Simple Machines Community Forum

SMF Support => Converting to SMF => Topic started by: hstraf on January 26, 2006, 10:37:55 AM

Title: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: hstraf on January 26, 2006, 10:37:55 AM
I have a blogger blog right now, and I would *love* to move to a forum instead.  However, I don't want to lose the last year of posts and comments from my blog.  Does anyone know if there is a some kind of concersion tool/utility to go from a blogger blog to simple machines forum?

If I can extract my blog into some kind of database format, would this help? Is there an import tool for SMF that can work with a database?

Thanks!
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: H on January 26, 2006, 12:01:11 PM
Certainly it should be possible as it is possible to converter blogger > wordpress.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: hstraf on January 26, 2006, 01:19:46 PM
Any ideas how to start?  Is there a generic conversion utility that can work with a database?

Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: H on January 26, 2006, 03:41:36 PM
Unfortunately not for SMF :(.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: hstraf on January 26, 2006, 03:51:53 PM
Let's say that I can get my blog data into either a simple generic database with the following tables and columns.

blogs (uniqueID_blog, date_time, title, author)
comments(uniqueID_comment, uniqueID_blog, date_time, author, text)

Is it possible to import this data as regular forum topics with replies?

I'm not concerned about preserving comment author info, like email/url, etc...

Thanks!


Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 06, 2010, 06:42:27 AM
i also want to do that. it would extremely useful is someone could please make a converter for this.

by the way, even if there doesn't exist a direct convert method, maybe we could convert from Blogger to Wordpress and then to SMF??
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Liam. on June 06, 2010, 07:34:50 AM
The simple power of a quick Google Search: http://www.freetipsandwits.com/moneymakingblog/12-steps-to-convert-your-blog-from-blogger-to-wordpress.html

Then, I'm sure there's a conversion tool on the site from WordPress --> SMF.

Edit: Also, this topic should be in Converting to SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=20.0)... Reported to be moved ;)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 06, 2010, 11:54:18 AM
Converters are for converting from other boards, and just that (I think). I've checked in the SVN and there's no WordPress converter.
Of course, it can be done (http://nao.noisen.com is running with my custom SMF and I used Blogger, and then WordPress to run it, until I manually converted to SMF...)

My conversion script was done in Delphi, though (string manipulation on SQL files.)
At the time (2005) I had very little knowledge of PHP.

I don't know about the database structure either, but again, if you just want to convert blog posts and comments, I'm sure a converter can be made in a couple of days at most.
It remains to be seen how much interest this gathers. I mean, a vanilla SMF 2.0 doesn't exactly have the tools to make a proper blog system.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 07, 2010, 01:08:05 PM
Quote from: Liam. on June 06, 2010, 07:34:50 AM
Then, I'm sure there's a conversion tool on the site from WordPress --> SMF.

Unfortunately, no such thing exists at this time. It would be extremely useful though, as most of the world use Wordpress, and the rest is just on the waiting list to move from Blogger to Wordpress. Wordpress doesn't offer the superior interactivity of a full-fledged forum, so many people seeking to extend their offerings to their members, will most probably consider shifting to SMF.

Quote from: Nao on June 06, 2010, 11:54:18 AM
Converters are for converting from other boards, and just that (I think). I've checked in the SVN and there's no WordPress converter.
Of course, it can be done (http://nao.noisen.com is running with my custom SMF and I used Blogger, and then WordPress to run it, until I manually converted to SMF...)

My conversion script was done in Delphi, though (string manipulation on SQL files.)
At the time (2005) I had very little knowledge of PHP.

I don't know about the database structure either, but again, if you just want to convert blog posts and comments, I'm sure a converter can be made in a couple of days at most.
It remains to be seen how much interest this gathers. I mean, a vanilla SMF 2.0 doesn't exactly have the tools to make a proper blog system.

Your converted forum looks very nice! Could you please consider making a converter from Wordpress? I am sure that many many people will enjoy this, as Wordpress is the most popular blogging tool in the world, and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. :)
I just think that people gave up when they saw nothing mentioned about a Wordpress converter.

I am very impatiently waiting to launch my converted Wordpress > SMF forum. I have been working on this for over a week and i thought up the long way of doing this (probably the only way do this, at this time?), by converting Wordpress to Drupal and then to SMF. A Drupal to SMF converter exists but it has a LOT of bugs and despite having tried everything, it doesn't convert the topics and posts to SMF.

Nao, i would much appreciate if you could explain to me how to manually convert my Wordpress blog to SMF, like you have so splendidly done for your site. :D
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 07, 2010, 06:25:37 PM
Quote from: sharks on June 07, 2010, 01:08:05 PM
Unfortunately, no such thing exists at this time. It would be extremely useful though, as most of the world use Wordpress, and the rest is just on the waiting list to move from Blogger to Wordpress. Wordpress doesn't offer the superior interactivity of a full-fledged forum, so many people seeking to extend their offerings to their members, will most probably consider shifting to SMF.
That's a possibility. Now I've evaluated WP a couple of months ago to see if it had become more interesting than the 2005 version -- and I ended up hating it even more. I'm definitely too used to the SMF style...

QuoteYour converted forum looks very nice!
Thanks.

QuoteCould you please consider making a converter from Wordpress?
I'm afraid I can't confirm that... I could consider it, but:
1/ I only made one converter in the past (Coppermine to SMG/Aeva Media), and it was because I needed it for myself. In the end, it seemed to be flawed because some people were experiencing crashes when upgrading. Let's just say it hasn't convinced me that I'm very good at doing converters.
2/ Basically, I need to need something, before I'll do it. It's hard for me to undertake a large project without at least some interest on my side. Currently, I have no point in doing that converter. Even if I were paid to do it, well...

QuoteI am sure that many many people will enjoy this, as Wordpress is the most popular blogging tool in the world, and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. :)
Well, that's because people don't try other solutions.
It's just like noisen: it's the best blogging platform you could dream of. (Well, maybe not, but any SMF addict would tend to agree at least. It's a shared philosophy.) Still, I'm not advertising it, so no one even knows they can create their own blogs over there (or forums, for that matter.)

I wish for SMF 2.1 to incorporate a large section of my custom changes, so that people can also start running blogging platforms etc. I will seriously consider doing it when we start working on v2.1. (I'll have to convince the team first, of course. It's not a given.)

QuoteI just think that people gave up when they saw nothing mentioned about a Wordpress converter.
Possibly. But when you're a programmer, you never take a "no can do" for granted.

QuoteI am very impatiently waiting to launch my converted Wordpress > SMF forum. I have been working on this for over a week and i thought up the long way of doing this (probably the only way do this, at this time?), by converting Wordpress to Drupal and then to SMF. A Drupal to SMF converter exists but it has a LOT of bugs and despite having tried everything, it doesn't convert the topics and posts to SMF.
Same answer -- I don't know anything about Drupal so I couldn't help.

QuoteNao, i would much appreciate if you could explain to me how to manually convert my Wordpress blog to SMF, like you have so splendidly done for your site. :D
As I said... I exported my database to a SQL file, and then developed a small Delphi (Object Pascal) Win32 program to take that file and convert it to another SQL file in the SMF format. It's certainly a strange way of doing it, but I didn't know a thing about PHP at the time.
I've been looking for my source code, but can't find it. I'm pretty sure I still have it somewhere, but... I would have to find its filename first! I tried looking into my *.pas and *.dpr file database from 2005, but even then it has thousands of entries and I couldn't find anything, except for the XML to SQL converter I developed to convert my text-file-based news site for Kyodai Mahjongg into a SMF board. Well, even with that source code, it's not particularly helpful for WordPress stuff...
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: belly on June 09, 2010, 09:05:36 AM
Unfortunatly GuYs no idea for this. Thanks
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 11, 2010, 11:36:15 AM
Oh well... :(

Thanks for trying, Nao...

That means i'm stuck with Blogger or Wordpress and i can't have a forum yet, until i can find a converter or some way to do it myself. I'm even less knowledgeable than you when handling php and stuff.

I know it's not quite right to ask this... but would it be possible for me convert to SMF through a long-winded series of conversions via other platforms? Or convert to another forum platform first and then convert to SMF?

For example, the only way i've found (there might be more, but i don't know) is to convert my Blogger blog (which has over 4000 posts) to Wordpress and then to Drupal and then to SMF. It took me a whole day struggling with this and i finally managed to convert my blog to Drupal. But then the last step of the conversion from Drupal to SMF converter doesn't work!! :(
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 11, 2010, 11:41:29 AM
You should post a separate bug report mentioning that the Drupal converter is broken. I suppose you'll get an update from the converter's author.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Norv on June 11, 2010, 11:46:50 AM
Please do take into account also to post a converter request, in case you didn't already. (http://custom.simplemachines.org/converter_request.php)
I have no timeframe as to when it can be looked into, however, unfortunately.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 11, 2010, 12:52:33 PM
Lol, never even seen that page before... How do we access it in the first place?

WP is already in it.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 11, 2010, 01:03:06 PM
@Nao I have already replied to the Drupal converter official topic, and no answer.

@Norv The request to convert from Wordpress to SMF already exists, so i have added myself to the notify list.
Converting from Blogger to SMF or Wordpress to SMF is the same problem, as there exist no converters that can do that. And converting from Blogger to Wordpress is easy, by using the Import function inside Wordpress. So, i think that ultimately, given the very limited resources that the SMF support team has to offer, we should opt for the more popular option by creating only one converter, either from Blogger or from Wordpress, whichever is easier to do.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 11, 2010, 01:21:19 PM
Wordpress would be the logical one, I guess.

If only, we should be able to have a converter that *only* does posts and comments. (i.e. doesn't need to reproduce folder structure/media files, import plugins or things like that.)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 11, 2010, 01:31:23 PM
Yes, that is exactly what i am looking for! I just want to convert my posts and comments. And maybe convert all the contributors who made these posts. All other non-posters do not need to be converted. The main objective would be to gather only the raw content from my big Wordpress blog 4000+ posts, and then dump it all into an SMF container. I do not care about converting plugins, etc. Once i get my blog's content on SMF, all the fantastic SMF modifications that i've seen will be more than enough to make me completely forget about Wordpress! The default installation of SMF is already much more advanced than Wordpress anyway.

Hopefully we don't have to keep wondering about this for too long. I am willing to provide my server, my wordpress installation, and SMF test installation, etc in order to initiate or accelerate the development of this extremely useful converter.

Nowadays, most community sites are either blog or forum types. To me, the best of both would be Wordpress and SMF. So, converting from Wordpress to the better one, is not really such a far-fetched idea.
Cross fingers to see this necessity become reality! ;)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 11, 2010, 01:35:06 PM
Posts + Comments + Member list (I forgot about that.)
What else...?
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 11, 2010, 01:44:34 PM
I would be very satisfied with the converted posts + comments + member list. But i believe that it would be incredibly helpful if you could retain the converted posts formatting, by substituting the HTML font, image and URL tags used in Wordpress with BBC tags, so that all the text customizations and images added to the blog posts, are also carried over to their individual forum topics. HTML break tags are also used a lot in the blog posts to change to the next line and paragraph tags also, so these should also be converted to their respective BBC tags.

If some HTML tags don't have their BBC equal, then they should be dropped while parsing through the blog posts, otherwise they will appear inside the forum topics and ruin the appearance of the topic, which will have to be edited manually for each and every topic.
The objective is to also minimize the amount of topic editing involved after the conversion to SMF. Creating new boards and categories is no hassle at all. But having to edit each of the 4000+ converted forum topics is going to make me hesitate before taking the plunge into SMF.

For example, if you just convert the blog post to the forum topic, without replacing the tags, then the forum topic will look messy, with HTML codes all over it and it would require manual editing for each of the 4000 topics converted from my blog.

That is really all that matters when converting a blog. All the blog plugins functionalities can easily be substituted by installing SMF's own more advanced modifications.


Here are further ideas for the converter:

- In the converter screen, you could specify which board ID on the existing SMF forum installation, to dump all the converted blog posts. If that is not possible, then it doesn't matter, as long as the posts are converted into a single board to make managing all these new topics easier.

- Allow the contributors (those who made the blog posts) to keep their own individual active forum username after the conversion, meaning, do not show them as a deleted user on the SMF forum. It would be very useful if you could allow the converted blog contributors to login on the SMF forum. Converting their blog passwords is not crucial, assuming an SMF forum admin can reset their access, so that their post count is retained from the blog and they can still increment their post count by continuing to post on the SMF forum.

- Allow the option to retain the date of post from each post, and allow this to be carried over with the converted blog post.

-  At this time, preferably make it for SMF 1.1.x as it's the stable release. But if it's easier for you to make the converter for SMF 2.0 then i wouldn't be any less grateful.

When you think you are done, i will test the converter for you and let you know if there are any bugs, etc.

If any of the above ideas are going to take too long to implement into the converter, then i think it would be better to leave it to the 2.0 version of the converter. :)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Norv on June 11, 2010, 01:59:20 PM
Agree. Nice discussion here, Nao and sharks, thanks for thinking it over.

I assume that if users have avatars, those should be imported and copied as well.
Permissions to blogs, maybe, I don't know.
Definitely converting/dropping some tags would not be a problem.
We have converters, can't remember right now the name... along with bbpress, another forum plugin for wordpress, which I think shared the same users as wordpress, anyway it's possible that the members table and maybe additional data from wordpress is already done in at least one of our converters.

I still have no time frame as when it is possible to look into it..., but I hope we will when we can.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 11, 2010, 02:26:10 PM
Converting avatars is just a bonus to the whole conversion. It's not a requirement at an early stage of the converter's development, but it will decrease the amount of unnecessary work after converting, as members will not have to edit their forum profiles to add their avatars.

The perfect conversion would be to start using the SMF forum right away, or with minimal forum changes, such as creating new categories and moving posts.

I'm originally coming from Blogger => Wordpress => SMF?
Converting to Wordpress is easy. So, we can assume everyone is coming from Wordpress.
When i had set the permissions in Wordpress, after the Blogger import, there wasn't much to configure, unlike SMF.
I think converting the Wordpress user permissions should be simply along the 3 main default SMF membership groups; admin, global moderator and regular members.

To simplify the task of converting, all blog members should be reset to the regular member rank on SMF. I realize now that i will first have to create an admin account on the SMF forum with a different username that doesn't already exist in the blog database, otherwise it would be overwritten during the conversion and i would be left with a converted forum but without an admin account to manage the forum.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Norv on June 11, 2010, 02:30:11 PM
The way our converters work, all data of this kind (members in SMF, for example) would be overwritten anyway. However, that should not be a big problem, if you really remain without admin (which, as I said, IMHO the converter should not let you, it should handle it), you can run a little query in the SMF database to set an admin user.

Nao: afaik you can access the converter request page only from the Downloads > Converters page ... I'm not sure if there's another place, that's what I always do, hah.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 11, 2010, 02:41:39 PM
Thanks for the hint, Norv. So, this makes converting members even easier, as i do not have to worry about losing admin access on the converted forum.

Converting member profiles would be another bonus, such as their password, email, personal text, etc.

Blog posts with categories assigned, should have the conversion option to be filtered into their own separate forum boards, bearing the name of each original category, by default.

Blog pages could also be converted and posted individually inside their own forum topic, in a different forum category, to separate them from the normal converted blog posts.

I will use this converter on a new installation of SMF, so i do not mind if everything is overwritten with converted data from the blog.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: navinram on June 16, 2010, 01:08:56 AM
This is just what i want right now. I really hope a great person would come up with a converter, if possible! :D

I have several wordpress blogs that i think would be super if it could be converted to SMF!!
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 16, 2010, 02:18:07 AM
WP Mu, WP 3.0 or just several blogs?

BTW the converter should be made for *what* version? 3.0 seems the most logical?
(I'm not saying I'm doing it... I'm just gathering data.)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Norv on June 16, 2010, 04:17:47 AM
Nao, if you want to look into making a converter, if only to estimate how/how long it can be made, you may want to note:
- the convert.php file is used for all converters. It parses the specific .sql, i.e., vbulletin_to_smf.sql, phpbb_to_smf.sql etc etc. and executes their instructions
- the sql file contains sections in which the job is done, i.e., the members section, the topics section, membergroups section etc.
- every bit of its format matters, the convert.php is very unforgiving :). Including the number of "---" used as separators and " " used as separators etc. (it parses the sections according to them).
- to create another converter, you only need to add another sql file of this sort. Copying an existing one and adapt it might be a good option considering the format issues, and also that, as said above, I'm sure we already have a couple of Wordpress forums plugins converters (and I think at least one was using the Wordpress members table) so reusing that one may save time.

If you're in the mood to compare a few converter sql files for different software, you'll see the patterns.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 16, 2010, 07:13:33 AM
I just checked on Wordpress.org and the latest Wordpress version is 3.0 RC3 (the final version should be available within a few weeks as they're saying it is their last RC release) but there is no problem to upgrade any wordpress blog to 3.0 as they provide easy update files for that, so i think it would be better to do the conversion from Wordpress 3.0 unless you are more comfortable working with WP 2.9.x? But definitely the converted format should be to SMF 1.1.x (as it's currently the most stable) instead of SMF 2.0 RC3.

I wish i had the skills to understand what you are saying, oh wise Norv! :D
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: hachik0 on June 16, 2010, 08:48:27 AM
Oh, but i thought this existed already? It sure would be very useful... My friend has a WP blog and i wanted to ask her to combine her blog with my SMF forum. Importing her WP posts into a separate board on my SMF 1.1.11 forum, would be the best way to convince her i guess. :D
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 16, 2010, 09:12:47 AM
hachik0, you could also try out the intermediary conversion of moving from Wordpress to Drupal and then from Drupal to SMF
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=241557.0

But personally, i haven't had any luck there, as the Drupal > SMF converter is stuffed with bugs and it appears like the developer has abandoned it for some time now. It would require a proper revision to eliminate all the errors during the conversion process. So, i think the best way is to wait until the developers consider our request to make a direct converter from WP to SMF.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on June 17, 2010, 01:44:24 PM
Finally, WordPress 3.0 Final has just been released:
http://wordpress.org/download/

Now, i hope we can see something of the fabled WP to SMF converter??? :(
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on June 17, 2010, 02:34:51 PM
I'm not sure it'll have an influence. At least not on me ;)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on July 01, 2010, 12:00:22 PM
Does WordPress have an export function, like something in XML or with MovableType...?
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on July 03, 2010, 05:51:55 PM
Yes, it does. Here is the description from Wordpress admin panel Export option:

Export

When you click the button below WordPress will create an XML file for you to save to your computer.

This format, which we call WordPress eXtended RSS or WXR, will contain your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags.

Once you've saved the download file, you can use the Import function on another WordPress site to import this site.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on July 03, 2010, 06:29:37 PM
Hmm... Maybe I'll look into this, then.
Too bad it's not MovableType format. Apparently this one is used by a large number of blogging platforms.
(http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/docs/mtimport.html)
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on July 06, 2010, 07:32:08 PM
When you say "this one is used by a large number of blogging platforms." i think you mean the minority compared to the dominance of WordPress. :D All we need is an SMF converter to import WordPress posts. The rest of the blogging platforms can already be converted to WordPress anyway.

But i think this topic is now probably already defunct of purpose, as there exists a WordPress plugin that will do the conversion perfectly fine (i have tested this several times and in fact, i am using it on my current successfully converted forum) from WordPress posts to SMF topics, even though it currently only supports export to SMF 2.0, but the genius developer has promised to make it work for SMF 1.1 soon:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=387438.0
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on July 07, 2010, 02:44:12 AM
Quote from: sharks on July 06, 2010, 07:32:08 PM
When you say "this one is used by a large number of blogging platforms." i think you mean the minority compared to the dominance of WordPress. :D
I'm not so sure... Blogger.com is the #1 platform system I believe. (Wouldn't care to check, though.)
It's running on a custom Google server system and it's actually one of the 5 most used servers in the world -- even though it's only used on that website!

QuoteAll we need is an SMF converter to import WordPress posts. The rest of the blogging platforms can already be converted to WordPress anyway.
Yeah, that does seem likely indeed.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content

QuoteBut i think this topic is now probably already defunct of purpose, as there exists a WordPress plugin that will do the conversion perfectly fine (i have tested this several times and in fact, i am using it on my current successfully converted forum) from WordPress posts to SMF topics, even though it currently only supports export to SMF 2.0, but the genius developer has promised to make it work for SMF 1.1 soon:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=387438.0
Couldn't you... Tell me earlier? Like, when you posted here on July 3?

And no, it's not "defunct of purpose"... We're talking about an official converter, aren't we? I don't know the official SMF policy, but wouldn't they rather import from a WXR file, which is the official way of doing it? Or at least have a mod that doesn't encourage one to buy anyone an alcoholic beverage? ;D
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on July 07, 2010, 09:20:32 AM
Quote from: Nao on July 07, 2010, 02:44:12 AM
And no, it's not "defunct of purpose"... We're talking about an official converter, aren't we? I don't know the official SMF policy, but wouldn't they rather import from a WXR file, which is the official way of doing it? Or at least have a mod that doesn't encourage one to buy anyone an alcoholic beverage? ;D

I'm glad you managed to realize that. That is also the same reason why i didn't inform you earlier as the approach to the conversion is different. You are thinking of converting into SMF, while the other WP plugin is exporting from its platform.
Even then, there should be no need for me to inform you, as you should have come across the WP to SMF plugin post, as it's always been roaming on the first page of this board's message index.
As for the beer, i think it's optional. :D At least, it's not like the Charter fees that SMF used to force (and ultimately failed) on everyone to be able to download the latest 2.0 RC. ;)

Either way, i hope something worthwhile eventually comes out of this thread.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on July 07, 2010, 10:39:12 AM
Quote from: sharks on July 07, 2010, 09:20:32 AM
I'm glad you managed to realize that.
Realize what? That alcohol is bad for health?

QuoteThat is also the same reason why i didn't inform you earlier as the approach to the conversion is different.
I'm not the smf conversion specialist, so I couldn't say whether it's considered 'canonical' or not.

QuoteEven then, there should be no need for me to inform you, as you should have come across the WP to SMF plugin post, as it's always been roaming on the first page of this board's message index.
Err... Actually, I don't read the forum much. Way too many topics. If someone wants to point me to a thread, they should PM me, or at least post in a topic I've already posted it (because then I'll see the topic in my Unread Replies link.)

QuoteAs for the beer, i think it's optional. :D At least, it's not like the Charter fees that SMF used to force (and ultimately failed) on everyone to be able to download the latest 2.0 RC. ;)
- Charter fees are used to pay for the server. Do you honestly believe a server that runs 2.5 million posts is cheap? Do you think it'd be realistic to expect the SMF team to not only spend their nights working on SMF, but also paying for hosting out of their own pockets?
- Charter membership is not related to premium downloads. SMF uses charter members as a 'smaller subset' of the user community to release new versions and see them in action in production. If everything goes well, then the version gets released shortly after that.
- Charter membership is for people who don't know how (or don't have time) to contribute to the community. If you're active in the community, you'll most likely get access to nightly builds as everyone else (that is, even more than what charter members get.)
- And finally: no one in the SMF team gets paid (except maybe for Amacythe, I still don't know about her status), so we don't get any of these donations. So you can't accuse the team of trying to steal money from you.
If you're not happy with the team anyway, why are you so adamant about switching to SMF?

QuoteEither way, i hope something worthwhile eventually comes out of this thread.
I'm afraid your comment wasn't a likely candidate for worthiness.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on July 07, 2010, 11:24:30 AM
Hey, i'm just stating the facts about what happened with the Charter fees. Whatever brought that concept to fruition or whatever happened to cause it to be canceled eventually, is not the point here and i have no interest in the internal company matters, other than making the software better. I never stated that i'm unhappy with SMF or the team. But i am indeed extremely disappointed with your unwillingness to do anything without a personal reason that would benefit your own interests. If you are never going to do any work on this converter, then why keep replying in this thread?? This thread and request for a converter has been ongoing since quite a long time now. I sincerely think that you have no idea how to do this converter, but hey neither do i. So, no shame in admitting that. ;)

Quote from: Nao on July 07, 2010, 10:39:12 AM
I'm afraid your comment wasn't a likely candidate for worthiness.
Ever since you first replied in this thread, you have shown only passing interest, so it doesn't change anything at all.
There was no hope to begin with. IMHO, this converter is sadly never going to happen anyway.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on July 07, 2010, 11:39:26 AM
Quote from: sharks on July 07, 2010, 11:24:30 AM
Hey, i'm just stating the facts about what happened with the Charter fees. Whatever brought that concept to fruition or whatever happened to cause it to be canceled eventually,
It has never been cancelled...

Quoteis not the point here
Oh yes? Then why did you bring it up?

Quoteand i have no interest in the internal company matters, other than making the software better. I never stated that i'm unhappy with SMF or the team. But i am indeed extremely disappointed with your unwillingness to do anything without a personal reason that would benefit your own interests.
Because what... I'm your personal lackey?
I don't know you. Why should I be helping you out of pure kindness when I'm already spending my entire days working for the community? Are you more worthy of my attention than the entire rest of the community?

Where are *you* when I need you? What do *YOU* contribute to the community right now, and what have you contributed to it in the last 3 years? Oh, let me think... Right, you're new to SMF! So no one can expect you to have been working for the community for the last 3 years! How outrageous of me to think that you won't do it starting from right now...
Of course, if you look into most of the community leaders' first posts, you'll always see a willingness to help, rather than to come and ask question. My first post on simplemachines.org was to share a hack I made to get new post counts next to topic titles. Then I disappeared, and the year after, I came back with... a hack to make a threaded view mode for topics. So... What have your first posts been about? Community contribution? No? They *you* shouldn't be complaining that I'm not dealing with you. I'm not your ******.
Don't you realize that I've already spent a lot of time replying your posts and keeping these threads alive *for your own sake*? Because I do not, and will never have a WordPress blog to convert to SMF for myself... And I still spent some time to try and help you and seek other developers' attention on the matter.
And your comment on me? I'm *selfish*? You're kidding me?

Out of my sight now... Unless you apologize, you'll never get a single more reply from me.

QuoteEver since you first replied in this thread, you have shown only passing interest, so it doesn't change anything at all.
There was no hope to begin with. IMHO, this converter is never going to happen anyway.
Probably not by ME, and certainly not for YOU! That's for sure.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail on July 07, 2010, 11:53:02 AM
Blog to forum. A nice and hot topic. I thought we have blog mods before which can convert or import forum to a blog like page. May be those who are in need can see how the code works and use it as a mean to convert blog to forum.

The active one is here (SimpleBlog Mod): http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=793
The PMXBlog for SMF (I don't have the link as it may not be supported in SMF).
Lastly, the no-longer-supported one can also be referred to which is here: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=354750.msg2411572#msg2411572.

They all work as blogs and IMHO could somehow be used as a guide to convert blog to SMF blog if cannot be converted to SMF directly.

Edited: I missed this one: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=387438.0
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: sharks on July 07, 2010, 11:58:33 AM
Quote from: Nao on July 07, 2010, 11:39:26 AM
Probably not by ME, and certainly not for YOU! That's for sure.

I have been using SMF for over 3 years now and always recommend it to everyone, but unfortunately i never got the chance to study programming. I always wanted to, ever since i was inspired by discovering SMF and all the different modifications, but never had the personal means to accomplish that in my college years. I bought some self-learning texts, but couldn't quite drill through past the beginner stage. So, forgive me if i am *stupid* by your standards for not being able to contribute hacks or other valuable code to the SMF project.

As for the rest, i think this discussion is hopeless.

I wasn't specifically requesting you to help. I just hoped that you would, since you were replying and asking for info, which i always tried my best to provide. But as it turned out, you never helped and now i'm being shoved around by an SMF bully (YOU!).

Farewell and my sincere apologies for not being a wiz at SMF programming, oh mighty Consulting Developer!


BTW, thanks ⎝⏠⏝⏠⎠ for your hints, but unfortunately i do not have the skills to join these bits and pieces of code together to make a converter. If i knew how to do that, i would have released the converter a long time ago for the entire community to use.
Personally, i have no use for a converter now since i have used the WP to SMF converter when it was first released (i have helped the developer of that WP plugin during the beta testing with my own blog backup, which allowed the plugin to be improved at a drastic speed) and my forum is fully operational. But i have been replying here in the hopes that others like me may have a simpler way of converting their blogs.


EDIT: After thinking about this thoroughly, i have this to say to Nao, before i finally swing myself out.

Quote
Hey man

I don't know why you get angry so fast, but i was not trying to pick up a fight with you or anyone else for that matter.

I love SMF more than any other forum software. FYI, i have spent the past long years of my life, daily for many hours on my SMF forum. So, you could say that i have spent more time with SMF than with my gf. :)

Anyway, i just wanted to make it clear that i do not hold any bad feelings against you. If the SMF team appointed you as a staff member, then you must be smart. :) If you do not want to help me, then it is OK. I completely respect that. It is your choice. This forum and software and everything else here is provided for free, which is a miracle in itself. And i certainly appreciate that, along with the millions of other people who use SMF everyday.

So, good luck with whatever projects you are working on and thank you for all the code work you have already done in the past.

Peace.
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Nao 尚 on July 07, 2010, 06:25:52 PM
Okay, let's forget it, but be careful of what you say next time. There are people hard at work behind this, and even when someone seems to be talking to a wall, there's still a brain at work most of the time!
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Naijaland Forum on October 10, 2018, 01:23:27 AM
pleas how can i convert my blogger blog to smf
please any idea?
Title: Re: How to convert a "blogger" blog into SMF forum?
Post by: Kindred on October 10, 2018, 10:40:12 AM
This thread is 8 years old...

at this time - you still can not...   and, actually, even the blogger -> wordpress converter has not been updated for over 2 years.

(well, to be clear, if you get the database contents of the blogger site, I suppose you COULD write you own importer. However, no one has done so in over 8 years)