way back machine

[tvano]

hey mods, a while back there was a system glitch that trashed some undefined subset of tmc archives.

many of my tmc bookmarks are trashed as a result.

in responding to a noob about a 20 yo problem i ventured into the waybackmachine and found some of that missing content.

is there a GOOD method, or is it worth starting a conversation about, how to manage recovering some content from web.archive.org?

thanks for all.

[formulaben]

Might need to tag mods directly for this one...I'll start with @Ronnie

[Ronnie]

On 5/4/2022 at 9:29 AM, tvano said:

hey mods, a while back there was a system glitch that trashed some undefined subset of tmc archives.

many of my tmc bookmarks are trashed as a result.

in responding to a noob about a 20 yo problem i ventured into the waybackmachine and found some of that missing content.

is there a GOOD method, or is it worth starting a conversation about, how to manage recovering some content from web.archive.org?

thanks for all.

I'll check into it but at first thought, I might be difficult to get that into something we could insert back into the time line.

[justgary]

On 5/5/2022 at 4:41 PM, Ronnie said:

I'll check into it but at first thought, I might be difficult to get that into something we could insert back into the time line.

Hmmmm.  It seems that a Perl* script could find the missing posts, then snatch and format them for you.  I assume you don't store HTML directly, but some modified form of it (so I can't insert my black-hat code in a post so easily).  How hard is it to stuff a post into the database in an arbitrary location?  Could it be done with a Perl script also?  I would assume the database uses a hash for forum, thread, and post number, but I have never really considered how they do it.

@tvano, I assume you have a fairly short list of missing posts that you would like to see come back to life.

*Yes, obviously Python or other languages would do, but I'm a Perl man.  Python lets white space determine program functionality, which to this day seems incredibly dumb to me.

[tvano]

@justgary, i'd have to look into it more.  i'd had a short list of perennial issues that i could share w noobs iso the regular same old stuff.

in recently chasing that turn of the millennium perfect pass / tachometer issue, those saved links returned 404's so i assumed they were lost in the pandemic.

i chased one of the links thru the wayback machine and wondered if we could easily recover some of the lost topics.  i'm outa good ideas about how to do that and, although i did program for a living, most of your perl's and python's and black-hats went over my head.

[justgary]

1 hour ago, tvano said:

@justgary, i'd have to look into it more.  i'd had a short list of perennial issues that i could share w noobs iso the regular same old stuff.

in recently chasing that turn of the millennium perfect pass / tachometer issue, those saved links returned 404's so i assumed they were lost in the pandemic.

i chased one of the links thru the wayback machine and wondered if we could easily recover some of the lost topics.  i'm outa good ideas about how to do that and, although i did program for a living, most of your perl's and python's and black-hats went over my head.

Well, I do wear a white hat, not a black one.  I wouldn't insert evil code even if I figured out how to do it, but others might.  The first thing you learn when allowing arbitrary posts to a web page is that you can't allow others to post HTML or scripts.  They have to get scrubbed away or the whole thing will quickly become a huge mess.

Anyway, if the mods want to try to recover a few posts for your list's sake, I'm willing to burn a few brain cells trying to help.  You help a lot of people here, and I like that.

[Baggerlance]

You'd have to find a old backup of the database, and then run a query against a unique keyword or other tag that would bring up the posts.

Recovery of old data from backup would have to go into a separate part of this forum likely ran from a separate database. Might be interesting if someone has the time to do it, but merging it into the current database would create a lot more issues than its worth IMHO. I've ran two forums in the past and have utmost respect for the admins here. It's a tough job as a volunteer.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Baggerlance

[Ronnie]

Guys, don't forget that we don't have the backup. The server crashed with the backup. It may be out there on a website but to get it back in our database is probably not worth the effort we would get from it. It was only a couple of days worth of posts. Not saying the posts were not important to some of the members but you're talking about time invested that we just don't want to put in. The time the Mods and Admins put in just to keep up with the site, update the software, move threads to correct forums, answer newbie questions, redirect Contact Us emails from Russia , India, Asian singles ads (and who knows where else from), clean up reported posts, redirect reported posts where newbies think they are answering a post in the forums, warn about violatioing the TOU's etc, etc., takes up a good part of our days. BTW, we aren't with the old host that lost the data any longer.

[tvano]

@justgary, i wasn't taking a swipe at you but trying to convey that, having been out of the programming side for 15+ years, i don't have enough clues about what you are talking about.  even the terms baffle.

@Ronniewas not trying to flesh out your list o things to do.  was hoping i provided a potential source (twbm) to make tmc whole again.

likely another good idea that didn't work.  thanks guys.

[Ronnie]

My suggestion would be if you have something that you believe was lost during that time, use the internet history sites to try to find it and repost.

(And I didn't give the complete list  )

[justgary]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

My suggestion would be if you have something that you believe was lost during that time, use the internet history sites to try to find it and repost.

(And I didn't give the complete list  )

And indeed, I was not trying to make more work for anybody.  Just offering some back end work to snatch and format specific posts if you thought it might help.

I can only imagine the amount of work you all do to keep the site functional.  Thanks!

[Ronnie]

Not a problem guys. Wasn’t trying deter you from questioning the issue. Just letting you know why we probably wouldn’t address it without a real need. 

[justgary]

44 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Not a problem guys. Wasn’t trying deter you from questioning the issue. Just letting you know why we probably wouldn’t address it without a real need. 

So there's still hope for the "Single Asian Malibu Owners" sub forum? 

[Ronnie]

 

I can forward those emails to you. The Russian ones as well if you'd like, I have no idea what they say, can't read that language. Not sure what they hope to get out of the ones that can't be read.

[justgary]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

 

I can forward those emails to you. The Russian ones as well if you'd like, I have no idea what they say, can't read that language. Not sure what they hope to get out of the ones that can't be read.

Thanks, but no.  I get all the internet p0rn I need from this site already, and I can read most all of it.