DarrenBarefoot.com

the nice people at the company might think that by getting rid of your data they are doing you a favor. it’s a way of letting you know that whatever data you had in that account is not going to find its way into the wrong hands once you’ve moved on and forgotten about it. gone is the same as safe.

some of the other websites you mentioned may hold onto your acount forever. but, those are different types of accounts with a different types of information.

the number of jedi mind tricks your online character can do is not as important as, let’s say, the names and numbers of your clients and info about who’s in charge of what in your office and how fast you take to complete tasks as a group.

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Darren, I’ve recently tested ActiveCollab, a “Basecamp-like” project management tool that you can download and install on your host for free. Requires php5. Might help with your post-Basecamp hangover.

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I actually like the idea that your data (especially sensitive stuff like project details) is deleted when you close your account; it’s actually one of the things I check before using a web-based app. The idea that an entity with whom I no longer have any sort of contractual relationship still has their copy of my work isn’t something that fills me with confidence.

The flipside is that I also expect to be able to export my work to some sort of open format to use elsewhere if an app isn’t for me. The fact that you can’t export from Basecamp is most disturbing — that’s like saying that it’s not your data on their servers, it’s theirs, and you can’t get at it unless you keep paying. No bonus points if you can guess whose behaviour this reminds me of.

Admittedly, I don’t use a lot of web apps — this is largely due to my techno-curmudgeonliness and not trusting a lot of these operations, but also because I can’t always count on having a network connection when I’m out in the field.

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I should clarify that apparently you were, at some point, able to export your data. It’s unclear whether you could export your data up to last week, and they’ve just disabled this featured for a few days to upgrade it, or whether the feature has been disabled for two years…

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I need to add that your Basecamp data also includes uploaded files, not just text. There are caps on the individual and total file sizes, but it does add up much more quickly than keystrokes, that’s for sure.

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Looks like you are/were able to export some but not all of what you had stored. From Everything Basecamp:

Note: You can export messages and comments — you can not export to-do lists, milestones, or contacts from Basecamp.

Um, all right then. The stuff you can export is exported “in XML format.” No indication of what XML dialect they use or of tools that can work with the exported data (as opposed to rolling your own or getting a guru to make one). All that feel-good language in the Basecamp manifesto is sounding a bit hollow right about now.

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Darren: Even though there was (and will be?) an export capability, I’m still bothered by the fact that, it only exported part of your data — and it’s unclear whether the data is in a form that can be reused somewhat painlessly. Setting aside any real or imagined ‘Web 2.0′ ideals, it still feels like lock-in.

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There is a basecamp API: http://www.basecamphq.com/api/

So there’s a market opportunity here for someone to simply write an exporter.

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Boris: Well, you may be able to export your data, but most people couldn’t. I could pay somebody to export my data or build an exporter, I suppose, but that’s more money or effort than I want to expend.

Part of my point, actually, was that their response to my enquiry wasn’t particularly helpful. If they’d said “you’ll be able to export your data in a couple of weeks”, then I probably wouldn’t have written this post at all. As it stands, I don’t know when I’ll be able to get my data out.

Like I say, I really like the app, and bear the Basecamp folks no ill will. They’ve just made life slightly more difficult for me.

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I’ve been making small business databases for twenty years. I’ve made many web-based database applications. I have never, ever found any use for an export of a database except as a backup.

The reason is that there, as much as one might like it, no two databases are alike. Even when I start with a previous project, the new one changes enough so that importing data would be meaningless.

I am confident that if you had been able to export from Basecamp, the file would sit on your computer forever but would never be useful.

I say relax and make sure that info that is generally useful is also stored somewhere else.

tqii

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Don’t you feel that your notice: “Pinging (also known as ‘trackbacks’) is currently not allowed” is similar to web apps that keep your info? (Except in the opposite direction, of course.)

The web apps don’t want to waste their time returning what’s yours, and non-pinging comments won’t return the favor of paying attention to what you say — or will, but only on their terms.

There is a (small) similarity. Give me and * you.

Although you can see it the other way, that a comments section is an opportunity (subsidised, in a way) to express one’s self. But still…

sabadash

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[...] The biggy is with sites like Amazon, eBay, BaseCamp, Stikipad, browser-only email, and other collaborative sites where the assets only exist on the service’s servers. What happens when I want to my assets I want to leave? I see that there was export functionality, but ‘this feature is currently unavailable’ -… [...]