As a member of the Luftwaffe and U.S. Army Air Force research community, I make regular attempts to warn another site about a potential loss of data that may occur if certain things are not managed in advance. Unless you own a site like this, everything is free and any costs are unknown. Then there is the problem of migrating from one platform to another. Not known by most as the internet is always on and always there. Problems? What problems? You mean people actually pay money to run sites like this?
On the Luftwaffe side, I have seen two sites turn into archive sites. And without access, it's as if they never existed. All of the information that was there, gone.
Luftwaffe Experten Message Board (LEMB). Lots of information that is now gone. Fortunately, my original log-in and password still work. However, their database of aircraft fuselage codes (Stkz) is either gone or has been moved elsewhere.
Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG). The owner, Richard Eger, did a fine job of alerting researchers to various archives in various countries. After he passed, the best one can hope for is seeing the landing page and the occasional single interior page.
However, do not fear. I can always turn to my library of books and MAGAZINES. Oh, you think PDFs have replaced all of that? In the case of my company, I do send take-down notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Anarchists and freeloaders can try but I can and will have you remove your illegal downloads.
