Collecting users threads/posts to export and save?

I am wondering if it is possible to find all the posts by a single user (my own threads) and then save them to a file. I'd like all the original posts, along with the title and date (and maybe forum in which they were posted) saved, either in one large file, or a file for each thread. It would also be very nice to be able to get a copy of the entire thread, replies and all (with dates, username, etc) along with the OP. This way someone can have a collection of their contributions to the forum and if they want they can share with family, friends (think about when someone dies, this would be awesome to have all their posts, the good, bad and ugly) but it would show who they really were.

I'm going to suggest this on all the boards I'm on and see what the admin's say. If I get push back, i'm going to talk to my congressperson and senators as all this content is "user" generated. It is not intended for publication,sale or any other use, and I am fairly certain from the way the courts have been ruling (such as the smart meter ruling where the data is the home owners even though the meter collected it), and TOS/agreements are being tossed out the window right and left by the courts when it comes to data/posts that are created by a person.

So I'm wondering if there is a way to do this (get an archive of a users posts/threads) I think it could even go as far as threads someone replies into, and it shoiuld be marked as such. Now I'm not suggesting that I should be able to do this for any member, say JoePublic223 has 20,000 posts and 3,500 threads he started. I don't think I should be able to download all of his data as I didn't create it, but Joe can do it for his own posts and such.

What say yall? does this sound like a reasonable request/idea? I know it is possible I have seen about 4-5 different forums that already do this and it is super quick to do and there are about 5-8 different format/versions that can be downloaded (file formats, formatting, etc). Now I know this is a big site, so if a member wtih LOTS of posts requests this it shouldn't be expected to be done in 30 seconds, it may take a week or more. This type of thing should be done when the system has down time and can process the request in a que (first come first serve - BUT the que should be public as well as the processing rate - to check to see is the board is actually doing what it says it is) and then either sent to an online account (via SSH/SFTP/FTP/etc) or some other online dump or maybe just a download link sent to the persons inbox.

I wanted to post a poll, but I dont' see an option for that on this board...

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Features like this would cost the site more money, set up, people’s personal time etc...
If this became a feature, I would suggest that it only be available to donating members.
Like a minimum 20 hook would get you put into this bracket.
Because really, the majority of us wouldn’t use the feature, unless it be something as epic as the Hidden Hand article or maybe all of mr Marrs contributions.
But for the most part, it would only be a very small minority utilizing it.

I would suggest you use office or apache to make your post and then copy and paste into ATS, then you have your post.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Compile your data yourself. Why would ATS drop everything to make this?

Talk to your congressman? You sound like a big spoiled brat.

You could just pass on your usernames and passwords to your fams , if you deem it appropriate

Do you realize how much server bandwidth that would eat up ?
No
Just no

Wow, so many wet blankets here today.

Interesting notion. It would be easy if you set it up to catch them before you post as has been alluded to above.

P

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

There used to be a way looking at your profile>replies(you made) >to the lower rt corner where an arrow UP could be "wiggled" or "toggled" and another page or pages of your posts you made would all be there.

It's been a few years since I could do that and wished I cut and copied them all back to the beginning of my joining ATS.

I don't know if that works at all anymore....

Ie: white arrow v profile>posts/replies>bottom rt corner>drag finger/arrow up slightly>revealing more of your replies..

Anyone???

Why don't you just take screenshots and save them in a file? Sure it would take time but you'd have what you are looking for. Or just copy and paste the pages into a word document. Either way, it would be saved.

Adobe Acrobat can output a PDF from a web page. Use the "Posts in thread" for your user and capture the page or few that make up your posts. Other pages could be captured also.

Hire someone with a boatload of free time and OCD to be your secretary/biographer is my best guess. We’ve had members like that in the past that would dumpster dive back years in some cases to quote a post against another member.

Didn’t happen to me of course, very little of what I write is worth reading the first time. Let alone to prove that they were right online.

First of all this is most easily done on the backend of the forum by a simple database query (IDK if it runs MS SQL or what) and the allow for the input of username and either "thread starter" and or "reply within thread" and it would list those threads in the query. It could then export them to a file type like PDF, ODS, DOC/DOCX, or something else. It would be all text so size really isnt going to be that big, especially if you compress the file. Also, included in the query should be start/stop date, so if someone wants everything from 01/01/2010 to 01/01/2014, it pulls that all by the date tags within the forum (which is there). All of this is actually very easy to do from an admin point of view but INCREDIBLY difficult from a user aspect by many orders of magnitude.

What we have to remember is that this site runs on USER CONTRIBUTED CONTENT, and the supreme court and congress has ruled time and again, USER GENERATED DATA IS OWNED BY THE USER. A site may have access to it and use it, but it is also the property of the content generator.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I have a list of my various online personas so if my son wants to read the good bad and ugly of my posts when I die, he can.
Interesting idea though, I support your request if only because it seems to have pissed the usual whiny types off and that amuses me.

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
First of all this is most easily done on the backend of the forum by a simple database query (IDK if it runs MS SQL or what) and the allow for the input of username and either "thread starter" and or "reply within thread" and it would list those threads in the query. It could then export them to a file type like PDF, ODS, DOC/DOCX, or something else. It would be all text so size really isnt going to be that big, especially if you compress the file. Also, included in the query should be start/stop date, so if someone wants everything from 01/01/2010 to 01/01/2014, it pulls that all by the date tags within the forum (which is there). All of this is actually very easy to do from an admin point of view but INCREDIBLY difficult from a user aspect by many orders of magnitude.

Creating and managing databases is part of my work, so I can tell you that, regardless of the database engine used, that would be possible to do. How to do it and how much server resources it would take depends on how the database is structured, so it could be done with just one query to a table, along with some indexes to help its speed, or a query that would involve several tables with no indexes and that would take a long time to process.

As I see it, as that's not a feature of this site, I think that if you want it you should pay for the time taken to do it, both by person doing it on the server (and that would have to stop doing other things just to please you) and the time taken by the server(s), that would also have to stop doing other things to run the necessary query(ies), affecting all other users of the site.

Now, if I wanted to do what you want, I would start by clicking my name on any post. That takes us to the user's public profile, where we can see all the threads that user started (177 in your case). You can also click the "posts" icon above the list and get a list of your posts (779 in your case).

Now, get to work.

a reply to: ArMaP

Just curious but could the list be compiled automatically by software externally accessing the website and not the server side?
Like I said just curious as a computer question, I'm not requesting it.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Most likely, similar methods are very common to get content from web pages.

a reply to: ArMaP

Ah thanks

I don´t think your wishes (edit: will be) fulfilled.
And even then, I would say that some bugs are more important to fix than adding this feature.