As you may or may not have known already, in addition to Twitch implementing a content ID system of their own, videos are now going to be deleted after 2 months for partners, whereas it was previously unlimited storage.
Valuable content is at risk of deletion, including TF matches and events (such as a good bunch of LANs, Tip of the Hats, etc) within 3 weeks.
----------------------------
Meet the Archive Team
The wiki states this:
Archive Team WikiArchive Team is a loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage. Since 2009 this variant force of nature has caught wind of shutdowns, shutoffs, mergers, and plain old deletions - and done our best to save the history before it's lost forever. Along the way, we've gotten attention, resistance, press and discussion, but most importantly, we've gotten the message out: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.
The Archive Team is loosely friends with, but is not officially affiliated with the Internet Archive, which stores a whole bunch of stuff (audio, video, even vintage books!).
----------------------------
You can help!
Want to help? Great! Hop on #burnthetwitch on EFNet (#archiveteam too if you want to be informed of future projects) with your IRC client of choice so you can stay informed as to what's happening. Users that are op'ed (including myself) will usually be the ones knowing what's going on. If you have questions, shout them in the channel, or ask one of those ops.
If you're some average Joe:
Head for this section on the wiki. In summary:
- Grab a Warrior VM
- Get VirtualBox/VMWare/similar virtualization program
- Set up the Warrior file in your virtualization program of choice
- Run the Warrior VM
- Set it up (use 1 concurrent item if you have a rather poor connection)
- Select "Twitch Phase 2" in the projects list
- You're now helping!
If you notice high pings in games while you have your Warrior running, consult this section for how to limit bandwidth use: http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Warrior#Help.21_The_warrior_is_eating_all_my_bandwidth.21
If you're some average Joe in Kansas City:
Great! We could use a few Google Fiber lines. It helps massively. Even better if you have multiple lines that have a Fiber installation. See the above section.
If you're data capped:
Chances are, if you're this type of person, you're stuck with an ISP with an insane data cap. You might not be able to help directly, but you can still help: share the project with your friends. If you might not be able to help, your friends might be able to. Get them to share too: the more people involved, the better.
If you feel like observing the project:
We have a real-time tracker running for the project: http://tracker.archiveteam.org/twitchtv/
----------------------------
The Internet Archive will need help too
The Internet Archive is where a majority of AT grabs are currently stored, including MobileMe, various Yahoo! sites, Friendster, a bunch of Google Video, and more. However, due to the sheer size of Twitch, some content will likely have to be sacrificed. We're currently prioritizing more historic events, but if you want to help store more of Twitch, send the Archive a message through donating.
There's a very good possibility you've used one of their services in the past: now is the time for you to give back. Even if it's just a one-time donation of $5, it still adds up. Not only does it cost to help store Twitch in the first place, it also costs to keep that storage up, redundant (with a EU location for redundancy), and running. The Archive is a non-profit organization. You can also even donate with Bitcoins too!
----------------------------
Your support will help ensure that TF history is preserved for future players many years later.
TLDR: historic TF content is at risk of deletion by Twitch. If you want to help efforts to save it, go for the "If you're some average Joe" section.