[ADMIN ANNOUNCEMENT] The Final Chapter
Carey Gregory
that there was an average of only 2 posts per month throughout all of 2008.
Fact is, web-based discussion groups have pretty much killed usenet. Most
people today just look at you blankly if you mention usenet and think you're
referring to the Associated Press if you mention newsgroups. Only the
binaries groups remain highly active.
To top it off, I've been informed that my ISP will cease providing newsgroup
access as part of its standard services, which means I would have to pay a
news provider to continue moderating this group.
Sorry, but I'm not willing to do that for one post every 3-4 months. If
anyone is interested in taking over moderation of the group, get with me in
email and I'll turn it over to you. Otherwise, this group will simply cease
to function when my ISP pulls the plug. I'm not sure when that will occur,
but I'm surprised it's still working to post this.
For those of you who actually still follow this group, thanks for your
support. It was an interesting four-year experiment, but I think it has
become simply unneeded now. The unmoderated groups such as
misc.emerg-services, alt.med.ems, and alt.firefighters continue to exist, of
course.
--
Carey Gregory
Moderator - alt.emergency-services.moderated
Kurt Ullman
Carey Gregory <tiredof...@comcast.net> wrote:
Thanks for you work, it was fun while it lasted. Where do you hang
out now???
Brian Humphrey
It was indeed fun while it lasted. Though I had hoped upon hope, the picture
become profoundly clear in the past four years that there was little present
return on investment. As I recently tallied technologies for an article in
WIRED magazine:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/16-11/st_firefight
....it was more than evident that Usenet was not on the radar. How sad such
energies and intellect are now scattered so widely <sigh>.
I'll always maintain fond memory of the community that once gathered here,
and the collective goodness it created. Someday, my sons Nick (now 3) and
Tom (now 15 months) will come across this thing called a Usenet archive, and
probably think it little more than an ancient tintype that their
propellerhead father tinkered with.
My memories will tell a far different story.
To one and all of my Usenet colleagues, participants and lurkers alike:
Please let me know when your travels bring you to Southern California, if
even briefly. There's plenty of room at our firehouse kitchen table, and
ALWAYS a warm cup of coffee with your name on it.
Oh, and yes, I'm also in that soon to be discontinued thing called 'the
phone book' <smirk>
Fraternally Yours in Safety and Service,
Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Paramedic
Public Information Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department
200 North Main Street, Room OCD-EPI
Los Angeles, CA 90012 USA
E-Mail: brian.h...@lacity.org
LAFD Media Desk: (213) 485-5162
LAFD Home Page: http://lafd.org
LAFD News Blog: http://lafd.org/blog
Carey Gregory
> Thanks for you work, it was fun while it lasted. Where do you hang
>out now???
I believe all the cool kids in EMS hang out on paramedic.com these days.
Honestly, I'm not really sure where fire folks hang out.
Kurt Ullman
Carey Gregory <tiredof...@comcast.net> wrote:
I have been VERY busy with writing medical stuff, but I have been
tossing around the possibility of getting back into public safety in
general and Fire/EMS specifically (I was a contributing editor at
Firehouse for 10 years and wrote some for Emergency back in the day).
But I am SoOOOOOO far out of touch with everything now, I was looking
around for a place to hang out and lurk to get an idea as to what was
hot in the Services.
You may see me over at paramedic.com if I get some free time.
In the meantime, for anyone interested, my address at the top of the
posting is unmunged and good.
K
Jerome B. Senturia
excellent up to the minute coverage for the Toronto gas explosion(s) a
few months back.
Alta47
Just an FYI re: Usenet newsgroup access:
There are still free ways to access newsgroups. For example, you can go to
news://nntp.aioe.org and access newsgroups even though your ISP no longer
offers it. It's free and doesn't require any signup. I am using it now to
access this group and post this message. My stupid Comcast ISP bailed out
on newsgroups on October 25, 2008.
There are also other news servers such as news://news.annexcafe.com which
are not really a part of the Usenet system but which use the same
technology. This one is also free but you have to register first to post.
I am registered there with anonymous information and I mostly use their
"annexcafe.general.user2user" newsgroup which is about computers and solving
computer-related glitches and problems. I started a thread there on
11/05/2008 with the subject heading, "Usenet Software for Dummies idea".
It's my idea that there ought to be a user friendly software program out
there that would enable everyday non-geek computer users to access and use
Usenet newsgroups.
There is also a company out there that let's people set up and have their
own Usenet-style (NNTP?) newsgroups but which are private and not a part of
the Usenet system. The company's website is at http://messagepixels.com and
they have some support newsgroups for their software users at
news://news.messagepixels.com and at http://news.messagepixels.com . People
can either buy the MessagePixels MPNews software (for a few hundred dollars,
I think) and host their own private or public newsgroups on their own
servers or, not buy the MPNews software and instead pay a monthly hosting
fee (about $12/month, I think) and set up private or public newsgroups that
are hosted on the MessagePixels MPNews servers.
Supposedly, the way it works is that the same newsgroups that people set up
can be accessed by users using the newsgroup-NNTP-style format or a
web-based discussion-group type of format. I am not very good at explaining
it, but an example of the two of formats can be seen by looking at their
support newsgroups (at news://news.messagepixels.com and at
http://news.messagepixels.com ). I actually tried it myself and have been
using their monthly-fee hosting service to set up my own groups. But, to
tell you the truth, I never could really figure out how to get my own groups
to work the way I want them to work. It seems like Message Pixels is mostly
a one-person company and their support side is too inadequate to help me or
my brain is too small to understand how to get the software to work
correctly.
Anyway, thanks again for all you did and tried to do here.
"Carey Gregory" <tiredof...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:20qeh41g1rjce05m5...@4ax.com...
SickGirl468
wrote:
> Thanks Carey et al,
>
> It was indeed fun while it lasted. Though I had hoped upon hope, the pict=
ure
> become profoundly clear in the past four years that there was little pres=
ent
> return on investment. As I recently tallied technologies for an article i=
n
> WIRED magazine:
>
> http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/16-11/st_firefight
>
> ....it was more than evident that Usenet was not on the radar. How sad su=
ch
> energies and intellect are now scattered so widely <sigh>.
>
,
> and the collective goodness it created. Someday, my sons Nick (now 3) and
and
> probably think it little more than an ancient tintype that their
> propellerhead father tinkered with.
>
> My memories will tell a far different story.
>
> To one and all of my Usenet colleagues, participants and lurkers alike:
> Please let me know when your travels bring you to Southern California, if
> even briefly. There's plenty of room at our firehouse kitchen table, and
> ALWAYS a warm cup of coffee with your name on it.
>
> Oh, and yes, I'm also in that soon to be discontinued thing called 'the
> phone book' <smirk>
>
> Fraternally Yours in Safety and Service,
>
> Brian Humphrey
> Firefighter/Paramedic
> Public Information Officer
> Los Angeles Fire Department
> 200 North Main Street, Room OCD-EPI
> Los Angeles, CA 90012 USA
>
> LAFD Media Desk: (213) 485-5162
> LAFD Home Page:http://lafd.org
> LAFD News Blog:http://lafd.org/blog
That's awesome, I was just reading your article in Wired a couple
hours ago and thinking how awesome the use of technology is with LAFD.
Strange coincidence I should come across you on Usenet of all places :)
SickGirl468
> It has now been two months since the last post to this newsgroup. =A0Befo=
re
> that there was an average of only 2 posts per month throughout all of 200=
8.
> Fact is, web-based discussion groups have pretty much killed usenet. =A0M=
ost
> people today just look at you blankly if you mention usenet and think you=
're
> referring to the Associated Press if you mention newsgroups. =A0Only the
> binaries groups remain highly active.
>
oup
> access as part of its standard services, which means I would have to pay =
a
> news provider to continue moderating this group.
>
f
> anyone is interested in taking over moderation of the group, get with me =
in
> email and I'll turn it over to you. =A0Otherwise, this group will simply =
cease
> to function when my ISP pulls the plug. =A0I'm not sure when that will oc=
cur,
> but I'm surprised it's still working to post this.
>
> For those of you who actually still follow this group, thanks for your
s
> become simply unneeded now. =A0The unmoderated groups such as
> misc.emerg-services, alt.med.ems, and alt.firefighters continue to exist,=
of
> course.
>
> --
> Carey Gregory
> Moderator - alt.emergency-services.moderated
In response to the fact that your ISP is pulling the plug: right now I
am using Google Groups to view this group, which is completely web
based and free. Perhaps that could be an option for you?
Carey Gregory
>In response to the fact that your ISP is pulling the plug: right now I
>am using Google Groups to view this group, which is completely web
>based and free. Perhaps that could be an option for you?
No, not really. I know there are a number of options for free usenet
access, but none work the way I would need it to work to manage a moderated
group. And, actually, my ISP dropping usenet access isn't really the
issue. Heck, if the group were active I would go ahead and pay $10/month
for an account.
The real issue is simply that no one's using the group anymore. Actually,
no one's using usenet anymore (except for the binary groups where they trade
porn and stolen music and videos). I raised this question two years ago in
2006 and people asked me to continue it, so I did. In those two years there
have been only a handful of posts. Nah, it's time to call it a day. Society
and technology have moved on and it's time for us to move on too.
Carey Gregory
>Thanks for all you did.
You're welcome, thanks for the thanks, and I appreciate your tips on free
usenet access, but see my other post today. Free access isn't really the
issue -- participation is. Usenet just isn't what it once was.
Jerome Senturia
seen in a very long time! Thanks for your work as moderator, it is
appreciated.
Jerry