I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

Tom, I read it many times a day so I am a frequent user also. I have
noticed that MNAY other groups are basically dead. Maybe the victims
of too much spam, too much hate, too many ????




On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 21:26:57 GMT, Tom Watson
wrote:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

Tom Watson wrote:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

snip

My next door neighbor works "network tech support" (internal to the
company) for Adelphia Cable. Prior to me showing him what "UseNet" was,
he didn't even know it existed. I suspect it is the same with many of the
"kids" working for various ISP's.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

"Nova" wrote in message
...
snip

My next door neighbor works "network tech support" (internal to the
company) for Adelphia Cable. Prior to me showing him what "UseNet" was,
he didn't even know it existed. I suspect it is the same with many of the
"kids" working for various ISP's.


Boy, does that sound familiar. I have used 5 or 6 ISP's in as many years,
and I have frequently had to tell customer support what USENET was. The
better ISP's use more than one news feed, which helps with the missing posts
problem. I have frequently complained about Earthlink newsgroup service,
but in all fairness I have seen a dramatic improvement since they
implemented new servers and split their subscriber base into two groups,
East and West. Message retention seems to be longer, as well.

I do believe that the number of ISP subscribers which use USENET is low,
probably less than 5%, maybe even less.
--
Ken Vaughn
Visit My Workshop: http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/

The vast majority of people that I talk to have never heard of Usenet.

"Nova" wrote in message
...
Tom Watson wrote:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

snip

My next door neighbor works "network tech support" (internal to the
company) for Adelphia Cable. Prior to me showing him what "UseNet" was,
he didn't even know it existed. I suspect it is the same with many of the
"kids" working for various ISP's.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

To paraphrase your own recent words, what you are now getting in Internet
access from the corporate ISP model currently in vogue is more sizzle and
less steak.

It is not UseNet that is dying, it is the technical competence required to
run an ISP, with all the attendant services like nntp, that has become a
victim of the general corporate incompetence in this country.

The attitude you remark upon has become prevalent as the smaller local
ISP's, which were plentiful during the early days of the Internet, have been
replaced with these large, corporate ISP's.

Many of the current problems can be traced directly to the technical
incompetence that results from hiring inexperienced IT personnel in order to
make the bottom line more attractive. Corporate ISP's like AT&T (one of the
VERY worst as far as technical competence is concerned, IMNSHO) try make it
easy on themselves with self-serving justifications for doing away with the
services we came to expect as part of the ISP package not all that long ago.

Those services that they can't outright do away with (yet) they reluctantly
continue to provide, but at reduced levels, and with none of the required
technical expertise to do the job well.

As a partner in a small Internet company, I deal with the situation on a
daily basis, spending increasingly more time wading through self serving
corporate directives aimed at justifying technical shortcuts, and arguing,
on behalf of our clients, with increasingly incompetent technical personnel
who are barely conversant with the basic underpinnings of the Internet.

AAMOF, it is getting so bad that I sometimes fancy you may eventually see
some of the older, pre-Internet networks, like FidoNet, rear their heads
again.

On second thought, there soon may be no one left competent enough to do even
that again.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/21/03


"Tom Watson" wrote in message
I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

"CW" wrote in message
news:xFRvb.210817$ao4.750180@attbi_s51...
The vast majority of people that I talk to have never heard of Usenet.

\
When I think of it I do not know of one other personal friend that uses
usenet. Most all have internet, they just have not discovered usenet.
Greg

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 22:49:58 GMT, "Swingman" wrote:

AAMOF, it is getting so bad that I sometimes fancy you may eventually see
some of the older, pre-Internet networks, like FidoNet, rear their heads
again.

Aye, Cry Havoc and Release the Dogs of War!

(i thought fidonet was still extant)

Shall we all become eunuchs (shame on ye tommy, 'tis Unix that spells
it) again?

(tom's ready to fire up his old 2400 baud modem and ride to bbs
battle)


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

"Tom Watson" wrote in message
s.com...

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Try this site:
http://news.individual.net/

It's a usenet server based in Germany that is very reliable, fast, and free.
You can still keep your current access via your ISP and use this as a
back-up, or, do as I do and use it all the time, since it is much more
reliable than most ISP access is.

Lee K wrote:

Try this site:
http://news.individual.net/

It's a usenet server based in Germany that is very reliable, fast,
and free. You can still keep your current access via your ISP and use
this as a back-up, or, do as I do and use it all the time, since it
is much more reliable than most ISP access is.

One bummer:

http://news.individual.net/faq.html#5.3

5.3 May I mangle my "From:" header address so that I do not get SPAM?

No. We recommend to get an account with a free e-mail provider (such as
GMX, Yahoo, Hotmail, Bigfoot...) and to not read mails that go to that
address at all, only sporadically or in combination with suitable filter
mechanisms.
This has the same effect, but does not violate the netiquette, our policy or
other guidelines.
Another way is the usage of ". The owner of privacy.net has
given his permission to use that address for SPAM protection purposes.

-- Mark

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 18:40:39 -0500, "solarman"
wrote:


It HAS made some advances since the 2400's day... I still have my old satellite feed from Planet Connect but they no longer offer the old service anymore... 2.4Ghz was pretty quick back in 1989 too! Almost makes me want to setup the old Intermail/Proboard combo again... grin

'Tis true, solarman, that there have been advances but, I hearken back
to the brave days, when modems were modems, and interfaced directally
with the handset - Ah, the roar of the handshake, the smell of the
download!

(when a single graphics file sat on the phone line overnight)

Yeehaa!



Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

Who was the guy (editor) that ran Bulletin Board magazine? That was one
sharp dude, IIRC ... I would've written him in for President in the last few
elections if I could just remember his name.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/21/03



"solarman" wrote in message
Sounds like what happened to Fidonet and all the other small BBS related
networks when the Internet got very popular... Net133 here in Atlanta at
one time was the second largest Fidonet net in the world. Today I really
doubt there are 15 BBS's in the whole state.

Ahhhhh those were the good old days....

I am on a listserv for cancer support and there is generally never a problam
there subscribers from all over the world.
There are many other listserv's some moderated and some not.
Anyone starts screwing around on them and they pull the plug.
There are arguments of course but not flame wars.
The guy that runs it ask for donations to help defray his costs once a year
and he usually gets enough donations to run longer than the year.
When I came on here i actually joined a woodwork listserv, I was getting all
the e-mails from this group but when i posted no one got them, I never found
out where they went
I still do not understand how this newsgroup goes to the listserv but it is
based in Indianna.

Some of you Computer Gurus should look into it
George

"solarman" wrote in message
. ..
You know Tom, you might be on to something good here. What is to say all
of us here could NOT put up a private news server on the net for woodworking
related posts? Then have a registration phase that everyone could go through
to keep the riff raff out? I know Yahoo has the groups as does many others,
but perhaps we could talk Jason into doing it as he hosts the space for us
at www.wood-workers.com anyway... Might be worth looking into even if a
small fee were involved. That makes folks tend to take better care of it
anyway.



"Tom Watson" wrote in message
s.com...
I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

The format of UseNet is what is so attractive to me ... I just like using my
e-mail client to participate and never cared a tinker's damn for web based
forums.

However, I participated in an e-book forum for a number of years using a
list server and it was almost like being on UseNet, as the _comfort_ of your
e-mail client was preserved.

I would not be adverse to trying it again.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/21/03

"George M. Kazaka" wrote in message
I am on a listserv for cancer support and there is generally never a
problam
there subscribers from all over the world.
There are many other listserv's some moderated and some not.
Anyone starts screwing around on them and they pull the plug.
There are arguments of course but not flame wars.
The guy that runs it ask for donations to help defray his costs once a
year
and he usually gets enough donations to run longer than the year.
When I came on here i actually joined a woodwork listserv, I was getting
all
the e-mails from this group but when i posted no one got them, I never
found
out where they went
I still do not understand how this newsgroup goes to the listserv but it
is
based in Indianna.

Some of you Computer Gurus should look into it
George

"Tom Watson" wrote in message
s.com...
On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 22:49:58 GMT, "Swingman" wrote:

(i thought fidonet was still extant)

It was last time I looked, but you better be prepared to read/write Russian.


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/21/03

In article .com,
"Swingman" wrote:

It is not UseNet that is dying, it is the technical competence required to
run an ISP, with all the attendant services like nntp, that has become a
victim of the general corporate incompetence in this country.

If you're looking for an ISP run by people who know what they're doing
and enjoy working with sophisticated customers, try Panix.

There were approximately 11 MILLION messages posted in the last 30 days.
How does that square with your ISP's comments? IT DOESN'T!! Perhaps
they are shirking their duties as "providers" with less than stellar
support of the NG's.

dave

Tom Watson wrote:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

I don't see Usenet dying at all. It is an expense to maintain Usenet
servers, so to cut costs some ISPs don't offer them or only offer a
small subset. I use AT&T because they carry a full set of newsgroups
and have been very reliable.

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 00:00:27 GMT, "Swingman" wrote:



It was last time I looked, but you better be prepared to read/write Russian.

nyet ****ski?

(well, that's damned disappointing)




Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

On 2003/11/22 4:26 PM, "Tom Watson" wrote:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

I think that you have to look at it from the business perspective of the
ISPs. What they are seeing is that fewer and fewer of their new customers
are using Usenet, or even know of it. Hence the ISPs get relatively few
requests for Usenet news group access. When Comcast took over the @Home
market here, they did not seem to have any plans to support Usenet until
there was a significant outcry from existing customers.

For people who have come to the use of computers in the last five years, the
Internet is the same as the Web. They have no idea of how many other
services can ride over the basic bit transport of the Internet. And as more
services, such as email, are web-ified, we lose some of the distinctive
nature of services such as email, list servers and Usenet news groups.

The other factor which may be causing ISPs to consider dropping Usenet
service is the danger of legal action for intellectual property violations.
Let's be honest here. Many of the binary newsgroups are rampant with pirated
software, music, video and images. Every time some idiot posts a copyrighted
work without permission, every carrier and server that transports that post
faces some risk of legal action. The ISPs may not be held liable, but even
the threat of having to mount a legal defense in court is daunting to risk
adverse corporations.

If you are worried about the health of Usenet, do two things - let you ISP
know how important it is to you and introduce some other people to the
wonders on news group resources.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 18:22:07 -0500, "solarman"
wrote:

You know Tom, you might be on to something good here. What is to say all of us here could NOT put up a private news server on the net for woodworking related posts? Then have a registration phase that everyone could go through to keep the riff raff out? I know Yahoo has the groups as does many others, but perhaps we could talk Jason into doing it as he hosts the space for us at www.wood-workers.com anyway... Might be worth looking into even if a small fee were involved. That makes folks tend to take better care of it anyway.

Yo, Solarman:

Since you're smart and stuff about this internet thing, you think you
could figure out how to set your newsreader's word wrap?

Whiplash Mike

How much of that was porn?


"Bay Area Dave" wrote in message
om...
There were approximately 11 MILLION messages posted in the last 30 days.
How does that square with your ISP's comments? IT DOESN'T!! Perhaps
they are shirking their duties as "providers" with less than stellar
support of the NG's.

dave

Tom Watson wrote:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 20:44:55 -0500, "solarman"
wrote:

I remember..... Xerox 820-II CPM machine... Ah.. now them was the days!

Mine were a Televideo CPm, mit Dollies (twin floppies).

Hard drives kept in air conditioned luxury by folks far richer than i

I dinna miss that Wordstar v.1

Altho I was smitten by such testoneronic commands as

'global search and destroy'

ye gadz


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

Unfortunately the first response is pretty valid. Having been in the IT
field for over 25 years and having worked for a few ISP's, I can say most
ISP's don't want to expend the capital to support a small client base. The
younger people, and a lot of uniformed people use chat rooms for similar
information sharing (among other uses) Guess we're just dinosaurs........and
I remember dialing into a BBS (bulletin board service) ........so there
won't be any guessing what BBS means!

Dave

"Tom Watson" wrote in message
s.com...
I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

This newsgroup, in particular, seems to be vibrant and well
subscribed. The chess newgroups that I lurk on seem to be in the same
condition.

When I look at the Netscan statistics, I see signs that there are many
active groups.

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

I use two newsgroup providers, TeraNews being my backup, because my
ISP's provider is often out of whack. TeraNews is fine for a backup
but is often down.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I've tried reading the group through Google but it seems to have a lot
of lag time between the time that posts are made and when they show up
on Google.

What is going on with this Usenet thing? Are the ISP's right in
claiming that Usenet is dying? And, given that the ISP's don't care,
what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?


Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

coda:

and the 2600 boyz was ****in inta da phone lines wid der chirpers

and The Well was both deep and had sweet water

and a Compuserve addy actually meant something

and trolls was more sophisticated - because they had ta be



Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

UGlwICYgc3RhdCB3ZXJlIHRoZSB3b3JkcyBvZiB0aGUgZGF5IH RoZW4uLi4uIEJpbGwgR2F0ZXMg
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On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 21:13:08 -0500, "solarman"
wrote:

Board Watch Magazine... It has been sold a bunch of times since he had it... Dang! I had that name on the tip of my tongue too. I'll see if I can dig up an old copy from the archives and see what his name is...



Jack Rickard?




Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson

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On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 22:29:29 GMT, Nova
wrote:
My next door neighbor works "network tech support" (internal to the
company) for Adelphia Cable. Prior to me showing him what "UseNet" was,
he didn't even know it existed. I suspect it is the same with many of the
"kids" working for various ISP's.

More to the point, it's true of the vast majority of Internet users
today. So as far as the ISPs are concerned, Usenet is not something
that very many subscribers care about, and not something that's worth
putting much time or money into.

My ISP has a pretty crappy news server. Often down, slow, lots of
missing messages, minuscule retention times. There are a couple of
on-line forums where the ISP has an official or at least semi-official
presence and when users complain about the news service, their
response is that they're tryin' but realistically, there's only so
much priority that they can give to a service that's used by perhaps
5-10% of their subscribers.


-- jc
Published e-mail address is strictly for spam collection.
If e-mailing me, please use jc631 at optonline dot net

Tom Watson wrote:

Why this attitude by the ISP's?

Usnet mostly appeals to us old guys who were on the net back before the web
came into being. I'd wager that the vast majority of ISPs are run by
people who got into the computer scene late in the game, after the AOL
revolution. These are people who are helpless if they can't point and
click their way around a problem.

My own is no exception either. They really don't have a clue, and I'd wager
they probably don't understand half of the things I use my connection to
do. I'm totally beyond the realm of their tech support drones anyway
because I run a Linux box. Boy, you should hear them babble pathetic
excuses to me when I say the L word.

However, I've had complaints from some that they don't see my posts
when they come through my ISP's provider (Voicenet, I believe) because
their system does not pick up the posts.

I get your posts. My primary server is at the University of Berlin. They
give free accounts to anyone who's willing to abide by their very
reasonable rules. It's the best free news server I've found, but even
using that one and two others, I still frequently miss original posts.

what is the most reliable way to read and post on Usenet?

Not fool-proof, but the best way I've found is to have multiple upstream
servers. I'm not sure how you might go about doing that without running
your own news spool, but you can run your own spool even on Windows.
Something called Hamster I think. I know little about it, other than it's
"the closest thing to Leafnode Windows has."

I have a crontab run fetchnews every 15 minutes, if I'm online. It pulls
articles from my three upstream sources, then stores them on my hard drive.
I connect to my own server and get the articles instantly. Posts go out
every 15 minutes. I can also run fetchnews manually if I have some
immediate need, such as sending out the last round of posts before going to
bed, or starting the fetch as soon as I get home from work. It's a good
way to go for a modem user too, since I don't have to wait for the
individual articles to download. Once I'm reading, I'm reading; any
waiting is up front.

The only down side of doing it this way is if you read a lot of groups.
Fetchnews doesn't let you at any of the new stuff until the whole run is
done, and if you subscribe to a couple dozen groups, it takes a good bit of
time to finish (by modem anyway.) I tend to only read one or two at a
time, so this is no problem. I can always connect to the upstream servers
directly if I have some need to read a group to which I don't normally
subscribe. KNode makes that easy.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

That's him ... one sharp dude.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/21/03

"Tom Watson" wrote in message

Jack Rickard?

Mark Jerde wrote:

One bummer:

http://news.individual.net/faq.html#5.3

5.3 May I mangle my "From:" header address so that I do not get SPAM?

Same deal with the University of Berlin server I was talking about a bit
ago. That sounds like maybe the same thing by a different name. (Maybe
they've changed the name.)

That one in particular is what I had in mind when I said "very reasonable
rules."

I've been on usenet for 10 years now, and I have never used a fake address.
Right choice for me, and no, I'm not preaching, but abiding by that rule
has never bothered me.

They *will* dump you if they catch you breaking that rule. I think they'll
warn you first.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

George M. Kazaka wrote:

When I came on here i actually joined a woodwork listserv, I was getting
all the e-mails from this group but when i posted no one got them, I never
found out where they went
I still do not understand how this newsgroup goes to the listserv but it
is based in Indianna.

You were getting *posts* from this group. Slight difference.

It's pretty common for it to run the other way. There's a linux kernel
newsgroup that echoes the contents of the mailing list, but posts to the
newsgroup do not go to the list. What you're seeing is the same thing in
reverse. They doubtless set it up that way on purpose, and nothing is
broken.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Swingman wrote:

AAMOF, it is getting so bad that I sometimes fancy you may eventually see
some of the older, pre-Internet networks, like FidoNet, rear their heads
again.

AFAIK, FidoNet never died. Don't quote me on that, but I think it's still
around after some fashion.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 21:26:57 GMT, Tom Watson
brought forth from the murky depths:

I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

That's absolutely false. Hell, you _alone_ have responded to
at least 50 trolls on this group this month. Your 1/2 dozen
troll-responding buddies did the same. glare


My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

I think it's a burden to handle all the traffic so they
say it's dying and just don't service it like they should.
Switch ISPs, then stick with a good one.


--------------------------------------
PESSIMIST: An optimist with experience
--------------------------------------------
www.diversify.com - Web Database Development

I don't see that problem at all, but maybe its because I live in a big city.
Earthlink is my ISP and they just put in large East and West servers just to
handle newgroups. The performance improvement was huge. They obviously
believe Newsgroups are important for their customers. I highly recommend
them.

Bob

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 22:04:11 -0500, Silvan wrote:


Not fool-proof, but the best way I've found is to have multiple upstream
servers. I'm not sure how you might go about doing that without running
your own news spool, but you can run your own spool even on Windows.
Something called Hamster I think. I know little about it, other than it's
"the closest thing to Leafnode Windows has."

If your into a slight bit of hacking, google up "dnntpd".

-Doug

Tom Watson writes:
nyet ****ski?
Privyet!

ne-poonimiu po russki. A Bac?
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