A year ago I was lucky enough to take a year off with my family and travel all over North America. I recorded the trip using Project365. I stopped when the drudgery of work began again and was not aware that if you didn't log in, then you could lose your photos (I have the originals but not the writing or the order).
As per the instructions on the contact page, I have emailed Ross three times but had no response.
Hi @papagee - sorry about that, I never received your emails.
Unfortunately your account was closed a while back due to not being used, unfortunately I have to do that because the cost of hosting unused projects is too much.
There's no way to recover your previous project.
@papagee You might be able to recover the sequence of your photos by looking at the exif info or the dating in your camera. It will probably take some time but at least you'd know when you did what. Sadly, you won't recover the commentary- but it might be fun to relive the trip and record your thoughts about it again.
@Scrivna@Scrivna That's really disappointing. I poured hours into this project hoping that it would be a treasured archive for my kids to look back on and remind them of a trip of a lifetime.
I notice that your information regarding accounts that are not used, is that you email the owner to inform them of the possibility that their project is about to be deleted. This never happened! No email. Nothing - nada!
I know we don't pay for the use of this site but I think you have an ethical responsibility to give folks every possible chance to firstly be aware that there projects have a shelf life (so they can at least duplicate) AND at the very least email them before the delete key is punched. So much time and emotion wasted!
Is there really, really no way of recovering this? Have you exhausted all avenues?
@Scrivna
Ross - have you considered a way for members to be able to order a book of their projects on an annual basis?
I believe that there would be a great interest by members to do this - I for one would love to be able to get a hard copy of my project in the event that anything ever happened to my computer (or me).
It would be a great legacy to leave my family.
And - it could be additional income for you.
@papagee I do believe you're passing blame here and being rather unfair to our host. Photos that are that important to you, and your commentaries regarding them, are your responsibility.
I find it so sad when people leave the site and their albums are gone. I recognize, though, that 365 is not designed as a place to indefinitely store photos and memories. I have followed a few members who stored their 365 projects on other websites, such as snapchat from 2013-2014 who preserved his project at snapchat.weebly.com. I plan to stay active here, but one never knows for certain what tomorrow holds. I think I may begin to explore how I can preserve my project before life intervenes.
@bigugly I was thinking the same thing Paul - anything I consider important and/or special I make sure I save myself - you never know what is going to happen with anything online and need to keep a hard copy or backup of your own. As for reminder emails or the like I have had many go astray over the years.
There is a page on here that outlines all the relevant information for 365 - https://365project.org/support/terms
@papagee I agree it is a shame, I wish I had the billions of dollars Facebook etc have to store data forever, but I’d have to sell my soul and all of your personal data to advertisers to go down that route, and that’s not something I wish to do.
Emails are sent to members before their account is removed, unfortunately email is fickle, especially aggressive spam filters (and Microsoft occasionally outright blocking us) I try my best to get them through, I have no other way of contacting members, maybe I could add a phone number field to. I give an extra few months after the date I tell people their account will be removed as some buffer, but at some point I have to draw a line. If I kept all the old projects around this site would have closed years ago and everyone’s projects and the community would be gone completely, that would be a shame, so I had to make that decision, I wish I didn’t have to, but with many people wanting everything they use on the web for free, it’s hard to keep the lights on.
I have all the database records for your photos, things like the titles and descriptions you gave each day, so I can export that information for you to match up with the backups of your actual photos, would that help? Get in touch at ross@365project.org
@farmreporter I’m going to spend some time building an “export” tool that helps people download all their photos and commentary for archival.
I have looked at physical books but wasn’t able to make anything happen at a reasonable price (books with 365 photos were coming out at hundreds of dollars at cost price). So I think a digital export is more practical.
Thanks for the feedback though
@Scrivna
What a great idea and thank you for looking into an export tool that would help members download their photos and commentary.
That would be invaluable and so helpful for members like myself who tend to use 365 as a diary of our lives.
Thanks for being such an approachable, helpful host for this site Ross - I really don't know how you manage to run this without needed more cash from members! Your export tool sounds like a wonderful idea and I know I would definitely use it. :)
@Scrivna I was just wondering the same. I have lost two (not consecutive years) from 1st January to the 31st December. It is not so much the photographs that I have on Lightroom, but the comments. I would be interested if there is a way to retrieve the information, and certainly support the idea of your 'export' tool with a possible reminder as a full year approaches. I am about to promote 365 Project to new members of my camera club, so seeing my previous projects would be a useful learning tool. Look forward to hearing from you! Maddy
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Unfortunately your account was closed a while back due to not being used, unfortunately I have to do that because the cost of hosting unused projects is too much.
There's no way to recover your previous project.
I notice that your information regarding accounts that are not used, is that you email the owner to inform them of the possibility that their project is about to be deleted. This never happened! No email. Nothing - nada!
I know we don't pay for the use of this site but I think you have an ethical responsibility to give folks every possible chance to firstly be aware that there projects have a shelf life (so they can at least duplicate) AND at the very least email them before the delete key is punched. So much time and emotion wasted!
Is there really, really no way of recovering this? Have you exhausted all avenues?
Ross - have you considered a way for members to be able to order a book of their projects on an annual basis?
I believe that there would be a great interest by members to do this - I for one would love to be able to get a hard copy of my project in the event that anything ever happened to my computer (or me).
It would be a great legacy to leave my family.
And - it could be additional income for you.
There is a page on here that outlines all the relevant information for 365 - https://365project.org/support/terms
Emails are sent to members before their account is removed, unfortunately email is fickle, especially aggressive spam filters (and Microsoft occasionally outright blocking us) I try my best to get them through, I have no other way of contacting members, maybe I could add a phone number field to. I give an extra few months after the date I tell people their account will be removed as some buffer, but at some point I have to draw a line. If I kept all the old projects around this site would have closed years ago and everyone’s projects and the community would be gone completely, that would be a shame, so I had to make that decision, I wish I didn’t have to, but with many people wanting everything they use on the web for free, it’s hard to keep the lights on.
I have all the database records for your photos, things like the titles and descriptions you gave each day, so I can export that information for you to match up with the backups of your actual photos, would that help? Get in touch at ross@365project.org
I have looked at physical books but wasn’t able to make anything happen at a reasonable price (books with 365 photos were coming out at hundreds of dollars at cost price). So I think a digital export is more practical.
Thanks for the feedback though
What a great idea and thank you for looking into an export tool that would help members download their photos and commentary.
That would be invaluable and so helpful for members like myself who tend to use 365 as a diary of our lives.
Thanks for all you do here Ross 👌😁