Background Ancient History on Usenet Search URLs...
< HISTORY >
<https://news.admin.peering.narkive.com/>
<https://tinyurl.com/news-admin-peering>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/news.admin.peering>
<https://groups.google.com/g/news.admin.peering> No longer updated 22Feb24
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/thread.php?group=news.admin.peering>
< / HISTORY >

1. Having been on Usenet forever, I search before I post
(and more importantly, I link to search references within my posts).
2. Today, I needed to link to this article on Android Debug Bridge.
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=50818&group=comp.mobile.android#50818>
3. I wish(ed) there was an easier to remember way to obtain that link.

I'm NOT complaining. I'm ecstatic that someone took on the role
of replacing the now no-longer-updating Google Usenet search engine.

But... I went to great lengths prior to ask Google to make their
link humanly rememberable from what it was prior to that change.
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/news.admin.peering>

Which, for years, I had accessed using this simple-to-remember URL.
https://tinyurl.com/news-admin-peering
Until Google made the suggested change to easily rememberable URLs.

Now I have the same request to ask of the wonderful NovaBBS folks.
a. Might you consider making the search link easier to remember?
b. Might you consider adding a "link" to each article?

Background Recent History on a Specific Usenet Search URL...

Here's how I eventually found my own post so that I could reference it.
1. I typed in the link to the NovaBBS search for the Android newsgroup.
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/thread.php?group=comp.mobile.android>
2. I clicked the search within newsgroup link provided
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/search.php?group=comp.mobile.android>
3. I typed "adb" and pressed the "Search" button
4. I was surprised at the result order because the recent thread wasn't
listed first so I looked for a reverse sort button of some sort.
5. Failing at that, I assumed the results are in some kind of order
that is prioritized by some kind of algorithm I don't understand yet.
6. So I added another search term of "cache" to adb and was pleasantly
surprised I could hit the NovaBBS-provided backarrow to get back to
the search (which is a nice feature, very clever - I like it)
7. That found the thread I was looking for and it put it at the top.
8. Actually, it found the ARTICLE I was looking for & put it at the top.
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=50818&group=comp.mobile.android#50818>

Now I have the link.
This is a unique and valuable replacement for future Usenet searches.
But could it have been even easier.

Another way to do it... since I knew the thread was recent, and
since I knew the Message-ID was what I tried before that.
1. I went to the canonical site for NovaBBS Usenet searches:
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/thread.php?group=comp.mobile.android>
2. I wished that was easier to remember but it still is great where
I could see the thread that I knew was recent & which had the article.
"Clear the cache of an android Cellphone (Moto G Pure)"
3. I found the threads in a logical sort order so I clicked that thread.
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=50805&group=comp.mobile.android#50805>
4. I scrolled down to my article (which was the 7th in the listing)
(where I was ecstatic to see the threading flowchart at top!)
5. At that 7th article (which starts with "Yes. But the answer has nuance")
I looked to the right at all that lonely lovely blue empty space at top.
What was I looking for? A "link here" or a "permalink" or something of
the sort which gave me a way to easily link to that specific article.

Try as I might, *I couldn't FIND the link* to that specific article! :(

Failing at that, I went to the message-ID search at the top of the page,
to obtain the link to the article (where I was happy to see the "copy mid"
in the top left (which Google's Usenet search engine no longer provided).
Message-ID = <ut9v35$lob$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

From that Message-ID, I was able to find the link to the desired article.
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=50818&group=comp.mobile.android#50818>

In summary,
A. *THANK GOD for NovaBBS!*
B. However, they must know that... *No good deed goes unpunished*...
C. Hence, I ask, might NovaBBS consider 2 possible enhancement requests?
a. Might they consider making the search link easier to remember?
b. Might they consider adding a "perma link" to each article?

If they don't add this, I'm still very thankful to NovaBBS because
people who search Usenet before posting can now still do that.

And, people who link to articles for referencing to others can
easily provide that link to others (where, usually those recipients are technically clueless so the most they can handle is a link).
--
Many thanks to Blueworld also!

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