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Roccoflip
Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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The Help.com Archives

Apologies for the long wait- life's been busy!

The archives are now live!
archive.help-qa.com

Pages may load slowly- that's because, first off- there is a HUGE amount of data. Secondly, it's on a separate partition of the server we're using, so as not to slow down the regular site.

Additionally, you'll notice that a lot of the data is either lost or imperfect. Lucky for us- HelpToGo rescued much of the data, otherwise it would all be lost to oblivion. Unfortunately, they attempted to format the data to fit their site which lost a lot of data and formatting.

The biggest loss was the shouts. I don't know if I just can't find them digging through the HTG data, but I was not able to recover those.
We also lost most User Profiles, and only a very small amount of profile images were recovered. (I think those are the users who used Gravatar.)
Next up posts are a little gimmicky. Most of the original Help.com posts lost their authors, so all of the older posts are stashed under a placeholder user. I'm planning on giving HelpBot a little upgrade and send him to work on attempting to fix those- getting post titles fixed and then assigning them to the correct author, but that will likely take a long time, so I figured we could get the site up now for people to play with, if desired.

I did what I could to recover the formatting, but, again, HTG formatted the data to fit their site- which lost the original formatting, so most of it is guesswork and hoping for the best.

Posts are searchable by their title or author here: (Be wary- most posts are tied to the placeholder author currently)
https://archive.help-qa.com/history

Replies are searchable by text here:
https://archive.help-qa.com/replies

Users are searchable by username here:
https://archive.help-qa.com/users

Finally- the database is locked. No additional users, posts, or replies can be made.

I have made periodic backups along the way of the database in various states, including the original HTG database. They are very large files, so storing them online isn't optimal.

I consider both this site and the Archives as owned by the community rather than any individual. I'm happy to respect the wishes of the community when it comes to either site- and as such, if there are any changes you would like made, bring it up for discussion and we'll come to a decision on how to handle it.

Feel free to discuss on this post, drop in links to warm memories from the archives, complain about the formatting, or anything else here.

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Since writing this post Rockster160 may have helped people, but has not within the last four (4) days.
Post Tags (5)
site, lost, posts, data, formatting
Replies (34)
1581744157174 1581744149313 miss bot
soco
last online: 03/19, 3:49
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(21 minutes after post)
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Awesome!
Seriously, I did not expect this that quickly. Hopefully the financial part has been covered. If not, please let us know.

Help me with:

We have another hurricane coming this way.

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(26 minutes after post)
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I think 3 of the 4 did. I donโ€™t remember who didnโ€™t though, honestly. I didnโ€™t really write the ones who said they would to memory, but I remember who DID and to those- much thanks!

And it would have been much quicker had I not gotten so involved in another project. ๐Ÿ˜…

Yorick
Yorick
last online: 02/28, 23:53
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nice

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(1 hour after post)
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May need to give the server more memory. Doesn't seem to handle searches on the replies very well. ๐Ÿ˜„

Electric
BA1
last online: 01/25, 20:20
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(4 hours after post)
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It's interesting to see that the archives also contain the Posts of the former HelpToGo site.....
They say a lot...
MUCH indeed...

Thanks Rockster. You have sprung forth a new day to the Help site. May the flood gates open and people start rolling in.
Will there be any e-mails sent out to the former/lost members to alert them of Helps return?

Helpcomanimatedyetiwithdot256
๐•อคอญอฅฬ‡๐•–๐•ฅ๐•šใ€‚(Yeti.)
last online: 06/22, 14:37
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(10 hours after post)
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Anyone else getting 502 "HelpBot seems to be asleep. We're working on waking him up. Sorry about that!"?

Help me with:

[quote]Test.[/quote]

Hiippie chick beautiful
~CaraMia~
last online: 08/07, 13:40
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(11 hours after post)
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Yes. I'm getting the message about HelpBot taking a snooze too....
๐Ÿ˜Š

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(12 hours after post)
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Yอคอญอฅฬ‡eti. wrote:
Anyone else getting 502 "HelpBot seems to be asleep. We're working on waking him up. Sorry about that!"?

Yep. Thatโ€™s what I was referring to when I said the partition needs more memory. Seems to die once in a while. ๐Ÿ˜…

X3w8w
Helper
last online: 07/18, 15:51
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(13 hours after post)
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Rockster160 you have the biggest heart thank you so much !

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(13 hours after post)
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Happy to be of service. :)

Gave the box a little more memory, so hopefully it's a little more stable- although searching through replies by text still seems to struggle a bit. If you want to search replies- it's better to go to the user you're looking for first and search replies through there rather than the whole 5 million.

Anyway- many posts/replies that were closed/removed have been brought back. There is no reason to store offensive or cruel material. The feedback/reporting system is still functional, so if you see any material that is offensive, please report it so I can get it taken care of. (To reiterate, this is material that is cruel and offensive or things that prove a danger to current lives, not just things that you're embarrassed of- if we removed every reply that wasn't perfect, it would take a lifetime of constant work. ๐Ÿ˜…)

Hiippie chick beautiful
~CaraMia~
last online: 08/07, 13:40
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(14 hours after post)
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We've GOT to love your dedication, Rockster!
Great Job!! Hear, Hear!!! ๐Ÿ˜Š

Helpcomanimatedyetiwithdot256
๐•อคอญอฅฬ‡๐•–๐•ฅ๐•šใ€‚(Yeti.)
last online: 06/22, 14:37
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(15 hours after post)
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Good work, rocco.

Just sent a report, did it come through?

Help me with:

[quote]Test.[/quote]

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(15 hours after post)
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BIG-AL-ONE wrote:
It's interesting to see that the archives also contain the Posts of the former HelpToGo site.....
They say a lot...
MUCH indeed...

Thanks Rockster. You have sprung forth a new day to the Help site. May the flood gates open and people start rolling in.
Will there be any e-mails sent out to the former/lost members to alert them of Helps return?

@BA1 - Sorry- missed this comment somehow. ๐Ÿ˜„
Yes, that's the plan. Just need to write something up. ๐Ÿ˜…

@๐•อคอญอฅฬ‡๐•–๐•ฅ๐•šใ€‚(Yeti.) - Yep! It came through. That's one of the cases where HTG formatted the data, so I don't have the "base_url" to build from. It seems to be an external link to an image hosting site.

Helpcomanimatedyetiwithdot256
๐•อคอญอฅฬ‡๐•–๐•ฅ๐•šใ€‚(Yeti.)
last online: 06/22, 14:37
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(15 hours after post)
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Alright.

I see there's a ton of anon users without posts or replies, are these the orphans which you'd mentioned?

(You prolly got helpbot's timeout in the post of legends, right? Ultimate test case. :P)

Help me with:

[quote]Test.[/quote]

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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I was able to load the Post of Legend's, actually! Did a test on the post with the highest number of replies. ๐Ÿ˜‰ It probably only worked for me because there was nobody else doing anything at the time.

And yep! I think I'll get HelpBot to work on cleaning those up as well. A user without any posts or replies is likely once an actual user that was anonymous, but HTG didn't like anonymous, so they created a new user in their place without any data, and that got translated across as well.

Lo%29l
Jalex
last online: 01/14, 21:58
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(16 hours after post)
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You're doing incredible work man. Thank you.

Fairies in the woods
Pixels
last online: 01/13, 17:36
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(17 hours after post)
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OMG! OMG! OMG!!
Thank you! :)

1581744157174 1581744149313 miss bot
soco
last online: 03/19, 3:49
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@Rockster160 -- Need a favor. Can you see if you can find the email to this poster from the archives.

auomyk wrote:
i just came across my abuser in a corridor am freaking out can't stop breathing over fast and shaking and feel like crying and 10 years old again can somebody just chat i have no one to ring and want to calm down please help me

I want to try and reach out to see how they are doing now. My past training is in helping the sexually abused and ****rape crisis.
Padre was the one that replied to her shortly after the site was closing. Thanks.

Help me with:

We have another hurricane coming this way.

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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soco wrote:
@Rockster160 -- Need a favor. Can you see if you can find the email to this poster from the archives.

auomyk wrote:
i just came across my abuser in a corridor am freaking out can't stop breathing over fast and shaking and feel like crying and 10 years old again can somebody just chat i have no one to ring and want to calm down please help me

I want to try and reach out to see how they are doing now. My past training is in helping the sexually abused and ****rape crisis.
Padre was the one that replied to her shortly after the site was closing. Thanks.

No luck. ๐Ÿ˜ž
Most of the original help emails are lost. Another unfortunate side effect of the HTG conversion.

1581744157174 1581744149313 miss bot
soco
last online: 03/19, 3:49
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It was worth a shot.

Help me with:

We have another hurricane coming this way.

Doop
danihatesyou
last online: 10/21, 16:53
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now you can see what slight differences there are between here and there

Doop
danihatesyou
last online: 10/21, 16:53
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https://archive.help-qa.com/users/35-danihatesyou

my profile is good

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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danihatesyou wrote:
now you can see what slight differences there are between here and there

What do you mean? The archives are still just data feeding through the new siteโ€™s code- so itโ€™s actually the new site, just with the old posts and such. ๐Ÿ˜„

Doop
danihatesyou
last online: 10/21, 16:53
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like a 'login & registration"

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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danihatesyou wrote:
like a 'login & registration"

That only shows up if you're not already logged in. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Druid
Eddieee
last online: 02/21, 19:04
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(4 days after post)
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What a clear waste of money. Nothing there but "Helpallgone" gibberish.
Sad

Help me with:

painted

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(4 days after post)
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That's the more recent posts- but there is a LOT buried in the depths. The original Help data is the stuff that's a little more obfuscated because of the lost formatting, but the majority of the data IS the original Help. HTG is just the top chunk, so you have to dig through that stuff to get to the gold. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Druid
Eddieee
last online: 02/21, 19:04
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(4 days after post)
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Rockster160 wrote:
That's the more recent posts- but there is a LOT buried in the depths. The original Help data is the stuff that's a little more obfuscated because of the lost formatting, but the majority of the data IS the original Help. HTG is just the top chunk, so you have to dig through that stuff to get to the gold. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Just kidding right?!

Help me with:

painted

1581744157174 1581744149313 miss bot
soco
last online: 03/19, 3:49
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(4 days after post)
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Any chance of color coding just the HTG pages?

Help me with:

We have another hurricane coming this way.

Druid
Eddieee
last online: 02/21, 19:04
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Eddieee wrote:

Rockster160 wrote:
That's the more recent posts- but there is a LOT buried in the depths. The original Help data is the stuff that's a little more obfuscated because of the lost formatting, but the majority of the data IS the original Help. HTG is just the top chunk, so you have to dig through that stuff to get to the gold. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Just kidding right?!

Based on the formats you posted for searching, this is simply the same crap/jumble from helptogo

Help me with:

painted

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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Hm... That's possible @soco - The hard part is determining what is/isn't HTG since it all got merged.

@Eddieee - They're all combined, and HTG lost all of the dates for the old replies, so all of the original Help content says it was posted on the date HTG was created. Can't get around that one, unfortunately. ๐Ÿ˜ž So posts might have been written 10 years old, but they say they're 3 years and 10 months old instead.

Druid
Eddieee
last online: 02/21, 19:04
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(4 days after post)
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Rockster160 wrote:
Hm... That's possible @soco - The hard part is determining what is/isn't HTG since it all got merged.

@Eddieee - They're all combined, and HTG lost all of the dates for the old replies, so all of the original Help content says it was posted on the date HTG was created. Can't get around that one, unfortunately. ๐Ÿ˜ž So posts might have been written 10 years old, but they say they're 3 years and 10 months old instead.

Yes, yes. Not your fault. Just how they ******fucked it all up.

Help me with:

painted

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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It's nice having the data safe, at least. Not perfect, but impressively intact for how much time has passed and how much moving and shifting it's done. And if they hadn't grabbed it, it would ALL be gone with no trace outside of the few pages captured on the web archive site.

Roccoflip
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Rockster160
last online: 11/07, 8:58
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(1 week after post)
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HelpBot just finished (a little while ago) the first run of attaching the posts to their correct author. The rest of the unclaimed replies are a little more troublesome that he couldn't do automatically for whatever reason. But most of the posts should be properly attached to their corresponding users now. ๐Ÿ˜„

A
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