Ping Sysops - New Subscriber Metrics Since Google Groupocalypse?

SugarBug

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Jan 1, 2024, 6:07:29 PM1/1/24

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Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers on
their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
of Usenet history.

I hope you all are keeping track! My suspicion is that Usenet is
certainly not dead and that subscriber numbers will prove that possibly
thousands still lurk the network.

--
CRYP7010G3R | Flee the swarm. | Join the horde. | Be the King Bee.
<beaf3e5bad327e7ca961162eed14e308$1...@sybershock.com>
38...@sugar.bug | sybershock.com | alt.sources.crypto

rek2 hispagatos

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Jan 2, 2024, 3:03:03 PM1/2/24

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On 2024-01-01, SugarBug <38...@sugar.bug> wrote:
> Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers on
> their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
> announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
> of Usenet history.
>
> I hope you all are keeping track! My suspicion is that Usenet is
> certainly not dead and that subscriber numbers will prove that possibly
> thousands still lurk the network.
>

We had around 9-10 give or take..
But not that we promote our server neither, usually people interested because
they saw our services on mastodon etc and ask for an account and we give it
to them.

Happy Hacking
ReK2
--
- {gemini,https}://{,rek2.}hispagatos.org - mastodon: @re...@hispagatos.space
- [https|gemini]://2600.Madrid - https://hispagatos.space/@rek2
- https://keyoxide.org/A31C7CE19D9C58084EA42BA26C0B0D11E9303EC5

Adam W.

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Jan 2, 2024, 4:49:15 PM1/2/24

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SugarBug <38...@sugar.bug> wrote:

> Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers on
> their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
> announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
> of Usenet history.

Here's a bunch of dates in 2023 when new users registered on
news.chmurka.net, since July to give you a scale.

02.07
13.07
18.07
30.07
31.07
10.08
14.08
23.08
25.08
25.08
27.08
30.08
01.09
06.09
11.09
13.09
13.09
13.09
14.09
14.09
22.09
27.10
27.10
29.10
03.11
03.11
05.11
11.11
14.11
21.11
21.11
21.11
24.11
24.11
24.11
26.11
26.11
28.11
28.11
15.12
16.12
16.12
17.12
18.12
21.12
21.12
21.12
25.12
31.12
31.12

Nigel Reed

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Jan 11, 2024, 9:58:59 PM1/11/24

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On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 16:53:50 -0600
SugarBug <38...@sugar.bug> wrote:

> Would syspos please post a ballpark of the number of new subscribers
> on their servers since the google groupocalypse groupsspagheddon
> announcement? This information metric will be good for having as part
> of Usenet history.
>
> I hope you all are keeping track! My suspicion is that Usenet is
> certainly not dead and that subscriber numbers will prove that
> possibly thousands still lurk the network.
>

I had a user join my BBS the other day so they could access the cbm
newsgroups via the fidonet gateway.

Currently I'm trying to figure a way to allow my users full access to
usenet. I was looking at using sln possibly but I'm not convinced I
want users using something like that.

Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist already
but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Marco Moock

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Jan 12, 2024, 2:22:33 AM1/12/24

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Am 11.01.2024 um 20:58:57 Uhr schrieb Nigel Reed:

> Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist already
> but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.

rslight exists.
https://gitlab.com/rslight-public/rocksolid-light

Shouldn't consume too much bandwidth.

Adam W.

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Jan 12, 2024, 6:34:36 AM1/12/24

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Nigel Reed <sy...@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

> Currently I'm trying to figure a way to allow my users full access to
> usenet.

Via the BBS interface or NNRP?

> I was looking at using sln possibly but I'm not convinced I want users
> using something like that.

What's sln in this context?

Retro Guy

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Jan 12, 2024, 8:25:36 AM1/12/24

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I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing users to
run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking deeply about
security issues, etc.

Adam W.

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Jan 12, 2024, 10:51:56 AM1/12/24

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Retro Guy <retr...@novabbs.org> wrote:

> I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing users to
> run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking deeply about
> security issues, etc.

Ok, slrn then :) tin also might be worth considering. A very convenient
text-mode newsreader, I'm using it for ~20 years (earlier I used pine, it
supports NNTP too, but tin is much more convenient to me; I stick to
alpine for email).

Retro Guy

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Jan 12, 2024, 11:05:41 AM1/12/24

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I like both :) I also used pine a long time ago, it was quite good. Now I
use 40tude Dialog on wine because I just love the TINY font when composing
a message that I can't seem to fix!

Things to consider when running a program as a door on a BBS is stuff like
"is there a command to drop to shell?" Is my server protected from a rogue
user?

I messed with lynx for a while on Synchronet, but it seemed too risky. I'm
paranoid.

Adam W.

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Jan 12, 2024, 3:22:04 PM1/12/24

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Retro Guy <retr...@novabbs.org> wrote:

> Things to consider when running a program as a door on a BBS is stuff like
> "is there a command to drop to shell?" Is my server protected from a rogue
> user?

I think the question should be different. "Let's give this user access to
shell (or assume he gains access to shell from the newsreader). How do I
secure it so he can't do anything bad?".

If I had to do something like this, I'd set up two separate virtual
machines for the task. First one (A) would be available to users and
second one (B) would act as a firewall for A (giving access only to
systems I want users to access, like my news server), and as a permanent
storage, exporting read-only filesystems to A (including rootfs). Only
home directories on A (or some storage for newsreader's data) would be
writable.

This way, even if user gained root access on A, he won't be able to access
the Internet (because it would be blocked on B, and A would only have an
interface to B), and won't be able to modify system files (because rootfs
and other filesystems except home would be mounted read-only, enforced by
B; something like nbd or maybe nfs).

This, plus some ulimits and quotas to prevent the user from disrupting the
service for others, and some kind of automatic auditing / monitoring to
detect unwanted changes.

> I messed with lynx for a while on Synchronet, but it seemed too risky. I'm
> paranoid.

It's not paranoia, it's carefulness :) If the system is public then we
should always expect users to try to hack it for some malicious purposes,
or just for fun.

Nigel Reed

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Jan 13, 2024, 4:55:05 PM1/13/24

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Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look.

Nigel Reed

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Jan 13, 2024, 4:56:20 PM1/13/24

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slrn I missed a letter :)

Nigel Reed

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Jan 13, 2024, 4:59:53 PM1/13/24

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On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 09:02:21 -0700
Retro Guy <retr...@novabbs.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 15:44:03 -0000 (UTC), Adam W. wrote:
>
> > Retro Guy <retr...@novabbs.org> wrote:
> >
> >> I'm only guessing, but I believe he is/was considering allowing
> >> users to run slrn from his BBS as a door. He is correctly thinking
> >> deeply about security issues, etc.
> >
> > Ok, slrn then :) tin also might be worth considering. A very
> > convenient text-mode newsreader, I'm using it for ~20 years
> > (earlier I used pine, it supports NNTP too, but tin is much more
> > convenient to me; I stick to alpine for email).
>
> I like both :) I also used pine a long time ago, it was quite good.
> Now I use 40tude Dialog on wine because I just love the TINY font
> when composing a message that I can't seem to fix!

I'm a mutt guy when it comes to email. I used to use tin but there was
a feature in slrn that caught my eye. Of course, it's possible to edit
the code to remove anything that could allow the user to drop into a
shell.

> Things to consider when running a program as a door on a BBS is stuff
> like "is there a command to drop to shell?" Is my server protected
> from a rogue user?
>
> I messed with lynx for a while on Synchronet, but it seemed too
> risky. I'm paranoid.

As you probably know, I also run Synchronet and I don't think I'd let
my users randomly rampage around the web using lynx (or links) with my
IP address attached to whatever they get into.

Nigel Reed

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Jan 15, 2024, 6:38:25 PM1/15/24

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On Sat, 13 Jan 2024 15:55:02 -0600
Nigel Reed <sy...@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:22:30 +0100
> Marco Moock <mm+use...@dorfdsl.de> wrote:
>
> > Am 11.01.2024 um 20:58:57 Uhr schrieb Nigel Reed:
> >
> > > Also thinking of creating a web interface, I'm sure some exist
> > > already but I've not had the bandwidth to delve into it.
> >
> > rslight exists.
> > https://gitlab.com/rslight-public/rocksolid-light
> >
> > Shouldn't consume too much bandwidth.
> >
>
> Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look.
>

I'd like to look at some alternatives if anyone knows any. I tried php
newsreader but it's not been updated for php 8.1 and I'm not sure I'm
liking their "catalog" system.