Diagon

Would we be able to improve that with multiple runs? eg. 2 our of 3? (Or, ie. are the errors systematic?)

We've got another article.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90440817/bill-gates-solves-your-...

Reports that there is an extension of the deadline to download groups until Jan. 31 are a smokescreen put up by Verizon. The Dec. 14 deadline still holds, but they will take requests of users for their data until Jan 31. This is a fail because:

From Yahoo's reply to the modsandmembers group: "The Groups Download Manager will download any content an individual posted to Yahoo Groups. However, it will not download attachments and photos uploaded to the Group by other members. For those that are having difficulty with the files delivered, this help article explains the types of files within the .zip file sent ... "

The point made on IRC:

The important point is they won't give you the vast majority of photos and attachments. They also don't export databases at all, which are important for certain groups. It's completely arbitrary too, because they give you files other people posted...

More media attention:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59nnek/verizon-is-blockin...

https://slate.com/technology/2019/12/yahoo-groups-is-ending-...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/verizon-reported...

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/09/786469397/internet-historians...

Ok, so it's a webcast and it LL we can join it through here: https://www.ubs.com/global/en/investment-bank/conferences/am...

I'm not clear if we'll be able to give feedback, but I can try.

Looks like this might help you: https://superuser.com/a/241200

Redsocks is a transparent proxy, though. That'll redirect system-wide. I think you're thinking of your basic socks proxy - `ssh -D`.

Apparently now that they have gotten through the Fandom groups, and are working through the groups that were requested to be archived, they are ranked in order of number of members. So they are working on progressively smaller groups.

And how complete was it? Have you checked? You may be disappointed. You might want to check out one of these while you have the chance:

https://github.com/IgnoredAmbience/yahoo-group-archiver

https://github.com/ArchiveTeam/yahoo-group-archiver

Thanks for that history. I wasn't aware of it.

I got into this tangentially because of a community and ecosystem of Y-groups that I've been involved in. When I found the Archive Team's efforts, I hitched my wagon - though I'm not at all central to that group.

I've only just heard from this woman. She seems to be writing on the issue but not an archivist. (Though I'm not 100% clear.)

Yes, exactly. Other groups have medical tests uploaded to the files section, to be shared with other members and discussed on-list. And yet others had artistic works or literature.

Well, it was actually intentional. While a lot of us were backing up our groups as individuals (whether as owners or just members), and having no trouble there, the Archive Team was taking requests. So there was volume involved, and they have been in touch with Yahoo who refused to be supportive of the archive effort. So their target really was these guys specifically. Not just the ToS, but these guys in the context of an archive effort at a point of "ToS" (Termination of Service).

Point taken.

There's also stuff there about contacting Verizon and contacting the shareholders of Verizon. For them, I think we need volume.

I don't see why not. Point Thunderbird at it or something and then just transfer the mails over to somewhere else if you want that - but this is not about mail. Rather it's about Yahoo Groups, whose archives are about to go away.

ProtonVPN is involved with funding Wireguard development: https://protonvpn.com/blog/wireguard-donation/

There are three that we've noticed so far:

https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/as-the-end-nears-for-yahoo-grou...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/verizon-kills-email-accounts-o...

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3084557/verizon-bl...

But yes, you are right. We need to keep pushing it into the public sphere. Twitter, Reddit, I hate to mention FB here, but ...

Wait. You're saying that the owners of the .org TLD could put restrictions on the use of those domain names? And something like "can't be used for archiving" is a legal possibility?

I admit to legal ignorance, but this does seem over the top.

Using the interface wouldn't block scrapers, yes? They do use the interface. But, this is academic I think. They offer a broken way to get our stuff, and say that we can't do anything else. Should we acquiesce to this?

As for bogging down the servers, my understanding was different from what the author said. They hadn't started to archive, but were in script testing mode and were accumulating yahoo accounts. What I saw of their activities, they were very careful about not overloading the servers. (I know that because I was backing up my own groups independently at the time, and I was able to do it. Luckily.)

I've passed on your idea. What did EFF have to say? Anything hopeful?

Someone else mentioned that group on this thread. A group member. Scroll to the second page. He mentioned it along with a number of other groups worth archiving.

Yet another article at TheInquirer: https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3084557/verizon-bl...

More media attention at zdnet: https://www.zdnet.com/article/verizon-kills-email-accounts-o...

Yes, when a group owner wants to migrate to another platform - a bulletin board or the like - they need to be able to get all the group associated data so they can reconstitute their community.

Not that I know of. Lawyers (hopefully not guns) and money would be needed. Suggestions?

Probably. Now that the groups I am concerned with are migrating to our own hosted BB, we are also planning to migrate the associated FB groups away. For that, we expect to lose data in the process.

Thanks. We also noticed that BoingBoing picked it up. Their graphics are a bit crude - but that's BoingBoing. We're trying to be more polite here: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/08/oath-makes-you-swear-2.htm...

I have the same problem. I used some old script back in 2006 to download a couple of groups in ... I think it's Mbox format. It's just not clear what to do with it.

The point is they then own their data. If they want to move it to archive.org or anyplace else, they can. Unlike the situation we find ourselves in now.

Inertia. I'm connected with a series of groups and I tried to get people to move for years. It just doesn't seem anything happens except under pressure.

Also, the scripts really have been developing during this last 2 months, which is all the time they gave us when they said they'd be deleting all content. Until then, I didn't see anything that would get me all content including files/links/calendars/databases.

Three Ways You Can Help:

Help by Joining Yahoo Groups so the Archive Team can Download them (easy! - this is the link in the OP here): https://github.com/davidferguson/yahoogroups-joiner

(That's the most needed right now so the scripts can get access to the groups.)

Help by Downloading yahoo Groups with the Archive Team's Script (not hard!): https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=ArchiveTeam_Warr...

Get the word out/Call for Action (put pressure on Verizon!): https://modsandmembersblog.wordpress.com/taking-action/

Don't miss the sidebar with these links:

   https://modsandmembersblog.wordpress.com/media-contacts/

   https://modsandmembersblog.wordpress.com/contacting-verizon-directly/

   https://modsandmembersblog.wordpress.com/contacting-verizon-yahoo-stockholders/

Also, you can add these emails to the media contacts:

  "Reporter Katyanna Quach" <kquach@theregister.co.uk>,
   "Managing editor Gavin Clarke" <gavin.clarke@theregister.co.uk>,
   "Corey Wilson & Rachel Janc; Senior Director, Communications" <press@Wired.Com>,
   "Pitches" <submit@wired.com>,
   "Rich Woods" <rich.woods@neowin.net>,
   "Paul Thurrott" <paul@thurrott.com>,
   "Brad Sams" <brad@petri.com>,
    "Kate Rayford, Media Inquiries" <katie.rayford@slate.com>,
    "Bryan Lowder (LGBTQ issues/culture)" < bryan.lowder@slate.com>,
    "Torie Bosch (emerging technology effects on public policy and society)" <torie.bosch@slate.com>,
    "Jonathan Fischer (big tech, cities, media/internet culture)" <jonathan.fischer@slate.com>,
    "Susan Matthews, Health & Science" <susan.matthews@slate.com>,
    "Erika Allen, Executive Managing Editor" <erika.allen@vice.com>,
    "Katie Drummond, SVP, Global Content" <katie.drummond@vice.com>,
    "Press, US" <press@vice.com>,
    "Press, Canada" <presscanada@vice.com>,
    "Press, UK" <ukpressoffice@vice.com>,
    "Pitches, Culture" <culture.pitches@vice.com>,
    "Pitches, Tech" <tech.pitches@vice.com>,
    "Issues" <issues.pitches@vice.com>