I'm only sure the first article was deleted during the change, one or more of the others might have been deleted earlier.
Though they were there not too long ago.
If you go to this old white water topic thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/t990421208.htm
EVERY ONE of the posts is unavailable.
Nearly all say "This article has been deleted.", some say "No such file (give_legacy_article)". .
That don't seem right.
John's working on the archives and trying to integrate the old software with the new stuff. Things are being moved around and (re)organized. Sometimes they're up, sometimes they're down. The archives from the spring of 99 are particularly screwed up. Give it time.