Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers on
their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
of Usenet history.

I hope you all are keeping track! My suspicion is that Usenet is
certainly not dead and that subscriber numbers will prove that possibly thousands still lurk the network.

--
CRYP7010G3R | Flee the swarm. | Join the horde. | Be the King Bee. <beaf3e5bad327e7ca961162eed14e308$1@sybershock.com>
3883@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 2024-01-01, SugarBug <3883@sugar.bug> wrote:

Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers on
their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
of Usenet history.

I hope you all are keeping track! My suspicion is that Usenet is
certainly not dead and that subscriber numbers will prove that possibly thousands still lurk the network.

We had around 9-10 give or take..
But not that we promote our server neither, usually people interested because they saw our services on mastodon etc and ask for an account and we give it
to them.

Happy Hacking
ReK2
--
- {gemini,https}://{,rek2.}hispagatos.org - mastodon: @rek2@hispagatos.space
- [https|gemini]://2600.Madrid - https://hispagatos.space/@rek2
- https://keyoxide.org/A31C7CE19D9C58084EA42BA26C0B0D11E9303EC5

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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SugarBug <3883@sugar.bug> wrote:

Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers on
their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
of Usenet history.

Here's a bunch of dates in 2023 when new users registered on
news.chmurka.net, since July to give you a scale.

02.07
13.07
18.07
30.07
31.07
10.08
14.08
23.08
25.08
25.08
27.08
30.08
01.09
06.09
11.09
13.09
13.09
13.09
14.09
14.09
22.09
27.10
27.10
29.10
03.11
03.11
05.11
11.11
14.11
21.11
21.11
21.11
24.11
24.11
24.11
26.11
26.11
28.11
28.11
15.12
16.12
16.12
17.12
18.12
21.12
21.12
21.12
25.12
31.12
31.12

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On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 16:53:50 -0600
SugarBug <3883@sugar.bug> wrote:

Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers
on their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
of Usenet history.

I hope you all are keeping track! My suspicion is that Usenet is
certainly not dead and that subscriber numbers will prove that
possibly thousands still lurk the network.

I had a user join my BBS the other day so they could access the cbm
newsgroups via the fidonet gateway.

Currently I'm trying to figure a way to allow my users full access to
usenet. I was looking at using sln possibly but I'm not convinced I
want users using something like that.

Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist already
but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

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Am 11.01.2024 um 20:58:57 Uhr schrieb Nigel Reed:

Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist already
but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.

rslight exists.
https://gitlab.com/rslight-public/rocksolid-light

Shouldn't consume too much bandwidth.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

Currently I'm trying to figure a way to allow my users full access to
usenet.

Via the BBS interface or NNRP?

I was looking at using sln possibly but I'm not convinced I want users
using something like that.

What's sln in this context?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 11:26:43 -0000 (UTC), Adam W. wrote:

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

Currently I'm trying to figure a way to allow my users full access to
usenet.

Via the BBS interface or NNRP?

I was looking at using sln possibly but I'm not convinced I want users
using something like that.

What's sln in this context?

I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing users to
run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking deeply about
security issues, etc.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.org> wrote:

I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing users to
run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking deeply about security issues, etc.

Ok, slrn then :) tin also might be worth considering. A very convenient text-mode newsreader, I'm using it for ~20 years (earlier I used pine, it supports NNTP too, but tin is much more convenient to me; I stick to
alpine for email).

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 15:44:03 -0000 (UTC), Adam W. wrote:

Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.org> wrote:

I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing users to
run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking deeply about
security issues, etc.

Ok, slrn then :) tin also might be worth considering. A very convenient text-mode newsreader, I'm using it for ~20 years (earlier I used pine, it supports NNTP too, but tin is much more convenient to me; I stick to
alpine for email).

I like both :) I also used pine a long time ago, it was quite good. Now I
use 40tude Dialog on wine because I just love the TINY font when composing
a message that I can't seem to fix!

Things to consider when running a program as a door on a BBS is stuff like
"is there a command to drop to shell?" Is my server protected from a rogue user?

I messed with lynx for a while on Synchronet, but it seemed too risky. I'm paranoid.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.org> wrote:

Things to consider when running a program as a door on a BBS is stuff like "is there a command to drop to shell?" Is my server protected from a rogue user?

I think the question should be different. "Let's give this user access to
shell (or assume he gains access to shell from the newsreader). How do I
secure it so he can't do anything bad?".

If I had to do something like this, I'd set up two separate virtual
machines for the task. First one (A) would be available to users and
second one (B) would act as a firewall for A (giving access only to
systems I want users to access, like my news server), and as a permanent storage, exporting read-only filesystems to A (including rootfs). Only
home directories on A (or some storage for newsreader's data) would be writable.

This way, even if user gained root access on A, he won't be able to access
the Internet (because it would be blocked on B, and A would only have an interface to B), and won't be able to modify system files (because rootfs
and other filesystems except home would be mounted read-only, enforced by
B; something like nbd or maybe nfs).

This, plus some ulimits and quotas to prevent the user from disrupting the service for others, and some kind of automatic auditing / monitoring to
detect unwanted changes.

I messed with lynx for a while on Synchronet, but it seemed too risky. I'm paranoid.

It's not paranoia, it's carefulness :) If the system is public then we
should always expect users to try to hack it for some malicious purposes,
or just for fun.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 09:02:21 -0700
Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.org> wrote:

On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 15:44:03 -0000 (UTC), Adam W. wrote:

Retro Guy <retroguy@novabbs.org> wrote:

I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing
users to run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking
deeply about security issues, etc.

Ok, slrn then :) tin also might be worth considering. A very
convenient text-mode newsreader, I'm using it for ~20 years
(earlier I used pine, it supports NNTP too, but tin is much more
convenient to me; I stick to alpine for email).

I like both :) I also used pine a long time ago, it was quite good.
Now I use 40tude Dialog on wine because I just love the TINY font
when composing a message that I can't seem to fix!

I'm a mutt guy when it comes to email. I used to use tin but there was
a feature in slrn that caught my eye. Of course, it's possible to edit
the code to remove anything that could allow the user to drop into a
shell.

Things to consider when running a program as a door on a BBS is stuff
like "is there a command to drop to shell?" Is my server protected
from a rogue user?

I messed with lynx for a while on Synchronet, but it seemed too
risky. I'm paranoid.

As you probably know, I also run Synchronet and I don't think I'd let
my users randomly rampage around the web using lynx (or links) with my
IP address attached to whatever they get into.



--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 11:26:43 -0000 (UTC) gof-cut-this-news@cut-this-chmurka.net.invalid (Adam W.) wrote:

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

Currently I'm trying to figure a way to allow my users full access
to usenet.

Via the BBS interface or NNRP?

I was looking at using sln possibly but I'm not convinced I want
users using something like that.

What's sln in this context?

slrn I missed a letter :)

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:22:30 +0100
Marco Moock <mm+usenet-es@dorfdsl.de> wrote:

Am 11.01.2024 um 20:58:57 Uhr schrieb Nigel Reed:

Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist
already but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.

rslight exists.
https://gitlab.com/rslight-public/rocksolid-light

Shouldn't consume too much bandwidth.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sat, 13 Jan 2024 15:55:02 -0600
Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:22:30 +0100
Marco Moock <mm+usenet-es@dorfdsl.de> wrote:

Am 11.01.2024 um 20:58:57 Uhr schrieb Nigel Reed:

Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist
already but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.

rslight exists.
https://gitlab.com/rslight-public/rocksolid-light

Shouldn't consume too much bandwidth.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look.

I'd like to look at some alternatives if anyone knows any. I tried php newsreader but it's not been updated for php 8.1 and I'm not sure I'm
liking their "catalog" system.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

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