Hi Andy,
Thanks for that update, which I much appreciate, as I took have tried
to get Google to archive certain newsgroups, so no practical avail.
That's why I resorted to the tinyurl links, until Google finally relented
on the obscure link terminology in favor of the simpler "g" group syntax.
I have three comments to add to the useful information you supplied...
1. The only archived Windows ngs, are the WinXP & Windows general groups.
<
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows>
<
https://groups.google.com/g/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general>
Which is why it's a good idea, for canonical topics like for tutorials,
to cross post to a.c.m.w even though nobody is actually on it, per se.
2. Grant Taylor, to his credit, did respond but in a different newsgroup.
*Google Groups Archives for this newsgroup*
<
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/SInASENSXmg>
"I have first hand experience with Google refusing to
create new Usenet newsgroups. N.B. Google Groups (proper)
is completely different than the Google Groups Usenet interface.
I speculate that Google is going to discontinue their Usenet
support at some point in the future, much like they
discontinue other things."
3. To Grant's point, a lot of people get Usenet confused with Google
Groups, perhaps because Google "seeded" their interface when they
picked up DejaNews' web-searchable archives long ago.
My suggestion is for users to use the "
groups.google.com/g/"
interface for searches, where it has been my experience the search
engine is about as good/bad as "dogpile" was back in the day.
Not good. Not horrible. If you know what you're looking for, you'll
find it; but it's nothing like the search engine of Google itself.
Anything else people need to know about these Usenet newsgroup
web-searchable permanent archives?