Import Google+ Data

[jasonmayes]

This is more of a feature request, but I was wondering if it would be possible to enable import of Google+ posts I have to my minds profile as G+ is being deprecated.

Google however does provide a way to export your content, and it would be great not having to start from zero. If I could upload that archive and "Import it" it would be amazing.

If you could jump on this bandwagon to aid users joining without a blank canvas I think you may be able to get a lot of the people looking for a new home right now. Just a suggestion. I for one have just started using minds and really enjoying it so far :-)

Apologies if this feature request should be posted elsewhere, was not sure how else to submit it.

[Serkan-devel]

We don't even have API documentation here and development seems stale here. Maybe you can recommend that feature request at the Minds community open source initiative. Maybe the next meeting will be picked up by minds staff. But i doubt you will be able to fully import all posts with timestamps and everything

[jasonmayes]

Sure, my main reason is not to loose the valuable data I have collected over several years. Also that data can help seed content on minds too. I had a lot of collections of data around various topics from tech to ux and design etc. It would be a shame to see all that go if Google decides to just shut it down without archiving... Looking for a back up plan, as are many others (a lot of photographers an creatives who show cased their artwork on G+ too).

[Serkan-devel]

@jasonmayes I mean, there is https://takeout.google.com . I've downloaded my G+ activity from it, which was nothing.

Count to think of it that myspace is still up

[jasonmayes]

Yes I am aware of that. I am asking can I use the dump from that to populate my Minds.com profile. Unlike yours I have thousands of posts I dont want to lose and instead migrate to a new platform.

[Serkan-devel]

Probably one can, but the timestamps will most likely differ

[jasonmayes]

That is fine for me, main thing is all my information is not lost. :-)

[markharding]

Thanks Jason.

I think it would be good to use this thread as a tracker and collect all the various API's etc required.

Some areas of the codebase:

UI -> https://github.com/Minds/front/tree/master/src/app/modules/settings Backend -> https://github.com/Minds/engine/tree/master/Core/ThirdPartyNetworks

Does google have an export API?

[markharding]

Re: timestamps and imports

I think as we would not be using the standard API's and perhaps building Minds functions around this, we'd be able to manually set the timestamps when creating the posts. However, the GUIDs would still be newly generated so it might look a little odd if someone was to inspect closely.

[Serkan-devel]

@markharding wait, is it now planned to also import timestamps from G+ posts, 1:1 into minds.com?

[jasonmayes]

@markharding I shall have to ask around. I believe right now though users would have to grab a an export of their G+ data (from google takeout) and then upload that to be parsed by whatever Minds.com would use to import. Thats my best guess for now. See https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout

[Serkan-devel]

@jasonmayes but would it give the users the ability to manipulate the G+-archive locally ?

Maybe Minds.com could scrape it from the G+API directly

[csharpner]

I desperately want this feature as well, including preserving timestamps, if possible. I have dozens of collections, with thousands of posts since the beta days of 2011.

Speaking of that, something like collections would be nice too, so we can organize them, like we did on G+.