[TriLUG] HTML - breaking redirects gracefully

[Michael Rulison]

If off topic (OT) please discard.

But:
    I am renovating a web site that consists of
    1    directories and their contents all concerned with "Affiliates"
                all of these belong in a directory called "affiliates"
    2    files that deal with "Affiliates"
                mostly these redirect the browser to some external web site
    3    files that are NOT "affiliates.
                these should have a hierarchy but do not; they are 'flat'.

There are scores of each kind of file (1, 2, 3)

I have a new site in development with two major categories (ignoring
css, assets, etc.)
    affiliates - directories and their pages.
    nonaffiliate pages (with an enclosing set of directories).

Problem: I want to get rid of all of group 2, above. But if I do, links
printed on paper and in www sites across the country will break (404).
Folks will be unhappy.

Is there a way to create a 'universal' and graceful redirect (from links
that disappear if I delete group 2), to a place where users will get
access to all the affiliate data in one comprehensive menu?  The menu is
done and is linked to from the new site. But there are still scores of
group 2 files glopping up the site That I want to delete..

I welcome your thoughts. And Thanks.

__________________________________________
Michael Rulison  |   President   |   919/782-9576
Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Triangle
3256 Lewis Farm Road   Raleigh  NC  27607-6723
www.rtpnet.org/endolife    tacf at bellsouth.net   
__________________________________________