Why do you use Usenet (CSA2)?

[matthe...@gmail.com]

I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?

[Oliver Schmidt]

Hi,

> Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?

I think of it this way:

In 1:1 communication I have both messaging and email. Messaging is quick,
like "when do we meet this evening?". Email is long term, like "this is a
complex topic I wanted to discuss with you for quite some.".

In 1:n communication I have both <you name it> and Usenet. <you name it> is
quick, like "look at this eBay offer!". Usenet is long term, like "this is
the result of a project I've been working for quite some time.".

Regards,
Oliver

[Steve Nickolas]

That's about right.

Failbook and even web forums are ephemeral. Usenet is more permanent.

-uso.

[fadden]

On Monday, October 25, 2021 at 9:06:56 PM UTC-7, matthe...@gmail.com wrote:
> Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups?

Facebook groups are fine for announcements, but work poorly for anything with an extended discussion.

The most usable "modern" equivalent to c.s.a2 is probably Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple2/

[Charlie]

On 10/26/2021 12:06 AM, matthe...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?
>

I read eight newsgroups regularly.
When I check my email with Thunderbird it not only shows my email but
displays the newsgroups that have new posts. Easy.

If I had eight different sites to check then I have to do them
individually and I end up getting side tracked.

There are several Apple 2 related forums (not Facebook) that I
occasionally look at but again it's just easier to read CSA2.

Charlie

[D Finnigan]

Well for me, it's built-in to my web site. :-)
But when I first came across it in 2009, the newsgroup had a much larger
group of participants so it seemed like THE place for Apple II discussion.

[Aaron Pulver]

On Monday, October 25, 2021 at 11:06:56 PM UTC-5, matthe...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?

I mainly lurk here these days to improve my Italian. The years of Apple II knowledge available is just a bonus. ;)

[Jeff Blakeney]

I, like Charlie, use Thunderbird for e-mail and have for many years. It
was easy to set up the newsgroups with it although I did have to search
for a server after ISPs stopped providing access to them long ago.

The newsgroups are almost the only Apple II stuff I read lately because
it is easy for me to do so. Having to access multiple web sites and not
having any sort of offline style reader or even a way for those web
sites to let me know what posts are new make it too much work to try to
use them. Also, places like Facebook won't even allow me to see the
messages in any sort of chronological order. It only shows me "Top
Posts" so I'm not guaranteed to see everything even if I check every day.

I used to try to keep up on the Facebook Apple II groups when the
navigation pane on the left showed the groups I was in with the number
of new messages in that group since I last read it. Then they kept
updating the look of the site and I was reduced to a maximum of 10
groups in that pane that I had to pin to display there and then they
stopped putting the number of new posts there as well. Heck, they used
to have a small marker that said "Older" at one point so I knew that I
had gotten through all possible unread posts/replies but that went away too.

I have been using offline readers since the BBS days. Canada Remote
Systems, GEnie, Delphi, A2Central were all accessed using offline
readers and I find it way more convenient to continue to do so.

[Steve Nickolas]

On Thu, 28 Oct 2021, Jeff Blakeney wrote:

> On 2021-10-26 12:06 a.m., matthe...@gmail.com wrote:
>> I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me
>> wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and
>> also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and
>> sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more
>> searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?
>
> I, like Charlie, use Thunderbird for e-mail and have for many years. It was
> easy to set up the newsgroups with it although I did have to search for a
> server after ISPs stopped providing access to them long ago.

I use Alpine for the same reason.

> The newsgroups are almost the only Apple II stuff I read lately because it is
> easy for me to do so. Having to access multiple web sites and not having any
> sort of offline style reader or even a way for those web sites to let me know
> what posts are new make it too much work to try to use them. Also, places
> like Facebook won't even allow me to see the messages in any sort of
> chronological order. It only shows me "Top Posts" so I'm not guaranteed to
> see everything even if I check every day.

There's FB Purity for that, but it's just a bandage on a flesh wound.

> I used to try to keep up on the Facebook Apple II groups when the navigation
> pane on the left showed the groups I was in with the number of new messages
> in that group since I last read it. Then they kept updating the look of the
> site and I was reduced to a maximum of 10 groups in that pane that I had to
> pin to display there and then they stopped putting the number of new posts
> there as well. Heck, they used to have a small marker that said "Older" at
> one point so I knew that I had gotten through all possible unread
> posts/replies but that went away too.
>
> I have been using offline readers since the BBS days. Canada Remote Systems,
> GEnie, Delphi, A2Central were all accessed using offline readers and I find
> it way more convenient to continue to do so.

Something like that for Failbook would prolly be nice... *_*

-uso.

[bobbi...@gmail.com]

>.

The fact that I can read and post using a real Apple //e :)

Bobbi

[Ant]

matthe...@gmail.com <matthe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?

Many of us are old schoolers. ;)
--
Dang Moderna booster shot is taking me down again with the same symptoms, but longer! Horror! Worst COVID-19 shot ever so far. Will my weak body recovered by spooky Halloween?
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

[wyeo]

On Saturday, October 30, 2021 at 9:49:58 PM UTC+10, Ant wrote:

> Many of us are old schoolers. ;)

+1

Although I am on social media more often than csa2.

[mmphosis]

definitely future-proof.

I can find it.

I don't have to login: no need to create another burner account with another
burner email without cell number verification, don't have a cell phone,
harmful biometric meta interfaces, ...

no JavaScript. the page shows up without opening things up in uMatrix

https://macgui.com/usenet/?group=1
https://retroroundup.com/?fwp_categories=apple-ii
https://www.applefritter.com/tracker
https://old.reddit.com/r/apple2/
https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/apple-ii
http://a2central.com/
https://paleotronic.com/tag/apple-ii/
https://www.kansasfest.org/
https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?forums/apple-i-lisa.27/
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/forum/genres/early-apple-i-etc?20-Early-Apple-(I-etc-)=

[Speccie]

Matthew,

> I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?

This is a more direct way of contacting people than FaceBook, and not everyone wishes to have a FaceBook account.

Unless you are reading the FaceBook pages every few minutes or so, it is virtually impossible to see which are the new messages, and which you are interested in, as though they have threads there, they do not have a clear subject matter. Also they are dominated by gaming, not something I am interested in.

Having used Usenet for tha last 30 years or so, I find it far superior to FaceBook...

Cheers - Speccie

[Ant]

Many old stuff still work well. I even use old school BitchX, text mode, shell accounts, etc.
--
Dang crazy life! :/

[Steve Nickolas]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2021, Ant wrote:

> Many old stuff still work well. I even use old school BitchX, text mode,
> shell accounts, etc.

irssi is more up my alley (the UI is fairly similar).

-uso.

[barrym95838]

On Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 11:36:57 PM UTC-7, apu...@weygants.net wrote:
> I mainly lurk here these days to improve my Italian. The years of Apple II knowledge available is just a bonus. ;)

LOL. Same here.

[Hugh Hood]

I wholeheartedly agree with Ewen when it comes to the question of why CSA2
not only endures but is also the preferred medium for some of us Apple II
stalwarts.

To his comments I would add that (standing the old proverb on its head)
sometimes a word is worth a thousand pictures. ;-)




Hugh Hood


in article 0001HW.2735195104...@eu.astraweb.com, Speccie at
som...@somewhere.com wrote on 11/5/21 2:48 AM:

[Ant]

Uso, I can't get into irssi. :( BitchX still works so I will keep using it for now.

[Speccie]

On 5 Nov 2021, Hugh Hood wrote:

> I wholeheartedly agree with Ewen when it comes to the question of why CSA2
> not only endures but is also the preferred medium for some of us Apple II
> stalwarts.
>
> To his comments I would add that (standing the old proverb on its head)
> sometimes a word is worth a thousand pictures. ;-)

Thanks Hugh.

<blatant plug for my software follows>

Though I tend to use news readers on the Mac to interface with Usenet, such as Thoth or Hogwasher, I can always use my own SNAP to access Usenet on the IIgs:

https://speccie.uk/software/snap/

If anyone is going online with a IIgs, working with files, or even just wants to easily disassemble an app, they ought to check out my pages for a host of useful utilities from a web browser to a Hex/Dec/Oct calculator:

http://speccie.uk/software/

</end blatant plug>

Cheers - Speccie

[James Hall [VE3MYZ] FN25dj. 73]

Hi, Comp.sys.Apple2.

I use CSA2 to keep in touch with the A2 community. I can see what is happening and add my 2 cents. I pose questions, and most of the time i get helpful responses.

I have been using CSA2 since the early 90's and continue to learn things about the Apple ][ i did not know. Also, i have spent sometime searching older posts for information and links to questions i have had about the Apple 2, so it is a good library for Apple 2 resources. I have the group's digest sent to my email account. I always look forward to seeing the digest in my email.

Apple ][ Forever.

73 ve3myz [james]

[awanderin]

:) I mostly lurk too, though I can't say my Italian is improving.

I've been using Usenet since 1988 (comp.sys.apple), when even my
university didn't have an always-on internet connection.

I like the organization of Usenet, including the way that the message
threads work (I read this using Gnus on Emacs).

--
--
Jerry awanderin at gmail dot com

[martindo...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 12:06:56 AM UTC-4, matthe...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am curious as to why CSA2 continues to thrive so . Don't get me wrong, I learn a tremendous amount from CSA2's immediate answers and also it's decades of accessible discussions. I read all the time and sometimes talk. Is it more of a future-proof community? Is it more searchable than the Facebook groups? What brings you here?

Yes, for all the reasons you stated. I also value how conversations can occur over a stretch of decades ... people adding something new and relevant to a discussion thread that might have started in the 90's or 80's . There is never a case of "Comments have been closed for this topic" which is common on various social media sites after some time threshold has been reached. Related to that, just the ability to travel through deep time to vicariously experience the community interactions that took place 35 - 45 years ago.

-Martin D