How To Archive Your Posts

a reply to: MarkOfTheV

Using Firefox - no printer icon in the area you described.

But!!!! Top right of the screen at Firefox menu bar is the drop down menu options icon and in there I selected 'print' and was easily able to save to PDF!

So, thanks for the clue!

good thread for a FYI

but my problem is that I have little thought of 'saving' 99% of my posts, because of poignant info being said in the average post...but there are at least a half-dozen post I've made that have hidden-nuggets which only became noteworthy as time passed

I sure cannot go back & search the previous threads ( example: update page 5 of corona virus, latter half of a 900 post thread)
the 2nd & 3rd 'waves' of virus were predicted very early on, way before the chatter by CT'ers got on-board with me......…

I sure don't have the time/energy/desire to dig up skeletons even if earlier posts prove me correct before the credentialed babblers...

a reply to: MarkOfTheV

Do we know how long we have before servers go cold? There are so many to try to save!!! anyone?

a reply to: miri2019

Good advice thanks!

Scripting is usually the way to go but there are so many infographics and stuff contained in these posts that I think this method of saving to PDF, while more manual, at least gives you a carbon copy of the post. It's like looking at the site again.

Now we just need a greatest hits list...

a reply to: FamCore

I've no idea... could be in a week, could be in a year, could be never and all this panic is for nuthin, who knows... best to just save what you like now that way we aren't 404d one day.

a reply to: teapot

Thanks for that.
I don't see the printer icon on the ATS page either.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

try your browser bar, if it's not there you can add it in firefox and it should work the same.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: teapot

Thanks for that.
I don't see the printer icon on the ATS page either.

Hi!

I think the button they say, is just a shortcut for the print function, you can press Ctrl-P on Windows, or Command-P on mac and it will show the same print to PDF page as when you click on that button. I can see the button there and if i do Command-P (because i have a mac) it shows the exact same page

When i select Command-P

I get the exact same page as if i go click on the "printer" button


Something weird but funny is that for me the button sometimes shows on different places, sometimes first button, sometimes just exactly as in the OP

a reply to: BoneSay

a-HA!!
That makes more sense.
So, it is a shortcut to your browser printer function!!!

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: MissSmartypants
a reply to: rickymouse

I'm going to miss you so much my friend.

Well, first of all, this site may not be changing much, it is just a concern right now. Things could fall into place and it might be years before anything happens.....Hopefully

There are not many people who go by rickymouse out there on the net. People will be able to find me because I will continue posting somewhere. Remember, small r

No one is going anywhere. Its not the end of the world (actually it is June 21 2020 the revised 2012 Maya reset).

I just copied and pasted what I wanted to save in to a notebook; It's printing now. Enough for a small book.

Why is printer ink so goddamn expensive.

originally posted by: olaru12
I just copied and pasted what I wanted to save in to a notebook; It's printing now. Enough for a small book.

Why is printer ink so goddamn expensive.

Because printers are dirt cheap.

a reply to: rickymouse

Rickymouse, I for one have enjoyed access to your knowledge and ideas, as well as a few others here that are the shining stars like Phage, not to mention the rest due to brevity. Being mostly a lurker over the years, I have enjoyed the knowledge the ideas and effort that many have provided. Long live ATS.

I have a present for anybody here with a little python knowledge who would like to archive things on ATS

ats-thread-scrape.py

A super fast no nonsense scraper written in python3 using only requests and BeautifulSoup for HTML parsing. For a general idea it can archive a 17 page thread in about 9.5 seconds so it is quick.

What this script will not do:

- gather any information about flags/stars/etc
- do fancy bbcode things
- respect the servers in any way, its just the raw python function (you have to do that yourself).

I have a bunch of additional code that will drop right in for doing exports to PDF or Word format so if anyone is interested in that let me know and I can slap it together in a few hours probably.

originally posted by: MarkOfTheV
First - Find the thread you want to archive... and hit that little printer button.

Doesn't this method merely allow you to print a single ATS page (which could be about 20 pages of A4 when printed)?

So, if you have a thread with - say - 387 ATS pages you'd have to hit the little printer button several hundred times?

This seems to be the way the printer button works on my browser - i.e. Chrome on a desktop PC. If it works differently on another computer/browser then that would be ... interesting.

a reply to: IsaacKoi

I tried, yes it is only one page at time, because it shows you the printer page and it doesn't know anything about the site but just prints what's loaded on the web browser

It is just a shortcut for the browser print page, it is not a special feature

a reply to: IsaacKoi

Doesn't this method merely allow you to print a single ATS page (which could be about 20 pages of A4 when printed)?

a reply to: BoneSay

I tried, yes it is only one page at time,

No... when using the "Print to PDF" function the entire thread is compiled into one document.

You both are doing something wrong.

a reply to: MarkOfTheV

Double check your steps because I don't believe the Print to PDF does more than the first page, the test thread you used was 13 posts, I just checked it against this very thread and it only worked from the first page of posts.

As for those not seeing the icons it most likely is happening because of some kind of adblocking, in specific I know uBlock Origin in Firefox completely hides the print icon.

originally posted by: MarkOfTheV
a reply to: IsaacKoi

Doesn't this method merely allow you to print a single ATS page (which could be about 20 pages of A4 when printed)?

a reply to: BoneSay

I tried, yes it is only one page at time,

No... when using the "Print to PDF" function the entire thread is compiled into one document.

You both are doing something wrong.

Nope nope, the button on ATS is just a shortcut to the browser print function, it doesn't know anything at all about what site is loaded, it will just print whatever is on the browser at that time, please try with a thread that has 20+ pages or so and see if the last comment on that thread shows up on the single PDF file that is saved

It won't be there

a reply to: BoneSay

please try with a thread that has 20+ pages or so and see if the last comment on that thread shows up on the single PDF file that is saved

Already did that when I created the thread and everything works like a charm on my end... I have no idea why I am arguing with you... if it doesn't work for you then you're on your own.



Large Image


I've got a 23 page pdf as well and plenty others... using my exact method... the problem is on your end. Could be a different browser, operating system, default print settings, etc, etc... how the hell am I supposed to know.

Gotta figure some stuff out for yourself.

originally posted by: MarkOfTheV
if it doesn't work for you then you're on your own.

If your method works, that would be great.

However, there is a difference between an ATS page and a printed/PDF page. Page 1 of an ATS thread could be about 20 to 25 pages long when printed.

I don't think anyone is arguing with you. We all want a method that works properly (and doesn't end up with people thinking they have archived something, when in fact it is incomplete).

Let's just try one specific example that is a few _ATS_ pages long (i.e. considerably longer than 20 or 25 pages when printed).

Let's take Part 1 of the topic you used above, i.e. the thread at the link below (which is 8 _ATS_ pages long):
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I've archived the 8 separate _ATS_ pages into a PDF. That PDF (at the link below) is 83 pages long and includes the material from each of the 8 _ATS_ pages (as shown by the pagemarks on the left):
files.afu.se...




Is a PDF of the same thread generated using your method also about 83 pages??