• Re: [OT] Google Groups ending support for Usenet

    From Metal Guru@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Fri Dec 15 00:26:15 2023
    Justisaur wrote:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means
    no more archive for new content! I figured this day would come.
    Sucks, especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web
    based alternatives? I've never found any.

    Yeah, that's a shame - GG was handy when you needed to search something
    in a pinch.

    AFAIK there are only paid web based clients, EasyNews comes to mind and
    they are excellent (if a bit pricey) specially if you are into
    binaries. Keep an eye out for end of year sales if that's of interest
    to you.

    I'd been using Eternal September (free) with Thunderbird (free) until
    today but have now switched to XanaNews (I know, don't ask) for the
    time being since Thunderbird gets more bloated with every release and
    the UI makes me want to poke my eyes out. But Xananews is not open
    source, so I'm probably going to try lwblat in the coming days.

    --
    Reminder to Evangelicals: As soon as they made a godless, lying,
    lawless womanizing conman their messiah a plague showed up. Just
    sayin'...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Fri Dec 15 08:45:51 2023
    On 14/12/2023 23:20, Justisaur wrote:
    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means no
    more archive for new content! I figured this day would come. Sucks, especially for the archive.


    Yep I still use it on my iPad but I'm not surprised that they are
    removing support. When the actually servers start disappearing then I'll
    be worried.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Fri Dec 15 06:42:28 2023
    Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of
    the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

    On Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 4:26:17?PM UTC-8, Metal Guru wrote:
    Justisaur wrote:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means
    no more archive for new content! I figured this day would come.
    Sucks, especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web
    based alternatives? I've never found any.
    Yeah, that's a shame - GG was handy when you needed to search something
    in a pinch.

    AFAIK there are only paid web based clients, EasyNews comes to mind and
    they are excellent (if a bit pricey) specially if you are into
    binaries. Keep an eye out for end of year sales if that's of interest
    to you.

    I haven't been into binaries since last millennium. Holy Crap $10 a month >for EasyNews! Doesn't look like there are any other web based providers. >There's some that let you download from the web, but I don't see the point.

    I'd been using Eternal September (free) with Thunderbird (free) until
    today but have now switched to XanaNews (I know, don't ask) for the
    time being since Thunderbird gets more bloated with every release and
    the UI makes me want to poke my eyes out. But Xananews is not open
    source, so I'm probably going to try lwblat in the coming days.

    Yeah, I used Eternal September for awhile. I tried Thunderbird, but it's >been probably 10 years. Nothing met the convenience of GG.

    I'm trying to remember what my old program was that I liked way back
    in the day. At least I'll be able to set spam filters I assume, GG doesn't >filter anything and it's been getting bad again the last couple months.

    It might have been xnews, but I think I remember using something
    that wasn't free to buy that was better. Maybe Forte' I'm not sure I want
    to spend $30 on that again, just for here. I'll look into other alternatives.

    Why would you have to shell out again, just use the existing ancient
    version of Agent you have.
    Still using 2.0/32.640 on Eternal September. Works just fine, basic
    usenet hasn't changed really.

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to JAB on Fri Dec 15 09:09:13 2023
    On 12/15/2023 12:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 14/12/2023 23:20, Justisaur wrote:
    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post.   Also this means no >> more archive for new content!  I figured this day would come.  Sucks,
    especially for the archive.


    Yep I still use it on my iPad but I'm not surprised that they are
    removing support. When the actually servers start disappearing then I'll
    be worried.

    Google's usenet archive was always bad. They clearly were trying to set themselves up as Orwell's Ministry of Truth over at least usenet if not
    as much more of the internet as possible.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Fri Dec 15 09:10:22 2023
    On 12/15/2023 7:32 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:20:45 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
    <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means no
    more archive for new content! I figured this day would come. Sucks,
    especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web based
    alternatives? I've never found any.

    Oh no! Without the constant influx of new users from GoogleNews, who
    will revive twenty-year old posts and then wander away without waiting
    for a response? ;-)

    Fortunately, there are always premium and free alternatives. The
    former are expensive, but have excellent retention; the latter are...
    well, free. It is a shame, that there are no easily available
    web-based interfaces for Usenet, however. Or even free solutions that
    come with pre-configured client software (e.g., has the Usenet server, username, password already baked into the app's config settings) for one-click turn-key installations.

    I only rarely used Google's sham Usenet... mostly to see if my posts
    were actually propagating out or if they had gotten stuck somewhere
    ;-) This closure is doubly shameful, since Google has the largest
    Usenet archive anywhere, and - as many GoogleNews necro-posters have
    shown over the years - that archive remains a useful resource.

    So... what are the odds Google will transfer its Usenet archive over
    to archive.org?

    Zero.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to spallshurgenson@gmail.com on Fri Dec 15 11:45:09 2023
    On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:32:41 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

    Oh no! Without the constant influx of new users from GoogleNews, who
    will revive twenty-year old posts and then wander away without waiting
    for a response? ;-)

    This is exactly what I was thinking when reading the original post for
    this thread.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to Xocyll on Fri Dec 15 11:44:14 2023
    On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 06:42:28 -0500, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

    Why would you have to shell out again, just use the existing ancient
    version of Agent you have.
    Still using 2.0/32.640 on Eternal September. Works just fine, basic
    usenet hasn't changed really.

    Xocyll

    Mine is not as old as yours but yeah, any version of Agent is probably
    fine if all you are doing is reading messages in groups like this one.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Fri Dec 15 11:05:11 2023
    On 12/15/2023 9:34 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On Friday, December 15, 2023 at 3:43:24 AM UTC-8, Xocyll wrote:
    Justisaur <just...@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of
    the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
    On Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 4:26:17?PM UTC-8, Metal Guru wrote:
    Justisaur wrote:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means
    no more archive for new content! I figured this day would come.
    Sucks, especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web
    based alternatives? I've never found any.
    Yeah, that's a shame - GG was handy when you needed to search something >>>> in a pinch.

    AFAIK there are only paid web based clients, EasyNews comes to mind and >>>> they are excellent (if a bit pricey) specially if you are into
    binaries. Keep an eye out for end of year sales if that's of interest
    to you.

    I haven't been into binaries since last millennium. Holy Crap $10 a month >>> for EasyNews! Doesn't look like there are any other web based providers. >>> There's some that let you download from the web, but I don't see the point. >>>
    I'd been using Eternal September (free) with Thunderbird (free) until
    today but have now switched to XanaNews (I know, don't ask) for the
    time being since Thunderbird gets more bloated with every release and
    the UI makes me want to poke my eyes out. But Xananews is not open
    source, so I'm probably going to try lwblat in the coming days.

    Yeah, I used Eternal September for awhile. I tried Thunderbird, but it's >>> been probably 10 years. Nothing met the convenience of GG.

    I'm trying to remember what my old program was that I liked way back
    in the day. At least I'll be able to set spam filters I assume, GG doesn't >>> filter anything and it's been getting bad again the last couple months.

    It might have been xnews, but I think I remember using something
    that wasn't free to buy that was better. Maybe Forte' I'm not sure I want >>> to spend $30 on that again, just for here. I'll look into other alternatives.
    Why would you have to shell out again, just use the existing ancient
    version of Agent you have.
    Still using 2.0/32.640 on Eternal September. Works just fine, basic
    usenet hasn't changed really.

    LOL. I don't have it anymore, well maybe on some ancient HD
    backup I'd have to dig through, and that's a low probability.

    There was a free version at some point, looks like you can't do
    killfiles with the free version though which is essential with all
    the spam these days.

    I apparently still had Thunderbird set up from the last time I tried
    to use it 4 years ago, I'll give that a go.

    I've been using Eternal September and Thunderbird for I can't remember
    how many years now without any issues.


    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ross Ridge@21:1/5 to justisaur@gmail.com on Sat Dec 16 16:35:50 2023
    Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
    I'm trying to remember what my old program was that I liked way back
    in the day. At least I'll be able to set spam filters I assume, GG doesn't >filter anything and it's been getting bad again the last couple months.

    Eternal September seems to do its own spam filtering. I don't see any,
    at least not to any of the newsgroups I follow that regularily get
    legitimate posts. I see the odd bit of spam in newsgroups that get few
    if any real posts these days.

    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Ross Ridge on Sat Dec 16 09:09:01 2023
    On 12/16/2023 8:35 AM, Ross Ridge wrote:
    Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
    I'm trying to remember what my old program was that I liked way back
    in the day. At least I'll be able to set spam filters I assume, GG doesn't >> filter anything and it's been getting bad again the last couple months.

    Eternal September seems to do its own spam filtering. I don't see any,
    at least not to any of the newsgroups I follow that regularily get
    legitimate posts. I see the odd bit of spam in newsgroups that get few
    if any real posts these days.

    Someone I know in another newsgroup keeps in contact with the person
    behind eternal september and was reporting that he was working overtime
    trying to build filters against the recent spam flood. Apparently the individual or group behind it was taunting him and his efforts in some
    forum.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Sun Dec 17 13:43:15 2023
    Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> writes:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means no
    more archive for new content! I figured this day would come. Sucks, especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web based alternatives? I've never found any.

    I don't know a web based alternative for reading and posting, unless https://narkive.com/ is one? Not sure. Sometimes my searches find hits
    in old Usenet posts in narkive.com.

    Someone linked https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com/ in news.groups which
    has an archive but it's only accessible via NNTP.

    I don't know any Windows based newsreaders either, or I've heard people
    use and complain about Thunderbird. I only use it for email. Well, of
    course, my beloved Gnus would work in Windows too but has a bit of a
    learning curve, to put it mildly.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Mike S. on Sun Dec 17 13:46:19 2023
    Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> writes:

    On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:32:41 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

    Oh no! Without the constant influx of new users from GoogleNews, who
    will revive twenty-year old posts and then wander away without waiting
    for a response? ;-)

    This is exactly what I was thinking when reading the original post for
    this thread.

    I'd assume Google took this action now due to the excessive spamming
    campaigns recently.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Sun Dec 17 11:47:33 2023
    On 15/12/2023 19:05, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    I've been using Eternal September and Thunderbird for I can't remember
    how many years now without any issues.

    That's what I've been using for the last couple of years since my ISP
    dropped NG support. Generally it works fine although sometimes it can be
    a bit finicky when it won't make a post as it says it has no connection
    and very occasionally posts just don't show-up at all. Oh and a couple
    of times the settings have just been completely lost.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sun Dec 17 07:08:25 2023
    On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:32:41 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:20:45 -0800 (PST), Justisaur
    <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means no >>more archive for new content! I figured this day would come. Sucks, >>especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web based >>alternatives? I've never found any.

    Oh no! Without the constant influx of new users from GoogleNews, who
    will revive twenty-year old posts and then wander away without waiting
    for a response? ;-)

    Fortunately, there are always premium and free alternatives. The
    former are expensive, but have excellent retention; the latter are...
    well, free. It is a shame, that there are no easily available
    web-based interfaces for Usenet, however. Or even free solutions that
    come with pre-configured client software (e.g., has the Usenet server, >username, password already baked into the app's config settings) for >one-click turn-key installations.

    I only rarely used Google's sham Usenet... mostly to see if my posts
    were actually propagating out or if they had gotten stuck somewhere
    ;-) This closure is doubly shameful, since Google has the largest
    Usenet archive anywhere, and - as many GoogleNews necro-posters have
    shown over the years - that archive remains a useful resource.

    So... what are the odds Google will transfer its Usenet archive over
    to archive.org?

    I'm pretty sure the Wayback Machine has already taken care of it.

    --
    Zag

    No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
    spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Sun Dec 17 08:46:05 2023
    rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Ross Ridge) looked up from reading the
    entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
    I'm trying to remember what my old program was that I liked way back
    in the day. At least I'll be able to set spam filters I assume, GG doesn't >>filter anything and it's been getting bad again the last couple months.

    Eternal September seems to do its own spam filtering. I don't see any,
    at least not to any of the newsgroups I follow that regularily get
    legitimate posts. I see the odd bit of spam in newsgroups that get few
    if any real posts these days.

    My experience as well. In fact the only spam shit I see is posted
    through google groups, some wizard herbal doctor who can cure
    everything, or some guy selling bootleg textbooks.

    Now that google is killing google groups all that nonsense should go
    away and these groups remain nearly spam free.

    Not like the 90s!

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Anssi Saari on Sun Dec 17 05:32:49 2023
    On 12/17/2023 3:43 AM, Anssi Saari wrote:
    Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> writes:

    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post. Also this means no
    more archive for new content! I figured this day would come. Sucks,
    especially for the archive.

    So anyone have any idea what they're talking about with other web based
    alternatives? I've never found any.

    I don't know a web based alternative for reading and posting, unless https://narkive.com/ is one? Not sure. Sometimes my searches find hits
    in old Usenet posts in narkive.com.

    It has a reply button, but you have to "log in or sign up", and the page
    that goes to is apparently blank. Perhaps there's some hidden way to
    register and params to put in the url to log in. That's at least a way
    to see posts here - It's not obvious but I figured out to just put in
    the newsgroup name in the url before it. For here:

    https://comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action.narkive.com/

    Interesting, and definitely worth digging into further. It's at least a
    way to browse the group if I'm away from my home computer.

    I don't see a way to search the archive once GG quits archiving, but
    again, maybe a hidden ability.

    I'm at home since covid most of the time now, so I probably don't need
    browser based anymore anyway. I am planning on an 11 vacation next year though.

    Thanks.


    Someone linked https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com/ in news.groups which
    has an archive but it's only accessible via NNTP.

    That's a possible alternative for the archive at least for when GG quits archiving.


    I don't know any Windows based newsreaders either, or I've heard people
    use and complain about Thunderbird. I only use it for email. Well, of
    course, my beloved Gnus would work in Windows too but has a bit of a
    learning curve, to put it mildly.

    I could run Linux in Windows if I really wanted to. I'd probably rather
    just shell out $30 for Agent if it comes to that. Thunderbird is
    working fine for me *so far*. I tried the trial for Agent, but
    everything like spellcheck, and spam filtering is disabled in the trial.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Anssi Saari on Sun Dec 17 10:40:04 2023
    On 12/17/2023 3:46 AM, Anssi Saari wrote:
    Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> writes:

    On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:32:41 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
    <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

    Oh no! Without the constant influx of new users from GoogleNews, who
    will revive twenty-year old posts and then wander away without waiting
    for a response? ;-)

    This is exactly what I was thinking when reading the original post for
    this thread.

    I'd assume Google took this action now due to the excessive spamming campaigns recently.

    I assume Google took this action in response to all the _complaints_
    about recent spamming campaigns.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ross Ridge@21:1/5 to anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi on Mon Dec 18 00:19:51 2023
    Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:
    I'd assume Google took this action now due to the excessive spamming >campaigns recently.

    Google is a big giant corporation. They don't move that quickly.
    This must have been in the planning for a while now.

    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to All on Mon Dec 18 07:01:16 2023
    On 12/18/2023 6:55 AM, H1M3M wrote:
    Justisaur wrote:
    Well so much for my preferred way to read and post.   Also this means
    no more archive for new content!  I figured this day would come.
    Sucks, especially for the archive.



    That's the thing that worries me. Are they going to release the archive
    they bought from Deja News in 2001?

    It's going to be a massive work to download and save everything before
    they close in february.

    According to their notice, they aren't closing it, they just aren't
    going to add to it or allow posting through it.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)