How to re-create/import a thread from a different (now defunct) Invision Board

[VaBeach_Guy]

I'm not sure if this can be done, or how if it can be. But let me explain...

I was a longtime member of the Philadelphia Eagles official message board (20+ years). In 2020, the Eagles decided to do away with their board in favor of Reddit (supposedly). 

Many of the members and I decided to re-create the board and run it ourselves. Which we've been doing since April 20, 2020 (we're closing in on 1,000,000 posts within the next month or so).

On the old, official board, there were a few threads that were important to the community (or at least to me and a few others). Mainly, threads relating to Super Bowl LII. 

Before the old board went black (they gave us 2 weeks notice of the impending doom), I archived as much of the board as I could (via Archive.org). I also locally archived a few of the more 'important' threads to my hard drive using HTTrack.

So I have archived copies of a few threads that are available to me and I even converted one of them into a standalone webpage, so that it can be read (the Super Bowl LII Gameday Thread). 

So my question is this... is there any way of 'importing' those archived threads into our new database? If not, is there a way that I could 're-create' those threads in the database manually and attributing each post to the correct original poster, and further adjusting the date stamp so that it gives the proper posting date/time of the original post?

Doing it manually (if possible), would be a task and a half, but one that I could undertake over the course of time. 

I hope I've explained that well enough to get my goal across.  

[Miss_B]

Do you have a database backup of the time of those topics? This is very difficult to do, even if you have a backup. But if you do not have a database backup containing those topics, then I am afraid it is not possible.

 

[VaBeach_Guy]

18 minutes ago, Miss_B said:

Do you have a database backup of the time of those topics? This is very difficult to do, even if you have a backup. But if you do not have a database backup containing those topics, then I am afraid it is not possible.

 

No, I tried to get the franchise to give me the database of the old board, but 'legal' wouldn't allow it due to 'privacy' issues. Even if they deleted all members first, they still wouldn't do it. But that was right as Covid was breaking out and they had other things to deal with. 

I remember years (and years) ago, being able to alter the date/time stamp and even member numbers, using MyPHPAdmin, so I was hoping that there may be a way to do it there. 

If I were to copy and paste each post manually, where every post is made by me, is there a way to go into the database and alter each post to reflect a different time/date and poster?

That would be very time consuming, but something that I'm willing to undertake, if it's possible. 

[Miss_B]

12 minutes ago, VaBeach_Guy said:

No, I tried to get the franchise to give me the database of the old board, but 'legal' wouldn't allow it due to 'privacy' issues.

In that case the only option is to post the topics manually.

 

13 minutes ago, VaBeach_Guy said:

If I were to copy and paste each post manually, where every post is made by me, is there a way to go into the database and alter each post to reflect a different time/date and poster?

If you want to change the topic starters and start date, I have developed an app for that. You can see it here:

 

@Adriano Faria has another similiar app that changes the posts date. You can see it here:

 

 

[VaBeach_Guy]

5 minutes ago, Miss_B said:

In that case the only option is to post the topics manually.

 

If you want to change the topic starters and start date, I have developed an app for that. You can see it here:

 

@Adriano Faria has another similiar app that changes the posts date. You can see it here:

 

That looks like it may be my easiest (and only) solution. With the changing of the posting dates, does that include the time as well as the date? 

[Miss_B]

2 minutes ago, VaBeach_Guy said:

That looks like it may be my easiest (and only) solution. With the changing of the posting dates, does that include the time as well as the date? 

If you use my app. it includes the start time/date of the topics only. Posts are not supported.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Miss_B

[VaBeach_Guy]

7 minutes ago, Miss_B said:

If you use my app. it includes the start time/date of the topics only. Posts are not supported.

Thanks, I may end up using both of them, if they will achieve the final results that I want. Which is being able to re-create those threads, giving each post the proper poster and date/time (which was actually a little over 3 years before our new board was created). 

[VaBeach_Guy]

On 5/30/2022 at 5:55 PM, Miss_B said:

In that case the only option is to post the topics manually.

 

If you want to change the topic starters and start date, I have developed an app for that. You can see it here:

 

@Adriano Faria has another similiar app that changes the posts date. You can see it here:

 

 

I see that these say that they're compatible with 4.7, I assume that includes sub-revisions (4.7.6 and so on)?

All these months later, I'm (hopefully) going to be able to begin on my project soon. 

[Miss_B]

14 hours ago, VaBeach_Guy said:

I see that these say that they're compatible with 4.7, I assume that includes sub-revisions (4.7.6 and so on)?

Yes, that is correct. 

[VaBeach_Guy]

7 hours ago, Miss_B said:

Yes, that is correct. 

Thanks, once my upgrade is complete, I'll begin work on my project.