Yahoo groups files...

[Hash1 10]

Hi everyone! 

 

Does this happen to anyone else?

 

You go to the Chip's Challenge yahoo group and click on any .dat or .ccl file, old or new, and it just says Document Not Found. It happens to every .dat or .ccl file, and it's annoying, well at least it happens to me on my computer. Does anyone know if it's something temporary, or something's wrong? Or does it only happen to me? 

 

In the meantime, I'll try on a different computer, or try to download levels from a different site (if I can find one). 

 

 

[jblewis 328]

I believe this happens when you leave your browser window open for too long before clicking on a file.

[Hash1 10]

Well that's odd...

 

I'll try again and hope it works this time...

[James 196]

If you access a Yahoo! file by a direct link:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/chips_challenge/files/1234.dat

then the link will always work.

 

However, you have to access that direct link by yourself, since it is not the link that Yahoo! normally presents to you. If you take a close look at the bottom left of your browser window when you're hovering over a Yahoo! file link, or just right click on the link and hit "copy link location" and paste it somewhere to take a look at it, you will notice your Yahoo! link actually looks something like this: 

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/DEsaUk96ld3lXT_RYEznfs90FaMohf02xuzbugdRQEH-1d-fSIM65seE-F7-S4bB2dxl3VbdP7Se84w4-3-YO1vhotUNdKI/1234.dat

The "garbage" part of that URL filled with seemingly random ASCII characters changes every 2-3 minutes or so, presumably to make sure you're downloading the file from the latest version of the group page. (In fact, that URL has already changed twice since I started writing this message.)

 

End result: if you load the page and take a while to look for the file you want, the URL might have changed meanwhile and you'll be stuck with a page full of dead links. If you want to guarantee access to a file (e.g. sending the link to someone) make sure to use the "direct link" format posted above.

Edited August 25, 2013 by James

[Hash1 10]

Yeah that must've been it. I opened yahoo on my account, closed the browser, opened it again, then opened yahoo again, then with the account already logged in, I hit groups, hit the Chip's Challenge official group, then downloaded the levelsets I wanted as fast as I could and it worked. Thanks to you both 

[M11k4 238]

Wow, James, you know everything!

[James 196]

dafuq?

[mobius 58]

is it just me or has the yahoo group system changed drastically recently, suddenly. For some reason when I go threre, I can find any messages since last May and it says I'm not authorized to access any files.

[random 8 223]

Same here. Isn't that wonderful?

[Michael 116]

It must be something on your end. I can access the files without any issues...

[Flareon350 601]

Same here. 

[mobius 58]

the latest message is from May 24 and before that is one from Chuck in 2012 ???

 

I wonder if this has anything to do with when we signed up. But the message thing just seems like some kind of glitch.

 

Plus, what's with the picture of soccer and tennis balls? Put some CC related pics up there.

[random 8 223]

So i go to groups.yahoo.com and sign in there, and i see this message to the right:
 

Thank You !

Thank you for being a great customer.

We made changes to your Y! Groups experience. Take a quick tour.

Product Tour

 

Doesn't seem like it's just "something on my end," especially after clicking the "product tour" button. Also, i can look at just about everything except the files, including the links -- there's quite a bit of spam in that section.

 

After some researching in the help section, i find this, which says i have to contact the group owner to regain access to the files section, and this, which says i can't revert to an older version of Yahoo Groups, so i'm stuck with getting permission.

 

Time to send an email, i guess.

[random 8 223]

Update: Chuck posted in the Yahoo group:

 

Hello Yahoo Chip's Challenge members.

We have noticed that there are currently problems with uploading
and downloading files.
One of the members alerted me, and we are trying to figure out
what's going on.
When this gets sorted out, I will post an update.

Chuck Sommerville

 

I just checked several minutes ago and i can access the files again.   I guess i don't need to send that email anymore.

[mobius 58]

I got it too. It said I needed to do some configuring or something but apparently I don't. It seems to work for me know. At least I can access the links section.

[pillowpc2001 71]

Anyone know if any of the recent Yahoo group changes would have affected linking to a file?  It seems that linking directly to a file (for example, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chips_challenge/files/Levelset.dat) no longer works.  Is there an option that can be toggled by the admin to turn this back on, or is Yahoo blocking this now?  If it's the latter, guess I have some work to do with my level list... 

[mmoraleta 75]

I was interested into playing ArchieP1.dat but the problem is on the Yahoo groups end so I cant play it. Is the Yahoo group down or something?