Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
this is my last post via NNTP.
I've been frequenting this service for well over 3 decades, and seen
it go through its ups and downs... mostly downs for the last two
decades. I've kept posting despite all the signs that there's no hope
of recovery, partly out of nostalgia, partly sheer inertia. But all
good things come to an end, and I've decided to move to more populated climes.
As I said, this probably won't shock many of you; I absented myself
from Usenet for most of 2021, and even now there are frequent periods
when I just don't post. I've been thinking about this move for a long
time, but never had the energy to make the clean break the decision
required. But today I woke up and decided, what the heck, the time is
right; I might as well just get it over with.
Because, frankly, Usenet has become boring (even the trolls are dull)
and there's just no audience. The medium is uninteresting; no fonts,
no colors, no pictures, no emojis... it's the second decade of the
21st century and Usenet seems rooted in the electronic equivalent of
the 19th Century. I want more from my discussions than what Usenet
offers, and a bigger audience. Call me an attention-whore, but having thousands of people listen to me has always been an important part of
my psyche.
Which isn't to say I'm absenting myself from the Internet entirely;
I'm leaving Usenet, not dying. Instead, I've decided to migrate to
Twitter and - soon afterwards, just as soon as I've figured out all
the logistics - I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok as
well. I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication. Plus, I'm pretty
sure the world is dying to see me dance on camera.
So to everyone staying here, on this dying medium of communication,
thank you for the years of conversation and discussion; I wish you
all the best. May you continue to enjoy video games for years and
decades to come. But, seriously, if you want to actually discuss the
hobby, you should do what I am and move on to a more modern format.
You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.
Liar. I ain't believing you since today is April's Fool Day. :P
You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.
I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication.
Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
this is my last post via NNTP.
I've been frequenting this service for well over 3 decades, and seen
it go through its ups and downs... mostly downs for the last two
decades. I've kept posting despite all the signs that there's no hope
of recovery, partly out of nostalgia, partly sheer inertia. But all
good things come to an end, and I've decided to move to more populated >climes.
As I said, this probably won't shock many of you; I absented myself
from Usenet for most of 2021, and even now there are frequent periods
when I just don't post. I've been thinking about this move for a long
time, but never had the energy to make the clean break the decision
required. But today I woke up and decided, what the heck, the time is
right; I might as well just get it over with.
Because, frankly, Usenet has become boring (even the trolls are dull)
and there's just no audience. The medium is uninteresting; no fonts,
no colors, no pictures, no emojis... it's the second decade of the
21st century and Usenet seems rooted in the electronic equivalent of
the 19th Century. I want more from my discussions than what Usenet
offers, and a bigger audience. Call me an attention-whore, but having >thousands of people listen to me has always been an important part of
my psyche.
Which isn't to say I'm absenting myself from the Internet entirely;
I'm leaving Usenet, not dying. Instead, I've decided to migrate to
Twitter and - soon afterwards, just as soon as I've figured out all
the logistics - I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok as
well. I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication. Plus, I'm pretty
sure the world is dying to see me dance on camera.
So to everyone staying here, on this dying medium of communication,
thank you for the years of conversation and discussion; I wish you
all the best. May you continue to enjoy video games for years and
decades to come. But, seriously, if you want to actually discuss the
hobby, you should do what I am and move on to a more modern format.
You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.
I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication.
lol. Nice troll! And I'm glad it *is* a 4/1 joke, as I do in fact enjoy
yours and our small gang of posters immensely, and look forward to reading >everyone's thoughts and sharing my occasional ones, and I'll freely admit
it: You all are a (yes, small) but important part of my life! I think I'm >enjoying gaming and the couple of gaming forums I frequent more than ever >before.
rms
I was originally drawn to private BBS systems (not only posting and
reading them but I was SysOp on several successful ones throughout the
early and mid 1980s), and then Usenet in the early-mid 90s, for the
same basic reason: they weren't mainstream, they were very niche
mechanisms of communication that not everyone even knew existed, so
while not all the content was desirable it at least came with the
guarantee that I couldn't find it elsewhere.
Liar. I ain't believing you since today is April's Fool Day. :P
On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:13:22 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
<rstowleigh@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
Lol.. You know, with the recent post on what makes a good troll, I
guess somewhere deep down I wanted to get trolled like the old days?
Nice one and thanks for that Spalls!
Definitely a nice one but I don't think I am going to thank him for
it. :-P
I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication.
lol. Nice troll! And I'm glad it *is* a 4/1 joke, as I do in fact enjoy
yours and our small gang of posters immensely, and look forward to reading everyone's thoughts and sharing my occasional ones, and I'll freely admit
it: You all are a (yes, small) but important part of my life! I think I'm enjoying gaming and the couple of gaming forums I frequent more than ever before.
Lol.. You know, with the recent post on what makes a good troll, I
guess somewhere deep down I wanted to get trolled like the old days?
Nice one and thanks for that Spalls!
<quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>
Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
this is my last post via NNTP.
On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 09:20:57 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
<quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>
Okay, sorry, sorry!
No, I haven't left Usenet, and there are no plans that I ever do so.
It was, as so many of you too-quickly noticed, nothing more than an
April 1st prank.
Alas, you all were far too clever for my hapless attempts at humor,
and it seems everyone picked up on its falsity from the start (in my
defense, this really was my first attempt at a 'real' April 1st joke
in... well, it's probably been decades. It's really not my sort of
thing).
I was hoping, though, that more people would pick up on the line that
I was going to Twitter (of all places!) because it fit my style
better. I don't think most of my SUBJECT lines would normally fit into twitters 140-character restrictions, much less as a primary mode of communication. Personally, I thought that the best part of the joke.
(And if any were ever in any real doubt, had you actually visited the
twitter page, I gave away the joke there. Alas, I didn't bother to go
so for as to create a TikTok page, so anyone hoping to see me dance is
outta luck).
Still, I hope my lame attempt at wit brought a smile to your face,
even if only briefly, and if it didn't, well I apologize. While I
cannot promise that I will never do something similar again, I think
we're all safe for a few years, at least.
Anyway, you haven't gotten rid of me yet. I'll be boring you all for
years to come. Or at least until December (I have to unload all these
extra game serials somehow...)
<quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>
On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:
I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication.
Lol, also where I realized.
Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not
that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for >god's sake!
So what forums do you frequent?
On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 06:40:48 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:
I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication.
Lol, also where I realized.
I am so glad some people picked up on that. Have I mentioned that was
my favorite part of the gag?
Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not >that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for >god's sake!
Oh, come on. Does NOBODY want to see me dance on TikTok?!?!?*
So what forums do you frequent?
Aside from Usenet, I don't have any constants. I've accounts on a
number of tech and gaming forums that I've accumulated over the
decades. But unless you're really good at style analysis/recognition -
it wouldn't help much anyway, since I rarely use the same 'nym. Often
I'll discover a forum on a topic I'm interested in, post a while, and
then drift away. Usually I start there seeking information for a
particular problem, then hang around until I exhaust the topics (a lot
of web-forums are even less active than c.s.i.p.g.action!), at which
point I move on. In the end, Usenet remains my primary form of 'social
media' interaction and the one I've remained with the longest.
Honestly, there's just something about web-forums that annoys me; it's
not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.
It's why my little attempt at humor on the 1st was so farcically
delicious (at least, I thought it was). The idea that I could abandon
Usenet is practically unthinkable, at least considering the lack of
viable alternatives. I love the place; for its people, its topics, its freedom, its format, and its history. There's absolutely nothing else
like it elsewhere on the Internet. So if I'm stuck here forever, I
can't say that upsets me too much.
* It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?
* It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?
On Saturday, April 2, 2022 at 7:04:52 PM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
* It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?
Who knows, you might blow up like light saber kid or something.
;)
I may not be able to do emojis, but I can do emoticons!
And even ascii pictures!
e-e
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
- Justisaur
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 06:40:48 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:
I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication.
Lol, also where I realized.
I am so glad some people picked up on that. Have I mentioned that was
my favorite part of the gag?
Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not >>> that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for >>> god's sake!
Oh, come on. Does NOBODY want to see me dance on TikTok?!?!?*
Actually, yes but not on TikTok. :P
So what forums do you frequent?
Aside from Usenet, I don't have any constants. I've accounts on a
number of tech and gaming forums that I've accumulated over the
decades. But unless you're really good at style analysis/recognition -
it wouldn't help much anyway, since I rarely use the same 'nym. Often
I'll discover a forum on a topic I'm interested in, post a while, and
then drift away. Usually I start there seeking information for a
particular problem, then hang around until I exhaust the topics (a lot
of web-forums are even less active than c.s.i.p.g.action!), at which
point I move on. In the end, Usenet remains my primary form of 'social
media' interaction and the one I've remained with the longest.
Honestly, there's just something about web-forums that annoys me; it's
not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's
something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with
unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.
It's why my little attempt at humor on the 1st was so farcically
delicious (at least, I thought it was). The idea that I could abandon
Usenet is practically unthinkable, at least considering the lack of
viable alternatives. I love the place; for its people, its topics, its
freedom, its format, and its history. There's absolutely nothing else
like it elsewhere on the Internet. So if I'm stuck here forever, I
can't say that upsets me too much.
* It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you
weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?
Bah, let see YOUR body.
not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.
Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many ofGoodbye buddy, its been a pleasure serving with you, maybe one day at
you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
this is my last post via NNTP
I was hoping, though, that more people would pick up on the line that
I was going to Twitter (of all places!) because it fit my style
better. I don't think most of my SUBJECT lines would normally fit into >twitters 140-character restrictions, much less as a primary mode of >communication. Personally, I thought that the best part of the joke.
But yeah the Twitter thing didn't give it away to me, because I don't
use these social media services at all (either posting to or reading
them). I was aware of the 140 character restriction only from reading
about Twitter maybe 12 years ago, but I thought I had read at some
point that restriction was removed later on... I'm definitely guilty
of being oblivious to social media trends.
On Sun, 03 Apr 2022 07:46:10 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
<rstowleigh@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
But yeah the Twitter thing didn't give it away to me, because I don't
use these social media services at all (either posting to or reading
them). I was aware of the 140 character restriction only from reading
about Twitter maybe 12 years ago, but I thought I had read at some
point that restriction was removed later on... I'm definitely guilty
of being oblivious to social media trends.
I don't even know about Twitter's character limit. I have zero
interest in using Social Media. Usenet is social media enough for me.
I did, several years ago, try a little experiment to see how easy it is
to get 'friends' of FB. It took me about three or so days of just
clicking on the maybe you want to be friends with this person button
before I had three hundred 'friends'. Why on earth would you accept a
friend request from someone you don't even know.
This thread seems to have taken an unexpected direction ... dance for me
boy, dance for me!
On Sun, 3 Apr 2022 15:41:15 +0100, JAB <noway@co.uk> wrote:
My best guess is that they just like to see their friends list grow.
If that is the case, I can kind of (sort of) understand that as I
stare at my ever growing Epic Library of games I know I will never
play.
On 4/3/2022 3:39 AM, JAB wrote:
This thread seems to have taken an unexpected direction ... dance for me boy, dance for me!
THIS ... IS ... USENET!
On Sun, 3 Apr 2022 15:41:15 +0100, JAB <noway@co.uk> wrote:
I did, several years ago, try a little experiment to see how easy it is
to get 'friends' of FB. It took me about three or so days of just
clicking on the maybe you want to be friends with this person button
before I had three hundred 'friends'. Why on earth would you accept a
friend request from someone you don't even know.
My best guess is that they just like to see their friends list grow.
If that is the case, I can kind of (sort of) understand that as I
stare at my ever growing Epic Library of games I know I will never
play.
I honestly don't know (FB friends that is) it's just I find it a bit
strange. At least with 'collecting' games I can see you've actually got >something as you might play some of them one day. I've got quite a few >freebies from Amazon and although I'm wouldn't describe any of them as >classics it's nice to have a small library of games where I can select
one with very little expectation of it being any good.
On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 09:24:50 +0100, JAB <noway@co.uk> wrote:
I honestly don't know (FB friends that is) it's just I find it a bit
strange. At least with 'collecting' games I can see you've actually got
something as you might play some of them one day. I've got quite a few
freebies from Amazon and although I'm wouldn't describe any of them as
classics it's nice to have a small library of games where I can select
one with very little expectation of it being any good.
This has always been my reasoning.. that when I retire, I will have a
huge selection of games to choose from...
... but then I will go and just replay an old game anyway.
On 06/04/2022 13:33, Mike S. wrote:
On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 09:24:50 +0100, JAB <no...@co.uk> wrote:
I honestly don't know (FB friends that is) it's just I find it a bit
strange. At least with 'collecting' games I can see you've actually got
something as you might play some of them one day. I've got quite a few
freebies from Amazon and although I'm wouldn't describe any of them as
classics it's nice to have a small library of games where I can select
one with very little expectation of it being any good.
This has always been my reasoning.. that when I retire, I will have a
huge selection of games to choose from...
... but then I will go and just replay an old game anyway.The last part, now that's a sign of getting old. I go through Sky,
Amazon and Netflix and then what do I do, watch something I've already watched.
I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok
On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:25:00 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok
Lol. TikTok. Nice one. ;^)
On 4/6/2022 10:53 AM, Zaghadka wrote:
On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:25:00 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,He really should have said "on OnlyFan". ;)
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok
Lol. TikTok. Nice one. ;^)
On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 13:19:55 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 4/6/2022 10:53 AM, Zaghadka wrote:
On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:25:00 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,He really should have said "on OnlyFan". ;)
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok
Lol. TikTok. Nice one. ;^)
For reasons unknown, that invoked a visual I could have done without
:)
On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 13:19:55 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 4/6/2022 10:53 AM, Zaghadka wrote:
On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:25:00 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok
Lol. TikTok. Nice one. ;^)
He really should have said "on OnlyFan". ;)
For reasons unknown, that invoked a visual I could have done without
On Wed, 06 Apr 2022 19:37:56 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
<rstowleigh@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 13:19:55 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 4/6/2022 10:53 AM, Zaghadka wrote:
On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:25:00 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok
Lol. TikTok. Nice one. ;^)
He really should have said "on OnlyFan". ;)
For reasons unknown, that invoked a visual I could have done without
Combine that image in your head with a visual of me dancing, and you
may never sleep again.
I mean... I suppose if enough people asked, something could be
arranged... but, nah. I do enough damage to people's mental health
with my long-winded rants already.
(See? This is why Usenet is better. If I actually WERE on OnlyFans, it
would never be half as horrible as what people imagine. By leveraging people's own creativity against them, I can do far more damage than
were I actually to show it ;-)
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