Evangelizing Usenet

[pH]

Wow, I read how Facebook and Twitter are now out there arbitrating what they
believe truth and hate are and banning people according to their whims.

What do I care what someone "hates" as long as he doesn't punch me in the
nose...."that"...is actionable.

What say we all try to publicize Usenet and IRC.

After all, it was here first. Those posers while maybe usable have proven
themselves to un-American in their First Amendment stance.
(well, yes, I know there are or used to be moderated groups on Usenet...but
still.)

I'm going to be writing some letters to the editors of the local rags. This
looks to be a decent site to cite (ha ha) in my missives:
https://usenetreviewz.com/the-complete-usenet-guide/

pH

[BCFD36]

There is no First Amendment issue here. FB and Twitter are free to do
what they want without interference from the government. If they decide
they don't want lies spread on their platform, that is their right.

That said, lets try to keep the trolls off of Usenet. There are enough
already.

--
Dave Scruggs
Captain, Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)
Sr. Software Engineer - Stellar Solutions (Definitely Retired)

[Andy Valencia]

pH <wNOS...@gmail.org> writes:
> ...

> What say we all try to publicize Usenet and IRC.

In many ways, it hasn't been reached since. The closest thing these days is
the Fediverse--Mastodon and Pleroma, mostly. It's more graphical, and
there's no distribution tree. But it has threads of conversations--typically
limited to 500 characters.

I would really, really enjoy a Usenet comeback!

Andy Valencia
Home page: https://www.vsta.org/andy/
To contact me: https://www.vsta.org/contact/andy.html

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 21:24:16 -0000 (UTC), pH <wNOS...@gmail.org>
wrote:

>Those posers while maybe usable have proven
>themselves to un-American in their First Amendment stance.

The first amendment only restrict what the government can do, not what
individuals or companies can do. Same with the other amendments.

--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[pH]

That's exactly my point. FB and T are quashing opinions they see as unfit.
That's *my* job to ignore things I don't like.

I guess the trolls are why there were moderated groups. I know, of course,
that most contentious issues to turn into flame wars, don't they.

Well, anyway....
pH

[pH]

Oooooo. I've heard of Mastadon and remember seeing the Herculean install
procedure in a Linux mag one time. Sure looked beyond my ability.

Have not seen it in use.

pH

[pH]

On 2021-06-14, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 21:24:16 -0000 (UTC), pH <wNOS...@gmail.org>
> wrote:
>
>>Those posers while maybe usable have proven
>>themselves to un-American in their First Amendment stance.
>
> The first amendment only restrict what the government can do, not what
> individuals or companies can do. Same with the other amendments.
>

Exactly right.

Is there any entity that would begin removing Usenet posts (assuming
unmoderated groups) ya' think?

I guess if it attracted enough users there might be. Using Google to access
groups might get quashed through their AI filters? I'm using 'eternal
september' for now, at least.

pH

[Andy Valencia]

pH <wNOS...@gmail.org> writes:
> Oooooo. I've heard of Mastadon and remember seeing the Herculean install
> procedure in a Linux mag one time. Sure looked beyond my ability.

Well, you don't have to run your own instance:

https://joinmastodon.org/

It's about involved as joining any other web site (you probably don't need to
serve up your cell phone #, though).

[pH]

You'd think I'd know better....duh! Thanks for url...I wonder if I can
lurk somewhere and see what it's like for a bit.

pH