Add ability to import Vox?

[denise]

[Suggestion submitted by OpenID user, reposted by moi.]

Summary:

Add ability to import Vox journals by the end of September 2010.

Description:

Since Vox is shutting down at the end of September 2010, is it possible for you all to add the ability to import a Vox journal in such a short time?

Suggested by:

ext_83128

Poll #4323 Add ability to import Vox?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 57

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is
34 (59.6%)

Should be implemented with changes (please comment)
1 (1.8%)

Shouldn't be implemented
1 (1.8%)

(I have no opinion)
20 (35.1%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.8%)

Comments

[ursamajor]

I would like this, though granted I have few enough entries I can do it manually. Still, this would be nice.

[matgb]

I was going to suggest this, but given the timespan I figured it probably wasn't worth the dev time as people'll already be exporting.

If it can be done quickly, great, if not, include it in the ability to import XML files like a WP export, as importing to WP is alreadyu something Vox users can do.

[foxfirefey]

Do we have a timeline for next code push? It's a lot more tempting to do this since we don't have to worry about media because of Flikr...

And it looks like Simon aka deflatermouse made something we could probably use as a reference..

[denise]

If we could get it implemented quickly, we could certainly schedule a code push. I'm going to be including a vox invite code in this week's news post.

[foxfirefey]

Looks like WordPress has a more complete implementation:

http://colinger.com/2010/04/03/vox-importer-plugin/

[jumpuphigh]

This isn't important to me as I've never used Vox but I can see how it would be great to do if we can get it done in the limited time available.

[ariestess]

Personally, this isn't important to me, as I didn't use my Vox account much, and just did a copy/paste into a backup file for the few recipes entries I had which will probably go into my journal soon.

But for other people? This might be a really good thing. Tho' the timeframe is going to be tight to get it done, since there's only a week left that people can log into their Vox accounts.

[triadruid]

Three weeks - the Sept. 15th thing was a misread.

[ariestess]

Yeah, saw that in response to another comment in another entry...

[trixieleitz]

From: http://closing.vox.com/

"To help you make the transition off of Vox, we’ve added new export features that make it easy to move your blog to a free TypePad account, and your photos & videos to Flickr."

So there are already ways for ex-Voxers to make sure their content doesn't vanish. Importing here would be nice if people specifically want to get started with Dreamwidth, but a backup service isn't urgently needed, as far as I can see.

[matgb]

it's shutting down. Lots of bloggers looking for a new, preferably better, home. Why not us?

[trixieleitz]

Why not, indeed. It just doesn't strike me as all that urgent. *shrug*

ETA: not saying I oppose the feature, if there's someone who's sufficiently interested to code it, just saying I don't see the need :)

[kyrielle]

I think if it can be implemented in the time frame available, that would be good.

If not, perhaps fast-tracking an import-from-Typepad, which would be useful going forward for general migrations but also provide a path whereby people can export their data from Vox to Typepad, wait for the import here to be finished, and then pull it in. Not ideal in terms of number of steps, but it removes the time crunch, and has the advantage of being reusable in a way that a straight import from Vox probably isn't.

[trixieleitz]

Yes, I think a Typepad import would be a better use of dev time, especially given the short timeframe available to both (a) implement it and (b) let ex-Voxers know about it.

[solitarywalker]

There's nothing in here about *how* it should be implemented; import should be possible, but it should not be done in the way LJ import is done, which is bad.

LJ import now requires giving DW the user's LJ password, which gives DW full access to the user's LJ for the import (fine) but also gives DW full access to the user's LJ friends page, which is bad: it's a violation of the friends' trust in the user. A better way would be to direct people to LJ's journal export functionality, and then to import resulting file(s) into DW. That way it wouldn't be necessary to give up the LJ password.

Importing from Vox should be done in such a way as to not require giving up the user's Vox password. Have people use Vox's built-in export functionality, and create a function to enable DW to import the exported journals.

[solitarywalker]

There's nothing in here about *how* it should be implemented; import should be possible, but it should not be done in the way LJ import is done, which is bad.

LJ import now requires giving DW the user's LJ password, which gives DW full access to the user's LJ for the import (fine) but also gives DW full access to the user's LJ friends page, which is bad: it's a violation of the friends' trust in the user. A better way would be to direct people to LJ's journal export functionality, and then to import resulting file(s) into DW. That way it wouldn't be necessary to give up the LJ password.

Importing from Vox should be done in such a way as to not require giving up the user's Vox password. Have people use Vox's built-in export functionality, and create a function to enable DW to import the exported journals.

[solitarywalker]

There's nothing in here about *how* it should be implemented; import should be possible, but it should not be done in the way LJ import is done, which is bad.

LJ import now requires giving DW the user's LJ password, which gives DW full access to the user's LJ for the import (fine) but also gives DW full access to the user's LJ friends page, which is bad: it's a violation of the friends' trust in the user. A better way would be to direct people to LJ's journal export functionality, and then to import resulting file(s) into DW. That way it wouldn't be necessary to give up the LJ password.

Importing from Vox should be done in such a way as to not require giving up the user's Vox password. Have people use Vox's built-in export functionality, and create a function to enable DW to import the exported journals.

[matgb]

When cross site readng comes up, DW's always going to have access to the friends page of those people that use the service.

The backend code of the import makes it very clear what's going on, and no abuse is possible or happens. Directing people to the export function is basically saying "don't bother" to a lot of people, as they simply won't, and the export function doesn'[t export all the data that LJ makes available through the APIs.