Fifty days

[Gary]

I was just looking at Google Groups and noticed that the last post to
this newsgroup was on May 2.

Which means that if we go for another four days without a post, it'll be
fifty days in a row that nobody has posted here.

Which has to be a new record! Let's go for it!

....oh, wait a minute....I've screwed up, haven't I?

- Gary

[Nyssa]

Yep, you screwed it up. lol

I've been checking to see if there was any activity here
during the playoffs and now before the expansion draft,
and have wondered if that meant everyone had dumped the
Canucks and become Flames fans or something.

No speculation on who will be protected, no ideas of
trades or buyouts, no observations about any of the
playoff series. Not even a peep from Foamy about how
poorly he did with his betting.

What's going on??!!!?? There was more activity in this
newsgroup during last year's off-season about anything
and everything and now nada.

Is this newsgroup doomed to go the same way as almost
every other hockey newsgroup in Usenet? (Although there
were a couple of postings in the Leaves group that then
fizzled again.)

Say it ain't so!

Nyssa, who has at least been doing her part to help keep
the Habs group churning along

[Gary]

On 2017-06-18 6:33 AM, Nyssa wrote:

> What's going on??!!!?? There was more activity in this
> newsgroup during last year's off-season about anything
> and everything and now nada.
>
> Is this newsgroup doomed to go the same way as almost
> every other hockey newsgroup in Usenet? (Although there
> were a couple of postings in the Leaves group that then
> fizzled again.)

Yep, I think that's pretty much what has happened. There's still a lot
of hockey discussion on the Net but it's moved away from Usenet. And
it's not just hockey newsgroups - it's most newsgroups I would guess. I
suspect there's a fair number of people who don't even realize that
Usenet discussion groups exist.

- Gary

[Dutch]

I'd guess that the percentage of people who do is in the low single
digits. Of those most probably use Google Groups. I don't know anyone
personally who uses Usenet unless I met them through Usenet. YouTube and
other web forums are much more popular and accessible.

[pawn]

On 2017-06-18 4:20 PM, Gary wrote:

>
> Yep, I think that's pretty much what has happened. There's still a
> lot of hockey discussion on the Net but it's moved away from Usenet.
> And it's not just hockey newsgroups - it's most newsgroups I would
> guess. I suspect there's a fair number of people who don't even realize
> that Usenet discussion groups exist.
>
> - Gary

It's a shame too. Usenet is the best forum out there. No ads, no mods
(who seem to be the biggest trolls on the HF hockey Forums). The Wild
West of hockey talk. I thought you guys would stick around a lot longer.

[Nyssa]

I agree with the no-mods, no-ads features of Usenet. Plus
it's One Stop Shopping with the vast number of topics
covered by the groups available. No remembering logins
and passwords and URLs for dozens of websites and forums
that cover each individual topic.

Even better for those of us still on dialup, low bandwidth,
text-only groups without the bloat of hard-to-follow
threads, poorly designed software, and idiots that think
auto-starting video or audio or animation clips on pages
is a good thing to do.

I'll stick to Usenet. I like to think of those remaining
on the newsgroups as Quality rather than Quantity. There
are still several groups with moderate activity and
intelligent discussions going on.

Plus some trolls and total morons, but you get even more
of that on websites for the masses. At least you've got
to be more in the know to find and use Usenet.

Nyssa, who absolutely dislikes bloat of avatars and the
backing-and-forthing of many online forum websites just
to follow threads and topics

[Spiral]

You might be surprised at the amount of people who can't wrap their head
around what a newsgroup reader is. Seriously. Like there's a browser and an
email program and that's it, the rest of the software out there is for
scientists or computer "experts."

Typical of conversations I've had:

"Yeah, you can read posts on any topic in the world on Usenet."
"What's it cost?"
"You already have access to it. Just pick a newsreader and scan the subject
headings."
"So, what's the link?"
"You CAN read it from a browser, through Google, although that's horribly
cumbersome. You need a newsreader."
"A newsreader? I have Google!"
"You know what? Go back to Facebook, I just realized no one really needs
your opinion on anything. I'm also hiding your keyboard."

[Kenji]

On Saturday, 17 June 2017 17:30:00 UTC-7, Gary wrote:

I check here every couple of days actually. There is almost nothing going on here but the habits of 25 years die pretty hard.

I've been going to canucks central, although it too is very in-jokey which is somewhat bemusing to the visitor, but there is some good speculation. Canucks Army is pecksniffian, but has provocative insight albeit if you believe that the proper way to train for hockey is with an abacus.

[Nyssa]

Yeah, I get a lot of that too. I'm a Linux geek, so when
I'm asked about newsreaders for Windows-based PCs, I
really don't know what to recommend, so I just tell 'em
to get Thunderbird, although that's a kluge IMO, and not
very good for Usenet, but better than nothing.

Try explaining over the phone to someone how to set things
up. <sigh> I get frustrated that they don't even understand
*basic* terminology even though they've used computers for
many years.

But like you say, if they're that thick, do we really
need their input on Usenet?

I guess that means us non-thick types need to post more
to keep things going.

Nyssa, who has been doing her part on Usenet for 30 years

[Gary]

On 2017-06-19 12:25 PM, Kenji wrote:

> I check here every couple of days actually. There is almost nothing going on here but the habits of 25 years die pretty hard.
>
> I've been going to canucks central, although it too is very in-jokey which is somewhat bemusing to the visitor, but there is some good speculation. Canucks Army is pecksniffian, but has provocative insight albeit if you believe that the proper way to train for hockey is with an abacus.
>

When I'm in the mood for a hockey discussion I go to CanucksDotCom.

http://forum.canucks.com/

The problem with it is that it is *too* active. A lot of Canucks
threads get overwhelmed by posts.

But their "Other sports" and "Offtopic" forums can be interesting.

- Gary

[pawn]

I couldn't agree more with everything you said here.

[Victor Wainer]

Nyssa <Ny...@flawlesslogic.com> wrote in news:oi9aaq$isf$1...@dont-email.me:

I still use Xnews in windows (no binary groups for me)
Works reasonably well...

--
---
Victor Wainer (Alioscha)

[Nyssa]

I'll keep that in mind in case one of my Windows-only
friends asks about a newsreader. One has already complained
about trying to tame Thunderbird, so this might be a
better choice for him.

Thanks!

Nyssa, who wonders how such a poorly produced product such
as Windows stays on top of the market after all these years

[Spiral]

Nyssa wrote:

> Nyssa, who wonders how such a poorly produced product such
> as Windows stays on top of the market after all these years

Easy. Industry standards such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere and Illustrator,
etc. Nothing compares and if key ad agencies execute projects and seed their
clients with this stuff, what else can you do.
Now, you can work with this software in the cloud, in any OS, but I don't
trust online anything.
Linux is very weak in video editing and voice-to-text like Dragon's
Naturally Speaking.

Agreed that as an OS, Windows is lame. Objectively outside of being
fashionable to bash, it's a turd and the file system must have been designed
by a corporate dickhead who loved a guaranteed predictability of failure.
Sort of like a Chevy or a Ford.

[Nyssa]

I remember when Apple was the choice for professional
graphics designers. And when Amiga was in contention for
awhile too.

Proprietary formats are the bane of innovation and tie
too many businesses (and colleges) to a one-source non-option.

Things are made worse when the masses of computer "users"
are never properly taught how to actually USE their
computers instead of just hanging on for whatever ride
it takes them on.

I've been a Linux user from almost the beginning. I still
have a copy of Ydgrasil Linux someone around here. Yeah,
I still have a Windows partition, but it's only used for
one thing: downloading my Kindle books from Amazon via
their very poorly designed Kindle for PC software, then
I import that into Calibre for Linux for my library.

Oh, and both of my vehicles are Dodges. ;)

So to drag this back to hockey....what's everyone think
of the dog and pony show going on in Vegas?

Nyssa, who suffered through some of the presentation last
night, but is now waiting for the other shoe to drop about
the pre-arranged deals

[Salkirin]

Nyssa <Ny...@flawlesslogic.com> wrote in news:oigec8$1mq$1@dont-
email.me:

> So to drag this back to hockey....what's everyone think
> of the dog and pony show going on in Vegas?
>
> Nyssa, who suffered through some of the presentation last
> night, but is now waiting for the other shoe to drop about
> the pre-arranged deals
>
>

Didn't see much of it. Was at work and caught a glimpse and honestly
wasn't too impressed. Would have been happy having McPhee just release
a list of all the players selected. But the NHL is in the
"Entertainment Business" and this is par for the course.

I wasn't surprised that Sbisa was the Canuck selected. None of the
other available Canucks were that exciting.


Salkirin...

[Spiral]

Probably late to this idea, but I'd much rather discuss possible team names
for Las Vegas, thinking about the many impressions it left me with. So many
places to go with this.

The Dehydrated Panhandlers
is my favorite so far

[Kenji]

On Thursday, 22 June 2017 18:28:46 UTC-7, Spiral wrote:
>
> The Dehydrated Panhandlers
> is my favorite so far

The Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Mob
The Red Rock Canyons
T R U M P
The Dancing Fountains
Welcome Conventioneers
Lapdancers
The Fremont Experiences

[Spiral]

The Spent Pension Shopping Carters
The MeLoveYouLongtimes
The Where's the Western Union Office, I Can't Afford a Return Flighters
The Can I Have Fries With Those Marriage Vows
The Going-Into Adult Film Showgirls

I'm starting to nauseate myself.