Re: greetings from a long-lost FAQ list maintainer

[Otto J. Makela]

It is interesting how Usenet suddenly on the whole seems to be having a
bit of a renaissance. This is nice, as all alternatives that have turned
up over the years are centered around a single company or a website.
--
/* * * Otto J. Makela <o...@iki.fi> * * * * * * * * * */
/* Phone: +358 40 765 5772, ICBM: N 60 10' E 24 55' */
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[Marco Moock]

Am 06.01.2023 um 16:34:06 Uhr schrieb Otto J. Makela:

> It is interesting how Usenet suddenly on the whole seems to be having
> a bit of a renaissance. This is nice, as all alternatives that have
> turned up over the years are centered around a single company or a
> website.

Why do you think it has a renaissance?
Especially the English part comp.* seems to be most abandoned.

[Otto J. Makela]

There is actual discussion in news.groups, moderators are being
re-appointed, and the message I was following up to was the comp.lang.c
moderator reporting in. Not very much, but still better than nothing.

[Otto J. Makela]

There is actual discussion in news.groups, moderators are being
re-appointed, and the message I was following up to was the comp.lang.c

FAQ reporting in. Not very much, but still better than nothing.

[Marco Moock]

Am 06.01.2023 um 17:33:34 Uhr schrieb Otto J. Makela:

> There is actual discussion in news.groups, moderators are being
> re-appointed, and the message I was following up to was the
> comp.lang.c FAQ reporting in. Not very much, but still better than
> nothing.

Ok. Are there any "project" in getting new users to the groups and
advertising them?

[Spiros Bousbouras]

On 6 Jan 2023 16:47:59 GMT
r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote:

> Marco Moock <mo...@posteo.de> writes:
> >Ok. Are there any "project" in getting new users to the groups and
> >advertising them?
>

> I remember that, maybe 10 years ago, a group of people moved
> from a Web forum to "comp.misc". I think some are still posting
> there today.

I am aware of 3 threads. Two are from February 2014 :

From: Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davi...@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Welcome Slashdot refugees!
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2014 22:38:55 -0800
Message-ID: <ld1v1v$old$1...@dont-email.me>

and

From: John Brownalt <deconf...@filteredperception.org>
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Slashdot Beta Sucks
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 10:45:47 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: Slashdot Beta Exodus
Message-ID: <ld2dgr$sq0$1...@dont-email.me>

Between them I have 142 message IDs. The first few are
<ld1v1v$old$1...@dont-email.me>
<MD0Ju.242576$VG.1...@fx12.iad>
<20140207094431....@thecave.invalid>
<ld2dgr$sq0$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld2dk0$sq0$2...@dont-email.me>
<ld32j1$nso$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld3360$rqb$2...@dont-email.me>
<52f51f6b$0$2943$e4fe...@news.xs4all.nl>
<52f5346f$0$29659$862e...@ngroups.net>
<52f5357c$0$29668$862e...@ngroups.net>
<ld3md9$kde$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld3olj$f0$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld3pk6$bfv$1...@dont-email.me>
<52f57685$0$29735$862e...@ngroups.net>
<52f57710$0$29255$862e...@ngroups.net>
<ld3u1i$1so$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld3u68$2nc$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld3ufu$43s$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld44r1$u2a$1...@dont-email.me>
<ld45ei$la$1...@dont-email.me>

There is also
From: 711 Spooky Mart <7...@spooky.mart>
Newsgroups: sci.crypt,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: SUSE Reviving Usenet
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2021 09:04:16 -0500
Message-ID: <sj1rna$144n$1...@gioia.aioe.org>

All the message IDs I have from this thread are
<sj1rna$144n$1...@gioia.aioe.org>
<sj1u3m$v95$1...@dont-email.me>
<sj3ir2$o98$8...@dont-email.me>
<87r1d61...@usenet.ankman.de>
<irmvv2...@mid.individual.net>
<sj9ri3$o3j$1...@dont-email.me>
<snoqok$691$1...@reader1.panix.com>
<snpm82$1h9f$1...@gal.iecc.com>
<slrnsq13sk...@raspberrypi.geeknix.net>
<UzbTJ.7068$aT3....@fx09.iad>
<1b7d9e7...@pfeifferfamily.net>
<20220301090949.5c17...@eircom.net>
<pej1fi-...@anthive.com>
<svlf9j$154g$1...@gal.iecc.com>
<87tucey...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere>
<20220304091444.afb6...@eircom.net>
<IeqUJ.91125$Lbb6....@fx45.iad>
<j8epnu...@mid.individual.net>
<87h78dz...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere>
<j8fd3e...@mid.individual.net>
<svu0v9$2ln6$1...@gal.iecc.com>
<j8fhfb...@mid.individual.net>
<871qzh47g0.fsf@localhost>
<1208487086.668131331.469...@news.eternal-september.org>
<j8fo7r...@mid.individual.net>
<svuann$5dh$1...@dont-email.me>
<gDLUJ.56113$oF2....@fx10.iad>
<j8i145...@mid.individual.net>

> Otherwise, I am not aware of any revival of the (text) Usenet.
>
> For "de.all", IIRC, Cornell Binder has created a web site
> with statistics. Something like "usenet.dex.de". I have the
> impression that the use is still descreasing and I am afraid
> there will be no revival.

There may or may not be revival depending on all kinds of social factors and
random events.

--
vlaho.ninja/prog

[😉 Good Guy 😉]

On 06/01/2023 14:34, Otto J. Makela wrote:

It is interesting how Usenet suddenly on the whole seems to be having a
bit of a renaissance. 

Don't hold your breadth for this. The Juntas have killed off the newsgroups by censoring any posts that criticises their stupidity. These Juntas should be banned from censoring anything but I know this is asking too much because they are old, dying and unlikely to change when new ideas are put forward. Frankly they should all call it a day and spend more time with their grand children from whom they can learn a thing or two.

Arrest

Dictator Putin

We Stand

With Ukraine

Stop Putin

Ukraine Under Attack

--
We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves; if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning

[Anton Shepelev]

Otto J. Makela:

> It is interesting how Usenet suddenly on the whole seems
> to be having a bit of a renaissance. This is nice, as all
> alternatives that have turned up over the years are
> centered around a single company or a website.

With that site requiring a modern browser, OS, and computer,
and enforcing its own peculiar visual style often cluttered
with all sorts of noise.

--
() ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org -- against proprietary attachments

[Tristan Miller]

Greetings.

On 2023-01-06 09:33, Otto J. Makela wrote:
> There is actual discussion in news.groups, moderators are being
> re-appointed, and the message I was following up to was the comp.lang.c
> FAQ reporting in. Not very much, but still better than nothing.

Part of this increase in activity is the revitalization of the Big-8
Management Board. The Board had been dormant for a few years, but a
couple years ago the former members finally voted in some successors.
We've been holding regular (nearly weekly) meetings ever since, and have
been gradually modernizing and cleaning up the Board's website and
infrastructure, processing group creation and deletion requests, and
finding replacement moderators. We've also taken it upon ourselves to
take over development of the STUMP and WebSTUMP robomoderator programs
and to spread the word about Usenet via social media, conference talks,
etc. Progress has been slow (since we all have day jobs and other
commitments) but steady.

Regards,
Tristan

--
Usenet Big-8 Management Board
https://www.big-8.org/
bo...@big-8.org

[Tristan Miller]

Greetings.

On 2023-01-06 10:29, Marco Moock wrote:
> Ok. Are there any "project" in getting new users to the groups and
> advertising them?

The Big-8 Board has been trying to raise interest and participation in
Usenet generally by giving talks and interviews in other media. We've
been covered in the Open Collective blog, hosted a Reddit IAmA, and
given talks on Usenet at various conferences and events. See, for
example, the announcement elsewhere in this group of our upcoming talk
at LibrePlanet 2023: <news:tur1oc$ik1d$1...@dont-email.me>

Besides this, it seems that certain other communities have been
advertising groups. In 2021 the Board created the
comp.infosystems.gemini group and it seems to be doing well without any
promotion from us (apart from the usual group creation announcement).

[Marco Moock]

Am 14.03.2023 um 18:03:06 Uhr schrieb Tristan Miller:

> The Big-8 Board has been trying to raise interest and participation
> in Usenet generally by giving talks and interviews in other media.
> We've been covered in the Open Collective blog, hosted a Reddit IAmA,
> and given talks on Usenet at various conferences and events. See,
> for example, the announcement elsewhere in this group of our upcoming
> talk at LibrePlanet 2023: <news:tur1oc$ik1d$1...@dont-email.me>
>
> Besides this, it seems that certain other communities have been
> advertising groups. In 2021 the Board created the
> comp.infosystems.gemini group and it seems to be doing well without
> any promotion from us (apart from the usual group creation
> announcement).

This is good news, thanks.