yakalskovich: (Dead goldfish)
Maru ([personal profile] yakalskovich) wrote2007-09-29 11:25 am
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LJ/GJ backup tool?

Does anybody know an LJ backup tool that will a) work for GJ as well, b) can do comms as well as  journals and c) will save the threads along with the posts?

It seems that GJ is struck with rapid bit rot, especially since so many refugees from LJ ended up there. It worries me. I would like independent backup for some things there, just in case.-

ETA: A tool for unfolding thread on a page (which I am sure I saw people mention) would be very welcome as well!
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silveraspen: silver trees against a blue sky background (needhelp)

[personal profile] silveraspen 2007-09-29 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I know a few of tools of this sort, but they're all LJ focused and I'm not sure if they'll handle the GJ system even though the source structure is the same.

Anyway, the thread unfolder is a Greasemonkey script, and the backup tool is called "LJ-Archive," I believe.

This very long and comprehensive post by [livejournal.com profile] elke_tanzer might have more information (it dates from Strikethrough 2007), and if not ... she's crossposting and migrating and has always been pretty incredible as a resource, so there might be something elsewhere in her files.
yakalskovich: (Dead goldfish)

[personal profile] yakalskovich 2007-09-29 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks!!

I'll look into those resources and find some way to get a backup running for that GJ game, simply because it would be a great pity to lose all that wonderful text we have been writing for three years...

Independent backups are always good.
ext_185628: (wish)

[identity profile] bitchy-brat.livejournal.com 2007-09-29 02:10 pm (UTC)(link)
does this mean it's best when tagging to save the reply before clicking post?
yakalskovich: (Reality is a rotten place to be)

[personal profile] yakalskovich 2007-09-29 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
No!!

This is NOT a dire emergency, more a precaution against more GJ randomness that is likely for the mid-future. It's not imminent doom.

The jargon term bit rot sounds worse than it is. It just means that it's a system that will, if not regularly maintained, eventually decay. And as there have been signs that this is going on (both the lack of regular maintenance and the decay), I want to get regular independent backups for our part of it going.

That is all.-
ext_185628: (monkey)

[identity profile] bitchy-brat.livejournal.com 2007-09-29 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
not imminent doom is a good thing... I don't keep copy of my MM threads and I'd hate to lose it :(

GJ not regularly maintained.. HA! They delete our icons as we're using them! They're overmaintained....
yakalskovich: (Dead goldfish)

[personal profile] yakalskovich 2007-09-29 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
That's most likely a cron job that they have no idea how it works or how to modify it or even how to turn it off.

Yes, GJ is maintained, in a fashion, by people who don't know much about it. I seriously doubt anybody actually groks the entire code base any more. If a really truly serious problem turns up, the barely trained monkeys that operate it are out of their depth and reandomly tweak the few parameters they can tweak - hence the icon cut.

But that's not a measure which would actually improve the state of the data base. Especially as people are just restricted from using it - unless we delete the icons ourselves, the images and (what's more important) the data base records linking the image files are all still there, not easing the load on the system at all.

But, as I have found out, it is pointless to explain to or enquire with the GJ people. What people there are know nothing.
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