# What does the "Archive" link do? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 2, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-archive-link-do/227194 "2004-02-02T15:42:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-archive-link-do/227194/1 "2004-02-02T15:42:43Z")
At the bottom right of every page there is an “archive” link (down by the “contact us” and “Straight Dope Homepage” links). When I click on it, it gives me a list of the forums, and clicking on a forum gives me a list of thread titles. They don’t seem to be listed in chrological order; what is the purpose of this list? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-archive-link-do/227194/2 "2004-02-02T15:54:41Z")
And clicking on the thread list shows at the top…this thread! Clicking on that thread takes you to…this thread! Circular programming it looks like circular programming. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-archive-link-do/227194/3 "2004-02-03T00:03:41Z")
Well it doesn’t just take you to this thread. It takes you to an archived copy of this thread. If I had to guess, I’d say it looks like an archive.