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morgandawn(Updated Oct 25, 2019)
Starting Oct 28, 2019 no new files (photos, documents, etc) will be allowed to be uploaded. Starting Dec 14, 2019, Yahoo Groups will be limited to emails only - functions like digest will be eliminated and all files and photos will be deleted. Admins will have limited tools and all groups will be invite only. And archives of existing messages will not longer be accessible.
What To Do?
I have a step by step guide here. The short version
1. Admins - back up your Groups and decide whether and where to move
2. Members - back up your Groups - don't leave this to the admins.
3. Everyone - consider documenting Yahoo Groups on Fanlore, help spread the word
The OTW has made an announcement. Their Open Doors preservation program is open to providing storage of Yahoo Groups backups that are assembled by moderators and non-moderators alike. Details here.
Fans are gathering on a Discord Channel to chat and ask for and give help: https://discord.gg/ek2xFyJ (updated invite)
Please follow the Yahoo Group Rescue Tumblr for updates
Starting Oct 28, 2019 no new files (photos, documents, etc) will be allowed to be uploaded. Starting Dec 14, 2019, Yahoo Groups will be limited to emails only - functions like digest will be eliminated and all files and photos will be deleted. Admins will have limited tools and all groups will be invite only. And archives of existing messages will not longer be accessible.
What To Do?
I have a step by step guide here. The short version
1. Admins - back up your Groups and decide whether and where to move
2. Members - back up your Groups - don't leave this to the admins.
3. Everyone - consider documenting Yahoo Groups on Fanlore, help spread the word
The OTW has made an announcement. Their Open Doors preservation program is open to providing storage of Yahoo Groups backups that are assembled by moderators and non-moderators alike. Details here.
Fans are gathering on a Discord Channel to chat and ask for and give help: https://discord.gg/ek2xFyJ (updated invite)
Please follow the Yahoo Group Rescue Tumblr for updates
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-18 11:55 pm (UTC)https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SGAHC/conversations/messages/62394
ChrystallineOct 17 8:19 PM
So Yahoo Groups is shutting down "user created content" and specifying that email functionality will remain, but most folks I see are assuming this is just the beginning of the end and making plans to migrate.
Is everything on-list on other sites like Wraithbait, FFN, AO3? Could we get everyone to post their links?
Maybe we could see if the group could be a subgroup on AO3, like many other single-fandom archives have done:
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Open_Doors/collections
The one story I posted on list is on both FFN and AO3, and I'd be fine with having it added to a SGAHC-collection there.
I like the convenience of being able to download it into my Calibre database and mark favorites in my public bookmarks for others to hopefully discover and read:
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystalline/bookmarks
If you haven't heard of Calibre and FanFicFare, you've been missing out:
http://www.calibre-ebook.com
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259221
Also, just FYI, I've looked into downloading the group messages. The only option I've found is a Chrome addon that only works with older versions of Chrome. The current version available from Google does not work with this. Gave me fits. Also annoying is that it insists on updating without my say-so. Just found an article explaining how to stop the updates but haven't tried it yet:
https://www.maketecheasier.com/disable-automatic-chrome-updates-windows/
The discussion that led me to the addon is here:
https://beta.groups.io/g/main/topic/yahoogroup_message_archive/146709?p=,,,20,0,0,0
The addon and instructions for use are here:
http://yahoogroupedia.pbworks.com/w/page/93006447/Chrome%20Application%20To%20Download%20Messages
The only place I found older versions of Chrome for Windows (I went with the oldest) is here:
https://www.slimjet.com/chrome/google-chrome-old-version.php
Other OS options found here:
https://techjourney.net/how-to-download-install-previous-old-version-of-google-chrome/
I've only tried with the FuRenR list so far, because it's the only list I'm in that has fewer than tens of thousands of messages. Out of 373 messages on the list, I only got 333 the first time. I assumed (mistakenly) that it just did 1-333, so I then downloaded 334-373, and ended up with overlap. I'm not sure which 40 messages it skipped, so I'll have to experiment with it to see how many messages I can get at a time without losing some. I don't know how long that will take me (and I have three more lists with tens of thousands of messages, so this could take a while) but if someone else figures out the trick (with lists you're in, obviously), please let me know.
Other groups are discussing where to move or just let the groups go. As quiet as it's been, I could see letting it go, but if the listowner(s) decided to go to GoogleGroups or Groups.io (upside: easy import from Yahoo; downside: get big enough it costs money), I would sign up to follow. Heard someone mention mobilize.io, which looks possible. Someone else had mentioned Slack, but that looks too business-oriented for this; I'm a big fan of free.
Also, by all means, feel free to forward most of this to other groups if you think it applies.
Chrystalline
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystalline/profile
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/355414/Chrystalline
http://cdlauryl.deviantart.com/
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 01:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 02:00 am (UTC)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oRB7yF-QKqUEd76-dKxPh7ajlka4c7--EMnUIZDudrU/edit?usp=sharing
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 06:03 pm (UTC)When I did this the first time with the old version of Chrome, I just used Save. I saved a copy first to be safe, and then manually changed the file extension to MBOX. This can then be imported to Thunderbird using the ImportExportTools NG addon. The imported MBOX shows up as a folder with the same name as the MBOX file, including the extension. The email messages have the timestamps and subject lines as normal, but sender email addresses are truncated. I still haven't figured out which 40 messages are missing from the download, though.
I also found a link that's supposed to be Yahoo providing download of Groups data. I've put in a request, will let y'all know what I end up getting:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/getmydata
The Yahoo help page that describes the privacy dash is here:
https://help.yahoo.com/kb/groups/download-data-privacy-dashboard-sln28671.html
The actual privacy dashboard for all Verizon properties is here:
https://verizonmedia.com/policies/us/en/verizonmedia/privacy/dashboard/index.html
Surprised me; I hadn't noticed when AOL became Verizon.
I don't know how long it will take for Yahoo to let me know that my data is ready for download, but I will certainly report back with what it gets me. I know when I did something similar with Apple it took several days, so I'm trying to be patient.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 06:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 07:44 pm (UTC)You can add FuRenR to the completely downloaded groups, then, barring the deleted messages. I don't know if anyone still has those.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 10:04 pm (UTC)"You can add FuRenR to the completely downloaded groups, then, barring the deleted messages. I don't know if anyone still has those."
M.D. not logged in
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 10:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-19 10:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-20 01:25 am (UTC)I also collated the best I could find for alternatives, but I made it my own post to try not to bombard you again over here:
https://chrystalline.dreamwidth.org/728.html
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-20 01:32 am (UTC)1. Add in big bold letters - Adult Content not permitted on Groups.io (or Google Groups). Don't want people shelling out $110 only to be kicked off later
2. Suggest Dreamwidth as an adult content/fan friendly alternative. it allows explicit material, is free, threaded conversations, privacy locks and more. Image uploading is limited to 500MB free accounts and 1.5GB paid accounts
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-20 01:42 am (UTC)Chrome Extension
Date: 2019-10-23 05:07 pm (UTC)Just a lurker, just wanted to point out that the extension also works on Windows if you tweak it. You have to repackage it into a crx file using the YahooApplication folder. Once somebody creates a crx file it can easily be shared. It's not a large file.
Re: Chrome Extension
Date: 2019-10-27 11:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-11-04 04:27 am (UTC)The messages are in numbered MBOX files. On the upside, they import to Thunderbird just as readily as the Chrome addon results. On the downside, each MBOX file has several dozen messages that are missing information. Sometimes date/time/sender/subject - those tend to have a single word as the sender and no subject and timestamped when I opened the imported folder. Looks like MadLibs in the Sender list. Sometimes the body of the message is blank. They're kind of a mess. I don't know how much of that is the import into Thunderbird, and how much is defect in the MBOX file, though I didn't see this kind of mess from the MBOX generated by the Chrome addon.
The Photos section is missing altogether. Apparently Yahoo is having Issues with the Photos section, and is unlikely to fix it since they're planning to purge it anyway. Import to Groups.io may not get the Photos section because of Yahoo's unfixed Issues.
The images that were in the Files section are there, but may or may not have their file extension. Some of them have the extension as part of the file name and are just missing the dot that makes it an extension. This goes for other files in the files section, as well. Files need to be checked against the archive to make sure they get their correct extensions so they're still usable.
Upshot is, for accurate archiving, the manual download of files and the Chrome addon or PGOffline are necessary. They can be uploaded to filesharing options like Dropbox or GoogleDrive or Microsoft OneDrive etc, or hosted at ISPs. Squidge.org has the advantage of being a listserver, so we could start over, and it provides filehosting and website hosting, so we could upload the old archives in addition to having the new archives, all in the same place. Of all the options I've found, this looks like the best to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-20 02:23 am (UTC)For an example of my extreme pickiness about organization, I ended up creating a database this summer just so I could find the fics I wanted to find, and make lists fitting specific criteria easily. One of my friends just laughed when I told her and said "that is so something you would do", lol.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-20 03:45 am (UTC)