Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out
Article URL: https://0.mk/blog/link-rot Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49289532 Points: 215 # Comments: 198
Between 2009 and 2014, an archive captured 657,958 links and their click counts from a Macedonian URL shortener. In 2026, this database was restored and 655,178 of those links were followed. Most of these links did not load, with 76.7% failing to provide a loading page. The archive primarily housed local news, personal blogs, photo hosts, forums, and major platforms of the time.
The platform started as a hobby in 2009, created by three people in their spare time. Of the 494,781 distinct URLs, only 492,620 were crawlable, and 21.3% loaded. The most common HTTP error was 404, followed by 403 and 429. While the most popular destinations were major sites like YouTube, Wikipedia, and Google properties, many links still pointed to local news sites, personal blogs, and photo hosts that no longer exist.
The surviving links provide a snapshot of the 2010s internet, showing both the strength of large platforms and the fragility of smaller ones.
Written by urgent.news from Hacker News Best's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
