Either keep the site up to date or take it down.
Thread Starter
wyclef
(@wyclef)
What if it isn’t your site? Not up to you? Just walk away?
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This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by
wyclef.
Then it’s not really your concern, but if you have particular interest in its topic, the Internet wayback machine or similar archives may have already scraped its content. There are tools to help you scrape content for yourself. But due to copyright restrictions, you may not be able to re-publish scraped content without permission.
If the site is abandoned, it’s vulnerable to hack attacks and a responsible host would take down dormant sites to protect their own reputation.
There are several plugins which can turn a WP site into a Static HTML copy of it. That would solve your concerns about updates and the like. If it’s not going to be updated anymore, then there’s not really a need to have a CMS to update it with.
I know of this one, but other options are available: https://github.com/leonstafford/static-html-output
I have in various cause created a HTML static archive version of WordPress sites.
For instance we did this with wptranslationday.org before starting building the site for the next event.
For this, we used httrack, which is simply a website spider that creates a HTML copy locally on your own computer.
When you upload the HTML version and remove all WordPress files, then there’s virtually nothing left to hack/maintain.
I found this one on Google:
https://wp2static.com/
But as others have said there are several plugins to do this.
Bottom line: If it stays a WordPress site, it needs to be kept updated.
It does suck that you don’t have a say and know that there are likely going to be issues if the customer doesn’t take the unmaintained site down. You clearly want to do the right thing for them which really speaks volumes as to what kind of site manager/developer you are. But, in the end, it isn’t your call (as you said). Sometimes you just have to walk away and wish them well. If it were me, I’d make a complete backup beforehand and provide a copy to them. I’d also keep a copy myself. That way when they eventually have an issue and email you in a panic you can always provide a copy of the site to them so they can try to restore it without any real effort on your part.
Good luck.
Tim
Thread Starter
wyclef
(@wyclef)
Thx for the info guys. HTTrack seems very interesting in addition to some of these other options. Might try to see if I can get HTTrack setup in wineskin on mac. Seem to remember using it many years ago for a site.
