Now you can read your favorite Drabblecast story!

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Okay, created a Google Fusion table on Google Drive.

Anyone can see/read it by clicking that link. PM me with your Google email or userID if you want to edit it.

[Varda]

I've added a dozen-ish entries. A couple of notes:

1. I'm including all episodes, even the ones without drabbles, on the list so that we don't end up doing double work later, wondering if an episode with a drabble got skipped.

2. This unique chicken is working in reverse, starting with most recent episodes, as I know drabbles didn't become a thing until later in the 'Cast's debauched youth. Plus it's always more fun to count down to things, amiright?

3. ASID, if I'm doing it wrong, now's your chance to correct me. I'm leaving entries blank if I can't find the data, or if it's missing. Let me know if you prefer something more detailed ("not on forums", etc.).

4. As an added service, I'll note any major typos in the main episode entries in the "remarks" column. Just because I'm that anal.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Looks like a good start, thanks. Doing every episode helps because, believe it or not, almost all of the forum posts don't have a direct link to the episode page.

Only thing I'd change:
If an episode does not have a drabble, it would be helpful, to confirm that by setting the drabble title to "no drabble". It's fine to leave the other stuff blank.

Gotta dash again, but I should have a script for you by tomorrow.

Again, thanks for doing this.

[Varda]

No problem - glad to help! I'll add the "no drabble" tag, and glad to know that a full episode list will tidy up all the data. Always good to knock out extra cleanup as a bonus.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

I put a Greasemonkey/userscript at http://twitfic.net/utilities/DrabbleDetailsScrape.user.js. It works with both FF and Chrome.

To use it, install Tampermonkey on your Chrome browser, then click on the link above.

The script fires on DC episode pages and scrapes whatever relevant data is there, to make it easier for you to copy.

For example, if you go to http://www.drabblecast.org/2013/06/01/drabblecast-284-turning-point/, you will see a "Scrape" button:



Click that button (or press the F9 key) and a dialog will popup with all the relevant information that the script could find for that episode. EG:



Verify the info (It's scraping from pages that can vary in untested ways), and fill in the missing bits as best you can. Then paste into the Google table.

---

Version 2 of the script will allow you to submit the form directly to the Google table at the press of a button. That's a few days away.

[Varda]

[KeanuReeves]....Whoa.[/KeanuReeves]

Installed and working in under 30 seconds... this is gonna make everything much, much easier. Really appreciate it, ASID. I was just prepared to shrug and accept the masochism of what I'd volunteered for.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Yeah, volunteering can really bite one in the posterior.   Of course, they never tell you what NAVY means until after you've signed up.

Anyway, let me know if the script chokes on any pages or if you want the scraping to fire automatically (or other changes).

That script is version 1. Here's the plan, since I had back-burner intentions to do this kind of cleanup anyway:

1. Script, version 2, adds a button and that dialog becomes a form to post new table entries.
2. Script, version 3, expands the data that is auto collected to include other fields needed to bring the forum posts up to snuff.
3. Once enough data is collected, a Cleanup script will take the info and help me edit the forum posts.
4. {Some TBD process occurs here.}
5. World domination achieved!

The real value is in sussing-out the drabble and author links, since that kind of Google-Fu is hard to automate in a cost-effective way.

Thanks for your masochism work!

[Varda]

Yeah, volunteering can really bite one in the posterior.   Of course, they never tell you what NAVY means until after you've signed up.

Tell me about it! One day you're trying to think up a 6-letter synonym for "bawdy", and the next day you're wearing a Sea Org uniform and worshiping Tom Cruise.

I just had to know what'd happen if I played "Jelly Park" backwards...

(or other changes).

Well, since ya asked...!

From a data entry standpoint, it'd be nice to have the "Drabble Link" field on both the table and the script moved to underneath "Drabble Author Link". That way, I enter and double-check all fields from the main entry first, then go forum-diving for the link without losing my place on the form.

If it's complicated to change it, don't sweat it. Just a personal preference.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

From a data entry standpoint, it'd be nice to have the "Drabble Link" field on both the table and the script moved to underneath "Drabble Author Link". That way, I enter and double-check all fields from the main entry first, then go forum-diving for the link without losing my place on the form.

Done.

Update the script by clicking its install link again.

[Varda]

Much appreciated!

[sandrilde]

I really appreciate this. I sometimes really need to look at the text to fill in some blank that my brain just wouldn't process.