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Post by Duke Pikachu on Oct 15, 2021 23:06:41 GMT -5
Thanks Ginz ❤ . That neoboard thread has me kind of curious how they found out about our archiving conversation, if they came here as a guest and saw it, or if they heard about it through other means, like that time it came up on the Neocord. Has me wondering how, with time, talk of this may spread outside of the forum and what that might look like. Fair enough. I mean, we could always ask the user, heh. Still, you're right about the word spreading, and perhaps we should be mindful that non-NTWF groups/individuals may eventually want input in the creation/maintenance of The Archives. For another update on my end, I have the Art Gallery archived (both the one at /art/gallery.phtml and the old one at /contributions_pictures.phtml). I also have a working Petpet Spotlight archiver, which is currently running. From what I can tell, the page layout for the Pet Spotlight is essentially the same as that for the Petpet, so it should work for the Pet as well. Still gotta work on the Pre-150 NT script though. I could ask. Feeling bad she was just left hanging (though I now see Twillie has made a post), I gave her a thank you neomail and a quick mention of what our current plans are: just personally archiving for now, if the worse happens and Neopets (and the Neopian Times) does go down that's when it'll be time for the deeper discussion (also tried sending a gift but her Inventory was full). She neomailed me back expressing the same concern with the site and then mentioned she enjoyed my articles and JN posts! Realizing I hadn't even checked out their articles, I quickly did that. While she started with some articles (including the one she mentions in her posts, a fun read about all the educational aspects of the Neopets site), I saw the main focus on their work: art-&-craft projects. While categorized as a comic, these "comics" are actually a one sheet print out to make a pop-up paper doll of a certain Coloured Neopet. It's a neat idea, I know there were a few times some comic artists presented readers with a crossword or a "can-you-solve-it" puzzle related to the story being told, but I think these are the first arts-and-crafts I've seen. So after that I sent back a neomail thanking them and complimenting them on their work. Whether answers Twillie first or neomails me back, I think we should ask if she wants to join the forum. I know she said she's skittish about creating more accounts on other sites, but I think it's worth the ask (some people are shy about just jumping into joining a new forum without knowing someone there already). As for how she found this thread, I'm wondering if it was through me. She mentioned reading my JN posts and I know in at least one I linked to the thread where we're discussing the NFT Metaverse. And that thread has a quick discussion and link to this thread. So she could have followed my JN post and then followed the other thread's link to this thread and, agreeing with what we're doing, made a Neoboard about it. If I had to guess, in addition to expressing permission, they also wanted to offer their Neopets education article as a source we could use and maybe also wanted to try and get other Neopian Times authors to join in (but this latter one is only a guess, but it would be one reason to make it a Neoboard instead of neomailing one of us). Oh, and jaylahcat, if you're reading this, we're more than happy to have you join us! We're all friendly here and we have plenty of threads to explore ranging from many topics, Neopets and beyond.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Oct 19, 2021 23:16:19 GMT -5
jaylahcat answered how she found us. Out of privacy I won't copy & paste their message, so he's the short version: luck mostly. She was looking around for supporters of the Neopets non-NFT movement and came across our thread about it.
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Post by Blueysicle on Oct 22, 2021 18:04:51 GMT -5
Last week RielCZ brought up that Issues 2 - 11 and the content within can be accessed, when previously most of us believed that Issue 23 was the farthest back we could go. I did discover, however, that there is still a story from the very first issue of the Neopian Times that survives. This story was published as a Part 2 in Issue 2. By replacing the "2"s in the URL with "1"s, you can actually get to the first part of the story, presumably published in Issue 1, which I'll link to here. So there's a neat bit of NT history for ya! I'm in the process of going through Issues 2 - 11. It seems like this must have been in the times before the Art Gallery and Poetry Contests existed, since there are some fanart and poems in there. Also, not sure if you yourself have begun looking through these issues, Twillie , but there is a comic in Issue 3 ( Here) - which if we assume there were no comics in Issue 1, would make it the first comic in the NT. Last night I finished saving all the text-based Neopian Times entries from the Stone Age. That is, except for one article from Issue 44 (Faerieland: A Wonderful Place to Be) and all of Issue 55 - both of which lead to error pages. Even the method I used to find that story from Issue 1 by changing numbers in the URL didn't work for the Series parts that were published in Issue 55. So -sadly- it does seem like we have a completely lost issue of the NT. (Aside from Issues 12 - 22, that is)
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Post by Twillie on Oct 22, 2021 18:33:58 GMT -5
Oh, that's a neat find in changing the URL to get the first part! I found that comic in Issue 3, yeah, which I have marked down as the new first accessible comic in the NT :3 There is a four part comic series listed under Issue 2, simply titled A Neopets Comic, but none of its links work. I tried messing around with the URL like you did with the series, but to no luck so far. Maybe there's a magic way to find them, but until then, I'm considering those comics lost.
And yeah, Issue 55 has never worked for me before, so I consider that issue lost as well.
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Post by RielCZ on Oct 22, 2021 20:39:37 GMT -5
Last week RielCZ brought up that Issues 2 - 11 and the content within can be accessed, when previously most of us believed that Issue 23 was the farthest back we could go. I did discover, however, that there is still a story from the very first issue of the Neopian Times that survives. This story was published as a Part 2 in Issue 2. By replacing the "2"s in the URL with "1"s, you can actually get to the first part of the story, presumably published in Issue 1, which I'll link to here. So there's a neat bit of NT history for ya! Very nice! Good sleuthing! I did some sleuthing myself, too, and did discover Issue 22 is in fact accessible at www.neopets.com/nt/week22/issue22home.phtml . I get to fulfill my dream of being an archaeologist without leaving my computer desk!
Also, I did get the Pet Spotlight and Petpet Spotlight archived. I also mass downloaded all the thumbnails and pictures appearing in 150-onward stories, articles, the homepage, or the editorial -- at least images defined in the HTML body, which does exclude those defined only in the CSS (e.g. the background layouts), but I'll work on nabbing those too. However, I won't have time for any more script writing until November most likely. I'll try to make pre-150 NT, the BC, and possibly the Random Contest my next priorities.
EDIT: There is a four part comic series listed under Issue 2, simply titled A Neopets Comic, but none of its links work. I tried messing around with the URL like you did with the series, but to no luck so far. Maybe there's a magic way to find them, but until then, I'm considering those comics lost. Where was this, Twillie?
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Post by Twillie on Oct 22, 2021 20:44:49 GMT -5
RielCZ It's right here, listed under Extra Features. Or rather, I assume the links lead to comics given their title, but I guess I can't know for sure without an explicit comics section.
(Also, I'm loving how many ancient NT issues everyone here is uncovering, I would've probably written this stuff as lost on my own haha)
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Post by RielCZ on Oct 22, 2021 20:53:41 GMT -5
RielCZ It's right here, listed under Extra Features. Or rather, I assume the links lead to comics given their title, but I guess I can't know for sure without an explicit comics section. (Also, I'm loving how many ancient NT issues everyone here is uncovering, I would've probably written this stuff as lost on my own haha) images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicpartone.jpg images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicparttwo.jpg images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicpartthree.jpg images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicpartfour.jpg EDIT: and the answers to the puzzles: images.neopets.com/nt/week2/answer1.gif images.neopets.com/nt/week2/answer2.gif
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Post by Twillie on Oct 22, 2021 21:01:12 GMT -5
RielCZ It's right here, listed under Extra Features. Or rather, I assume the links lead to comics given their title, but I guess I can't know for sure without an explicit comics section. (Also, I'm loving how many ancient NT issues everyone here is uncovering, I would've probably written this stuff as lost on my own haha) images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicpartone.jpg images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicparttwo.jpg images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicpartthree.jpg images.neopets.com/nt/week2/siriuscomicpartfour.jpg EDIT: and the answer to the puzzles: images.neopets.com/nt/week2/answer1.gif images.neopets.com/nt/week2/answer2.gif !!!!
Ahhhh that's amazing, thank you! New new first NT comics, haha! xD
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Oct 22, 2021 21:35:31 GMT -5
Well, I am impressed with the work so far recovering those 'lost' issues. You may be amateur sleuths/archeologists for the digital age, but the contributions will be useful with regards to the history of the Neopian Times.
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Post by RielCZ on Oct 24, 2021 1:23:28 GMT -5
Ahhhh that's amazing, thank you! New new first NT comics, haha! xD You're welcome! Nice to see you keeping track of those early milestones. Also, er... >_> <_< I'm starting to think we should put together our efforts in being historians and archivists and write an article for NT950 about what we're doing here. EDIT: Last night I finished saving all the text-based Neopian Times entries from the Stone Age. That is, except for one article from Issue 44 (Faerieland: A Wonderful Place to Be) and all of Issue 55 - both of which lead to error pages. Even the method I used to find that story from Issue 1 by changing numbers in the URL didn't work for the Series parts that were published in Issue 55. So -sadly- it does seem like we have a completely lost issue of the NT. I didn't find Issue 55, either. However, is this the Faerieland article you couldn't find? EDIT EDIT: BEHOLD MY SEARCH IS COMPLETE
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Post by Blueysicle on Oct 24, 2021 12:23:54 GMT -5
EDIT: Last night I finished saving all the text-based Neopian Times entries from the Stone Age. That is, except for one article from Issue 44 (Faerieland: A Wonderful Place to Be) and all of Issue 55 - both of which lead to error pages. Even the method I used to find that story from Issue 1 by changing numbers in the URL didn't work for the Series parts that were published in Issue 55. So -sadly- it does seem like we have a completely lost issue of the NT. I didn't find Issue 55, either. However, is this the Faerieland article you couldn't find? Yes! That appears to be it! The link from the Articles menu in the Issue ends in just "faerieland_article" and not "faerielandhistory_article" as it does in the one you found. So that would explain why I was lead to an error page before.
!!!
I think you just found the holy grail.
I'm half-tempted to rename this thread "The Neopian Times Archaeological Dig" lol
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Post by June Scarlet on Oct 24, 2021 19:43:02 GMT -5
Wow, this is really impressive stuff! I was discussing with people on the NTWF Discord, but I'm starting to think that Jellyneo needs to take this article here: www.jellyneo.net/?go=neopiantimes and bump out the History of the Times in its own expanded article, considering all these amazing finds. Is that something you all would be willing for JN to publish? Or is this more of a NTWF thing? I'm thinking credit needs to be given to those who found certain things, at least.
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Post by June Scarlet on Oct 29, 2021 22:37:41 GMT -5
Hello it's June again. I've been taking a front end web development class since March. Learned Javascript, and wrapping up with React JS now. The next section of the course has a project, a website. Originally, this meant I'd be busy with this until January, and wouldn't be able to start on something with NT archive until then. But then I thought, what if designing the front end of the NT archive *was* my project? I mentioned the idea to my mentor in the class, and she seemed interested in the idea, though she had a few cautions. Like being dependent on others who don't have the same deadlines I do. My specialty is making the front end. In this project, I'd have to depend on people like RielCZ and Geo 🇺🇦 🌻 to make the backend work. I'm willing to make the commitment, but I can't do it alone. I know Riel is working on putting the data into JSON files and such. Geo mentioned on Discord that he was working on a NT API to practice such skills. I don't know that either has the same sense of urgency that my project would have. This last section of the class is designed to get you ready for a career in technology. I'm still brainstorming what exactly the scope of this project would be in the context of the class. But I am thinking that I would want to try redesigning the Times to be in a more modern format perhaps, since that's what I'm good at. But you'd still want to have the legacy option to show as well, of course. My mentor suggested focusing on just outputting one section for the class, like making just the comics page, or just articles, almost more of a proof of concept. Hmm... This section of the class starts November 17th, so I have until then to come up with a project, and then two months to finish it. It doesn't have to be this, but it could be. Let me know what you think.
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Post by Geo 🇺🇦 🌻 on Oct 30, 2021 0:41:42 GMT -5
Hello it's June again. I've been taking a front end web development class since March. Learned Javascript, and wrapping up with React JS now. The next section of the course has a project, a website. Originally, this meant I'd be busy with this until January, and wouldn't be able to start on something with NT archive until then. But then I thought, what if designing the front end of the NT archive *was* my project? I mentioned the idea to my mentor in the class, and she seemed interested in the idea, though she had a few cautions. Like being dependent on others who don't have the same deadlines I do. My specialty is making the front end. In this project, I'd have to depend on people like RielCZ and Geo 🇺🇦 🌻 to make the backend work. I'm willing to make the commitment, but I can't do it alone. I know Riel is working on putting the data into JSON files and such. Geo mentioned on Discord that he was working on a NT API to practice such skills. I don't know that either has the same sense of urgency that my project would have. This last section of the class is designed to get you ready for a career in technology. I'm still brainstorming what exactly the scope of this project would be in the context of the class. But I am thinking that I would want to try redesigning the Times to be in a more modern format perhaps, since that's what I'm good at. But you'd still want to have the legacy option to show as well, of course. My mentor suggested focusing on just outputting one section for the class, like making just the comics page, or just articles, almost more of a proof of concept. Hmm... This section of the class starts November 17th, so I have until then to come up with a project, and then two months to finish it. It doesn't have to be this, but it could be. Let me know what you think. So from a practicality and scope standpoint, I think this is a decent idea. I feel like the point of ReactJS is to build very reusable components and I think articles, short stories, and series parts are very similar so they could reuse the same component, say TextBasedEntryComponent. Then comics would be their own ImageBasedEntryComponent. That might make it easier to do a full “minimum viable product”. As far as backend work goes, Riel is likely way further along, since Riel is using a script which is the right tool for this lol. Maybe that JSON can be parsed into a light database like SQLite so that you would have a copy of the data for the frontend to consume. My idea is mainly for me to practice using Spring Boot and a bit of Kotlin since I will use some of that at work soon, so I wouldn’t count on a fully polished idea, especially since lately my day job has gotten very busy. And it’ll probably be very slow if I implemented RESTful APIs like GET /articles/{userName} GET /articles/{issueNumber} and had to visit and parse HTML every time. But I would have to cache or store the entire NT or a portion of it to make this faster and I haven’t even considered the ancient NT before the current design. Basically I’m still in a design phase and haven’t quite hashed everything out yet. XD. I don’t really have a committed timeframe.
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Post by June Scarlet on Oct 30, 2021 11:20:24 GMT -5
For the class, I'd probably focus on the most modern iteration of the Times, and then work on bringing in older iterations after the class is complete. I'd probably also end up working with only two or three everyday issues for my dummy data while actually building the app, just to keep things manageable. I hadn't even considered speed, that's a good point. I don't know the requirements for this project yet, but the current project had one where it had to load within 5 seconds on a high-speed internet connection. I am working with an APIs for my current project (webcomic website), but it's a very simple one, I just threw some JSON of my own making onto JSONBin to fulfill the requirements of needing JSON while also wanting to use my own content. Thank you Geo 🇺🇦 🌻!
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