Hello, i have a little question when i found a band with plenty of links and under the Fan sites there is a Rockdetector link is it possible to delete it?
And another question if a band with only 1 link and the link is broken should we remove the link too?
under the Labels mostly many bands change labels and the users add the label Link exp: http://www.candlelightrecordsusa.com/ etc is that tolerated ? Or they should add a direct link to the band on the label webpage exp http://www.candlelightrecordsusa.com/in ... id=7&id=98
thanks

Links to Rockdetector and other such sites are allowed if there's a biography, pictures or other information on that site that is not in the archives.

Broken links, that really are broken, and not just down for maintenance or something, should always be removed. One broken link is not more than zero links anyway.

The label links, should if possible link straight to the band's page. This is not always possible with merchandise links, but in most cases with label links.

And unless you have veteran status you aren't able to delete links. You'll have to report it - and unless there's some serious fuckups with the links I'm not sure the moderators want to receive such reports. I'd prefer leaving the link handling to veterans or moderators happening to visit that band page. I'm not sure what the moderators think of this though.

hello well man i have Veteran and second i don't see what a Rockdetector have an importance in Mayhem (Nor) page for example.

I think so, especially if a band has an official webpage and/or label pages. Database sites like Rockdetector should only be there if there's no other information available on the net and it has some information that the band's page on metal archives doesn't have. If there's no information on the band on the net, and there's a rock detector page that has the same or less information than the m-a page, then it shouldn't be there either.


It depends... if its a server error, I'd let it stay for awhile (I've made the mistake of killing what I thought was a dead link, then came back 2 weeks alter, did a netsearch for the band, and found and added their webpage again - dunno if they changed domains or not though...)

It really depends on the type of error page you get. If its a spam-page you get with some hosts, then I'd probably kill it. If its a server not found type error, I'd probably leave the page alone. I don't know if its ok or not to add to additional notes or next to the link "Currently not working".

Maybe a mod could enlighten us on what error messages to look for. I was meaning on asking the same question a few days ago, honestly.

With labels, I've seen many dead links, and you just gotta find the new URL. Century Media has a surprising amount of dead links (I'm just using Century Media as an example).

However, some domains for labels have went under - SPV and Limb Music, being prime examples (only to go back online a few days later).

So I'd say, go back to the root domain of the label (eg, www.centurymedia.com) and see if you can find the band's new URL there. Also, some labels remove bands from their pages (ex-bands), and if that's the case, I'd just get rid of the link. If the root domain doesn't work, just wait a few days, with bigger labels, chances are it'll be up and running again.



Always add a direct link, if possible. However, some labels are in flash (eg, Code666) and its impossible to get a direct link, so just use www.code666.com (just using them as an example)

Also, some labels are a ROYAL pain in the ass to get a direct link... I think if a label takes you more than 2 minutes to extract a direct link, just use the label's root URL.

Also, some small labels don't have band pages, so its ok to just put in the root URL (what else can you do, really?)

Same with merchandise pages. They should be directly linked, if possible. However, I've had incidents with trying to direct link where I got this longassed URL and it ended up not working once I put the link in. If something gives you a headache or is impossible to get a direct link, just use the root URL and maybe in brackets put (search for band) in there.

[edit] One last thought with links - if a band's homepage is under construction, is broken, or is rather minimal, I'd probably leave some of the database-fansites (ONLY if they have a biography or reviews) and/or links to a reviews or interviews alone. But I personally would never add them, in such a situation.

Great post, Perdition.


If I acess the link and get a "Server not found" error or end up in a host's adress, I always delete it right away.

In the future, what I'm going to do is if a band's homepage is a dead link, I'm going to add their name and URL to a .txt file, and check back on it in a few weeks or something.

The one band I zapped the official homepage of (and later readded it cuz it mysteriously reappeared) was Ivory Moon - a band I have mp3s of, like them a lot, have a vested interest in, and wanna buy their CD. Most bands normally don't stick in my mind like that hehe

I guess with dead links, it has to be a case-by-case basis. If a band is split up (or unknown or hasn't released anything in like 5 years) and their official webpage is a dead link, chances are it is not coming back. I've only run into a few split-up bands who've kept their pages active for historical purposes (one, which of course I forgot the name of, explicitedly mentioned that on their front-page).

With labels, if its a big label and it goes down, very good chance its coming back online soon. Some smaller labels... ehhh... who knows. Mind you, defunct labels like Elevate and Northwind (at least I think they're dead) still keep their site operational (for some weird reason). Arise is another label I think is dead too (hasn't been updated since 2005) - but the distro side seems regularly updated. But if it goes down, I wouldn't be shocked. Same with Headless records.

i found some bands with a list of links (official sites includes) that have under the Fan section a bunch of links for interviews with the band if it's possible i suggest that we remove those links too thanks.

If there's an official site (which is actually good and if it has links to reviews and interviews) I say kill the links. Links to interviews/reviews (as previously mentioned) should only be there if there's no official website or presense on the net. Kill away.

Links you can also nuke = IUMA links most of them are dead now

Yeah, I haven't ran into any functional IUMA links either... they're as dead as Vitaminic links...

yes Vitaminic links are also dead

Normally all those links are gone: Metalmania, Danish Metal Pages, Danish Metal but if you see some left, nuke them as well (most of them are not direct links) and were added by a pointwhoring moron last year

I only found one exception to the Vitaminic rule... (was via netsearch, and it wasn't the normal /stage.vitaminic links).

There's also one other database site, The Damned Pages, that never works.

The Danish ones I nuke on site... I haven't seen any of them work, and they're always on a page with an official homepage.

I'm still trying to figure out who submitted the plethora of Lost Soul Domain, Myrnmoth (sp) (mind you, that site sometimes has reviews, and those reviews can be ok links of a band lacks an official page - I've seen this happen... once), and Wikipedia links. The thing that really urks me is that the wikipedia (and similar useless links) always seem to be on pages of well-known bands.

i found a link "The Official Tarja Turunen Website" under the nightwish official links i think it should be removed? or not?

Personally, I'd kill it. Any official site of an ex-member shouldn't be there (unless the band is defunct and its the only source of info). However, I'd wait for a mod's opinion of this before doing anything. I've been curious about such examples for awhile myself.

I wouldn't mind keeping them.

Me neither.

Why not keep the page of an ex-member? In most cases there'll be information from another viewpoint. Especially in cases like Tarja's.

Sometimes I have noticed that Myrnthronth links are there to bands that have no information available except for one or two obscure releases. This often happens when a band has recently been accepted. I usually leave it except for bands with more info such as an official site. If there is a review on Myrnthronth then I keep the link.

I just noticed lately that there is some Official links to band pages that are dead (Official band webpage) and the band is Active
such links can be removed? or maybe the page will be up again

I suggest keeping the links to official pages. This is mainly because you can still access these pages using Archive.org. If the link is removed, there is no way to look up these pages anymore..

Another option would be to delete the link, but add the link via archive.org.

HouseMaster 12 links to reviews under Fan pages, keep them or remove them?

If the band does not have any reviews, it's acceptable to keep some links to external reviews, though keeping 12 of them is way too much. I left the links in english.

Is this really needed in Malfeitor (Ita)'s page:
Fabban @ Myspace
Atum @ Myspace
Munholy @ Myspace

No, only the one to the band's page. Myspace links to each member of the band are pointless. Those mentioned are now deleted.

What about myspace fan sites? Sometimes I see a band with multiple links to myspace sites. I always delete the fan ones when there is an official site though.

Good question. But I'd say that a Myspace fansite is as valid as any other fansite, isn't it? Especially when it contains material with historical significance of the band's background. An official myspace mostly contains updates on the band, when a myspace fansite often deals with a 'classic' period of the band. An example could be, that someome made an Ulver fansite focussing on the Black Metal era of the band. Not sure how many of these sites there are around though. But I believe there was one for Anathema (UK) once.

Helvede makes a good point. The general rule of thumb with fan sites (MySpace or otherwise) is to include the ones that offer some kind of feature or informational depth that the Archives may not. Using the example of Ulver, a (well-made) fan site dedicated to the band's metal period would be a worthy inclusion, since it would be apt to contain information that the Archive cannot offer due to the nature of its format, and that official Ulver mouthpieces would be unlikely to offer since the group now denigrates/shuns that era of its history.

On the other hand, there's not much reason to keep a link to a fan site that doesn't offer anything more than what a user could already learn from the Archive.

what about looking it up on Internet Archive and using that one in the cases such as this which would lead to no links?