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Data Export

What should the ideal data export feature look like?

  • Export all your data (yes, all of it), at any time
    • Your content
    • All metadata related to that content
    • Your account info / settings / site preferences / etc.
    • Any logs of your activity that are accessible to you
    • Other?
  • Multiple formats available; all of these that are appropriate:
    • JSON
    • XML
    • CSV
  • Conveniently packaged/distributed
    • Available as a .zip / .tar.gz / whatever
  • Convenient to acquire
    • Just click a button in your profile/account view
    • Also available via API endpoint
  • When exporting data, any choices automatically made during export, or quirks of the export process, ought to be specified as additional metadata
    • Example: if exporting comments, they will be (should be!) provided in both Markdown and HTML format; supposing that Markdown is available for some, but had to be synthesized from the HTML for others, this fact should be noted in an additional metadata field