#mediafryer

Hey y'all, I thought I'd write a lil update on how on the archiving operation for Garden of Shadows is going.

Let's get one thing out of the way first: we are trying our utmost best to save as much as we can. But as you may know, Garden of Shadows has been around for a very long time, which means there's a humongous amount of cc tucked away in every corner of the forum. This makes archiving the mediafire cc on GoS extremely draining to do.

At this moment we have too few hands (it's mostly I, Fir3princ3ss, @asimplevampire and @simnostalgia ) doing the archiving. It's very slow going and at this pace we will lose a significant part of the cc on GoS to the Purge.

This is why I'm reaching out to ask y'all for help. Please follow the link to this Spreadsheet and pick a section to work on. If enough people help, we can save it all.

Please start as far back as you can. Creators from 2019 may still be around, but those from 2010 may not. When you're done, upload the files to a file host of your choosing and put the link in the Spreadsheet too. This way we can avoid any overlap.

Please. Help us save the MediaFire CC.

@gardenofshadowssims @sims2packrat

First of all, let me just say that I absolutely love the response to the call to action to save GoS. It's jaw-droppingly awesome, heartwarming, incredibly inspirational and many other good things! Thank you all for volunteering your time to this massive undertaking! I appreciate each and every one of you doing this. ♥️♥️♥️

Since the GoS archiving operation seems to be going swimmingly, let's talk about the next step for the MediaFryer Project: the SimsCave.

The SimsCave is not just a place to get the newest CC Updates, but it's also an active forum and important archive for long-gone sites. This means that there is a lot of cc, the biggest bulk behind a login wall. Much of this cc is hosted on mediafire and thus likely to get deleted come January.

So, in order to preserve all of this very important simming history, this library of cc, we need to download all the mediafire cc from the SimsCave as well. And we can't do it without your help

So, how do we start?

Well, by using the link provided in the GoS post (or at the bottom of this post), you can now access the "SimsCave" spreadsheet (check the bottom left). The system works exactly as the GoS sheet. Just note your name down in the "Archivist" column and start downloading that section. Once you're done, you set your "Progress" to "Done/finished/etc." and create a folder on your file host of choice which you link in the "Directory" column. This ensures we can work as efficiently as possible.

With your help we have managed to archive most of GoS within a day. Together we can save yet another site. So please. If you have any spare time, help us save the Mediafire CC from SimsCave. Together we can save it all.

@simscave @sims2packrat

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates the last couple of days. Holiday stuff (rl&sims) tends to make archiving and writing updates difficult.

However, despite the Holiday season, work did not stop. In fact, it progressed very nicely. At this point in time only GoS's Request and wcif sections need to be downloaded. SimsCave is also almost done, with only the Saving the Sims (1) Archives and a few Sims 3 subforums still needing to be rescued. It is truly mindblowing how much has been done!

In any case, it's time to talk about the End-of-2020 CC-hoarding-sprint.

First of all, I'm asking everyone to look at the blogs spreadsheet to see if there's any that need to be added. So, if you don't see a certain mediafire-using blog on the sheet, add it!

I'm also asking people to submit any sims 1 sites or blogs to the TS1 sheet.

So, recently you may have seen @simsmadegeeky's tutorial on Octoparse. Well, they made both a Preset for Octoparse to make it easier to gather links and a spreadsheet for tracking sites that can be crawled with Octoparse. This has the potential to drastically speed up the entire archiving operation, especially on the livejournal, dreamwidth and tumblr front. (Both linked down below)

This is especially important, looking at the current status of the Default Database archiving operation. Most of the clothing sections still need to be done. By crawling the blogs of big-time defaulters (who use(d) mediafire), we can save a lot of time and effort.

Another Database we may want to look at is allthehairs. The spreadsheet for this will be up soon. I'm unsure if we can get it all done before the end of the year, but as the last couple of days have proved: The Sims Community is capable of great acts of data-hoarding and distribution in a very short amount of time.

2020 has been a rather awful year in all regards. Let's take the last days of the year to fight back against all this awfulness and enter 2021 with a bang. Spread the word, the more the merrier! We're gonna download everything we can and your help is NEEDED! the best time to join is NOW!

Download Octoparse Template

@sims2packrat @gardenofshadowssims @simscave

Hello everybody. Remember how I said that I hadn't managed to get Octoparse to scrape MediaFire links from a list of forum thread URLs? Well, I found a way!

You can download this handy Octoparse template down below, but first, here's what you need to know:

This template is not designed for multi-page threads. If you want it to scan multiple pages of one thread, you will have to enter all the individual URLs of said pages. This is intentional as some forums don't have handy "Next" buttons for threads and also because I am but a novice in the ways of Octoparse

I don't think you can scrape threads locked behind a login wall. If I figure out a way to have it do that, I will update the post (and rar) accordingly

This template is best used in combination with the resources listed in the "Priority Files" update.

The rar includes simple instructions, but with the assumptions you already know how to import and open a task. If you have any questions or suggestions, just let me know.

Many thanks to @madegeeky for helping me get started with Octoparse and pointing to other resources. You're awesome!

Download

Let's start with the good news: Garden of Shadows is almost fully archived. But a few sections remain to do. All thanks to your hard work and dedication. Thank you! You're all real life heroes. The SimsCave sheet has also been filling up nicely and I'm pretty sure we can get it all done.

But, the big forums aren't the only places that need arvhiving. @esotheria-sims @rudhira and zerodark have been working on saving the mediafire links from the default database, but they need your help saving the defaults. The database is a vital part of the sims 2 cc community and to see much of the content it links to disappear would be a disaster. The Default Database needs your help.

So, if you have any spare time left this holiday season, just pick a category and help us out.

Now, there are a few details that need pointing out: when you upload the defaults to your file host of choice, please create a seperate folder for each defaulted outfit (so, for example: one for pubodydress and one for pubodytuxedo).

If you find a blog with many MediaFire links, please alert @sims2packrat

If you haven't participated in the MediaFryer Project before, here is your chance: we need all hands on deck. Every little bit of help is greatly appreciated.

Hey all, so if you've seen the last update about the Default Database sheet: it has been fixed. I had to rewrite most of the sheet, but progress is continuing. I'm also backing it up regularly just in case. Nobody is actively working on clothing defaults at this moment, but hopefully we'll see that change soon (Tbh I wouldn't even wish the tsk of archiving all of the Adult Female Outfits section on my worst enemy). Anyways, I'm glad to see so many people helping out!

I also took the liberty of adding a sheet for individual blogs (dreamwidth livejournal and tumblr) that make heavy use of MediaFire. I've tried to use Octoparse to automate the process, but so far all my attempts failed to retrieve anything. If anyone would like to give it a try (manual or with octoparse or similar) just pick a blog and follow the tutorial by @simsmadegeeky. If you know of any blogs that haven't been put on the list yet, feel free to do so. Do be sure to check sims2packrat's list before doing so as they've also been very busy archiving blogs.

I've also received a couple of messages about archives, so I'll be downloading those as soon as I'm back at my pc.

Retired Creators SimsCave: http://simfileshare.net/folder/119583/

Retired Creators Sims2Artists: https://simfileshare.net/folder/119559/