MAJOR SHIFT CHANGE (if you're using Google Groups)

[Richard Silk]

I just got this notification in my browser window:

Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today.

Now, to be clear, "Google Groups" is only *one* way of accessing alt.dreams (or alt.anything, for that matter) as it is, fundamentally, a USENET function of the *backbone* of the Internet. As to what the notice means by "will no longer support new Usenet content" is slightly ambiguous, but the *worst case scenario* is that it *may* preclude posting in alt.dreams (or alt.anything) as has been done in the past.

Even my old "Outlook Express" email program back on my Windows XP system has USENET functionality to it. I will start looking into that and see if I can *recall* how to fish out *free* USENET access.

[Justisaur]

news.eternal-september.org

I'm using Thunderbird to access it. I've read of it appearing to send
and losing the post. I haven't had that yet and some people report it's
never happened to them, but sometimes it fails to post once and pops up
a 'lost connection' error, then works clicking the send button again
'getting messages' right before sending seems to avoid that. One time
it did nothing when clicking send and I had to close and restart it
before it would send.

Forte' Agent is the gold standard for windows, but it's a one time fee
of $30. I'll do that if Thunderbird turns out to be too annoying.
There's other ones for linux and mac that seem well loved that are free.

On the plus side of going back to a newsreader it's a lot easier to keep
up on multiple groups than it was in GG.

If you need to access it via web there's some web server-clients, but
they cost between $5-$10 a month and seem to target people who like to
download binaries. There's a couple free web clients, but I haven't
figured out how to get an account and actually post, and it appears they
haven't been supported for upward of 8 years. I'm still investigating,
if I find anything that works I'll try to remember to post here.


--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

[Richard Silk]

On Monday, December 18, 2023 at 9:30:07 AM UTC-6, Justisaur wrote:
> On 12/17/2023 6:59 AM, Richard Silk wrote:
> > I just got this notification in my browser window:
> >
> > Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today.
> >
> > Now, to be clear, "Google Groups" is only *one* way of accessing alt.dreams (or alt.anything, for that matter) as it is, fundamentally, a USENET function of the *backbone* of the Internet. As to what the notice means by "will no longer support new Usenet content" is slightly ambiguous, but the *worst case scenario* is that it *may* preclude posting in alt.dreams (or alt.anything) as has been done in the past.
> >
> > Even my old "Outlook Express" email program back on my Windows XP system has USENET functionality to it. I will start looking into that and see if I can *recall* how to fish out *free* USENET access.
> news.eternal-september.org
>
> I'm using Thunderbird to access it. I've read of it appearing to send
> and losing the post. I haven't had that yet and some people report it's
> never happened to them, but sometimes it fails to post once and pops up
> a 'lost connection' error, then works clicking the send button again
> 'getting messages' right before sending seems to avoid that. One time
> it did nothing when clicking send and I had to close and restart it
> before it would send.
>
> Forte' Agent is the gold standard for windows, but it's a one time fee
> of $30. I'll do that if Thunderbird turns out to be too annoying.
> There's other ones for linux and mac that seem well loved that are free.
>
> On the plus side of going back to a newsreader it's a lot easier to keep
> up on multiple groups than it was in GG.
>

> <snip>

> --
> -Justisaur
>
> ø-ø
> (\_/)\
> `-'\ `--.___,
> ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
> \\
> ^'

Hey J, interesting ASCII art (actually text image art, but hey, it's all good...) what's it supposed to be? a soldier / person with a rifle?

Meanwhile, thanks for "pitching in" on the info.

Meanwhile, I have a *touch* of "dain bramage," meaning I *may* have chatted with you before, but have no clear, actual memory of doing so. If this is your first time to pipe up in the space, that's referred to as "de-lurking" in old-school terminology.

Either way, good to hear from you 👍✔😎

FYI, I've got 2 Windows XP systems (yes! they still work *effectively* in various ways!) and they have "Outlook Express" (going back over 20 years!!) and, last I checked, they can be used ("configured") with various "free" servers to function with alt.usenet type groups.

[Justisaur]

It's supposed to be a justisaur - like a T-rex with a gavel.
Unfortunately GG removes leading spaces so it doesn't look right in your
reply. I'm not sure if it looks right for you before replying though.

> Meanwhile, thanks for "pitching in" on the info.
>
> Meanwhile, I have a *touch* of "dain bramage," meaning I *may* have chatted with you before, but have no clear, actual memory of doing so. If this is your first time to pipe up in the space, that's referred to as "de-lurking" in old-school terminology.
>
> Either way, good to hear from you 👍✔😎
>
> FYI, I've got 2 Windows XP systems (yes! they still work *effectively* in various ways!) and they have "Outlook Express" (going back over 20 years!!) and, last I checked, they can be used ("configured") with various "free" servers to function with alt.usenet type groups.

I posted here once in '08
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.dreams/c/m2jb6i2c9m4/m/pUXmvvA9OEYJ

I had it on my subscribed groups in GG but I almost always forgot about
it. I probably just read a few posts 4 or 5 times since then. Now
that I've got it in Thunderbird I am reminded it exists and when there's
new posts.

Outlook Express should work o.k. Usenet is ancient tech anyway. I'm not
sure about attaching XP to the internet though, last time I took a
really old version of windows and did that it got hit with viruses
within hours.

One thing I'm finding annoying with Thunderbird, and I'd assume with
other email programs is I keep hitting reply instead of followup, which
means I reply to only the person who posted's email instead of the
group. So far I think I've caught it before I sent it at least.

[Richard Silk]

On Monday, December 18, 2023 at 9:33:20 PM UTC-6, Justisaur wrote:
<snip>

> I had it on my subscribed groups in GG but I almost always forgot about
> it. I probably just read a few posts 4 or 5 times since then. Now
> that I've got it in Thunderbird I am reminded it exists and when there's
> new posts.
>
> Outlook Express should work o.k. Usenet is ancient tech anyway. I'm not
> sure about attaching XP to the internet though, last time I took a
> really old version of windows and did that it got hit with viruses
> within hours.

Funny thing about the Net: I use an AT&T type connection that (knock wood) so far seems to be "virus-free," that is, they scan for / prevent viruses on the *server* side, such that nothing gets *through* their network to infect their clients (like the end user's terminal.)

I haven't used an *updated* antivirus in *years.*

Meanwhile, the online email systems seem pretty good at *also* filtering viruses out of emails (by denying any such items through their networks) and they also *flag* all the suspected spams and highly questionable content. Again, seems to have been going smoothly for *years* now. In fact, the only *problem* I had was when Chrome "end of lifed* its service to XP systems and refused to update, or even install any older version. (I *lost* a *tremendously* wonderful version of Chrome back during a format/reinstall one year. Very, very sad....)

At any rate, XP connects (either by CAT / NIC cable *or* by WiFi) to the router, and the OE in the XP does its thing (or it did, last I checked. This February is gonna be a *buggar* of going back to the "Old School," but *maybe* there will be some silver linings! 👍✔😎)

Also, in Google Groups, there's a box to check at the top right of each post that automatically "notifies" you of any activity on a post. That way, I get no extra inbox clutter, and I typically check alt.dreams every day or so... sometimes going as many as 3 or 4 days, but I do check it "frequently" as a matter of the daily course of events.

> One thing I'm finding annoying with Thunderbird, and I'd assume with
> other email programs is I keep hitting reply instead of followup, which
> means I reply to only the person who posted's email instead of the
> group. So far I think I've caught it before I sent it at least.

Mmm.... right, in Google Groups, the *primary* reply flag is *always* to the group: replying to the author requires a secondary layer of "finesse" as it were.

> -Justisaur
>
> ø-ø
> (\_/)\
> `-'\ `--.___,
> ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
> \\
> ^'

I still think the soldier with a rifle is a slightly more accurate version of what I'm seeing, like "Justice with a Sig Sauer."

[Richard Silk]

On Tuesday, December 19, 2023 at 8:20:16 AM UTC-6, Richard Silk wrote:
<snip>

> Also, in Google Groups, there's a box to check at the top right of each post that automatically "notifies" you of any activity on a post. That way, I get no extra inbox clutter, and I typically check alt.dreams every day or so... sometimes going as many as 3 or 4 days, but I do check it "frequently" as a matter of the daily course of events.
> > One thing I'm finding annoying with Thunderbird, and I'd assume with

<snip>
Correction: the check box is at the top LEFT of every post.