Communicator prop site HeroComm is gone?

[ZapBrannigan]

I just noticed that this exemplary website on the original communicator props has vanished:
http://herocomm.com/

Does anybody know what happened? "Under Construction" could mean anything. And that site was beyond belief, the greatest resource for communicator info you could possibly imagine.

 

[publiusr]

Great…another one bites the dust.
And Funko’s inventory—but no tears for that.

 

[Metryq]

The last capture on Archive.org was late 2021. The only "capture" in 2022 (March 15) shows:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

 

[Racer_X]

There's a reason HeroComm went away. In 2021, an alleged hero Phaser from Star Trek went up for auction at Heritage Auctions. A very detailed discussion on the legitimacy of the prop occurred at the Replica Prop Forum, with the consensus being that the prop was a fake. However, prior to the auction, HeroComm made public statements on the Trek Prop Zone (also now defunct) stating that the prop was real. There were no photos or other proof to back up their claim, so many folks at the RPF were skeptical of HeroComm's assessment and questioned why they got involved in the first place (Since they did such a good job on documenting the various communicators). Sometime during all of this, HeroComm and the Trek Prop Zone both went dark, and have never come back.

This is the gist as I remember it, so I suggest reading through that RFP thread for the full scoop.

 

[feek61]

The executive summary on this is that the phaser was a fake and Herocomm was threatened with a lawsuit (because they said it was fake) so they agreed to say it was legit and then closed up shop in disgrace when the auction was over..

 

[Metryq]

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[Phaser Two]

I just noticed that this exemplary website on the original communicator props has vanished:
http://herocomm.com/

Does anybody know what happened? "Under Construction" could mean anything. And that site was beyond belief, the greatest resource for communicator info you could possibly imagine.

At one point a couple/few years ago, you surprised me by indicating that you had stored or copied large segments of the Internet to your own system, drive, cloud, etc. I remember specifically asking whether that included Chrissie's transcripts site - which I have always been concerned about vanishing - and I believe you said you had that backed up.

So, did you have HeroComm's content archived?

 

[Metryq]

Archiving entire sites, or sub-directories of a site can be done with GUI apps for MacOS and Windows. If you are using a *nix OS, you can use the wget command. (That should include MacOS, which is Unix under the hood. And there should be an install of wget for Windows. But if command line stuff scares you, look for a GUI app.) There are many tutorials on wget for this specific purpose on-line.

I saved Chrissie's Transcripts just to make sure I wasn't rusty. (I've downloaded other sites in the past when the admin dies, or something else like that happens. And you know it is only a matter of time before the site is gone.)

Unless someone else has an archive, HeroComm is already gone. As noted above, the last full capture of the site on Archive.org was December 2021. You can view the entire site there, but downloading your own copy of the archive might be tricky. I tried wget and got only the home and index pages without linked media (no photos). So this will take more research.

Archive.org includes bulk downloading instructions, but it sounds like pulling fingernails compared with a simple "get the whole site" command.

Anyway, you can visit the archived site and save items (like photos) one by one.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

At one point a couple/few years ago, you surprised me by indicating that you had stored or copied large segments of the Internet to your own system, drive, cloud, etc. I remember specifically asking whether that included Chrissie's transcripts site - which I have always been concerned about vanishing - and I believe you said you had that backed up.

So, did you have HeroComm's content archived?

I did save some of it. I have 11 key pages from the site as HTML documents. I also saved bunches of their prop photos, the Alpha prop blueprints, and the Edmund Scientific pamphlet on moiré patterns. The file dates indicate that I did most of this in 2011, some in 2013. They were already so awesome at that point, I'm still satisfied with it for my archive.

 

[Phaser Two]

I did save some of it. I have 11 key pages from the site as HTML documents. I also saved bunches of their prop photos, the Alpha prop blueprints, and the Edmund Scientific pamphlet on moiré patterns. The file dates indicate that I did most of this in 2011, some in 2013. They were already so awesome at that point, I'm still satisfied with it for my archive.

I knew you wouldn't let us down!

 

[Metryq]

A little note on the wget approach to downloading a site. As I said, I tested it on Chrissie's Transcripts to make sure I was typing the command correctly. I noticed about halfway through the capture that connections were being denied. And a later attempt to visit the site by Web browser also denied me. Perhaps I was interpreted as a DOS attack? (I could visit via VPN.) I have used GUI capture apps several times, and never had that problem. Maybe it depends on the site. (But I have used wget without mishap many times.)