always take life as it comes.

smile

My Summary:
In just over a month, all old posts, files, etc. created by users will be permanently deleted from all Yahoo Groups.

They outline a way you can download data through a Privacy Dashboard but I have read some mixed reviews on it. However that is better than nothing probably...

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https://help.yahoo.com/kb/groups/SLN31010.html?impressions=true

Understand what's changing in Yahoo Groups
Yahoo has made the decision to no longer allow content to be uploaded to the Yahoo Groups site. Don't worry, though, Yahoo Groups is not going away and new groups can still be created.

Beginning October 28, new content won't be able to be uploaded to the site, and all previously posted content on the site will be permanently removed after December 14. Anything you want to keep will need to be downloaded by that date.

What features will go away?
Files
Polls
Links
Photos
Folders
Calendar
Database
Attachments
Conversations
Email Updates
Message Digest
Message History

What will happen to the site?
The Yahoo Groups site will continue to exist, however, all public groups will be made private or restricted. Any new group members will need to request an invite or be invited by an admin. Admins will still be able to manage various group settings, though some functionality will be limited.

What will happen on October 28?
On October 28, you will no longer be able to upload any content to the site. To share info with members of your groups, you'll continue to be able to do so via email.

How can I keep my Yahoo Groups content?
Photos and files can be saved right from the Yahoo Groups site, or you can download your data from the Privacy Dashboard.

Will I be able to use Yahoo Groups going forward?
You'll still be able to create new groups, communicate with your groups via email, and search for private groups on the site. In addition, admins will continue to have limited access to group settings and administration tools.

My goodness, I'd forgotten all about Yahoo Groups for letterboxing...I wonder how many people know that they were our Letterboxing "chat" lines before AQ came about! So many different Letterboxing groups and even a sneaky clue could be found in there once in a while......

Yes, I need to find a new place to put those....

The first few years of posts should be required reading for any boxer worth their salt. Will be a tragic loss (in our play world) of American Letterboxing history. I enjoyed reading every pre AQ post and occasionally went back again for inspiration.

There is a program that can download all posts and files into an offline database. I've been working on getting an archive copy of everything and will share it if successful.

That would be great if you can get everything into a database accessible by everyone. I requested an archive of the TX Yahoo Group but it returned messages in a format I couldn't read and was missing most of the photos. I hope you have better luck and can get all the groups in a free database (groups.io requires premium membership).

Silver Eagle

I found some script files that seem to have let me download everything but I need to verify and see if it's all there. I do know all the photos in attachments and files did make it I just need to see if things inbedded with a messages did also

So I took AQ down for about 20 minutes this afternoon to upload a pretty big update.

There's not much that looks different and there's nothing that should act different so there's not really much to say about this update. This update involved a lot of "house cleaning" removing code that I had deprecated over 10 years ago. In all, about 250 files needed some tweaks--so it's a pretty substantial update in that aspect and there are invariably going to be a few bugs that slipped through the cracks. Please be patient--I'll fix them when you find them! =)

The biggest changes visually are probably in the tracker subsystem on your smartphones. It was pretty old code and since I had to update large portions of it to remove the depreciated parts anyhow, I also fixed it to work better with smartphones. No features were added or removed, though--just updated the pages so you don't have to zoom in or out or horizontally for most stuff. A few places that allowed you to join/drop from a tracker I updated to confirm that you really meant to do this instead of just doing it.

I also updated them to work a bit better for people who use screen readers. I'm trying to make AQ more friendly for people who disabilities.

I updated a few other non-tracker pages to be smartphone and disability-friendly as well, but the other pages are more scattered about.

But for the most part, except for a few cosmetic changes, there isn't really anything to note.

I'm mostly excited that finally--after over a decade!--I got to pull out three different pieces of deprecated code. There's still some old legacy code I have to deal with, but at least these three pieces are finally in the past. Makes the code base cleaner and easier for me to maintain and improve in the future. =)

-- Ryan

I received a report that a person couldn’t record find from Clue Tracker. I checked and confirm that I also see this error. Unfortunately I am at a concert that is about to begin so I can’t say what error code is sent from the API. (Recording finds on the web site does work.)

I may have noticed a bug. I have a series with four boxes that are active and one that is retired. If I view the series page the statuses are all accurate.

But I was looking at a list of all of my plants and noticed that the retired box in the series shows up with a status of active there.

Then I did a search to show all boxes where I'm the planter and the status is retired. The retired box correctly shows up in the search results, but with a status of active. All my other retired boxes show a status of retired.

I may have fixed the problem. Try it again and let me know! =)

-- Ryan

Thank you! It works for me now 😀

Okay, I think I figured out this problem as well. =)

It's weird... both of these bug reports (this one and the app one) don't appear to be new bugs added with this update. Maybe people are noticing old bugs because they're so busy looking for new ones! =)

The app bug I think was introduced last month with the Big Update I did and this one that you described... looks like it's been there for I have no idea how long. Oh! Wait a minute.... You know, this might be a old bug that was masked by the structure of the website so it didn't start showing up until recently. Hmm.... Interesting.... Maybe.... I'm not going to lose sleep over it, though. =)

-- Ryan

Yep, everything is displaying the way it should now. Thank you!

I sent out a message #980987, since deleted so as not to overwhelm an innocent bystander, on the Letterbox chatter board with a link to one of my private messages. https://www.atlasquest.com/mail/read/?mailId=16466992
Elle sent me a message that she received the response to the link as a private message. Could this be the new big update?

When I hit that link with the mail ID, 16466992, I see a private message that I received from a poof187. If the message was sent to you, wouldn't it also be received by you? I'm confused.

It wasn't sent to me. What I am saying is that when I click on the link you provided in your post that it takes me to a message that was sent to me by someone else (not poof187). Perhaps with you it goes to a message that was sent to you by poof187. Not sure what is happening. I have now deleted the message that was sent to me. Now that I deleted the message when I click on the link it goes to "Favorite Search: Knoxville, TN". Guess an administrative person needs to help on this.

When I click on it it takes me to my inbox. Hmmmm...

I am too. =)

I think the thing that's confusing you is that everyone who looks at that link is seeing a different message. Obviously, you can't read other people's private messages. You can read your own messages that you've received and the messages that you've sent. You can also read messages to and from sub-accounts.

What AQ does when it follows the link is look through the database starting with message #10,466,992 and displays the first AQ mail it finds that you have permission to read. If you know anything about database queries, it looks something like:

SELECT * FROM Mail WHERE id>=16466992 AND isAccesssible=1 ORDER BY id LIMIT 1

(This is totally not the actual query being run--just something representing the kind of logic that actually is running.)

If there are no accessible messages on or after that ID, it'll redirect you to your inbox which is what I wanted to happen when people reach the end of their AQ mail.

So you see a message that was sent from or received by you, I see a message that was sent from or received by me, etc.

-- Ryan

Thanks for the explanation.

Me too, Teach. That freaked me out. Remind me not to check email between Sunday School and Worship Service ever again. Learned my lesson.

You know, the part that amuses me.... people freak out when they see their own mail. I'd have been freaked out if you clicked these links and could actually see someone *else's* mail or mailbox! That would be disturbing! =)

"OMG! I can see my own mail! The horror!"

It's not very often that people report a "problem" of being able to see their own mail and can't access other people's mail. ;o)

-- Ryan

I did not know this, obviously. I do every chance I get.

It's not that you are "freaked out" seeing your own mail, it's the idea that other people can see your mail when they click on the link provided by someone else.

Exactly! I wondered what in the world did I do that opened my email account to the world! I was happy to learn others were just going to their own accounts. By the way, there's nothing entertaining in my email so you aren't missing much.

That reminds me.... You know how a lot of businesses will have the employee of the month? I've been thinking we should have a letterboxer of the month.

So.... no freaking out please.... congratulate our first Letterboxer of the Month! ;o)

-- Ryan

That is what everyone says.

No, just the people who really have something to hide. ;o)

-- Ryan

Where's Wassa?? How has he not hacked that link by now!?!?