Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
this is my last post via NNTP.

I've been frequenting this service for well over 3 decades, and seen
it go through its ups and downs... mostly downs for the last two
decades. I've kept posting despite all the signs that there's no hope
of recovery, partly out of nostalgia, partly sheer inertia. But all
good things come to an end, and I've decided to move to more populated
climes.

As I said, this probably won't shock many of you; I absented myself
from Usenet for most of 2021, and even now there are frequent periods
when I just don't post. I've been thinking about this move for a long
time, but never had the energy to make the clean break the decision
required. But today I woke up and decided, what the heck, the time is
right; I might as well just get it over with.

Because, frankly, Usenet has become boring (even the trolls are dull)
and there's just no audience. The medium is uninteresting; no fonts,
no colors, no pictures, no emojis... it's the second decade of the
21st century and Usenet seems rooted in the electronic equivalent of
the 19th Century. I want more from my discussions than what Usenet
offers, and a bigger audience. Call me an attention-whore, but having
thousands of people listen to me has always been an important part of
my psyche.

Which isn't to say I'm absenting myself from the Internet entirely;
I'm leaving Usenet, not dying. Instead, I've decided to migrate to
Twitter and - soon afterwards, just as soon as I've figured out all
the logistics - I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok as
well. I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
well suited to my particular mode of communication. Plus, I'm pretty
sure the world is dying to see me dance on camera.

So to everyone staying here, on this dying medium of communication,
thank you for the years of conversation and discussion; I wish you
all the best. May you continue to enjoy video games for years and
decades to come. But, seriously, if you want to actually discuss the
hobby, you should do what I am and move on to a more modern format.

You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.

Liar. I ain't believing you since today is April's Fool Day. :P

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
> you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
> this is my last post via NNTP.

> I've been frequenting this service for well over 3 decades, and seen
> it go through its ups and downs... mostly downs for the last two
> decades. I've kept posting despite all the signs that there's no hope
> of recovery, partly out of nostalgia, partly sheer inertia. But all
> good things come to an end, and I've decided to move to more populated
> climes.

> As I said, this probably won't shock many of you; I absented myself
> from Usenet for most of 2021, and even now there are frequent periods
> when I just don't post. I've been thinking about this move for a long
> time, but never had the energy to make the clean break the decision
> required. But today I woke up and decided, what the heck, the time is
> right; I might as well just get it over with.

> Because, frankly, Usenet has become boring (even the trolls are dull)
> and there's just no audience. The medium is uninteresting; no fonts,
> no colors, no pictures, no emojis... it's the second decade of the
> 21st century and Usenet seems rooted in the electronic equivalent of
> the 19th Century. I want more from my discussions than what Usenet
> offers, and a bigger audience. Call me an attention-whore, but having
> thousands of people listen to me has always been an important part of
> my psyche.

> Which isn't to say I'm absenting myself from the Internet entirely;
> I'm leaving Usenet, not dying. Instead, I've decided to migrate to
> Twitter and - soon afterwards, just as soon as I've figured out all
> the logistics - I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok as
> well. I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
> well suited to my particular mode of communication. Plus, I'm pretty
> sure the world is dying to see me dance on camera.

> So to everyone staying here, on this dying medium of communication,
> thank you for the years of conversation and discussion; I wish you
> all the best. May you continue to enjoy video games for years and
> decades to come. But, seriously, if you want to actually discuss the
> hobby, you should do what I am and move on to a more modern format.

> You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.

--
History repeats itself. COVID-19 booster shot #2 early after Moderna's was finally approved for those who need it like weak people like old people and me. So far, no side effects like the last 3 (last booster shot was a few days before Halloween 2021) since slammy Thursday 8 AM PDT (have been sleeping & waking up early as an early ant (e.g., passed out after 9:18 PM PDT last night & just woke up b4 3 AM PDT today) so this was perfect). With the past shots, side effects resulted about 12 hrs. l8r 4 a few days. Weird/Odd! Did this shot failed? Also, time 2 move nest again. BTW, April Fool's Day & TGIF! Also, no shot yet (maybe next week). :D
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| |
\ _ /
( )

On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 16:35:59 -0500, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>
>Liar. I ain't believing you since today is April's Fool Day. :P
>
*--

I so hope Ant is correct! I mean, it seems like he just came back
here after a long break!

-pw

>
>You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.
>

Is there a picture of you there on Twitter? I have no idea if it
allows for that. I have never done social media and don't plan on
ever doing it but I might just this once :-)

-pw

>I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
>well suited to my particular mode of communication.

lol. Nice troll! And I'm glad it *is* a 4/1 joke, as I do in fact enjoy
yours and our small gang of posters immensely, and look forward to reading
everyone's thoughts and sharing my occasional ones, and I'll freely admit
it: You all are a (yes, small) but important part of my life! I think I'm
enjoying gaming and the couple of gaming forums I frequent more than ever
before.

rms

On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:25:00 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
>you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
>this is my last post via NNTP.
>
>I've been frequenting this service for well over 3 decades, and seen
>it go through its ups and downs... mostly downs for the last two
>decades. I've kept posting despite all the signs that there's no hope
>of recovery, partly out of nostalgia, partly sheer inertia. But all
>good things come to an end, and I've decided to move to more populated
>climes.
>
>As I said, this probably won't shock many of you; I absented myself
>from Usenet for most of 2021, and even now there are frequent periods
>when I just don't post. I've been thinking about this move for a long
>time, but never had the energy to make the clean break the decision
>required. But today I woke up and decided, what the heck, the time is
>right; I might as well just get it over with.
>
>Because, frankly, Usenet has become boring (even the trolls are dull)
>and there's just no audience. The medium is uninteresting; no fonts,
>no colors, no pictures, no emojis... it's the second decade of the
>21st century and Usenet seems rooted in the electronic equivalent of
>the 19th Century. I want more from my discussions than what Usenet
>offers, and a bigger audience. Call me an attention-whore, but having
>thousands of people listen to me has always been an important part of
>my psyche.
>
>Which isn't to say I'm absenting myself from the Internet entirely;
>I'm leaving Usenet, not dying. Instead, I've decided to migrate to
>Twitter and - soon afterwards, just as soon as I've figured out all
>the logistics - I'll be posting short video game-reviews to TicTok as
>well. I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
>well suited to my particular mode of communication. Plus, I'm pretty
>sure the world is dying to see me dance on camera.
>
>So to everyone staying here, on this dying medium of communication,
>thank you for the years of conversation and discussion; I wish you
>all the best. May you continue to enjoy video games for years and
>decades to come. But, seriously, if you want to actually discuss the
>hobby, you should do what I am and move on to a more modern format.
>
>You can follow me at @SpallsHurgenson on Twitter.
>

I was originally drawn to private BBS systems (not only posting and
reading them but I was SysOp on several successful ones throughout the
early and mid 1980s), and then Usenet in the early-mid 90s, for the
same basic reason: they weren't mainstream, they were very niche
mechanisms of communication that not everyone even knew existed, so
while not all the content was desirable it at least came with the
guarantee that I couldn't find it elsewhere.

For that reason, the decline of Usenet actually makes it more
interesting to me now than it was during the "internet superhighway
look at me!!!" years where every America Online user discovered them
and found an audience. It of course does not have the "technological
cutting edge" vibe it had back in the days, but has instead regressed
into a vintage scenario, where its once again only cool if you even
know its exists. It's cool because it's been forgotten so many --
that's the allure that keeps me coming back.

Everything written on Twitter and Facebook or any other modern form of
social media is ultimately content that's owned and manipulated by
corporate assholes. Usenet represents the last bastion of uncensored
digital freedom. And more importantly, what is written on Usenet will
truly perpetuate into eternity... It will always be archived
somewhere, and hundreds of years from now if society hasn't destroyed
itself, what's written here will be read and marveled at. It is the
true future time capsule of the digital age and future people are
going to be very interested in what was going through the human mind
back in the days before everyone was a super sensitive snowflake whose
emotions were fully controlled by processors embedded in us at birth
:)

Also I think you're over-estimating the number of people who will
actually pay attention to, much less remember what you write on modern
social media, since that attention seems important to you. You'll be
catering to an audience that doesn't have the attention span to have
read past the first paragraph of this post. Go into pornography if
getting attention is what you seek. Sex always sells.

On Fri, 1 Apr 2022 17:49:19 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

>>I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
>>well suited to my particular mode of communication.
>
> lol. Nice troll! And I'm glad it *is* a 4/1 joke, as I do in fact enjoy
>yours and our small gang of posters immensely, and look forward to reading
>everyone's thoughts and sharing my occasional ones, and I'll freely admit
>it: You all are a (yes, small) but important part of my life! I think I'm
>enjoying gaming and the couple of gaming forums I frequent more than ever
>before.
>
>rms

Lol.. You know, with the recent post on what makes a good troll, I
guess somewhere deep down I wanted to get trolled like the old days?

Nice one and thanks for that Spalls!

...and yes I literally forgot the date before posting that! The
project I'm on right now has me thinking a few days into the future,
so in my mind 4/1 happened like 2-3 days ago :)

Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
....
> I was originally drawn to private BBS systems (not only posting and
> reading them but I was SysOp on several successful ones throughout the
> early and mid 1980s), and then Usenet in the early-mid 90s, for the
> same basic reason: they weren't mainstream, they were very niche
> mechanisms of communication that not everyone even knew existed, so
> while not all the content was desirable it at least came with the
> guarantee that I couldn't find it elsewhere.

BBSes were rad, but I came late until 1991 or so before the Internet.
--
History repeats itself. COVID-19 booster shot #2 early after Moderna's was finally approved for those who need it like weak people like old people and me. So far, no side effects like the last 3 (last booster shot was a few days before Halloween 2021) since slammy Thursday 8 AM PDT (have been sleeping & waking up early as an early ant (e.g., passed out after 9:18 PM PDT last night & just woke up b4 3 AM PDT today) so this was perfect). With the past shots, side effects resulted about 12 hrs. l8r 4 a few days. Weird/Odd! Did this shot failed? Also, time 2 move nest again. BTW, April Fool's Day & TGIF! Also, no shot yet (maybe next week). :D
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| |
\ _ /
( )

On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 16:35:59 -0500, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>
>Liar. I ain't believing you since today is April's Fool Day. :P

I fell for it. I feel so fucking stupid. I was really sorry to see
him leaving. I was completely fooled.

God, I hate April 1st.

On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:13:22 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
<rstowleigh@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:

>Lol.. You know, with the recent post on what makes a good troll, I
>guess somewhere deep down I wanted to get trolled like the old days?
>
>Nice one and thanks for that Spalls!

Definitely a nice one but I don't think I am going to thank him for
it. :-P

On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:
> >I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
> >well suited to my particular mode of communication.

Lol, also where I realized.

> lol. Nice troll! And I'm glad it *is* a 4/1 joke, as I do in fact enjoy
> yours and our small gang of posters immensely, and look forward to reading
> everyone's thoughts and sharing my occasional ones, and I'll freely admit
> it: You all are a (yes, small) but important part of my life! I think I'm
> enjoying gaming and the couple of gaming forums I frequent more than ever
> before.
>

Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not
that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for
god's sake!

So what forums do you frequent?

- Justisaur

On Sat, 02 Apr 2022 09:20:03 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>On Fri, 01 Apr 2022 21:13:22 -0400, Rin Stowleigh
><rstowleigh@x-nospam-x.com> wrote:
>
>>Lol.. You know, with the recent post on what makes a good troll, I
>>guess somewhere deep down I wanted to get trolled like the old days?
>>
>>Nice one and thanks for that Spalls!
>
>Definitely a nice one but I don't think I am going to thank him for
>it. :-P

It was the timing of it all, based on the recent discussion of old
school trolling that got a smile out of me. That and the fact that my
sense of time was out of whack and I literally forgot it was 4/1, I
couldn't help but be amused. :)

<quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 09:20:57 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

><quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>

A deft troll usually wants to see how many victims he can amass before
reeling it all in.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
> you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
> this is my last post via NNTP.

Interesting timing. April 1st notwithstanding, I was just looking into
some gaming forums last week but didn't get much anywhere. The old "sure
you can reset your password, except we won't send a link to you although
we say we did" dance.

Usenet just works(tm).

On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 09:20:57 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

><quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>

Okay, sorry, sorry!

No, I haven't left Usenet, and there are no plans that I ever do so.
It was, as so many of you too-quickly noticed, nothing more than an
April 1st prank.

Alas, you all were far too clever for my hapless attempts at humor,
and it seems everyone picked up on its falsity from the start (in my
defense, this really was my first attempt at a 'real' April 1st joke
in... well, it's probably been decades. It's really not my sort of
thing).

I was hoping, though, that more people would pick up on the line that
I was going to Twitter (of all places!) because it fit my style
better. I don't think most of my SUBJECT lines would normally fit into
twitters 140-character restrictions, much less as a primary mode of
communication. Personally, I thought that the best part of the joke.

(And if any were ever in any real doubt, had you actually visited the
twitter page, I gave away the joke there. Alas, I didn't bother to go
so for as to create a TikTok page, so anyone hoping to see me dance is
outta luck).

Still, I hope my lame attempt at wit brought a smile to your face,
even if only briefly, and if it didn't, well I apologize. While I
cannot promise that I will never do something similar again, I think
we're all safe for a few years, at least.

Anyway, you haven't gotten rid of me yet. I'll be boring you all for
years to come. Or at least until December (I have to unload all these
extra game serials somehow...)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 09:20:57 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

> ><quietly notes that it is now April 2nd and Spalls hasn't posted>

> Okay, sorry, sorry!

> No, I haven't left Usenet, and there are no plans that I ever do so.
> It was, as so many of you too-quickly noticed, nothing more than an
> April 1st prank.

> Alas, you all were far too clever for my hapless attempts at humor,
> and it seems everyone picked up on its falsity from the start (in my
> defense, this really was my first attempt at a 'real' April 1st joke
> in... well, it's probably been decades. It's really not my sort of
> thing).

> I was hoping, though, that more people would pick up on the line that
> I was going to Twitter (of all places!) because it fit my style
> better. I don't think most of my SUBJECT lines would normally fit into
> twitters 140-character restrictions, much less as a primary mode of
> communication. Personally, I thought that the best part of the joke.

> (And if any were ever in any real doubt, had you actually visited the
> twitter page, I gave away the joke there. Alas, I didn't bother to go
> so for as to create a TikTok page, so anyone hoping to see me dance is
> outta luck).

> Still, I hope my lame attempt at wit brought a smile to your face,
> even if only briefly, and if it didn't, well I apologize. While I
> cannot promise that I will never do something similar again, I think
> we're all safe for a few years, at least.

> Anyway, you haven't gotten rid of me yet. I'll be boring you all for
> years to come. Or at least until December (I have to unload all these
> extra game serials somehow...)

See, I knew it. :P You could had tricked us with fake freebies. ;)
--
2day feels like Th.'s cold weather. And then, another heat wave in a few days. Finally hibernated ~8.5h with 3? quick wake ups from <10:30 PM PDT-<7 AM PDT. Still tired! 2 fools got pranked by this almost fooled ant.
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| |
\ _ /
( )

On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 06:40:48 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
<justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

>> >I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
>> >well suited to my particular mode of communication.

>Lol, also where I realized.

I am so glad some people picked up on that. Have I mentioned that was
my favorite part of the gag?

>Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not
>that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for
>god's sake!

Oh, come on. Does NOBODY want to see me dance on TikTok?!?!?*

>So what forums do you frequent?

Aside from Usenet, I don't have any constants. I've accounts on a
number of tech and gaming forums that I've accumulated over the
decades. But unless you're really good at style analysis/recognition -
it wouldn't help much anyway, since I rarely use the same 'nym. Often
I'll discover a forum on a topic I'm interested in, post a while, and
then drift away. Usually I start there seeking information for a
particular problem, then hang around until I exhaust the topics (a lot
of web-forums are even less active than c.s.i.p.g.action!), at which
point I move on. In the end, Usenet remains my primary form of 'social
media' interaction and the one I've remained with the longest.

Honestly, there's just something about web-forums that annoys me; it's
not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's
something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with
unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.

It's why my little attempt at humor on the 1st was so farcically
delicious (at least, I thought it was). The idea that I could abandon
Usenet is practically unthinkable, at least considering the lack of
viable alternatives. I love the place; for its people, its topics, its
freedom, its format, and its history. There's absolutely nothing else
like it elsewhere on the Internet. So if I'm stuck here forever, I
can't say that upsets me too much.

---------------------
* It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you
weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 06:40:48 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
> <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:

> >> >I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
> >> >well suited to my particular mode of communication.

> >Lol, also where I realized.

> I am so glad some people picked up on that. Have I mentioned that was
> my favorite part of the gag?

> >Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not
> >that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for
> >god's sake!

> Oh, come on. Does NOBODY want to see me dance on TikTok?!?!?*

Actually, yes but not on TikTok. :P

> >So what forums do you frequent?

> Aside from Usenet, I don't have any constants. I've accounts on a
> number of tech and gaming forums that I've accumulated over the
> decades. But unless you're really good at style analysis/recognition -
> it wouldn't help much anyway, since I rarely use the same 'nym. Often
> I'll discover a forum on a topic I'm interested in, post a while, and
> then drift away. Usually I start there seeking information for a
> particular problem, then hang around until I exhaust the topics (a lot
> of web-forums are even less active than c.s.i.p.g.action!), at which
> point I move on. In the end, Usenet remains my primary form of 'social
> media' interaction and the one I've remained with the longest.

> Honestly, there's just something about web-forums that annoys me; it's
> not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
> bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
> of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
> the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's
> something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
> post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
> or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
> duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
> web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with
> unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.

> It's why my little attempt at humor on the 1st was so farcically
> delicious (at least, I thought it was). The idea that I could abandon
> Usenet is practically unthinkable, at least considering the lack of
> viable alternatives. I love the place; for its people, its topics, its
> freedom, its format, and its history. There's absolutely nothing else
> like it elsewhere on the Internet. So if I'm stuck here forever, I
> can't say that upsets me too much.

> * It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you
> weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
> full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
> Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?

Bah, let see YOUR body.
--
2day feels like Th.'s cold weather. And then, another heat wave in a few days. Finally hibernated ~8.5h with 3? quick wake ups from <10:30 PM PDT-<7 AM PDT. Still tired! 2 fools got pranked by this almost fooled ant.
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| |
\ _ /
( )

On Saturday, April 2, 2022 at 7:04:52 PM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

> * It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you
> weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
> full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
> Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?

Who knows, you might blow up like light saber kid or something.
;)
I may not be able to do emojis, but I can do emoticons!

And even ascii pictures!
e-e
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
- Justisaur

Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, April 2, 2022 at 7:04:52 PM UTC-7, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

> > * It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you
> > weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
> > full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
> > Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?

> Who knows, you might blow up like light saber kid or something.
> ;)
> I may not be able to do emojis, but I can do emoticons!

> And even ascii pictures!
> e-e
> (\_/)\
> `-'\ `--.___,
> '\( ,_.-'
> \\
> ^'
> - Justisaur

Old schools rule.
--
2day feels like Th.'s cold weather. And then, another heat wave in a few days. Finally hibernated ~8.5h with 3? quick wake ups from <10:30 PM PDT-<7 AM PDT. Still tired! 2 fools got pranked by this almost fooled ant.
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| |
\ _ /
( )

On 4/2/2022 7:36 PM, Ant wrote:
> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 2 Apr 2022 06:40:48 -0700 (PDT), Justisaur
>> <justisaur@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Friday, April 1, 2022 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-7, rms wrote:
>
>>>>> I think we all can agree the short-format of both services are
>>>>> well suited to my particular mode of communication.
>
>>> Lol, also where I realized.
>
>> I am so glad some people picked up on that. Have I mentioned that was
>> my favorite part of the gag?
>
>>> Devil's advocate, I wouldn't mind reading Spall's rambles elsewhere (not
>>> that here isn't fine) if it ever comes to it, but not Twitter or TikTok for
>>> god's sake!
>
>> Oh, come on. Does NOBODY want to see me dance on TikTok?!?!?*
>
> Actually, yes but not on TikTok. :P
>
>
>>> So what forums do you frequent?
>
>> Aside from Usenet, I don't have any constants. I've accounts on a
>> number of tech and gaming forums that I've accumulated over the
>> decades. But unless you're really good at style analysis/recognition -
>> it wouldn't help much anyway, since I rarely use the same 'nym. Often
>> I'll discover a forum on a topic I'm interested in, post a while, and
>> then drift away. Usually I start there seeking information for a
>> particular problem, then hang around until I exhaust the topics (a lot
>> of web-forums are even less active than c.s.i.p.g.action!), at which
>> point I move on. In the end, Usenet remains my primary form of 'social
>> media' interaction and the one I've remained with the longest.
>
>> Honestly, there's just something about web-forums that annoys me; it's
>> not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
>> bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
>> of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
>> the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's
>> something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
>> post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
>> or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
>> duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
>> web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with
>> unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.
>
>> It's why my little attempt at humor on the 1st was so farcically
>> delicious (at least, I thought it was). The idea that I could abandon
>> Usenet is practically unthinkable, at least considering the lack of
>> viable alternatives. I love the place; for its people, its topics, its
>> freedom, its format, and its history. There's absolutely nothing else
>> like it elsewhere on the Internet. So if I'm stuck here forever, I
>> can't say that upsets me too much.
>
>> * It's a dated reference, but if you want to imagine me dancing (you
>> weirdo!), watch Elaine from Seinfeld do her thing. "More like a
>> full-body dry heave set to music;" truly, an artform I have mastered!
>> Who wouldn't want to see that on TikTok?
>
> Bah, let see YOUR body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxrSAwtdtuQ

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Am 01.04.22 um 23:25 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
> Well, it's been a long-time coming and probably won't surprise many of
> you, but today I've decided to say goodbye to Usenet for good. Yup,
> this is my last post via NNTP
Goodbye buddy, its been a pleasure serving with you, maybe one day at
April the second. we will see each other again somewhere in this
cyberspace...

On 03/04/2022 03:04, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Honestly, there's just something about web-forums that annoys me; it's
> not so much the topics or the users or the worry about moderation or
> bias or any of that, so much as it is the physical format and layout
> of the web-forum software. It's an unpleasant experience to post on
> the web that I just don't experience when writing to Usenet. There's
> something just so PURE about the blank whiteness of an empty Usenet
> post - so completely unencumbered by buttons for making the font bold
> or inserting an emoji or adding a hypertext-link - that is never
> duplicated by those small, cluttered windows you type into on a
> web-forum. It's just me and the page, waiting for me to fill it with
> unnecessarily-wordy nonsense.
>

I'm a member of a few other forum type sites but the two I use most are
fairly uncluttered and they do feel like a more modern version of NG's.
The bigger problem I have is using platforms like FB Groups where the
format is really bad at supporting the type of conversations you can
have in a NG. You end up with a complete mess of a 'front page' making
it hard to navigate. Then you have what order it places the threads in
(that's always been a mystery to me) and a notification system that
seems to have a mind of its own. The worse one though Discord, that's
good at what it does (I use for our TT RPG group) but as a forum. It's
just awful. It's like being in a pub where you have to hear everybody's
conversation on a NG where there is only a single thread.

The problem though, the 'big hitters' are where companies have moved to.

As an aside, one of the parts I find amusing is that web forums give you
all the things you can do but in my experience most people don't use
anything but the basic functions. It reminds me of something someone
said about Microsoft Word. Why create a product where 90% of your users
use no more than 10% of the functions.

This thread seems to have taken an unexpected direction ... dance for me
boy, dance for me!