Any options for a dead site with an unresponsive owner?

[Alpha1]

I would not scrape. But I would frequently submit the site to archive.org so nothing is lost.

 

[Digital Doctor]

There is zero argument against scraping. What you do with it is another matter.

 

[ManagerJosh]

Not a lawyer,

But my understanding is that scraping a site for /personal/ consumption isn't illegal.

 

[feldon30]

Going to buck the trend of what people are saying above. You should ABSOLUTELY scrape the other forum and then hang onto those files until that forum dies. When it does, put them up as an archive. Copyright law was never intended to make sure content just winks out of existence, lost forever. Just the opposite. Copyright is a limited time exclusive ownership to encourage creators. It has since been distorted into the monster it is now. It is making life a living hell for librarians and custodians who want to preserve abandoned works.

Absentee forum landlords is a BIG problem, and the idea that nothing can or should be done is absurd. The OP of this thread went above and beyond trying to contact the owners. They DO NOT CARE. Forum Admins better start realizing that it is their USERS that make a forum successful or we're going to see forums completely disappear and social media completely replace the category.

If you shoot me a forum message I can provide further details of the scraper I've written. I have salvaged over 1 million posts from various forums before they were shuttered. Have yet to get an e-mail demanding I remove an archive.

 

[Kyrie]

I would scrape before they are offline, and then figure out what you want to do with that data.

 

[highlander29]

Yes ma'am. My assumption is there was a certain time period pre-paid.

Contacting the host is a good idea... No idea why I didn't think of this.

I wouldn't assume prepaid. It could be that the hosting is set up for automated payments every month and depending on how much they have in the account and what the hosting fees are, payments could be made for a very long time. It's entirely possible they have changed their email address and aren't getting your emails. I would google the email addresses you have for the owner of the forum and domain and see if you can find out who they are. The postal mail is a good idea as well.

 

[Starskull]

I'd scrape it just have the data and what visitors want to talk about...Post something similar to an old post and see if it gains traction on your forum. If the owner is letting it die, there isn't much you can do other than scraping and trying to get the members to follow you to a new site. Heck if the admins and mods are non responsive. Make a post saying you are making a new forum and want them to join you...since it wont be moderated and if you don't care to break the TOS if they have one against it...then what have you got to lose other than your account on said forum?

 

[haqzore]

... trying to get the members to follow you to a new site.... Make a post saying you are making a new forum and want them to join you...

Already did this

The new site is already up and running. I just don't want to lose the info from the old site.

 

[Starskull]

Already did this

The new site is already up and running. I just don't want to lose the info from the old site.

Awesome! Glad you could at least get the members a better home

Mind PMing me the site. I'd like to check it out. In addition...I'm only about an hour away from you. I'm in Lexington.

 

[haqzore]

Awesome! Glad you could at least get the members a better home

Mind PMing me the site. I'd like to check it out. In addition...I'm only about an hour away from you. I'm in Lexington.

I'd rather not share the site just yet.

 

[Starskull]

Fair enough. I can see why though. Best of luck with it and when you are able. Please share.