wrote:

This is not a putdown and I am not bitching, I would just like to know.
And if you get here via Google, up st the upper right should be the date
of the post to which you can reply. When it is really old, the people are
usually gone.

They aren't using a newsreader, that is the problem.

They are using a web browser pointing to https://groups.google.com.

I mean look at this one for example:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ir/EvILxBihP_0

The date isn't hidden but isn't part of the subject/author (it's off to the
right). The original post is from december 2003 with one reply the same or
next day, then bang, the 3rd response if from april this year.

Notice the author of that message is from @gmail.com.

You'll notice anyone replying to a post from years ago all have a gmail.com
email address.

Even though that thread is from 2003, you can still post a reply to it via
google, and that is the problem. Instead of keeping their version of usenet
utopia to themselves, they still send posts out of there.

It's stupid and they should shut that service down. Most of the search and
filters are gone and you really can't use it for research anymore, like when
dejanews was around.

-bruce