Deathwatch: Usenet dying?
Steve Hayes
Several people on newgroups I read regularly have reported that their ISPs are
dropping or severely curtailing newgroup service. Perhaps this should be
called VSS - Value Subtracted Service. Maybe before it dies altogether someone
could suggest an appropriate newsgroup for reporting on and rating ISPs and
noting whether they are VSS or not.
Apparently the alt. newsgroups are particularly under threat, yet some of the
ones I find most valuable are in the alt. hierarchy -- alt.usage.english and
alt.obituaries, for example.
While my ISP (Telkom SA) hasn't made a definite announcement, Telkom's news
server SAIX has deteriorated lately, and error messages like the following are
common:
2008-06-24 11:40:52 PM Error reported by winsock driver: No response from
server (timeout) (Error 10060): Connecting to news.saix.net.
2008-06-24 11:41:23 PM Error reported by winsock driver: No response from
server (timeout) (Error 10060): Connecting to news.saix.net.
Failed connects are more common than successful ones, and it sometimes takes
me two days to download headers, another two days to collect the marked
bodies, and another two to post replies, so the replies can sometimes take up
to a week (and sometimes more) to be posted on the net. Some newgroups, like
soc.culture.south-africa, remain inaccessible to me, and have been for more
than a year. I can post there, but I cannot read any posts unless they are
crossposted to other newsgroups (za.misc still works).
As a result of this I, like many others, have taken to blogging if I have
something serious to say. Blogging seems to be faster and more reliable, but
in many ways it is less satisfactory. Even more than News, blogging is an
inherently one-to-many (and therefore self-centred) medium. People can
comment, but comments are directred to the original post, and there is not the
same interaction among commenters.
Sometimes I long for the good old days of Fidonet and other Fido Technology
Networks (FTNs). FTN echo conferences were a true many-to-many medium, better
even than newsgroups.
But it seems that we are about to lose even newsgroups, and for all our
technology that should make communication easier, genuine conversation will be
taken from us, and we will be reduced to soap-box oratory and heckling, which
is basically what blog comments are.
Yes, I know it is possible to access newsgroups through the clunky web
interface at Google Groups, but it really is clunky and more hassle than it's
worth. I'd rather switch to mailing lists if newsgroups are no longer
available (even though mailing lists consume more bandwidth and net
resources).
Written at 12:10 am on 25 June 2008, South African time, thoguh when it will
actually be posted is anyone's guess.
And I'll post it on my blog at
too!
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, veritas <comin...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I hope this isn't related to child porn -- it would be a shame to
> give in because of a minority that are crooks.
The "minority that are crooks" are pandering politicians who are
wrecking an important element of Usenet access for hundreds of
thousands of people just so they can pretend they are doing something
about a grossly exaggerated problem.
The next time someone tries to sell you on the notion that the
Democrats are the party of civil liberties, remember the name "Andrew
Cuomo."
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Hayes
>While my ISP (Telkom SA) hasn't made a definite announcement, Telkom's news
>server SAIX has deteriorated lately, and error messages like the following are
>common:
I am pleased to report that the SAIX news server suddenly seems to be wotrking
properly again.
For the last 24 hours I have had no "Connect" errors, and headers and bodies
have downloaded quickly, enabling me to read and respond to posting as I see
them, instead of getting indigestable chunks of postings 2-3 days apart, and
only being able to post replies several days later. It makes reading Usenet a
pleasure again (apart from the crummy content of a lot of posts, that is).
I'm still not seeing any new posts in soc.culture.south-africa though -- is
anyone still posting there?