Re: New attempt to promote UseNet by creating newsgroups.

[Ivan Shmakov]

>>>>> Charlie Gibbs <cgi...@kltpzyxm.invalid> writes:
>>>>> th...@anta.net (Thor Kottelin) writes:
>>>>> "Evgenii Sputnik" <elspu...@gmail.com> wrote...

[Discreetly moving the discussion to news:news.misc. I've tried
to follow the customary cross-post + Followup-To: scheme, but
such an attempt was rejected by the NGP moderator.]

[...]

>>> Now next step is to notify users of every distro that newsgroup for
>>> their distro exists, they would be proud they are recognized. And
>>> they will come to UseNet, September - Continue!

>> Unfortunately, the 'build it and they will come' approach tends to
>> fail here on Usenet.

> Of course not - there are no pretty pictures, no animated GIFs, no
> unsolicited sounds (and ads) bursting out of your speakers.

... No Unicode (even if you're a Thai), no math (even in
news:sci.math), no schematics or PCB designs (even in
news:sci.electronics.design), no proxy support (whether HTTP or
SOCKS) in most (all?) of the newsreader software (and no option
to keep the downloaded articles locally, either), no digital
signatures (so anyone can spoof your messages; contrary to the
Web fora, where only the admins are capable of that)...

... Even given that every other feature of these is in the
RFC's, that is.

> Usenet is far too boring for J. Random Luser - and depending on your
> point of view, this can be a Good Thing.

It's never a Good Thing.

--
<!DOCTYPE xml><xml the="e"><tensible ribbon="campaign" /><p>Advocating
the judicious use of XML applications on the Internet at large.</p></xml>

[Ivan Shmakov]

>>>>> Evgenii Sputnik <elspu...@gmail.com> writes:

>>>>> On 02/04/2013 02:13 AM, Thor Kottelin wrote:
>>>>> "Evgenii Sputnik" <elspu...@gmail.com> wrote...

[Discreetly moving the discussion to news:news.misc. I've tried
to follow the customary cross-post + Followup-To: scheme, but
such an attempt was rejected by the NGP moderator.]

>>> So imagine we created 50 new Linux newsgroups.

>>> Now next step is to notify users of every distro that newsgroup for
>>> their distro exists, they would be proud they are recognized. And
>>> they will come to UseNet, September - Continue!

>> Unfortunately, the 'build it and they will come' approach tends to
>> fail here on Usenet.

> To make them come someone also has notify the community of all such
> distros about newsgroup and how to access.

The "how to access" part is indeed essential. So, what's that
we're having with that?

Alice: Hey, Bob, there's a new newsgroup for your distro!

Bob: Cool. Where do I point my browser to?

Alice: Conventionally, you'd access a newsgroup with a newsreader,
not a Web browser...

Bob: Huh? Fine, what do I install?

Alice: Try Mozilla Thunderbird.

Bob: Installed that. How do I set it up?

Alice: You can use Aioe.org for the newsserver; it's free.

Bob: Okay, where do I enter proxy there?

Alice: What kind of proxy?

Bob: Well, my employer's network is "protected", and we only have
access to the Internet via the corporate proxy.

Alice: Is it a SOCKS proxy?

Bob: Nope.

Alice: I see. You can set up a tunnel, with proxychains, OpenVPN,
or something, if your proxy allows for CONNECT (as in: HTTPS.)

Bob: Surely it does. How much time will it take to set up a tunnel?

Alice: Some 15 minutes for proxychains, I guess.

Bob: (Spending 15 minutes trying to set up proxychains, just to
discover that it doesn't support the NTLM authentication that's
used in his employer's network.)

Bob: Is there an easier way?

Alice: As in Google Groups?

Bob: (Trying Google Groups.)

Bob: ... But it sucks!

Alice: Yeah, sure.

> If not - yes I agree it don't works.

It doesn't work either way, actually.

Bob: ... But he keeps asking stupid questions, and his replies are
full of obscenities! Where're the moderators?!...

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FSF associate member #7257