Yahoo groups data update
Oct. 27th, 2019 07:06 pmRegarding getting the data from Yahoo groups:
I finally got the data which I had requested from Yahoo directly by following their not-very-clear "request your data" instructions (involving going through the "privacy dashboard"). (I requested the data on 2019-10-16 and I got it on 2019-10-26.)
It arrived as a zip file, which, when unzipped, had a folder for each of the groups I was a member of (not just the one I moderated).
Each of the group folders had three folders in it: files, links, and messages (also zipped, initially).
Unzipping the "files" folder yielded all of the files that had been in the group's files section, with subfolders intact. So that's pretty handy, I guess.
Unzipping the "links" folder yielded files which Windows tells me are of the type "internet shortcut", but which I cannot figure out how to open. Anyway, each one is about 200 bytes.
Unzipping the "messages" folder yielded one file with a name like: 2215412.mbox.00001
(Update: Whoops, when I wrote that I had only looked at the smaller group. For the larger groups, there are multiple mbox files, with the suffixes 00001, 00002, etc. Each one had a maximum file size of about 10,244 KB—so I guess the bigger message archives got broken into chunks, which makes sense.)
At first I wasn't sure what that was, but after some googling I figured out that it was a saved-emails file format.
I downloaded Thunderbird, an email client, and followed the instructions found on this page:
https://www.wintips.org/how-to-open-mbox-files-in-thunderbird/
After doing that, I was able to view all of the group's email messages in Thunderbird.
Update: After writing this post, I saw that there's now a Yahoo Groups Fandom Rescue Project Tumbler, which has a post with essentially the same information I just discovered for myself: Yahoo Groups Deletion: Requesting Your Groups
But they mention that not all files from the "files" section of the groups seem to be necessarily always included, so that's a warning.
And![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
morgandawn has the same info in a Dreamwidth post: Yahoo Groups Deletion: Requesting Your Groups
Update 2: I think I've figured out what's up with the missing photos. See this comment below.
I finally got the data which I had requested from Yahoo directly by following their not-very-clear "request your data" instructions (involving going through the "privacy dashboard"). (I requested the data on 2019-10-16 and I got it on 2019-10-26.)
It arrived as a zip file, which, when unzipped, had a folder for each of the groups I was a member of (not just the one I moderated).
Each of the group folders had three folders in it: files, links, and messages (also zipped, initially).
Unzipping the "files" folder yielded all of the files that had been in the group's files section, with subfolders intact. So that's pretty handy, I guess.
Unzipping the "links" folder yielded files which Windows tells me are of the type "internet shortcut", but which I cannot figure out how to open. Anyway, each one is about 200 bytes.
Unzipping the "messages" folder yielded one file with a name like: 2215412.mbox.00001
(Update: Whoops, when I wrote that I had only looked at the smaller group. For the larger groups, there are multiple mbox files, with the suffixes 00001, 00002, etc. Each one had a maximum file size of about 10,244 KB—so I guess the bigger message archives got broken into chunks, which makes sense.)
At first I wasn't sure what that was, but after some googling I figured out that it was a saved-emails file format.
I downloaded Thunderbird, an email client, and followed the instructions found on this page:
https://www.wintips.org/how-to-open-mbox-files-in-thunderbird/
After doing that, I was able to view all of the group's email messages in Thunderbird.
Update: After writing this post, I saw that there's now a Yahoo Groups Fandom Rescue Project Tumbler, which has a post with essentially the same information I just discovered for myself: Yahoo Groups Deletion: Requesting Your Groups
But they mention that not all files from the "files" section of the groups seem to be necessarily always included, so that's a warning.
And
morgandawn has the same info in a Dreamwidth post: Yahoo Groups Deletion: Requesting Your GroupsUpdate 2: I think I've figured out what's up with the missing photos. See this comment below.
