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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

Yͤͭͥ̇eti. wrote:

Rockster160 wrote:
The next step after that is to attempt to reformat the data, which should go MUCH faster. Then it will be ready to send up to the interwebs.

What kind of reformatting do you have in mind for the first pass, apart from amending encoding? Meaning, do you plan to fit the data to the helpcom 'wrapper', or leave it as htg / bbcode? (Assuming it's still the htg tables rather than whatever's backed up from the old site.)

Actually, for the first pass it’s purely table reformatting.

Reassigning the column names, particularly.
Normally that’s feasible from the SQL side, but in a few cases it’s necessary to use two columns together to get information.

It doesn’t seem that HTG had an “Anonymous” option, so in order to extract that information, multiple columns have to be compared. Also things like DOB, usernames that changed with time, and for some odd reason many of the posts don’t belong to any user. (They have an invalid/placeholder foreign key.) So I’ve needed to store info in the new DB, then compare the new data with existing data to attempt to fill in the blanks.
It works great, with the unfortunate downside of taking about 100x longer.

The first wave isn’t changing any of the “data” at all- just attempting to convert the database formats.

Next wave is to fix the actual data. HTG converted everything into HTML formatting, which I’m assuming was allowed when posting topics there? So I’m going to have to do another run where that data can be converted back into markdown.

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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

@Eddieee - Received. Thank you!

The final transaction was $300 - sent late last week.

The data is received on my end, and I've got a script running to convert the database right now. Unfortunately, because of database inconsistencies, I was unable to get a super efficient conversion, so I'm doing it "manually". (Manually automated. Makes sense in my head. The script is doing all of the work, but I had to manually write the script that extracts and converts each piece.)

Anyway. There is a LOT of data, I expect the script is going to have to be left running for probably a week before the data is all imported.

The next step after that is to attempt to reformat the data, which should go MUCH faster. Then it will be ready to send up to the interwebs.

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sometimes everything seems bleak...

I completely agree. Most days I feel "cured" and then all of a sudden the darkness is back. But the difference now is that we know the darkness is temporary. It's okay to feel sad. Recognize and respect the feeling, then let it go. Do what you can to get rid of it, but know that it will pass. Now that we've come this far we already know we have the power to get beyond it, but that doesn't mean that we'll never roll our ankle during the race.

That's why I suggest something like games or reading. Something you can do passively that will just take your mind somewhere else while it heals.

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sometimes everything seems bleak...

ProffVampy wrote:

mental health sucks balls when its down the drain...

Can't agree more with that.

At times like these, I find it best to just keep on keeping on. Realize it's just a mental injury that just happens. Like spraining your ankle while down the stairs. Recognize it, but don't let it overcome you. Just take a break and do something fun. Play some games, read a fun book, go for a walk through the mall. Splurge and get something nice that you see. Just have a good day.

In my experience, cannot ever totally prevent these things. We're happy and have a good life because there have been times where we've struggled. It's the natural wave. Sometimes you'll peak and be great and sometimes you'll be stuck in a valley- but you can and you will get past it.

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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

DocteurRalph wrote:
Pay Pal works pretty good too. They refunded me some money I sent to a fake shopping mall. Like $300...

PayPal is very sketchy. They’re widely used, but they’ve had MANY infractions of being hacked, freezing accounts, freezing funds, etc.

I lost my trust for PayPal a loooong time ago.

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Tree Stump O'Deep Thought .

Nix wrote:
I have an idea, @Rockster160 should make it so we can favourite posts and not just replies.

What a profound little comic strip :)

Ability to “react” to stuff is in the list! Favoriting a post shouldn’t be too bad though.

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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

DocteurRalph wrote:
You could always max my credit card out for ten grand... that would hurt. I trust you for some reason, after all you do live in the land of Mormons. lol

Absolutely not. Money does not have enough value to me that I would hurt somebody else (especially one with kind intentions) in order to gain more of it unfairly.

AND, all of the transactions are done through a third party. (Which is about 1000x more trustworthy and reliable than PayPal)

AND banks are usually pretty good. If you tell them it was an unauthorized withdrawal they can pull it back and cause a lot of trouble on the other end. (Which, if you ever buy anything online and start to see weird transactions pulled from your bank, you should do so immediately.)

Also, I may be surrounded by them, but I myself am not Mormon. 😊 But hey 🤷‍♂️ I still have morals and standards. 😉

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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

DocteurRalph wrote:
Got it. I went ahead and sent $100, just in case someone else doesn't do what they said.

It's been received. 🙇 Thank you, Ralph! Much appreciated.

Also sounds like the email idea is pretty well received. I was skeptical at first, but what could it hurt?

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So we have to come to a decision… Helptogo is being shut down, and they have offered us to buy the domain, and more importantly the info (as helptogo does still have all the old posts from the

@danihatesyou It's "usable". Right now it's raw data so it takes some work to be able to actually look through it. It's also formatted to HTG's ugly format, so it's going to take some time to make it nice.

I won't host it on here, per say. I'll host a copy of the site under a different subdomain. It will basically look exactly the same and seem the same in every way, except the old data will be there and the new data here. I'll make it obvious on that one that it's only old data, but yep. That way it's on a different database, so won't slow anything down here, but still accessible.

@DocteurRalph - Yep, I sent him the $300 and I believe the plan was to split it up among you guys and send either through the Donate page or whatever other means you're comfortable with.

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I have been ill for over a week now.

Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's NOT true. Everything on the internet must be taken with a grain of salt. It may or may not be true- so don't believe everything you read just because you read it, but if it comes with facts and evidence, then great. 👍

The internet is the greatest source of information to ever exist. You can't discredit information just because it comes from the internet.

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