So long, and thanks for all the fish

[chris thompson]

Having morphed into a lurker for at least a year now, I was a tad distressed at Google ending their admittedly piss-poor Usenet participation. My ISP dropped Usenet access quite some time ago. I am still toying with the idea of picking up Eternal September or some such- time will tell. However should I not reappear, rest assured I generally had a great time here on t.o. and it was because of many of you who are still here now. Live long and prosper.

[*Hemidactylus*]

I hadn’t seen you post in a while. Had to jog my memory, but recalled you
had been affected by Superstorm Sandy a decade ago.

[J. J. Lodder]

You were first seen here 13.3 years ago, last seen here 27 Nov 2020.
[an archive does have its uses]

Yes, Life goes too fast.

> Live long and prosper.

Thanks, and do likewise for yourself,

Jan

[Bob Casanova]

On Tue, 13 Feb 2024 17:30:46 -0800 (PST), the following
appeared in talk.origins, posted by chris thompson
<chris.li...@gmail.com>:

>Having morphed into a lurker for at least a year now, I was a tad distressed at Google ending their admittedly piss-poor Usenet participation. My ISP dropped Usenet access quite some time ago. I am still toying with the idea of picking up Eternal September or some such- time will tell. However should I not reappear, rest assured I generally had a great time here on t.o. and it was because of many of you who are still here now. Live long and prosper.
>

FWIW, ES works fairly well most of the time. Not as well as
Supernews (my prior service), but it's free. And there are
plenty of free newsreaders; I used Free Agent a couple of
decades ago; dunno if it's still available. Maybe via Major
Geeks or similar?
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

- Isaac Asimov

[*Hemidactylus*]

Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off> wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Feb 2024 17:30:46 -0800 (PST), the following
> appeared in talk.origins, posted by chris thompson
> <chris.li...@gmail.com>:
>
>> Having morphed into a lurker for at least a year now, I was a tad
>> distressed at Google ending their admittedly piss-poor Usenet
>> participation. My ISP dropped Usenet access quite some time ago. I am
>> still toying with the idea of picking up Eternal September or some such-
>> time will tell. However should I not reappear, rest assured I generally
>> had a great time here on t.o. and it was because of many of you who are
>> still here now. Live long and prosper.
>>
> FWIW, ES works fairly well most of the time. Not as well as
> Supernews (my prior service), but it's free. And there are
> plenty of free newsreaders; I used Free Agent a couple of
> decades ago; dunno if it's still available. Maybe via Major
> Geeks or similar?
>

Weening off GG may be too much an ask for some.

[Bob Casanova]

On Wed, 14 Feb 2024 19:14:12 +0000, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by *Hemidactylus*
<ecph...@allspamis.invalid>:

Could be. The only times I ever used GurgleGropes was when
Beagle was apparently down, and I wanted a "second opinion"
to make sure the problem wasn't at my end (or with ES).
Although in each case I was able to get the info I wanted
(the date/time of the last post in t.o to show up) I was
*not* impressed.

[jillery]

There's no "if" about it:
*****************************
On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 12:09:30 -0800 (PST), "broger...@gmail.com"
<broger...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I used GG for 25+ years and never had a problem. I'll fade out when it does.
******************************


--
To know less than we don't know is the nature of most knowledge

[Martin Harran]

On Wed, 14 Feb 2024 14:35:23 -0700, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off>

Not unlike myself who only uses Google Groups as an occasional last
resort. I've found some limitations in it but criticisms of it mostly
seem to come from those who never use it (yet have no qualms about
criticising it) or, like you and me, only use it infrequently and
never really completed the learning curve.

I also think that those who are critical of how Google handled things
after their takeover of Deja News forget that there was no queue of
other people wanting to take it over and, if Google had not taken it
over, the Deja News archive would simply have disappeared into the
ether. I suspect that without Google Groups, Usenet would have become
even more of a wasteland than it already is and that the withdrawal of
GG will simply accelerate the decline.

>>

[J. J. Lodder]

In the olden days DIG used to block Gurgle altogether,
only the fnordic people excepted.
It was an experiment that didn't last,

Jan

[jillery]

Apparently broger never had a problem when GG spectacularly corrupted
topics when they went over 1000 posts, and ironically repeatedly broke
and fixed their search engine.

[Robert Carnegie]

Threads exceeding 1000 articles probably
have ceased saying anything worthwhile.
The problem was that they fractured into
dozens of branches in Google Groups,
so ignoring that was more like hard work.

[*Hemidactylus*]

Many of those were due to the magnetic allure of DrDr.

[erik simpson]

DrDr's eventual banishment took way too long.

[jillery]

DrDr eventual banishment doesn't inform GG's dismal performance.
Neither does the perceived worthiness of threads exceeding 1000 posts.
Other news servers had no problem handling these threads. GG had no
good excuse.

[erik simpson]

I've no idea what DIG uses to read TO, or if he's doing so now. I
assume he will still be the nominal "boss" if he so chooses.

[jillery]

On Sat, 17 Feb 2024 08:24:42 -0800, erik simpson

DIG?

[J. J. Lodder]

'Nominal', only for some very small values of 'absolute',

Jan

[Bob Casanova]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 02:07:44 -0500, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by jillery <69jp...@gmail.com>:

David Ian Greig, the t.o moderator (actually, the Keeper of
the Moderator).

[DB Cates]

Creator (Peace Be Upon Him)
--
--
Don Cates ("he's a cunning rascal" PN)

[Bob Casanova]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 16:16:28 -0600, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by DB Cates <cate...@hotmail.com>:

High Priest of the Moderation Flame of the Prophet Beagle.

[jillery]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 14:13:56 -0700, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off>

I presume even you understand my question isn't who is DIG, but how
Erik's reference to DIG informs the discussion.

[Bob Casanova]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 23:23:18 -0500, the following appeared

Since your question was ambiguous I understood no such
thing; you could have suffered a memory lapse. Now that
you've clarified I'll ignore further comments.

[jillery]

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 22:56:10 -0700, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off>

So I presumed incorrectly. Sue me.

[Robert Carnegie]

DIG rarely uses the power to exclude people
from talk.origins. People are here because
DIG allows them to be.

[jillery]

Is that supposed to answer my question?