Encyclopedias & FAQs
109 sites
https://rlcolem.tripod.com/index-cool.html
A sprawling personal link directory by rlcolem covering dozens of categories including health, government, entertainment, news, music, and museums. Built in classic late-90s tripod style, it curates hundreds of external links organized into neat topic sections, serving as a one-stop gateway to the early web.
https://zytrax.com/books/dns/ch8/cname.html
ZyTrax hosts a comprehensive technical reference guide covering DNS records, with this chapter dedicated to CNAME (Canonical Name Record) syntax, usage, and zone file examples. Part of a broader open guide by Ron Aitchison, the site spans DNS, LDAP, networking protocols, SSL/TLS, and much more, making it a deep technical resource for sysadmins and network engineers.
https://tilde.club/~miccaman/delicious
A massive archive of 10,561 bookmarks saved by tilde.club user miccaman via the Delicious bookmark service between 2005 and 2014, preserved here after Delicious shut down. The collection spans web design, programming, art, and internet culture, with a built-in linkrot analysis showing which URLs have gone dead over the years.
https://faganfinder.com/
Fagan Finder is a comprehensive meta-search portal that aggregates hundreds of search engines, databases, encyclopedias, and specialty search tools into a single organized interface. Visitors can search across mainstream engines like Google and Bing, non-English regional engines, social media platforms, Q&A sites, image and video search tools, and much more, making it an invaluable reference hub for serious researchers.
http://nongnu.org/chmspec/latest
Edited by Paul Wise and Jed Wing, this unofficial specification documents Microsoft's HTML Help system in exhaustive technical detail, covering the CHM file format, LZX compression, XML structure, and all associated configuration options. Reverse-engineered without NDA restrictions and released under the GNU GPL, it serves as a rare open reference for developers working with or building tools around the proprietary .chm format.
http://intek.net/EMAILinfo/smtp%20error%20codes.htm
A technical reference page documenting SMTP error codes, protocol behavior, and related email delivery concepts including blacklists, spoofing, and RFC 821 standards. Visitors will find a structured listing of numeric response codes with plain-language explanations, making it a handy quick-reference for anyone troubleshooting email server issues.
https://theswissbay.ch/pdf
A large open directory of PDFs hosted at theswissbay.ch, offering organized collections of books, academic papers, articles, datasheets, whitepapers, and the famous Gentoomen Library. The breadth of topics covered, from cryptography and politics to technical documentation and presentations, makes it a notable archive for those seeking freely accessible reference materials.
https://wiki.ichi.city/
Ichipedia is a growing wiki-style reference site covering topics like the small-net, small-tech tools, the modern web, and the Gemini protocol. It invites contributors and aims to become a curated knowledge base for niche corners of internet culture and alternative technology.
http://outer-outer.space/visual-history-of-delicious-bookmarks
A richly researched visual history of Delicious, the pioneering social bookmarking site, tracing its design evolution through dozens of archived screenshots spanning over a decade. The creator reflects on digital ephemerality, the cultural impact of tagging and metadata, and what was lost when Delicious faded, making this a thoughtful and well-documented tribute to a formative piece of web history.
http://modemfaq.navasgroup.com/
The Navas 28800-56K Modem FAQ, compiled by John Navas, is a comprehensive reference guide covering dial-up modem troubleshooting, selection, configuration, and brand-specific tips for modems from the mid-1990s through the broadband transition era. Organized into detailed sections on connection problems, drivers, PCMCIA cards, and modem companies, it remains a thorough technical resource for anyone dealing with legacy dial-up hardware.