• Survey about microsoft.* newsgroups

    From Lu Wei@21:1/5 to All on Mon Aug 9 14:21:44 2021
    XPost: microsoft.public.news.server

    On 2021-7-1 21:30, Julien ÉLIE wrote:
    ...
    2/ should dead newsgroups be removed?
    it seems that the wish of the persons who have responded until now is
    either "no" or "why not, if dead, a clean up would be good".

    I second that dead newsgroups should be removed, in a very cautious
    manner: Announce calling for comment of removing in the target
    newsgroups and relative newsgroups on most if not all servers, then wait
    for 1 or 2 years (keep announcing once a month); If no one gives any
    meaningful opposition, then delete the group.

    --
    Regards,
    Lu Wei
    IM: xmpp:luweitest@riotcat.org
    PGP: 0xA12FEF7592CCE1EA

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  • From JJ@21:1/5 to Lu Wei on Mon Aug 9 19:04:07 2021
    XPost: microsoft.public.news.server

    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 14:21:44 +0800, Lu Wei wrote:

    I second that dead newsgroups should be removed, in a very cautious
    manner: Announce calling for comment of removing in the target
    newsgroups and relative newsgroups on most if not all servers, then wait
    for 1 or 2 years (keep announcing once a month); If no one gives any meaningful opposition, then delete the group.

    I wouldn't delete history.

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  • From J. P. Gilliver (John)@21:1/5 to jj4public@gmail.com on Mon Aug 9 19:05:48 2021
    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 at 19:04:07, JJ <jj4public@gmail.com> wrote (my
    responses usually follow points raised):
    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 14:21:44 +0800, Lu Wei wrote:

    I second that dead newsgroups should be removed, in a very cautious
    manner: Announce calling for comment of removing in the target
    newsgroups and relative newsgroups on most if not all servers, then wait
    for 1 or 2 years (keep announcing once a month); If no one gives any
    meaningful opposition, then delete the group.

    I wouldn't delete history.

    If by history you mean old posts, then yes, there is reason to preserve
    them if someone's willing to provide the storage; I still think of
    newsgroups as a transient thing, with the onus on me to "mark as keep"
    any that I find useful. However, some newsservers - especially paid ones
    - now keep some newsgroups for a long time, sometimes many years.

    I still think removal - with extreme caution as suggested by Lu Wei - of
    dead ones is a good thing, if they're really dead. With removal being
    that they no longer accept new posts or appear in the lists of current
    'groups that newsservers provide when prompted.
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    I remember a lot of questions on a vocalist forum about the problems singing "There is a balm in Gilead" without making it sound like a security alert. - Linda Fox in UMRA, 2010-11-19

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  • From JJ@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 10 18:39:53 2021
    On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 19:05:48 +0100, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

    If by history you mean old posts, then yes, there is reason to preserve
    them if someone's willing to provide the storage; I still think of
    newsgroups as a transient thing, with the onus on me to "mark as keep"
    any that I find useful. However, some newsservers - especially paid ones
    - now keep some newsgroups for a long time, sometimes many years.

    I still think removal - with extreme caution as suggested by Lu Wei - of
    dead ones is a good thing, if they're really dead. With removal being
    that they no longer accept new posts or appear in the lists of current 'groups that newsservers provide when prompted.

    Well, removing a newsgroup from the list basically delete the newsgroup already, from that server's users' POV. Just like how websites "delete"
    things, but actually, simply hide the data or mark the data as non-usable.

    In terms of storage space, if the free space is becoming insufficent, then deleting old posts or removing least used (i.e. both read & write; not just write) newsgroups is not a questionable matter. It has to be done.

    Otherwise, there's no need to delete them. Unless the server simply don't
    want to serve particular newsgroups.

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  • From Rink@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 20 18:10:13 2021
    XPost: microsoft.public.news.server

    Op 1-7-2021 om 15:30 schreef Julien ÉLIE:
    Hi Paul,

    Any thoughts to share?

    Nothing wrong with this one (ms.pub.winxp.gen).
    It works just fine.

    Sure!
    This newsgroup, as well as all other still alive newsgroups in
    microsoft.* (alive = with participants who would respond to a question
    posted to it), must of course remain untouched.

    The questions are:
    1/ should new newsgroups be created in microsoft.*?
    it seems that the wish of the persons who have responded until now is
    "no, just use another hierarchy like alt.*".

    2/ should dead newsgroups be removed?
    it seems that the wish of the persons who have responded until now is
    either "no" or "why not, if dead, a clean up would be good".


    Sorry for being so late...

    1.
    microsoft.* was the hierarchie from Microsoft.
    So Microsoft is the one who should create new newsgroups.
    (and of course they don't)

    2.
    If you remove dead Microsoft.* newsgroups,
    some newsservers will delete them, but some don't.
    The posters in the second group of newsservers cannot see
    that the first group of newsservers has removed the newsgroup.
    They have less chance for an answer.
    I think it has no use to remove dead newsgroups.
    And if they are dead, they have little bits :-)


    I think it is strange that there is an "international" comp.* hierachie
    where there are no newsgroups for win98, win2000, windows-xp,
    windows7, windows8, windows10 and windows11....
    Did they stop creating newsgroups after win95?


    Rink

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Julien_=c3=89LIE?=@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 31 09:05:03 2021
    XPost: microsoft.public.news.server

    Hi Rink,

    I think it is strange that there is an "international" comp.* hierachie
    where there are no newsgroups for win98, win2000, windows-xp,
    windows7, windows8, windows10 and windows11....
    Did they stop creating newsgroups after win95?

    Thanks for your answers.
    The microsoft.* will very certainly remain as-is.

    As for the comp.* hierarchy, why not ask in news.groups.proposals or
    contact the Big Eight board?
    https://www.big-8.org/

    I reckon such newsgroups should exist, or at least general ones without versions.

    --
    Julien ÉLIE

    « L'ordinateur obéit à vos ordres, pas à vos intentions. »

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