Mailing List Archives will soon be lost to the Mists

[Buzzclaw]

http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/index.html

WOTC is finally shutting down their old mailing list archives on Feb 2. The content stretches back into the late TSR era and features discussion about every setting including Ravenloft. I don't know if there are any gems hidden in those old messages but it might be worth looking into.

[alhoon]

Can someone retrieve them? Those 1998+ mailing lists? Are they "saveable" or something?

[Lord Valik Keratos]

Can someone retrieve them? Those 1998+ mailing lists? Are they "saveable" or something?

The archive site is here. I imagine if someone had a few hours it would be rather easy (though tedious) to go through and copy/paste each message to upload elsewhere later. Some of the Spelljammer people seem to be doing that from what I read on another forum.

http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/ravenloft-l.html

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I'm attempting to archive them as we speak, at least for my personal use. If it works, I'll post instructions here on how you can do it too. I would love to host it in our Cemetery archive, but it may take time to get permission from the right people at WotC, if they respond at all.


There is a LOT of good stuff in there, and it would be a shame to lose it forever. I often search through those archives for inspiration.

[Dark Angel]

Wow. This is some old stuff. It's like a prop plane compared to this Concorde-esque site. Not bad, only makes me appreciate this stuff here more.

[Resonant Curse]

Wow, my eyes burn from trying to read that. Guess I'll try and use a free day to copy all million posts from the various settings and then weep as I try and edit it to readable format.

[Dark Angel]

Wow, my eyes burn from trying to read that. Guess I'll try and use a free day to copy all million posts from the various settings and then weep as I try and edit it to readable format.

HA! I am on hour 3 of doing the same thing. SLEEP BE DAMNED!

[alhoon]

Please, start with Ravenloft. We're with you people!
If it may help (cause I can't, I'm sick and have tons of work) you could organize something between yourselves. As in "Member1 copies from A to D, Member2 from E to K, Member 3..." etc
If you want, you could leave the last few letters for me. I'll inform you if I have the time...

[Ryan Naylor]

You'd be better off trying to make sure each sub-page is saved in the Internet Archive.

https://web.archive.org/web/20121213062 ... oft-l.html

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Guys, guys... there's no need to do things manually. There are programs for this sort of thing.

Ryan's right. I saw that the wayback machine doesn't have the sub-pages, but I didn't notice that you can request it to save them. That's a good way to do it.

The other option is what I'm doing: I'm using httrack to download everything. The trick is getting the settings right. I tried to go only 5 links deep (enough to get to each message) and not save external links (I also had to enable saving the script-generated pages) but it's been running all night, and is up to 2 gigs of data. Rather than try to tweak the settings more to get it right, I'm just going to let it finish and prune out the stuff that's not needed. If anyone wants to give it a try, go ahead. maybe you can find the right settings to make it faster.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Wow. This is some old stuff. It's like a prop plane compared to this Concorde-esque site. Not bad, only makes me appreciate this stuff here more.

Kids today... In my day, we had mailing lists and we liked them! New-fangled world wide web cyberspace thingy... get off of my lawn!


But seriously, this is just the archive. The way the list worked was you sent an email to the list address and it got sent out to everyone who'd subscribed. (either immediately, or as a daily digest, depending on their settings). If you wanted to respond, you replied to the list and your reply would go to everyone. I suppose that's kind of quaint nowadays, but I liked it. Even when the Kargatane started their message board, I stuck with the list for years. "Who has time to remember to go to a webpage?" I thought. "All my Ravenloft discussion comes right to me!" Nevermind the fact that I was on several other mailing lists too. My inbox was quite a mess. Eventually I gave in and did join there, and then migrated here. But I do still miss those days....

[Dark Angel]

Wow. This is some old stuff. It's like a prop plane compared to this Concorde-esque site. Not bad, only makes me appreciate this stuff here more.

Kids today... In my day, we had mailing lists and we liked them! New-fangled world wide web cyberspace thingy... get off of my lawn!

With all due respect, I don't think there is much difference in ages between you and I, Gonzoron. My issues likely lie in my lack of technological know how back in the day (which still is an issue to this date where many believe I am more able than I am). In fact I am having a great time going through these as I met my girlfriend and began dating her (now my wife) just about the same time as the archive begins. I am also enjoying the trip through time as I was there at GenCons and keeping up with products, and sad to note, am at the point where the Columbine shootings were an issue for roleplayers across the mailing lists. I am sad to see these go, having just learned of them, I am grateful for what it is and what one can gain from this. Thanks Buzzclaw for bringing this to my attention!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

With all due respect, I don't think there is much difference in ages between you and I, Gonzoron.

Hopefully my indicated I wasn't being entirely serious. No disrespect intended, and none taken.

Enjoy your trip down memory lane...

[Dark Angel]

With all due respect, I don't think there is much difference in ages between you and I, Gonzoron.

Hopefully my indicated I wasn't being entirely serious. No disrespect intended, and none taken.

Enjoy your trip down memory lane...

None taken, all good times and wacky fun!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The other option is what I'm doing: I'm using httrack to download everything. The trick is getting the settings right. I tried to go only 5 links deep (enough to get to each message) and not save external links (I also had to enable saving the script-generated pages) but it's been running all night, and is up to 2 gigs of data. Rather than try to tweak the settings more to get it right, I'm just going to let it finish and prune out the stuff that's not needed. If anyone wants to give it a try, go ahead. maybe you can find the right settings to make it faster.

I should note: I'm only doing this for the Ravenloft stuff. If you're interested in any of the other lists, and are hoping I'll one day get it all hosted here, don't count on that.