#waybackmachine

This started as a reply to @ruinsoftime's post looking for a specific fanfic, but I sort of trailed off as usual. I've been reading fic for about 20 years and yeah, at times in the past, I was obsessively looking for something (that may no longer exist) as well. So, when looking for an old fic, here's what I would check:

AO3: (I know you know but) sometimes the authors backup their fics there. They can submit it to the archive with the original publication date so you would find it at the very end of the tag.

secondary fanfiction archives: in FFN's heyday, there were more servers like that, hosting fanfiction. One is adult-fanfiction.net (AFF) which hosted NC-17/X-rated works after they were banished off FFN. But if I remember correctly, the work didn't actually have to be rated THAT to be posted there. The other was mediaminer.org, a smaller, but at one point lively server which also allowed X-rated fics. Some fics had their more raunchy versions posted there while the censored cut was published on FFN. Both servers are still online, so you may try your luck with the lost fic. There may have been more I am not familiar with. Also, if you're really desperate, and I hate to say this, but some of those scam fanfiction apps or mirror websites for FFN may use an older version of the database that still has the deleted fic. I probably wouldn't go as far as to check tho.

livejournal: Yeah, LJ lived and breathed fic but I still think most of them were just linked to FFN, not posted there directly. It's a feeble hope of finding the whole fic posted there.

personal website of the writer or a private fic archive: as you know, in the olden age of geocities and angelfire, people would build their own fansite or "shrine". For the work, for their fav character, even for their fic (honestly, goals, and something that inspired one of my blogs here). And sometimes, even for hosting the fics of other authors in the same fandom. I think this may probably the last chance of finding the fic if all else fails.

What you need is the URL (which may be difficult when you can't use the search engine, right?) and then a bit of luck with the waybackmachine. A good starting way of obtaining the URLs is the Escaflowne section at anipike (and then just going through the sites linked there and their links sections, etc.):

I remember one or two bigger of these Escaflowne fic archives, I used to go there for the fic that was deleted off FFN. It is actually quite often the writers who delete their FFN profiles and their fics. Not saying FFN may not have a hand in deleting others. Anyway, these forgotten sites may be the only traces left.

Also, if one of your favs was rewritten and you're interested in the old version, again, this might be your only chance to find the original version. Yeah, sometimes the "rewrite" is the actual death of the fic. Especially if it's like, "I'm too embarrassed by my old writing, let's delete this and start over". What they don't realize is that if it doesn't work out, there may be nothing where there was something before (or significantly less than it used to be). Of course, there are also people who want to actively wipe it off the face of the internet or not to have their handle associated with it.

Nevertheless, I would like to once again appeal to any fic writer who sees this:

Don't delete your old fics(!); there likely are still people who love them or would love to read them. Repost them on AO3 and orphan them if you don't want them associated with you.

☘️ Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘️

It almost has all 5,000 signatures! We just need less than 200 more!

"The Issue

Open Letter to the Record Labels Suing the Internet Archive

We, the undersigned, call on the record labels and members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)—including UMG, Capitol Records, Concord Bicycle Assets, CMGI Recorded Music Assets, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music—to drop your lawsuit against the Internet Archive.

Your $700 million lawsuit, targeting the Internet Archive’s efforts to preserve and provide access to historical 78rpm records, is not just about music—it’s about whether our digital history survives at all.

These fragile recordings are part of a vanishing American culture. They capture early jazz, blues, gospel, and folk—voices and sounds that might otherwise be lost forever. The Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project seeks to preserve that legacy, and make it available for research.

But your lawsuit doesn’t just threaten these recordings. It threatens the very existence of the Internet Archive, including the Wayback Machine, a vital public service used by millions every day to access historical snapshots of the internet. Journalists, educators, students, lawyers, and citizens use the Wayback Machine to check sources, investigate disinformation, and preserve public accountability.

This lawsuit is an existential threat to critical infrastructure for the internet. At a time when digital information is being deleted, rewritten, and erased, preservation is more important than ever. We cannot afford to lose the tools that safeguard memory and defend facts.

We urge you to drop this lawsuit and support, rather than punish, the preservation of our shared cultural heritage.

"Tightrope"

Popee tries to walk on a tightrope with a net strung high in the air. Kedamono tries to stop it, but Popee, who was full of earthquakes, shows a fist pump and climbs the pole in high spirits. Popee starts walking on the rope without a balance rod in his hands. However, even though he started walking with a smile on his face, he simply lost his footing and fell after taking just a few steps.

Popee starts falling while rotating slowly in slow motion. Kedamono hurriedly brings the sofa to the spot where Popee fell. However, he suddenly thought about it and decided to turn that sofa into a cactus. Popee fell into the cactus. The pain of the cactus's needles causes it to rise vertically again. (The cactus broke)

"Just do it!" Popee said as he returned to the rope. He rub his butt and continue walking the tightrope with teary eyes. Kedamono looks up from below and claps. However, just a few seconds later, Popee is fanned by the wind and falls. Once again, it falls while spinning in slow motion. Kedamono hurriedly takes out a tennis racket and waits at the drop point.

He swings his racket at the same time Popee is falling, but misreads the point where it will fall and misses the mark. Popee crashes to the ground right next to Kedamono. Kedamomo walks up to it and launches Popee with all its might with its racket.

Popee returns to the net again with his nose bleeding. He seems to be in a daze. He can't see in his point of view, but he won't stop walking the tightrope. Kedamono starts clapping. However, Popee sometimes seems to lose his footing. Gathering animals, sofas, cushions, etc., he diligently arranged them on the ground so that they would be ready in case he'd fall at any moment. Once Kedamono was ready, he starts swinging the racket.

"Yeah. This is fine!" When he looked at Popee, he had his neck caught in the rope and his bag was hanging down. He was hanging, and his face was pale blue. Kedamono was stunned for a while. He climbs the pole to rescue Popee. First, he tries to cut the rope with scissors, but the scissors break because it is a wire cable.

He had no choice but to approach the hanging Popee while walking on a tightrope. It is eerie that the severed head was caught and turned blue-purple. Kedamono leans back and tries to remove Popee's neck while being frightened. However, a crow suddenly lands on his back, causing him to lose his balance. Kedamono falls headlong to the ground. As he struggles through his pain, he looks up to see crows starting to flock to Popee he hangs from.

Surprised, Kedamono hurriedly throws a stone to chase the crow away, but instead of hitting the crow, it hit Popee in the forehead. Popee regains consciousness due to the stone's blow, and is shaking as blood oozes from his forehead. The reaction causes his head to come loose from the rope and fall.

Kedamono turned a blind eye to Popee's fall, but Popee falls onto the couch and desk (which was piled up by Kedamono). The sofa lifts up into the air due to the recoil, and the desk pushes Popee up due to the recoil of the sofa falling, creating a seesaw effect that sends Popee flying onto the tightrope once again.

Popee lands at the end of the tightrope. When he looked back with a vague expression, he realized that his current point was the goal. Popee does a fist pump while bleeding from his nose and forehead. (His face was still a little blue) Kedamono clapped while smiling bitterly.

"Unicycle"

Popee was casually riding around on a unicycle. It's circling around Kedamono. Kedamono was clapping his hands as he watched the scene. Popee grabbed Kedamono and put him on his shoulder. It's a unicycle ride. The two of them happily twirl around the square. Kedamono and Popee look at each other with smiles. The two of them hold hands, forming a diagonal V shape. Kedamono goes straight ahead, grabs Kaeru on the ground and places it on his head. Kedamono's on Popee's shoulders, and Kaeru's on Kedamono's head. The three were having fun spinning around, but Kaeru hops off Kedamono's head and ends up in front of the unicycle. Popee and Kedamono's surprised expressions turn into crying faces (slow motion)

Kaeru's lying on the ground, and there are marks from the wheel of a unicycle on its back...Kaeru doesn't move. The two of them watched silently. Poepe and Kedamono build a grave (shaped like a cross) for Kaeru. Kedamono was crouching down and crying, and Popee pats him on the shoulder. Calmly pointing at the sunset. A blazing sunset. An illusion that can be seen on the other side. Popee and Kedamono are riding a unicycle to the cheers of the audience. Kedamono nods silently as he watches the illusion of a sunset.

The next day, the two were riding unicycles again under the blue sky. They happily twirl around the square. When he looked, he saw a monkey on the wall. Kedamono catches the monkey like he did with Kaeru. He put it on top of his head and it spun around happily for a while, but then the monkey jumped off Kedamono's head. They were surprised. The unicycle wheel approaches the monkey (slow motion) Popee and Kedamono build the monkey's grave. Kedamono was crouching down and crying. Popee patted him on the shoulder. Calmly pointing at the sunset. Kedamono nods silently as he watches the sunset.

Even the next day, Popee and Kedamono were riding the unicycle once again. Surprisingly, there's an elephant sitting on top of Kedamono. An elephant happily raising and lowering its trunk. Kedamono's about to get crushed by the weight. Popee also has a blue face. Popee's riding the unicycle, Kedamono's on his shoulder, and an elephant is on top of him. It was a great song. But in the end, the elephant fell down. A unicycle wheel approaches an elephant (slow motion) as Popee and Kedamono's surprised expressions change to crying faces (slow motion)

Popee and Kedamono build a grave for the elephant. Elephants are so large that their trunks stick out from the ground. The two of them watched the sunset in silence. There you can see an overlapping view of the circus, but the square is full of graves. There are countless graves. Some of the objects protruding from the ground in front of the graves include the legs of an antelope, the neck of a flamingo, and the heels of a human.

Kedamono's mask is hung there. Popee's placing flowers on the grave. He looks at the sunset in the distance, he can see Kedamono receding into the distance and disappearing. Popee rides the unicycle silently. The shadows of the grave markers extend over the area, making it look like a dream-like painting by De Chirico. The shadow of the running unicycle is also growing. Popee runs away from the unicycle with ease, but trips over the elephant's trunk and becomes stiff. The unicycle moves forward without its master on board, but it hits Kedamono's grave and runs backwards towards Popee.

If you've ever reading a fanfic and you like it, enter the link into the Wayback Machine. It really, really helps people who find Fic Finder blogs to be able to have a resource stocked like this. Do it when you post fics, too.