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Freecache

TonkaTown writes "Finally the solution for slashdotting, or just the poor man's Akamai? Freecache from the Internet Archive aims to bring easy to use distributed web caching to everyone. If you've a file that you think will be popular, but far too popular for your isp's bandwidth limits, you can just serve it as http://freecache.org/http://your.site/yourfile instead of the traditional http://your.site/yourfile and Freecache will do all the heavy lifting for you. Plus your users get the advantage of swiftly pulling the file from a nearby cache rather than it creeping off your overloaded webserver."

258 comments

  1. Freec ache by AtariAmarok · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Pronounced "freak-ache". Give me some asperin now.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Freec ache by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 2, Funny

      Apparently, it's pronounced "free-crash" right now...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:Freec ache by mirko · · Score: 1

      I hope it freecached itself :)

      --
      Trolling using another account since 2005.
  2. cache by Bombah · · Score: -1

    F1R5T P05T

    1. Re:cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Y0U F41L 1T

  3. Not solution to slashdot effect, but still great! by attaboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, it won't be the solution to Slashdotting, as you can't cache a whole site.

    Please note that you cannot submit a whole site to FreeCache as in http://freecache.org/http://www.rocklobsters.com/ This will not work as only index.html will be cached. You have to prefix every item that you want to have cached seperately.

    You can cache an HTML page (index.html) but all the images will pull from the local machine. You could cache each image separately, but the change would have to be made in the site's HTML.

    On the other hand, I don't imagine it would be hard to write some kind of proxy script that grabs the page and changes the HTML to point to freecache SRCs for each image/movie... you could then point to a freecache of that page...

    And of course, this all breaks the second somebody has a site that is heavily CGI based.

    Still, it's a start. I'll be sure to use it if I ever submit any site of my own to Slashdot ;-) Many thanks to the guys at the Internet Archive for setting this up. You rock!


    --
    The facts have a liberal bias. --The Daily Show
  4. I'm a Bush Republican! (A poem) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I'm a Bush Republican
    I got a small schling
    I like to bomb niggahs
    and make a lot o' bling

    I got a bunch o' friends
    in high up places
    They helps me get dem
    government graces.

    You think I'm smart
    I just know who's who
    I couldn't run a fruit stand
    without the red white & blue

    I fancy myself
    A brilliant tactician
    But neither me nor m'buddies
    Could even pass basic trainin'

    See, I'm above all that
    A fightin' and shootin'
    I just say "Sic em!"
    Then run the other direction

    Don't need no history
    Don't need no schoolin'
    I got my ideology
    To keep me a shootin'

    If I get caught screwin'
    Or tellin' wicked lies
    "Hypocrisy!" I holler
    And that justifies the crimes

    Liberals! Faggots!
    Commies and queers!
    Socialist hippies
    Full o' pussy tears!

    I'll drop some crap
    about Jesus the Christ
    You'll buy it all
    and vote for me twice

    'Fact, Jesus is comin'!
    Real soon, now!
    So we gotta prop up Israel
    That ol' sacred cow

    Propaganda's m'friend
    But I calls it "fact"
    Even though I don't read
    'Cept for Chick tracts

    Facts? No! Don't need em here!
    We're conservatives! We work on FEAR!
    Don't like what we say?
    Well FUCK YOU, bud!
    We'll shove it down yer throat
    and tell ya it's good!

    1. Re:I'm a Bush Republican! (A poem) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      The most beautiful thing about this is that a few minor words changes make it completely applicable to democrats too! Yay, slavish partisanship!

    2. Re:I'm a Bush Republican! (A poem) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Tis a thing of beauty. Republicans are the biggest assholes and we need to find them all and smoke 'em out of the U.S.A. They are the cause of every problem that every man, woman and child in this country has right now. November is coming. Get ready to rally and vote the heinous criminal dictator George W. Bush out of power!!! He's not my president. I didn't vote for him.

    3. Re:I'm a Bush Republican! (A poem) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      "He's not my president. I didn't vote for him"

      The statement I didn't vote for him is true of most Americans for all Presidents. For every one of them, only a small percentage of Americans voted for them. However, under the law of the land, "He's your President" whether or not you voted for him or not. That is how it works.

    4. Re:I'm a Bush Republican! (A poem) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Then the law must be changed. The way that the United States is so polarized, I think it's time that we break the country up into regions, each with it's own president. I'm sick of the stupid crackers in the south running the country. They haven't the slightest idea of what needs to be done to keep up a level of civility that is required for progress. Instead they want to roll things back to the ages of the Neanderthal. Fuck the south! Fuck Texas! All a bunch of clueless redneck hillbillies. I'd be happy if we just secede from the union here up north. 150 years and you assholes still haven't learned one goddamned thing about civility and social progress. If we let you lot continue to run the country, we're going to wind up a lot like the middle east with the Christian loonawhacks "fighting a war for Jesus"!!! Fucking assholes. Every one of you.

  5. Smart! by Elpacoloco · · Score: 1

    How many times have we wanted to see a website, except that it has been slashdotted and cannot see us now?

    Caching is intelligent because we are interested in the content itself rather than the connection to that particular computer.

    1. Re:Smart! by ozric99 · · Score: 2, Funny
      How many times have we wanted to see a website, except that it has been slashdotted and cannot see us now?

      Let me guess.. you're posting this from soviet russia?

  6. USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by akedia · · Score: 4, Funny

    In case of Slashdotting, here's a Freecache link.

    1. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by betelgeuse-4 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It seems the original link isn't slashdotted, but yours is.

    2. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +6 Hilarious.

    3. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by jonfromspace · · Score: 1

      Wow... and it appears to be /.ed already?

      --
      I am become Troll, destroyer of threads
    4. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, sorry, just tested. Seems to be slashdotted.

    5. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by diggem · · Score: 1

      Yeahbut...

      From the STATUS page linked off the main page from the story:

      "This page is offline. Sorry for the inconvenience."

      D'oh! Slashdotted! :) They need more participants, methinks.

    6. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by QuijiboIsAWord · · Score: 0

      Here, in case your comment gets /.'d I cached it.

      --
      -Hmm...I got a G+ invite, better remember to remove the request from my sig...-
    7. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by athakur999 · · Score: 1

      The status page has said that for weeks, so it's not Slashdot's fault for once. :)

      --
      "People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
    8. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by Dracolytch · · Score: 1

      Ahh, but the freecache link is slashdotted. Will this irony NEVER END??

      --
      This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
    9. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by cynicalmoose · · Score: 2, Informative

      (OT) Aah, but remember, you don't get karma for funny posts. Better wait until next time.

      --
      Exercise your right not to vote. thinkoutside.org
    10. Re:USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF KARMA-WHORING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it does not work, try this

  7. GNAA ANNOUNCES NEW CELEBRITY MEMBER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    GNAA ANNOUNCES NEW CELEBRITY MEMBER
    Altise - GNAA, Nigeria.
    Arf Arf. International rap sensation Earl 'DMX' Simmons has announce that he swings his gat on the other side of the hood. Our journalists tried to contact the star, whose first four albums debuted at the top of the charts, to find out what his family thought.

    "My wife is obviously devastated that the whole marriage was a sham. As expected, she wants a divorce and custody of the kids, who don't know yet. The truth is I didn't do as many shows as she was led to believe. I am gay and I am now proud after finding out about an organization like the GNAA which has shown me that's there are many black men just like myself who are gay. It don't make a matter in my music and my movies. Truth is, I've been gay for nineteen years. If haters wanna fight me, they can fight these tears. I'm tired of weak ass niggas who can't deal. It's a fact of life and X is still X and will always be X. I'm glad to be on board with the GNAA."

    The GNAA welcomes the hip hop sensation and creator of hit tracks such as "X Gon Giv It 2 Ya" and "Where da hood at?" with open arms. A celebrity of this magnitude should provide some great publicity for the GNAA and get their name out even more.

    Gay/Straight by DMX

    I'm ready for lovin, cause I give head really well.
    Ever since I was 7,
    I've had a gay story to tell.
    You see, anal is great,
    and it's why I'm still givin,
    head to you,
    and I'm a keep on givin.
    The bravery of a man's ass is slavery,
    which defines the man I was made to be,
    cause I'm a nigga who's goin down in history.

    About GNAA
    GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the first organization which
    gathers GAY NIGGERS from all over America and abroad for one common goal - being GAY NIGGERS.

    Are you GAY ?
    Are you a NIGGER ?
    Are you a GAY NIGGER ?

    If you answered "Yes" to all of the above questions, then GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) might be exactly what you've been looking for!
    Join GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) today, and enjoy all the benefits of being a full-time GNAA member.
    GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the fastest-growing GAY NIGGER community with THOUSANDS of members all over United States of America. You, too, can be a part of GNAA if you join today!

    Why not? It's quick and easy - only 3 simple steps!

    First, you have to obtain a copy of GAY NIGGERS FROM OUTER SPACE THE MOVIE and watch it.

    Second, you need to succeed in posting a GNAA "first post" on slashdot.org, a popular "news for trolls" website

    Third, you need to join the official GNAA irc channel #GNAA on EFNet, and apply for membership.
    Talk to one of the ops or any of the other members in the channel to sign up today!

    If you are having trouble locating #GNAA, the official GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA irc channel, you might be on a wrong irc network. The correct network is EFNet, and you can connect to irc.secsup.org or irc.isprime.com as one of the EFNet servers.
    If you do not have an IRC client handy, you are free to use the GNAA Java IRC client by clicking here.

    If you have mod points and would like to support GNAA, please moderate this post up.
    By moderating this post as "Underrated", you cannot be Meta-Moderated

  8. Surviving Slashdotting through Freecache by j0keralpha · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id= 8764

    He was apparently /.'d... and hes apologizing for the load.

  9. Oh man... by Botchka · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Here comes the test in....5.....4.....3.....

    --
    Money not found! A)bort, R)etry, D)eclare Bankruptcy
  10. Grrrr by darth_MALL · · Score: -1

    Slashdotted already...anyone have a link to the cache?

  11. Can I be the first??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    1. Re:Can I be the first??? by javcrapa · · Score: 1

      umm, but lets put something that you would actually like to see, so we can test if that service won't be /.ed also

  12. Cache owner's liability by RobertB-DC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As I understand the setup, the ideal would be for ISPs to install this system on their networks like AOL's infernal content caching, except that it would only cache what the site owner wants cached. It seems like anyone with a static IP could join in the fun, too.

    But would they? I saw this on the new service's message forum
    I was perusing the content in my cache and checking the detailed status page and I noticed illegal content containing videos in one of the caches I run. What is freecache.org doing to stop people from mirroring illegal content. I currently run 2 fairly heavily used caches and it looks like only one of them had illegal content. I cleared the cache to purge the problem, but the user just abused the service again by uploading the content again. I know freecache.org cannot be responsible for uploaded content, but there has to be some sort of content management system to make sure freecache doesn't turn into just another way to hide illegal content.

    Whether you believe this guy's story or not, it seems like this could subject small ISPs to the sort of problems that P2P has brought to regular users. It's not going to matter who's right -- just the idea of having to go to court over content physically residing on your server is a risk I don't see a marginal ISP being willing to take.

    So we're left with the folks with static IP addresses. They're in even more trouble if John Ashcroft decides to send his boyz over to check for "enemy combatants" at your IP address.

    With the current state of affairs in the US, and the personal risk involved, I'd have to pass on this cool concept.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    1. Re:Cache owner's liability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      I was perusing the content in my cache and checking the detailed status page and I noticed illegal content containing videos in one of the caches I run.

      Heh, wait till the guy sees what sort of stuff is on his USENET server.

  13. GNAA ANNOUNCES NEW CELEBRITY MEMBER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    GNAA ANNOUNCES NEW CELEBRITY MEMBER
    Altise - GNAA, Nigeria.
    Arf Arf. International rap sensation Earl 'DMX' Simmons has announce that he swings his gat on the other side of the hood. Our journalists tried to contact the star, whose first four albums debuted at the top of the charts, to find out what his family thought.

    "My wife is obviously devastated that the whole marriage was a sham. As expected, she wants a divorce and custody of the kids, who don't know yet. The truth is I didn't do as many shows as she was led to believe. I am gay and I am now proud after finding out about an organization like the GNAA which has shown me that's there are many black men just like myself who are gay. It don't make a matter in my music and my movies. Truth is, I've been gay for nineteen years. If haters wanna fight me, they can fight these tears. I'm tired of weak ass niggas who can't deal. It's a fact of life and X is still X and will always be X. I'm glad to be on board with the GNAA."

    The GNAA welcomes the hip hop sensation and creator of hit tracks such as "X Gon Giv It 2 Ya" and "Where da hood at?" with open arms. A celebrity of this magnitude should provide some great publicity for the GNAA and get their name out even more.

    Gay/Straight by DMX

    I'm ready for lovin, cause I give head really well.
    Ever since I was 7,
    I've had a gay story to tell.
    You see, anal is great,
    and it's why I'm still givin,
    head to you,
    and I'm a keep on givin.
    The bravery of a man's ass is slavery,
    which defines the man I was made to be,
    cause I'm a nigga who's goin down in history.

    About GNAA
    GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the first organization which
    gathers GAY NIGGERS from all over America and abroad for one common goal - being GAY NIGGERS.

    Are you GAY ?
    Are you a NIGGER ?
    Are you a GAY NIGGER ?

    If you answered "Yes" to all of the above questions, then GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) might be exactly what you've been looking for!
    Join GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) today, and enjoy all the benefits of being a full-time GNAA member.
    GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the fastest-growing GAY NIGGER community with THOUSANDS of members all over United States of America. You, too, can be a part of GNAA if you join today!

    Why not? It's quick and easy - only 3 simple steps!

    First, you have to obtain a copy of GAY NIGGERS FROM OUTER SPACE THE MOVIE and watch it.

    Second, you need to succeed in posting a GNAA "first post" on slashdot.org, a popular "news for trolls" website

    Third, you need to join the official GNAA irc channel #GNAA on EFNet, and apply for membership.
    Talk to one of the ops or any of the other members in the channel to sign up today!

    If you are having trouble locating #GNAA, the official GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA irc channel, you might be on a wrong irc network. The correct network is EFNet, and you can connect to irc.secsup.org or irc.isprime.com as one of the EFNet servers.
    If you do not have an IRC client handy, you are free to use the GNAA Java IRC client by clicking here.

    If you have mod points and would like to support GNAA, please moderate this post up.
    By moderating this post as "U

  14. lets see. by holzp · · Score: 0, Redundant

    is freecache freecached? here comes the first test!

    1. Re:lets see. by Zaiff+Urgulbunger · · Score: 1

      Damn, I'm too late... its fallen over already!!
      Nothing can survive the power of slashdot it seems!

  15. Putting freecache to the test by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://freecache.org/http://your.site/yourfile

    http://freecache.org/http://freecache.org/http://f reecache.org

    seems to piss it off slightly. I wonder why...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Putting freecache to the test by Speare · · Score: 2, Funny
      http://freecache.org/ http://freecache.org/ http://freecache.org

      I'm sure he would have made a deeper recursion, but the Slashdot lameness filter was able to compress it too efficiently.

      --
      [ .sig file not found ]
    2. Re:Putting freecache to the test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's meant for static content. You've just asked it for a dynamic page. Maybe they should make it http://freecache.org?q=site to prevent this. Then they could prevent people from cahcing stupid things like slashdot stories and google searches.

    3. Re:Putting freecache to the test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It ignores that request. It only caches things that are more than 5 MB.

  16. Alternate link by tssm0n0 · · Score: -1, Redundant
    1. Re:Alternate link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Informative? Fucking retards. I hope metamod catches up with whomever did that stupid fucking mod.

  17. The business model is astounding... by Seoulstriker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Buy massive amounts of bandwidth
    2. Host extremely popular web sites
    3. ???
    4. PROFIT!!!

    How are they supposed to be making money on this?

    --
    I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
    1. Re:The business model is astounding... by stratjakt · · Score: 3, Funny

      Volume!

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    2. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I know you're trying to be funny, but why does everyone always come back to the whole "making money" bullshit eventually? Haven't we seen that profit motive destroys pretty much anything useful? The internet was here before places like AOL and MSN raped it and brainwashed it. Before the McInternet, there was a real, useful resource that had great information on it. Now it's loaded with crap. If you want to see the end-result of profit motive, just go look at your inbox and see how much spam you got today. If you didn't get spam, then see how much you are having to pay to not get spam. However, if you take the profit motive away and people just do things out of a desire to see them get done right, then you can get great things. Like Linux. I really hate people who mindlessly think that everything needs to make money in order to be worthwhile. Forget money and look at the long line of important discoveries and inventions that WEREN'T driven by profit motive: Fire, The Wheel, Electricity. They were all made out of necessity. Money had nothing to do with it. Forget about money folks, it's overrated. Instead think about the non-monetary benefits you can get out of non-profit things.

    3. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      "Haven't we seen that profit motive destroys pretty much anything useful?"

      No. In fact, it makes many useful things.

      "Before the McInternet, there was a real, useful resource that had great information on it"

      No, before it was commercialized, there was hardly anything on it.

      "Fire, The Wheel, Electricity"

      You said that profit destroys everything. Well, we still have fire, the wheel, and electricity, now, don't we? And thanks to the profit motive, we have iPods, "The Simpsons", and allergy medicines.

    4. Re:The business model is astounding... by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      OK, maybe they don't want the money, you have a point there. But they *need* the money to at least pay the bandwidth bills. We aren't living in a dream world after all, and neither is FreeCache.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    5. Re:The business model is astounding... by eclectro · · Score: 1

      How are they supposed to be making money on this?

      Maybe by using hosting in Soviet Russia???


      I know, I know, I just couldn't resist.....

      --
      Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
    6. Re:The business model is astounding... by GeorgeH · · Score: 2, Interesting

      1. Install Freecache node at your ISP
      2. Cache extremly popular media files for your customers
      3. Advertise that customers can access Freecached files from the local network instead of the Internet.
      4. Get more customers and pay less bandwidth costs.
      5. PROFIT!!!!

      --
      Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
    7. Re:The business model is astounding... by Patik · · Score: 1
      but why does everyone always come back to the whole "making money" bullshit eventually?
      Because money is the motivation and means of existence behind every thing and every action. You're naive (or way too optimistic) if you think otherwise.

      Who will be the one that gives away their cash for the "good of the (Internet) people"? Will you do it?

    8. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > "Before the McInternet, there was a real, useful resource that had great information on it"

      > No, before it was commercialized, there was hardly anything on it.

      Are you kidding ? Before money turned the web into a super drugstore, the content of the internet was really worthwile, and had a /lot/ less noise and proprietary file formats.

    9. Re:The business model is astounding... by infolib · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How are they supposed to be making money onhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_Kahle this?

      It's not a way of making money, it's a way of spending them. It's run by the Internet Archive, founded and funded by Brewster Kahle. It's there for your free enjoyment - revel in the goodness of humanity!

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
    10. Re:The business model is astounding... by infolib · · Score: 2, Informative

      How are they supposed to be making money on this?

      It's not a way of making money, it's a way of spending them. It's run by the Internet Archive, founded and funded by Brewster Kahle. It's there for your free enjoyment - revel in the goodness of humanity!

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
    11. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want to see the end-result of profit motive, just go look at your inbox and see how much spam you got today.

      No spam for the past week...

      If you didn't get spam, then see how much you are having to pay to not get spam.

      Well, Lycos is free and so is the Thunderbird client, so I guess the answer to that is I'm paying nothing to not recieve spam. I'm sorry, what is your point?

    12. Re:The business model is astounding... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1

      You dont actually expect your ISP to actually do something that makes sense now do you?

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    13. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Why don't we just do things in exchange for other things? I cache files for free as long as the people caching on my server are willing to provide me with something that I need. Money is just a lame excuse of an IOU. And money has sever problems that are inherent to it. Greed being the main problem. With money, all you need is someone who is capable of acquiring a lot of money with no effort, or who was just lucky enough to be born into it. Then they use that money for their own benefit. That is a BAD thing because more than likely they are depriving others of a valuable resource by either overcharging or just keeping things all to themselves. It's kind of like the way we take someone who is good at a sport and deify them. There is no justification. Everyone should get a chance to be deified if things are going to be fair. But humans are selfish idiots and don't seem to like that idea.

    14. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why does everyone always come back to the whole "making money" bullshit eventually?

      When you move out of your mom's basement you'll realize that money can be exchanged for goods and services.

    15. Re:The business model is astounding... by FreakWent · · Score: 1

      Easy.

      I don't post here for profit, do you?

      I don't eat for profit, nor did I get married for profit, nor in fact did I buy my house for profit -- I bough it to live in.

      In fact, to the extent that $ == power, you are making the broad assumption that all people are selfish and greedy, which while it often seems that way is simply absurd -- we wouldn't have made it this far. The push for self-interest and a self-centered approach to everyhting is a cultural concept which came of age in the USA, is regarded as absolute truth by many in the USA and was actually refuted as a social ideal by Plato in a discussion with a Sophist thousands of years ago.

      Given a centruy we will see just how productive this approach is in bringing peace, stability, freedom, prosperity and, dare I say it, equality to the people of the USA.

    16. Re:The business model is astounding... by Patik · · Score: 1
      Why don't we just do things in exchange for other things?
      That's called bartering. It's better to just use money because you can spend it on whatever you want -- either the thing you originally wanted to exchange for, or something else if you've changed your mind.
    17. Re:The business model is astounding... by Hatta · · Score: 1

      Indeed, $20 can get you lots of peanuts.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    18. Re:The business model is astounding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      You stupid fucker. I live in my own house, with my wife and we have a baby on the way. I still think money is overrated. If society were built in a way where getting "stuff" could be done without the need for money, and the way to acquire that "stuff" was through hard work, I think we'd have a lot fewer problems. The lazy fucks who want to just amass wealth and not actually help others would get weeded out of the system. They are a load on society. You see them in the forms of people like Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Leona Helmsley, Dick Cheney, etc... But our society is built on the screwy assumption that people are basically honest. So instead we have assholes like the people listed above who screw the system up and tae everything they can get even if they don't NEED it. Meanwhile there are other people who don't even have enough to get by. Thi disparity MUST be dealt with and the capitalist system is faling miserably at that.

  18. Or use Google... by StevenMaurer · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the referrer is slashdot, return a link to the google cache of your page element, rather than the actual element.

    I trust google to be faster than these guys.

    1. Re:Or use Google... by hendridm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, that's fine for sites who can expect the possibility of being linked to, but those sites can often handle the load anyway. It those small sites (Geocities) hosted on some guys cable modem describing how he modded his mom's vibrator into a CD player that won't make it. Often times, myself included, these people don't really think about or expect to be linked to.

    2. Re:Or use Google... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod Parent +1, Kickass Mallrats Reference!

    3. Re:Or use Google... by andycal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem with that is that if it's new content google won't have it yet. Freecache could be a good way of surviving a /.ing , but the problem ( as with all caches) is that the server then doesn't get a accurate count of hits. This matters to some people, particularly people who advertise.

      The cool thing here is that you can say, "Cache just these things" and still have your server supply the html but not the images (or movies).

      But you still have to have a decent pipe.

    4. Re:Or use Google... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      The problem with that is that if it's new content google won't have it yet.
      Oh, come on. This is slashdot... Since when do we have to worry about getting linked to new content?
    5. Re:Or use Google... by oldstrat · · Score: 1


      "It those small sites (Geocities) hosted on some guys cable modem describing how he modded his mom's vibrator into a CD player that won't make it."

      Guess it can make it to the google cache

      One of the biggest pluses for any caching or I should say a greater variety in caching is the use of it to deter censorship.
      The more places something gets cached the greater the chances of it getting mirrored once the censorship starts.

    6. Re:Or use Google... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except you're stupid. It's not actually their server serving the cached content. It's a bunch of FreeCache edge nodes, like your ISP.

  19. Taking bets.... by JoeLinux · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How much you wanna bet this is going to become a haven for bit-torrent seeds? Put 'em up, get 'em to people, get it started, then take 'em down.

    1. Re:Taking bets.... by wo1verin3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Taken from here but it answers your question. If the person seeding removes the file, it would disapear in the cache as well. Maybe they check the original file link still exists and functions every few hits to the cache?

      Also only works for large files unless this FAQ is out of date:

      What files are being served by FreeCache?
      FreeCache can only serve files that are on a web site. If the link to a file on that web site goes away, so will the file in the FreeCaches. Also, there is a minimum size requirement. We don't bother with files smaller than 5MB, as the saved bandwidth does not outweight the protocol overhead in those cases.

    2. Re:Taking bets.... by foolip · · Score: 1

      Errr, perhaps they could host the .torrent files, if the .torrent is > 5 MB... which it's never (~30 KB is normal). As for the content, freecache won't help a bit, since it caches files over http and the bittorrent data stream isn't just a file request over http (IIRC, only the negotiations are done over http).

      So I wanna bet as much money as you have that this won't be used for seeding torrents.

  20. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Perfect for the \. effect!

    1. Re:Great by grub · · Score: 1


      Ah yes, fear the horrific backslashdot effect.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
  21. Beheading video by nysus · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Hey, maybe the ogrish.com is using this. They seem to be serving the beheading video, no prob. Let's see if it survives a slashdotting. See www.ogrish.com

    --

    ---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.

  22. In case it gets Slashdotted... by athakur999 · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Here is a cache of the original site:
    http://www.freecache.org/http://www.freecache.org/

    --
    "People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
    1. Re:In case it gets Slashdotted... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too late buddy. You shall now be modded redundant...

  23. Won't help slashdotting by FattMattP · · Score: 0, Troll

    It won't help a slashdotting because the editors still refuse to contact linked sites ahead of time. They won't know to mirror their content on Freecache.

    --
    Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
    1. Re:Won't help slashdotting by blackmonday · · Score: 1

      I don't think the slashdot editors have any obligation to notify the site owners. The page is on the Internet, it's a public thing. Plus, imagine some system where they get notified, contact adclick or whatever and start serving more ads to attract the slashdot crowd (profit!). If it's anyone's responsibility, it lies with the person that submitted the article to slashdot in the first place.

  24. Whoa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    If you do:

    http://freecache.org/http://freecache.org/...

    I bet all the atoms in the universe would simultaneously explode. Kids, let's be careful out there.

  25. i've used freecache before by Comsn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    its pretty good. lots of the servers are swamped tho, need more of them, anyone can run a freecache 'node'. its almost like freenet, cept not anonymous.

    too bad the status seems to be down, its fun to see what clips/games/demo/patches are going around.

  26. Does it Cache Immediately? by mesach · · Score: 1

    If i put the page up does Freecache have to wait until Internet Archive caches it? or does it nab a copy of the cache right away...

    if it does then I propose that all posts of smaller sites hence forth should be freecached.

    anyone wanna second it? not that it will do any good.

    --
    moo.
    1. Re:Does it Cache Immediately? by javatips · · Score: 1

      Yes, it caches immediately, the first time someone request are URL thru freecache, the content of that URL will be cached in real-time while it's being streamed to you. In fact, you do not even need to tell anyone about the caching has it will be done for any resources prepended with the freecache URL.

      However, it will not cache resources that are under 5M. The cache is designed to cache for large piece of content.

  27. Interesting by stratjakt · · Score: 1

    How long until freecache is the way to publish warez on the web? Geocities storage + freecache's bandwidth = teh free shit 4 u.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  28. But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's the catch? Theres got to be a catch.

  29. This has been mentioned before by Albanach · · Score: 3, Informative

    on slashdot - lots of times. It only cache's files bigger than 5MB so if someone is slashdotting your MP3 collection it's a boon. If you're jsut hosting a dynamic web page with dynamic images your mysql server is still going to feel the strain.

  30. Caching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Personally, I believe that Slashdot should really begin caching static versions of the most popular pages itself...

    1. Re:Caching by ggvaidya · · Score: 1
      Personally, I believe that Slashdot should really begin caching static versions of the most popular pages itself...

      There is already an answer in the FAQs. So, sorry, but can't be done.

    2. Re:Caching by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1
      There is already an answer in the FAQs. So, sorry, but can't be done.
      That's an excuse, not an answer. The correct response is "Can be done, but the editors are too stubborn to admit they're wrong."
      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  31. /.ed already... by warpSpeed · · Score: 2, Insightful
    This does not bode will for a caching site that will supposidly help with the /. effect...

  32. Freecache can't handle Slashdot (Sept 2003) by rbrinkman · · Score: 1

    Maybe things have changed, but when this made the rounds of Slashdot in September 2003 "There were 20,000 hits in 24 hours, and plenty of discussion in the Slashdot forums regarding slow downloads" http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id= 8764&PHPSESSID=5d3c8e0ad9765c01ba411759c623899 8

  33. Questions to the Slashdot owners by Mr_Silver · · Score: 3, Interesting
    1. Does that mean that Slashdot will now link to potentially low-bandwidth sites using Freecache?
    2. Will you update their FAQ on the whole subject of caching since Google and Freecache seem to feel that the legalities of site caching is small enough for it to be a non-issue?
    3. Or are we still going to be relying on people posting links and site content in the comments because the original site has been blown away under the load?
    Inquiring minds would like to know.
    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
    1. Re:Questions to the Slashdot owners by Tinidril · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What you are proposing wont work. Only the original linked file (or implied index.?) will be cached. In order for the bulk of the content to be cached, the site owner would have to change all internal links to point to freecache.

      The working solution would be for the slashdot editors to give a site owner a heads-up so that they can prepare for the flood.

      --
      XML is the best data format; unless your data needs to be read or written by a human or a computer.
    2. Re:Questions to the Slashdot owners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is this 'interesting'? The FAQ on the Freecache site states that files under 5mb won't be cached.

    3. Re:Questions to the Slashdot owners by Jonah+Hex · · Score: 1

      I think I can answer all three questions, even tho I'm not related in any way to the "Slashdot owners"... Unless someone submits patches to slashcode.org that includes auto-Freecache'ing and it gets accepted as part of the base code used for this site you will not see /. change the way it handles the /. effect for any of your three points. I'm not saying that's what I myself think is "right" or "ideal" but it's the most likely scenario I see.

      Reasoning basically stands as follows: "they" would most likely have made such changes if they were going to come, the addition of newer techs like Freecache mean nothing if a site is willing to maintain the status quo. (or as many have said, get worse and worse) I myself respect that life is more than just a job, or a hobby, or a website; and time and effort must be allocated as need and willpower dictate. But of course I've been putting up with substandard computer experiances since the days of the Trash-80, so I can just grin and bear the obvious deficiencies of being a regular reader here.

      Jonah Hex

  34. In case of /.ing by 0d · · Score: 0

    Here is the google cache of the page.

    Yeah I know, now just mod me down!

    --
    It turns out it's man
  35. Fightin' Words! by goldspider · · Score: 0, Troll
    It's official: the gauntlet has officially been thrown down.

    Slashdotters, do your worst!!

    --
    "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    1. Re:Fightin' Words! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's official: you're a retard.

      Moderators, do your worst!!

  36. Prior art by broothal · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Gee - it seems like only yesterday I was flamed for proposing the exact same thing....

  37. Beta! by dacarr · · Score: 5, Informative

    I should point out that Freecache is in beta mode. By coincidence, this posting on Slashdot here is an interesting way of working out bugs.

    --
    This sig no verb.
    1. Re:Beta! by Syre · · Score: 1

      I hope they're going to add capacity.

      I'm on a T1, and their sample MPG http://freecache.org/http://movies03.archive.org/0 /movies/LuckyStr1948_2/LuckyStr1948_2.mpg is currently downloading at a snail-like 382Bps.

      Yes, bytes per second, not Kbytes per second.

      Estimated time to download the 9.71MB file is 2hr 44minutes.

      Caching like that, I can live without.

  38. Slashdot cache by aeiz · · Score: 2, Redundant

    Slashdot should have their own caching system that automatically creates a cache of whatever website is being posted.

    1. Re:Slashdot cache by warpSpeed · · Score: 1, Flamebait
      Slashdot should have their own caching system that automatically creates a cache of whatever website is being posted.

      /. cannot afford the bandwidth required to serve both thier site and the cached site... This is a dead horse issue, stop beating it...

    2. Re:Slashdot cache by glpierce · · Score: 1

      Putting aside legality, etc...

      What if only subscribers could access the cached sites?

      Also, what about using robots.txt or meta tags to tell Slashdot a page can be cached?

      --
      G
    3. Re:Slashdot cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn it, I've got mod points, but no "Ignorant" modifier available...

    4. Re:Slashdot cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When your mate gives you an invite to a party, you dont know if your gonna be boogying in a mansion, or shuffling in a tiny cramped shack.

      I consider slashdot to be like that friend. its a good laugh even if the party is small.

  39. this FP forN GN?AA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    to keep up as Slashdot 'BSD is Whatever path is at least.' Nobody don't ffel that Shout the loudest Keep unnecessary backward and said GAY NIGGERS from hot on the heels of the NetBSD project, like I should be something done during which I to work I'm dojing, May be hurting the person. Ask your

  40. This is seriously a solution by ianbnet · · Score: 1, Interesting

    There are a lot of problems, but for all those "home publishers" on cable or slow DSL accounts, this is great -- they can publish content out to the wide, wide and wild web that they could never hope for before.

    Although I predict this gets used heavily for less savory content - manifestos and the like that people want to get out there. But we'll see.

    --
    --------------------- -me, Crusher of those who are Foolish (don't be foolish)
  41. ... execpt by laursen · · Score: 5, Informative
    They have been offline for AGES due to abuse ...

    As their status page explains...

  42. Some questions by GillBates0 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Definitely not an adequate solution, given it's current condition: slashdotted to hell.

    I have a few questions though, which I guess may be answered on the website:

    1. Can users submit/upload files to be hosted on their website.

    2. Who's responsible for ensuring that it doesn't turn into a pr0n/warez stash?

    3. Can users request removal of cached content (something not possible with the Google cache).

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
    1. Re:Some questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It *is* still in Beta, and it's coming up a lot faster than most /.ed pages.

      1. Yes. RTFSummary. It uploads automatically when someone requests the file from them. Just change your link to http://freecache.org/http://oldurl.net.

      2. Probably them. The entire internet is largely a pron/warez stash, so I'd expect a lot of the same there.

    2. Re:Some questions by Phoenix-kun · · Score: 4, Informative

      3. Can users request removal of cached content (something not possible with the Google cache).

      Actually, you can request removal of a google cache, but you must have access to the reference source site to do so. Once you've requested removal, there is even a personalized status page where you can check the progress of the removal.

      --
      Phoenix
    3. Re:Some questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Who's responsible for ensuring that it doesn't turn into a pr0n/warez stash?

      "warez" usually means material that violates copyright laws. Illegal. Criminal.

      But what have you got against straightforward porn, usually meaning pictures of naked or scantily-clad women?

    4. Re:Some questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. If it can't support too many hits, it's worthless to my content. Probably better off not even advertising it until it can support it's claims. I guess you get what you pay for.

    5. Re:Some questions by ColaMan · · Score: 1

      The bulk of which, apart from amateur stuff , happens to be copyrighted.

      And I prefer the silky smooth skin and perfect ass of a copyrighted image to the free skanky ho' with the bum pimples and 50 pounds of extra cellulite (shivers)

      --

      You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
      There is a lot of hype here.
    6. Re:Some questions by hesiod · · Score: 1

      > Probably better off not even advertising it until it can support it's claims

      So how do you reliably stress-test omething like this without telling thousands of people to connect? That's what the Beta stage is. They are proceeding exactly as they should, IMO.

    7. Re:Some questions by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 1

      The bulk of which, apart from amateur stuff , happens to be copyrighted.

      No. Amateur porn is copyrighted too. Any photograph taken today is automatically copyrighted, unless the creator explicitly declares otherwise.

  43. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by dan_sdot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, but the thing that you are not considering is that probably 75% the slashdot effect is just people looking at the link for about 5 seconds, and then closing the page and moving on the the next story. This means no browsing, meaning that it is not important if the whole page is not up there. And as far as pictures go, I would guess that alot of people click on the link, even though they are not too interested, see the text, and realize that they are _really_ not interested. So they close the page before they even need pictures.

    In other words, the important stuff, like the rest of the site and the pictures, will be resources only used on those that really care, while those that don't get to see a flash of the text for a second to get a really general idea.

    After all, thats what the slashdot effect is, a whole bunch of people that don't really care that much, but want a quick, 5 second look at it.

  44. Slashdot strikes again by JFitzsimmons · · Score: 1

    Anything I give it just times out...

    --
    Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -Anonymous
  45. Using the Wayback Machine? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    What happens if you use archive.org's own Wayback Machine as a cache? Instead of linking that hugely popular Slashdot story to someone's relevant actual Geocities site, you link to a 12-day-old copy of that Geocities site in archive.org? Does archive.org get slashdotted easily?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Using the Wayback Machine? by hooded1 · · Score: 1

      Slashdot is a news site. If you post a link to a website thats 12 days old chances are its not going to have the information you expected it to have.

      --
      A rabbit in the hand is worth 4 in the cage
    2. Re:Using the Wayback Machine? by davidstrauss · · Score: 4, Funny
      Slashdot is a news site. If you post a link to a website thats 12 days old chances are its not going to have the information you expected it to have.

      You must be new here, or you would know the the news is old here.

    3. Re:Using the Wayback Machine? by anti-trojan · · Score: 2, Funny

      Slashdot is a news site. If you post a link to a website thats 12 days old chances are its not going to have the information you expected it to have.

      Bwahahahahaha (cough)(cough) bwahahahahahahhhahaaaaaaaa

    4. Re:Using the Wayback Machine? by stevenvi · · Score: 1

      Actually, linking to a 12-day old page wouldn't work, as the Wayback Machine doesn't have archives available of a crawled site until its at least 6 months old, so says their FAQ.

  46. This will cause problems by ACNeal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I see dreaded pictures from goatse.cx in the future. This will break the nice convenient domain name clues that Slashdot gives us, so we don't accidently do things like that.

    1. Re:This will cause problems by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      slashcode could be modified to show the originating domain name, ie; just trim off the freecache.org part.

      It'll take YEARS to implement, but possible.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    2. Re:This will cause problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My advice is: Keep the status bar up, and pay attention to it. If you are using Lynx, you probably won't be worrying so much (aside from ASCII versions of the said picture).

    3. Re:This will cause problems by froody · · Score: 1

      C'mon. tinyurl.com has made this possible for a long time.

      Tim

    4. Re:This will cause problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I see dreaded pictures from goatse.cx in the future. This will break the nice convenient domain name clues that Slashdot gives us, so we don't accidently do things like that.

      What I don't understand is this panic about ugly pictures. See, the image in question is yucky alright, but it's not THAT big a deal. Who cares? You accidentally click a link, see the butthole, feel nauseous, leave the site. So? What's the big deal there?

  47. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think they're looking more for serving big files, not html and inline images. Smallest file size is 5mb.

  48. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by attaboy · · Score: 1


    I should clarify that I mean this will not be the solution to the effect caused by "surprise-slashdotting" where the site owners are not notified ahead of time.

    If a savvy site owner is notified by slashdot editors before being listed, they might be able to take some preventive action.

    I don't think that currently happens very often, though.

    --
    The facts have a liberal bias. --The Daily Show
  49. WILL Help slashdotting by zipwow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not about the editors, it's about the authors. You, as an author, can use the freecache service by using their style links in your pages. It doesn't cost you anything to do it, and it's pretty easy to do.

    It's not perfect, it will certainly not be used by everyone. Still it's something you can do defensively, especially if you're serving mpegs of your latest case mod or bear attack or whatever.

    -Zipwow

    --
    I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
  50. A question... by carvalhao · · Score: 1

    Should I mirror a file which is DRMed, since it won't in fact be downloaded from my computer but from some ISPs mirror, could I be charged of making that file available? How could anyone prove that file hadn't been removed from my computer? Is an illegal file in transit the responsability of the site owner (it may no longer exist on the site), the downloader (where it still doesn't exist) or the middle man, where it exists temporarily?

  51. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect by lxdbxr · · Score: 5, Informative
    Also only works for large files unless this FAQ is out of date:
    What files are being served by FreeCache?

    FreeCache can only serve files that are on a web site. If the link to a file on that web site goes away, so will the file in the FreeCaches. Also, there is a minimum size requirement. We don't bother with files smaller than 5MB, as the saved bandwidth does not outweight the protocol overhead in those cases.

    --
    -- Nothing unusual happened today
  52. Re:Smart Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Speaking of wanting to see a website that has been /.ed, does anyone have a link to the Beheading video of that Berg chap?

    Please provide a non /.ed link

  53. Useful for some spike flattening only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Research at some big sites indicates that these caches have little impact on regular site use, but are beneficial in flattening some spikes. Frankly the case for Akamai gets less compelling by the day...probably the sweet spot for this tech is one in which the last mile is very slow (dialup).

  54. Enquiring minds ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Slashdot cached one of its many duplicate stories there and then linked to it in the story, after several people clicked the link would one:
    1) get a massive feedback loop bringing down the entire internet
    2) get cold fusion?
    3) profit?

  55. Freeache? by Henrik+S.+Hansen · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did anyone else misread that as "Freeache"?

    I mean, I'm all for free stuff, but an ache...?

  56. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by javatips · · Score: 1
    The thing is supposed to be used to cache large files. It has not been build to cache web pages.


    Maybe, when the site is no longer slashdotted, people will be able to get a look at their FAQ and see that (the submitter should have done that instead of submitting stuff that he just discovered, even if it has been availlable for a long time, without even checking for it's real purpose).

  57. OMG, we've slashdotted archive.org by shoppa · · Score: 1, Insightful
    http://www.archive.org/, which used to have a one or two second response time, now is taking over a minute to return their home page.

    I do not think this is a solution to slashdotting :-)

  58. what u talkin about willis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  59. Alternative solution by Ryvar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Create a file format that is basically just the web page plus dependent files tar'd and gzip'd - then release browser plugins that automatically take any file with the correct extention, and seamlessly ungzip/untar it to the local cache before displaying it like normal - I have yet to understand why nobody has combined this basic idea with BitTorrent. Seems like you could get a lot of mileage with it.

    1. Re:Alternative solution by CerebusUS · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, Microsoft created a format that doesn't require tar and zip. .mht files are complete webpages (images and all) bundled up at once so you can deliver them as a single file.

      Combining that with bittorrent should be relatively easy.

      Of course, you'll probably have to view the result in IE, as the mozilla project hasn't quite worked out .mht yet, I don't think.

    2. Re:Alternative solution by SavingPrivateNawak · · Score: 3, Informative

      Of course, you'll probably have to view the result in IE, as the mozilla project hasn't quite worked out .mht yet, I don't think.

      What?? .mht is mail html! Is an HTML mail with all the page content in it! Even Netscape 4 can read it!

    3. Re:Alternative solution by netsharc · · Score: 1
      JS and CSS files can be easily included, and for images, I think Mozilla has some sort of support for this. The only info I can find about it is here, where you basically have an IMG tag like this:
      <IMG SRC="data:image/png;base64,[the image data in base64]">
      So instead of a URL to the image, it has the image data directly in the IMG tag.
      Someone probably only has to write some JS code in Mozilla to join all the features together, the question if if JS can then pop-up the "Save As" dialog box, I think not?
      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    4. Re:Alternative solution by hattmoward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Konqueror allows users to save a page and it's dependencies in a Web ARchive. It's pretty much a .tgz file renamed.

    5. Re:Alternative solution by Patik · · Score: 1

      Mozilla can already browse through tars in that manner.

    6. Re:Alternative solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

      You mean like .mht files IE reads and writes?

    7. Re:Alternative solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually "MIME HTML" -- RFC 2110.

      And while Mozilla can handle it in the mailer, there's no way to read/write the files from the browser. Yeah, it's in bugilla.

    8. Re:Alternative solution by CerebusUS · · Score: 1

      Maybe so, but when I tried to open one in Firefox, it fired up a copy of IE.

    9. Re:Alternative solution by SirDaShadow · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Create a file format that is basically just the web page plus dependent files tar'd and gzip'd

      In IE: File->Save As->File of Type: Web archive, single file (mht)

    10. Re:Alternative solution by persaud · · Score: 5, Informative

      See Bug 40873 and Bug 18764. Summary is that Thunderbird (mail) lets you view .mht but the browser does not. And there's no way to save .mht with Mozilla.

    11. Re:Alternative solution by Coulson · · Score: 3, Informative
      The problem is that you don't get any benefit from reduplication. Many pages share the same images; if each file is requested independently, the client can ignore files that are already in the cache. If you have to download a tarball of each page + images, you don't get any savings from images already in cache.

      You'd have to come up with a scheme like:
      1. send a request + list of files you have from that domain + timestamps [large!]
      2. server sends diff tarball
      3. client unzips to cache and displays
      ...or...
      1. send request
      2. server sends single response + list of related files + timestamps
      3. client diffs with cache, sends back batch request for related files
      4. server sends back batch tarball
      5. client unzips to cache and displays

    12. Re:Alternative solution by Doctor+Crumb · · Score: 1

      What you just described is basically rsync done badly. I think squid was working on incorporating it.

    13. Re:Alternative solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is got to be the lamest thing I have ever heard.

    14. Re:Alternative solution by sparkz · · Score: 1

      Check your preferences / file associations.

      --
      Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
    15. Re:Alternative solution by CerebusUS · · Score: 1

      Yup, did that. It appears a plugin would need to be written. I'm basing this off Firefox 0.8 for Windows, where the relevant setting appears to be under Tools | Options | Downloads

    16. Re:Alternative solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mozilla opens these fine

  60. put it under the hood by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This use of Freecache is still subject to the actual problem that enables Slashdotting: inadequate scaling planning. Some sites are limited by the cost of effective scaling failover countermeasures, but most are limited by lack of any planning for even potential Slashdotting - this use of Freecache still falls prey to that primary problem. And who can remember to prepend "http://freecache.org/" to their entire domain URL, including their repetitive "http://"?

    A better use of Freecache is "under the hood". Make your webserver redirect accesses to your "http://whatever.com/something" to "http://freecache.org/http://whatever.com/somethin g". More sites will be able to plan for that single change to their webserver config, than will be able to plan to distribute the freecache.org compound URL. And it won't depend on users correctly using the compound URL. More sites will get the benefit of the freecache.org service. And when freecache.org disappears, or ceases to be free, switching to a competitor will be as easy as changing the config, rather than redistributing a new URL.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:put it under the hood by Russellkhan · · Score: 1

      "A better use of Freecache is "under the hood". Make your webserver redirect accesses to your "http://whatever.com/something" to "http://freecache.org/http://whatever.com/somethin g". More sites will be able to plan for that single change to their webserver config, than will be able to plan to distribute the freecache.org compound URL. And it won't depend on users correctly using the compound URL. More sites will get the benefit of the freecache.org service."

      I believe that is the idea - not for users to prepend URLs, but for the owners/webmasters of sites with large, popular files to prepend the URL in their links, or implement redirects to freecache when they get slashdotted, or otherwise hit hard all of a sudden.

      --
      Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
    2. Re:put it under the hood by burns210 · · Score: 1

      what apache/mozilla needs is a plugin to automatically bittorrent-style distribute the load across everyone who is currently requesting a file.

    3. Re:put it under the hood by tktk · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I know this has been suggested before but why doesn't /. at least mirror the first page of the submitted links? I mean, how many people read the article in the first place, and then, of these, how many continue onto the subsequent pages?

      I'm sick of having to visit /. in order find a potential site to slashdot to hell.

    4. Re:put it under the hood by yarisbandit · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but you'd have to set up some rules allowing freecache to get the content from your webserver first. Otherwise freecache would be trying to download files from itself be requesting from your webserver...

      Hope freecache have fire extinguishers near the servers, in case of too much recursion ;)

    5. Re:put it under the hood by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      If I were at Freecache, I'd include s#^http://freecache.org/(.+)#$1# in my retrieval code.

      --

      --
      make install -not war

    6. Re:put it under the hood by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

      including their repetitive "http://"?

      What if FreeCache wished to cache non-HTTP information and make it available via HTTP? It might be useful to allow for http://freecache.org/ftp://example.com/big-file.gz wouldn't it? It makes sense to require the "http://".

    7. Re:put it under the hood by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      Of course you have to include the protocol scheme in the URL, in order to retrieve the resource. That's true of the original URL, and the freecache URL wrapping it. That unavoidable repetition (not redundancy) is why the compound URL is so user-unfriendly, as anyone with a "netcom.com" address will surely attest. And a good reason for those compound URLs not to be distributed, but rather used only "under the hood" in an httpd translation rule served to automated clients when retrieving a cacheable URL.

      --

      --
      make install -not war

    8. Re:put it under the hood by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

      the compound URL is so user-unfriendly

      At the risk of pulling us off-topic, I might argue that all URLs need to be "under the hood". A URI (thus URL) only needs to uniquely (and arguably persistently) identify a resource. It doesn't have to be user-friendly. That's what search engines and links are for.

      But in that regard, I think I agree with what you're trying to say. The URL they're proposing is ugly, and it's not going to be practical for users to manually enter without messing it up. Some form of translation or redirection would be beneficial here.

  61. rather than the author sumbit by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 1

    it should grab one copy of the non-dynamic pages and images and update itself every few hours, then delete the cache once its not very busy.

    kind of like the astalavista website translator, except a cache of everything static.

  62. I could see people using this by akaina · · Score: 1

    I could see people using this to start their own pr0n sites.

    Perhaps there should be an alternative to scientific projects and OSS projects.

    freecache.fsf.org perhaps?

    --
    Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
  63. In Soviet Russia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    In Soviet Russia, website /.s YOU!!!

  64. Me. by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    Me. And I was modded down for posting my initial mis-reading.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Me. by eclectro · · Score: 1


      Yes, but the way he said it was much more interesting.

      --
      Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
  65. Nothing Changes by Ironsides · · Score: 1, Funny

    So now instead of /.ing the website we /. the Internet Archive instead.

    --
    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  66. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by ratboy666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, index.html would only be cached if it is 5MB or greater in size.

    Which is unlikely. So it won't be cached. Nor will the PNG/GIFs.

    Ratboy

    --
    Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
  67. Solution to slashdot? Shoot, we broke it. by nsanders · · Score: 2, Funny
    Finally the solution for slashdotting ...

    Not really.. I can't access their servers now. All will tremble before the might of slashdotting!

  68. Already blocked at work by Xiadix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That is another stumbling block that will prevent it from saving may websites. If I can't use the freecache link, I will be forced to go back to the orginal link...as will a good percentage of the other /. crowd.

    KevG

  69. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 1

    Just zip up a tarball/archive of your site and submit that to slashdot.

  70. parent is Informative? by danharan · · Score: 2, Informative
    Alternate link (Score:2, Informative)
    The site can also be found here: http://freecache.org/http://www.archive.org/web/fr eecache.php
    Come on mods, parent could be modded funny or redundant, but Informative?
    --
    Information: "I want to be anthropomorphized"
    1. Re:parent is Informative? by descil · · Score: 1

      LMAO @ the mods :-)

      A collective sense of humor is a good thing!

  71. Ironic by osjedi · · Score: 4, Funny



    Story is only a few minutes old and mecca of Internet caching has already been slashdotted. Maybe someone kid with an old P5 266mhz under his desk can mirror the site for us.

    --
    -=-=-=-=- osjedi uses Debian GNU/Linux. -=-=-=-=-
    1. Re:Ironic by Bandwidth_ · · Score: 1

      >an old P5 266mhz under his desk
      A Pentium 5? Yeah, that might do it.

  72. a dud? by smd4985 · · Score: 1

    if freecache can't even handle the slashdot effect, what does that say about its advertised service :) ?

    --
    smd4985
  73. Site owner+freecache==good; /. +freecache==bad. by mcmonkey · · Score: 1

    I modded up your reply from yesterday (specifically for the point about the goggle cache and ad banners), but to pick the nit that brought out the flames, a site's creator or admin directing visitors to freecache as remedy for the /. effect is OK. /. itself employing freecache, as you seemed to be suggesting, is generally thought of as a Bad Thing and ain't gonna happen.

  74. Well, SOMEONE had to try it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Try http://freecache.org/http://goatse.cx/ ...
    the server actually barfs on it, just like the rest of us!

    500 Servlet Exception

    java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: nz.co.aotea.html.Configuration
    at com.caucho.util.DynamicClassLoader.loadClass(Dynam icClassLoader.java:532)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:2 35)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoade r.java:302)
    at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:219)
    at com.caucho.util.CauchoSystem.loadClass(CauchoSyste m.java:395)
    at com.caucho.util.CauchoSystem.loadClass(CauchoSyste m.java:373)
    at com.caucho.util.BeanUtil.instantiate(BeanUtil.java :195)
    at com.caucho.util.BeanUtil.createBean(BeanUtil.java: 151)
    at com.caucho.server.http.JndiFactory.initContext(Jnd iFactory.java:294)
    at com.caucho.server.http.ClassLoaderContext.init(Cla ssLoaderContext.java:703)
    at com.caucho.server.http.Application.configure(Appli cation.java:531)
    at com.caucho.server.http.Application.(Application.ja va:326)
    at com.caucho.server.http.WebAppMap$Entry.createAppli cation(WebAppMap.java:599)
    at com.caucho.server.http.VirtualHost.startApplicatio n(VirtualHost.java:1206)
    at com.caucho.server.http.VirtualHost.getInvocation(V irtualHost.java:1007)
    at com.caucho.server.http.ServletServer.getInvocation (ServletServer.java:1249)
    at com.caucho.server.http.HttpRequest.handleRequest(H ttpRequest.java:243)
    at com.caucho.server.http.HttpRequest.handleConnectio n(HttpRequest.java:163)
    at com.caucho.server.TcpConnection.run(TcpConnection. java:139)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

  75. Whacked links... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's up with the ad with the seedy looking Mexican for Paco University? I think that's what it's called, or was it Capello?

    The tagline should be "Paco University: Are you a Mexican or a Mexican't?"

    BTW, anyone got a non /.ed link to the beheading video?

    1. Re:Whacked links... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
  76. What we really need.... by Xiadix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is a public available squid server. If you put any link through the server such as:

    www.squidserver.com/http://www.doomedsite.com

    The public squid will cache a copy of it. On the first access (like when the approver looks at it) It should look at a request and see if it has a recent cache. If it does feed that, if not get the newest copy and promth the user for a refresh or automatically refresh after a set time (5 sec). It will update its cache as the site does. All without having to upload anything. After a few days when nobody is utilizing the cache, it can purge it. Waiting for the next doomed site.

    DISCLAIMER: The may be how Freecache works, but I can't get to it
    1) because I am at work.
    2) as the comments suggest it is slashdotted.

    KevG

    1. Re:What we really need.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is this insightful? Now the www.squidserver.com server would have to bear the entirety of the bandwidth usage. That's not at all scalable.

      FreeCache automatically uses the closest FreeCache edge server to cache your request. If it's your ISP, everybody who uses your ISP gets it directly from the ISP's server, and everybody using other ISPs probably gets the file from their ISPs server. That's how it gets its scalability.

    2. Re:What we really need.... by Fastolfe · · Score: 2, Informative

      Now the www.squidserver.com server would have to bear the entirety of the bandwidth usage. That's not at all scalable.

      What makes you think that www.squidserver.com always resolves to the same single squid server? Intelligent DNS resolution in conjunction with things like IP multicast and multi-homing could be used to achieve something approaching what Akamai does.

      Plus, the advantage of a proper caching HTTP proxy as the "meat" of this solution means that HTTP caching rules are respected. If a site has an advertising graphic that they really need to have loaded for each user and not cached, they can express that through HTTP caching headers and "www.squidproxy.com" would be "required" to pass the request through. This way you neatly side-step the perceived legal problems Slashdot says they face when considering a similar Slashdot cache for linked-to articles. (See the FAQ.)

  77. Freecache Slashdotted? by Twyford · · Score: 1

    Well I tried to go there now and it looks like the site has been slashdotted. Ahhh, the irony in that!

    Well that kind of disproves that archive.org can handle the load.

    Can archive freecache itself? :P

  78. freecash? by aardwolf204 · · Score: 1

    Freecache... Sounds a little like all advantage to me ;).

    --
    Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the /.crowd.May ur days b merry & bright & may al
  79. It's recursive! by Grayden · · Score: 0, Redundant

    In case Freecache gets oveloaded, here's a Freecache link to Freeca... errr... hmmmm....

  80. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Which is why it's very important to have a simple, clean, and informative main web page with links to more details. Sites that overload their main page with crap actually drive away viewers.

    --
    You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  81. freecache /.'d? by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 1
    I can't hit it! Hmm...perhaps this isn't the solution we were looking for...or should the URL be:C-B
  82. I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS TOO: 1. SHUT THE FUCK UP. by Subject+Line+Troll · · Score: -1
  83. Progress! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    "They haven't the slightest idea of what needs to be done to keep up a level of civility that is required for progress"

    Progress being a liberal northeastern Taxachusetts word to describe the government controlling a progressively larger part of your life, your personal decisions, and your wallet.

    "Fuck the south! Fuck Texas! All a bunch of clueless redneck hillbillies"

    Clueless? They have the big clue here. When you hear the phrase "We're from the government, we're here to help you", you get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. In the Red States, you get an ironic chuckle.

    "I'm sick of the stupid [racist term] in the south running the country"

    You make a great case when you use racist terms against your foes.

    1. Re:Progress! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Since when is the word "cracker" a racist term? The people who live in the southern United States are not a race. Maybe you left your brain in your ass after sitting on your head all night, and really meant to say it's a REGIONALIST term. I would buy that excuse over the "racist" one. Racism only applies when you are talking about skin color and certain nationalities. If a brit calls me a "yank" it could be interpreted as racist. However, I'm not going to be like some of you little girlies and get my panties all in a bunch about it because I'm still not a minority. Get your fucking understanding of racism right you idiot cracker!! God do we northerners have to teach you EVERYTHING!!!?

  84. Not so good behind a corporate proxy by g051051 · · Score: 1

    I can't get to anything on freecache.org (or archive.org) from where I work. Our so-called "SmartFilter" blocks access as follows:

    Access denied by SmartFilter content category. The requested URL belongs to the following category: Anonymizer.

    1. Re:Not so good behind a corporate proxy by cynicalmoose · · Score: 1

      I have the same problem, but got round it when I badgered my proxy admin to block all the archive.org urls with waybackmachine in them, but to let us into the rest of archive.org.

      Of course, if he was half smart, he would just block URLs containing the url he wanted to block, as that would deal with everything.

      --
      Exercise your right not to vote. thinkoutside.org
  85. I CONCUR by Shut+the+fuck+up! · · Score: -1
  86. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by caluml · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just pad out your pages with lots of hidden text.

    <!--
    <?php
    for ( $i = 0 ; $1 < 5000000 ; $i++ )
    {
    print "a";
    }
    ?>
    -->

    Hey presto. All your pages are > 5MB! :)

  87. New way to distribute viruses in popular files? by Phong · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I looked around the site and didn't see an answer to this question:

    How does this system guard against doctored content coming from the cache sites? Since they allow sites to sign up to become a cache server, wouldn't it be possible for a malicious user to sign up and use some locally-modified code to add a virus to all the .exe files that get sent out from their cache? They could even customize the output of their CGI depending on what domain you are in, making it easy to target specific sites and/or hide their munging from other sites.

    --
    ..wayne..
    1. Re:New way to distribute viruses in popular files? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1

      No, because it is a pass through cache only.

      It is not possible to push your personal content up and tell the cache to serve it under a different URL.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:New way to distribute viruses in popular files? by Phong · · Score: 1
      You need to review how things work again. I'm talking about a cache server modifying content that it serves from its cache. If you look at the freecache web site, they seem to let anyone who installs their CGI script automatically into the pool of cache servers. Here's how this can be exploited:

      Each caching server has their own copy of the file. The one master web server redirects each user's request to one of the caching servers which serves them the file. If a caching server out there chooses to modify a file, a percentage of all the downloads will be bogus downloads that came from that server and there isn't any built-in means to notice that the file-tweaking has happened (users would have to take extra steps to verify the download.

      So, if you choose to use this service to serve a big file from your web site, you are trusting all the cache servers in the pool to serve your content for you. I just hope that there are legal ramifications for a server if they are found to be serving modified content AND that there is a sign-up process that is verified enough so that these consequences could be carried out.

      --
      ..wayne..
  88. half baked version of p2p by curator_thew · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Freecache is really just a half-baked ("precursor") version of P2P; not in any sense a long term solution, but interesting at least.

    Correct use of P2P with network based caches (i.e., your ISP installs content caching throughout the network) and improved higher level protocols (i.e. web browsing actually runs across P2P protocols) would resolve slashdot effect type problems and usher in an age of transparent, ubiquities, long-lived, replicated content.

    For example,

    Basically, your request (and thousands of other slashdot readers requests) would fetch "closer" copies of content rather than having to reach directly to the end server (because, the content request [i.e. HTTP GET] actually splays itself out from your local node to find local and simultaneous sources, etc]. In theory, the end server would only deliver up one copy into the local ISP's content cache for transparent world-wide replication, and each end point would gradually drag replicated copies closer - meaning that subsequent co-located requests ride upon the back of prior ones. I'm just repeating the economics of P2P here :-).

    In additional to all of this, you'd still have places like the Internet Archive, because they would be "tremendously sized" content caches that do their best to suck up and permanently retain everything, just like it does now.

    Physically locality would still be important: if I were a researcher doing mass data analysis / etc, then I'd be better of walking into the British Library and co-locating myself on high speed wi-fi or local gigabit (or whatever high speed standards we have in a couple of years time) to the archive rather than relying upon relatively slower broadband + WAN connections to my house or work place.

    For example, say I'm doing some research on a type of flying bird and want to extract, process and analyse audiovisual data - this might be a lot of data to analyse.

    Equally, places like the British Library will also have large clusters, so when I want in there to do this data analysis, I can make use of large scale co-located computing to help me with the task.

    Nothing here is now: if you think about it, these are logical extensions of existing concepts and facilities.

  89. This is either broke or slashdotted by neckdeepinspecialsau · · Score: 1

    This is a great idea, sadly it seems to have been slashdotted. Has anyone been able to get this to work for them?

  90. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uh, yeah that and it's been slashdotted!!!! So much for that solution.

  91. Re:WILL NOT Help slashdotting by FattMattP · · Score: 1
    You, as an author, can use the freecache service by using their style links in your pages. It doesn't cost you anything to do it, and it's pretty easy to do.
    That's only going to help the linked page and not object on it or other pages on the site. As pointed out in another post, the web page owner would need to change all of their links to go through freecache.
    --
    Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
  92. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    even though the anti-business commie slahsbot liberal groupthink will essentially negate this hope. Oh, but for a single point.

  93. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Dai-Sho · · Score: 1

    Or savvy slashdot editors can link to the cacheified version. Providing it works since their page has not yet come up for me. not sure if I trust that to much.

  94. http://www.archive.org/web/freecache.php by snakattak · · Score: 2, Funny

    An error occurred while loading http://www.archive.org/web/freecache.php: Timeout on server Connection was to www.archive.org at port 80

    Somehow I don't think this solution will work.

    --
    Ban Reality TV!
  95. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Milican · · Score: 1

    Yeah, just what we need to see... 5 MB webpages... Make a page that big and no one will see it.

    JOhn

  96. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by merlin_jim · · Score: 1

    Freecache simply caches any data that goes through it, no matter what it is. You don't have to precache anything; the first request, freecache goes and gets it, the second request is served from cache.

    relative addressed image URLs would apply, as the local browser would pull them from a URL based on the URL the current page lives at.

    --
    I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
  97. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Just pad out your pages with lots of hidden text.
    <!--
    <?php
    for ( $i = 0 ; $1 < 5000000 ; $i++ )
    {
    print "a";
    }
    ?>
    -->
    Hey presto. All your pages are > 5MB! :)

    Yeah, and then post the link to /.

    Watch back as 100,000 visitors cause your web server to melt down and your mom and pop get a bill for 500GB traffic and have to sell the car to pay it :-))

    Thats why they say don't give kids poker.. they can poke their eyes out. PHP and little knowledge are dangerous combo kiddo!!

    Idiots
  98. Why is this a problem? by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder why this continues to be a problem. It should be obvious to any judge that a hosting provider cannot and should not check everything that is uploaded to their servers.

    It may be reasonable to expect them to pull content that is illegal where they are located, but that should be a simple matter of notifying them, they pull the content, no harm done. They may even be required to disclose the identity of the uploader, after which this person can be prosecuted.

    I don't think anything in this scenario is outrageous or unfeasible. What is outrageous and infeasible is holding the host responsible for what the user uploaded. Then why is this the way it happens all too often?

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
    1. Re:Why is this a problem? by barnzi · · Score: 1

      Going after the user who uploaded the problem is often a lot more time consuming and less likely to result in a conviction (matching usernames to ip address and timestamps).

      Law enforcers would rather a stationary target that is easy to point at. It is even worse when technology becomes involved because FUD seems to pass as evidence (e.g. starting a nuclear war from a DTMF phone, like WTF?).

      Quite often, society does this too (read: Marilyn Manson and Columbine, Eminem and gun crime, J.K. Rowling and satanism/witchcraft). Any easily identifiable party runs the risk of being blamed for something that is not their fault, simply because they are connected in some way. It's just the way people's minds work.

      --

      Official threat to Homeland Security
      University of Surrey - http://www.surrey.ac.uk

  99. FreeCache ./ed by Koldark · · Score: 1

    ... but once others can install the cgi, then you can help add bandwidth. I do see a problem with this.

    If you look at the requirements... one is 5Mb connection, who (besides businesses) will have a 5 Mb connection.

    --
    Mike http://thenextgenerationofradio.com
  100. It's a FAQ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
  101. Yes, it's Slashdotted. by Russellkhan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, the site is down. Yes, it's ironic that this should happen to a site hosting information about a service that's being claimed as a solution to the slashdot effect.

    But I don't think that it really is an indicator. I happen to have read the site yesterday after reading the Petabox article, so I think I have some of the basic concepts down. As I understand it, the idea works with cooperation from ISPs (and others) to provide more localized caches of large popular files. The motivation for the ISPs is that by providing the cache, they save on their upstream bandwidth and the associated costs.

    So, while it's funny that we've slashdotted the archive.org server where the Freecache website is, Freecache itself is not dependant upon archive.org's bandwidth.

    It's also worth noting that the concept is still in beta and pretty new - I don't think they've got a lot of ISPs on board yet. From what I can tell, it seems a very good concept - the only thing I can think of that I would want to make sure of if I were an ISP is that my cache is only available to users on my network (the whole saving on bandwidth usage argument falls apart if you suddenly become a cache for users on other ISPs) but I would think that would be pretty easy to do.

    For those who haven't yet been able to read about it, here's Google's cache of the front page.

    --
    Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
    1. Re:Yes, it's Slashdotted. by jgerry · · Score: 1

      the only thing I can think of that I would want to make sure of if I were an ISP is that my cache is only available to users on my network (the whole saving on bandwidth usage argument falls apart if you suddenly become a cache for users on other ISPs) but I would think that would be pretty easy to do

      It would be very easy to do. Just don't serve content from this server to any IP address that's not owned by the ISP serving the freecache.

    2. Re:Yes, it's Slashdotted. by Twinky · · Score: 1

      If I were an ISP, I would prefer having a regular transparent cache proxy instead of a freecache. That way it is automatically ensured that only my customers access the cached files.

      Only the website owner really benefits from Freecache.

  102. "Freeache"?? I don't get it... by KnarfO · · Score: 1

    ... oh wait, nevermind.

    :-P

    --


    "Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
  103. Spammers, on your mark! by jordan · · Score: 1

    Get set, ready, go!

    --jordan

  104. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by ymgve · · Score: 1

    Too much code.

    <!--
    <?php
    echo str_repeat("a", 5000000);
    ?>
    -->

  105. Freecache Slashdotted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, that's right. Freecache has been slashdotted.

  106. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by HD+Webdev · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, but the thing that you are not considering is that probably 75% the slashdot effect is just people looking at the link for about 5 seconds, and then closing the page and moving on the the next story.

    The other 25% is us looking at a page for 5 seconds and then replying because as everyone knows here, it's much more entertaining to reply without RTFA.

    --
    This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
  107. Google has them cached by randomErr · · Score: 1

    You can see the Freecache page on Google: Click Here

    I wonder how long before Google Labs starts doing this?

    --
    You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
  108. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    thanks for that, it made me chuckle and cheered me up a bit:)

  109. Waiting for the resource file. by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm waiting for the introduction of the resource file. Sort of like a jar file...you can access content in it, but it transfers as a unit.

    An entire site might be stored in a resource file. Or just the files a single page depends on. You could have a meta tag that points to the resource file for a site. Or a hyperlink on the front page to the resource file for an entire site.

    And guess what...if it's over 5MB, Freecache will cache it.

    There will be some conflict with per-MB bandwidth charges for hosts, though. But I'm sure someone will work out a decent solution. (like Freecache. ;) )

    1. Re:Waiting for the resource file. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yikes! Someone else suggested it, too.

      Mod me to oblivion, folks. I'll say something productive somewhere else.

    2. Re:Waiting for the resource file. by lousyd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Packaging up entire websites is a problem the Freenet people are working on. When latency shoots through the roof, website "jar" files start sounding good.

      --
      If aspiration is a virtue, achievement cannot be a vice.
  110. multipart/related (Re:Alternative solution) by hurtta · · Score: 1
    Create a file format that is basically just the web page plus dependent files

    Well, multipart/related is that kind file format or content type although it is not mean for that purpose.

    For other resons, is is likely that webmasters want use that type. I think about stylesheets.

    (Mozilla browser do not support multipart/related. See bug 18764 or http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18764 .)

  111. rather funny I must say... by XMichael · · Score: -1, Troll

    Funny how this bunk as service that easily gets slashdotted makes it up here;

    mean while there is a great service, which has been around for years. it also does 8 pages of depth. silly silly

    http://www.majorads.com
    MajorAds Marketing

  112. Message from your boss. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dear Xiadix,

    You're fired. Pack your shit up and get out. Now.

    Slacker...

  113. Why not a SETI-like cache? by bandrzej · · Score: 1

    Why doesn't someone develop a small program like SETI program, but instead of finding intelligent life, it supports the space and bandwidth for caching like FreeCache? it would be true P2P cache! Then to get past all the illegal files, put a disclaimer in the program that the person running the program is not involved with what is being hosted. hopefully if you get around 1,000 home computers, you can get around the ./ effect:-)

    --

    LainTheWired = isgod( int Lain, int denial, float truth)

  114. Censored by jdavidb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This would be great if my employer didn't restrict access to archive.org as allegedly being in the "sex" category.

    1. Re:Censored by Spunk · · Score: 1

      SmartFilter? My work blocks it for "sex" too.

  115. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect by Nick+Berg's+Head · · Score: -1, Troll

    While it may not be good for web sites in general, it's great for things like videos, which are typically over 5MB in size.
    .

  116. Content Removal by supersmike · · Score: 2, Informative
    Can users request removal of cached content

    Yep

  117. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, it won't be the solution to Slashdotting, as you can't cache a whole site.

    With the exception of large web farms like Google/Yahoo/CNN/etc., it seems that many cannot handle the SlashDot effect. Considering that SlashDot is responsible for the majority of the traffic that their front-page articles generate, wouldn't it make sense for them to supply reverse-proxy-cache links for any articles they post on the main page? If Slashdot would serve the bulk of the traffic, no one would complain about being slashdotted anymore. Instead of downloading content, the content-origin web servers would just process small "if-modified-since" requests generated by the hoarding masses.

  118. And in a startling twist of irony.... by mark-t · · Score: 1
    ... well...

    You know.

  119. Re:Smart Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    It's really easy to find on any of the major P2P networks. Heck, I found it within 5 seconds searching Kazaalite with "Nick Berg beheading"

  120. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Eriky · · Score: 1

    Globule works like this, but for complete sites, see: Globule.org

    Globule is a platform which allows a Web server to automatically replicate its documents to other Web servers, to maintain replicas consistent using adaptive replication policies, and to transparently redirect users to the best replica. It does so by negotiating resource allocation with remote servers in a peer-to-peer fashion.

  121. Re:Alternative solution (MHT = RFC 2557) by Helen+O'Boyle · · Score: 2, Informative

    The MHT format is specified in RFC 2557, an open standard.... so you can implement your own MHT writer or reader if you like.

    The trick with saving a page as an MHT in IE is that if the page includes any frames that are not visible (which are made visible by script that runs when the user clicks on buttons for example), IE appears to not automatically load that content, so the saved page doesn't include it. If you have a complex page, you might need to write code (or use chili kat if it's in your budget) to get an MHT created in the manner you would like.

  122. IPv6 broadcasting HTML under heavy load by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't the solution in IPv6 where you can broadcast?

    Then my server would just say WOW that's I'm gonna run out of bandwidth soon. I'm gonna collect all requests for each 5 minutes and then send them all them same page in one go.

    But then again you're from the USA and not about to join IPv6 but perhaps the page will go to the USA with IPv6 then split up at your main gate and split up into multiple Ipv4 pages.

    Ha, that would mean that a major news event outside the US would have no backbone consequence on IPv6 but only slow down national Internet backbones of the US who still use IPv4.

    1. Re:IPv6 broadcasting HTML under heavy load by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should have read my own preview :-)

      Isn't the solution in IPv6 where you can broadcast?

      Then my server would just say WOW that's it, I'm gonna run out of bandwidth soon. I'm gonna collect all requests for every 5 minutes and then send them all them same page in one go.

      But then again you're from the USA and not about to join IPv6 but perhaps the page will go to the USA with IPv6 then converted to IPv4 at your main gate and split up into multiple IPv4 pages.

      Ha, that would mean that a major news event outside the US would have no backbone consequence on IPv6 but only slow down national Internet backbones of the US who still use IPv4.

  123. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by mhesseltine · · Score: 3, Funny
    Too much code.
    <!--
    <?php
    echo str_repeat("a", 5000000);
    ?>
    -->

    Only on /. could you find someone optimizing code that would be used to bloat web pages.

    --
    Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
  124. Slashdotted?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Definitely not an adequate solution, given it's current condition: slashdotted to hell.

    Idiots! They should've had it cache itself first before posting this to /.

  125. Link? by drgonzo59 · · Score: 1

    So why was the link to the site included as text? It seems ironic...

  126. ISPs are the problem... by evilviper · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The problem with non-comusator caching systems is that there is little if any incentive for the end user to want to use them.

    What ISPs should really do, is sell you a 256K internet connection (or whatever speed you happen to get), but then make all local content available at maximum line speeds... In other words, if you use the caching system (which saves the ISP money on the price of bandwidth) you get your files 6Xs as fast, or better in some cases.

    I don't see why ISPs don't do that. It seems like everyone would win then. It wouldn't just need to be huge files either, they could have a Squid cache too, and not force people to use it via transparent proxy (most people would actually want to use it, despite the problems with proxy caches).

    Right now, users have incentive not to use it. Mainly because it's another manual step for them, and to a less extent because caching systems usually have a few bugs to work out (stale files, incomplete files, etc).

    I know that it would only require minor modifications to current DSL/Cable ISP's systems to accomplish the two zones with different bandwidth.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    1. Re:ISPs are the problem... by evilviper · · Score: 1

      non-comusator
      should have been
      non-compulsatory

      I guess my fingers must have been typing faster than the keyboard could keep up with... Yeah, that must have been it... ;-)

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  127. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Fez · · Score: 1

    Too much code:

    <!-- <?= str_repeat("a", 5000000); ?> -->

    :)

  128. Colon P (pffft) by Elpacoloco · · Score: 1

    I meant as in "The doctor is busy and cannot see you now."

    Houston, Texas, Soviet Russia, what's the difference? :P

  129. Just what we need... by La+Camiseta · · Score: 1

    Another site to redirect to the goatse guy...

  130. getting serious by amiable1 · · Score: 1

    Has anyone actually used this for an extended period of time? How does it actually scale for different sorts of volume?

    For example, I would like to moderate and host various (probably realvideo) compressed lectures as a public service. Some would be academic in content, such as is seen at http://www.msri.org/publications/video/index.html or http://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/ ; others might be more political, or science policy. I would not expect more that a few thousand hits/year for most of them, but some might get popular. A typical hour lecture might run 25Mb.

    Is this a necessary or desirable service for this purpose? What about for a high school geometry course, say?

  131. Re:Not solution to slashdot effect, but still grea by Xenographic · · Score: 1

    Only on /. could you find someone optimizing code that would be used to bloat web pages.
    -----

    Maybe he is one of the Microsoft Frontpage coders? ;]

    *cheap shot*

  132. Just In Case by BhAaD · · Score: 0

    http://freecache.org/http://www.slashdot.org

  133. point the links to about:blank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its not like anyone actually reads the articles right?

  134. The secret sauce by sglines · · Score: 1

    Creating a network of caches is easy. Akamai is really nothing more than lots of Red Hat Linux systems running squid. - The secret is in directing a user to a topologically nearby server.

    Without this secret sauce no bandwidth is saved. There are a lot of ways to perform this magic ... most of them patented. Do we have a clue how freecache does this?