:

• Maeg’s Guide to Leaving Feedback
• 101 Comment Starters
• Long Live Feedback (LLF) Comment Builder
• Zero Comment Challenge
• Fanfic Writer Appreciation Day
• The OTPodcast episode: "How to Appreciate Your Authors"

Happy searching! Happy commenting! Hug those fics and fanworks you finally found!