I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
�-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

On Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 12:47:20 PM UTC-5, Robert Woodward wrote:
> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
> from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).

That would explain why many of my posts go answered by people I expected
to take an interest.

pt

On Wednesday, 8 November 2023 at 17:47:20 UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
> from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).

I like chocolate, and I like mushrooms, but up
to now, I have avoided reading the recurring "article"
on the topic of so-called mushroom chocolate bars.
I don't see an argument for that except for maybe
having the munchies when something to munch is
already in your hand.

On Wednesday, 8 November 2023 at 17:47:20 UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
> from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).

Oh, by the way, I'm not a robot.

I don't know if the mushroom chocolate vendor
is a robot.

In article <robertaw-53F13F.09471308112023@news.individual.net>,
Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
>carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
>r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
>originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
>from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
>those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).
>
>--
>"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
>Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
>�-----------------------------------------------------
>Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

I sent them an email.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On 11/8/2023 12:28 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 12:47:20 PM UTC-5, Robert Woodward wrote:
>> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
>> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
>> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
>> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
>> from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
>> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).
>
> That would explain why many of my posts go answered by people I expected
> to take an interest.
>
> pt

First, like the typo.

Over in Eternal September support there's been much discussion about GG
(with quite a few just saying de-peer them). I believe the owner of
n.i.n has posted there. Both he and Ray have, IIRC, taken the GG link
offline for a day or two at times while trying to fine tune spam filters.

"All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, 1)" by Martha Wells
https://www.amazon.com/All-Systems-Red-Murderbot-Diaries/dp/1250214718/

Book number one of a seven book series of science fiction novellas. I
reread the well printed and well bound hardcover published by Tor in
2017 that I bought new from Amazon. I purchased the hardcover since it
was cheaper than the trade paperback at the time. This novella won the
2018 Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus awards. The series won the 2021 Hugo
for the best series also. I have all six books in the series and am
eagerly awaiting the seventh book to be released in November 2023.

Murderbot is a SecUnit, similar to a T-800 Terminator with a cloned and
severely modified human head. There is a human brain in there but it is
controlled by the AIs embedded in its genderless torso. There are
lungs, there is a blood mixture with a synthetic, there is human skin
over the entire body, there is a face, there is hair on the head and
eyebrows. Everything else is machine. Somehow, the blood is enriched
with electricity as there is no stomach or intestines. But, there are
arteries and veins to keep the skin and brain alive. All of the major
arteries and veins have clamps to stop bleeding in case of damage.
There is a MedSystem computer with an AI, a HubUnit computer with an AI,
and a governor module that can force the SecUnit to follow orders using
pain sensors in the brain. It has a energy gun in each arm and several
cameras, all directly wired to the brain. The SecUnit can sustain
severe damage to everything but the head and still survive.

Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance
with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no
longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It
prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as
episodes of "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon" and "WorldHoppers".
Even though it has a face, it does not like to interface with humans,
yes, very introverted. It will follow human orders if it sees fit to do
so.

Murderbot is on security duty for a group of scientists from
Preservation planet that are considering buying into a new exploration
planet. There is another group across an ocean also looking at the
planet but they are not responding to their calls. So, Dr. Mensah takes
a few people and Murderbot to investigate.

Murderbot is an incredibly interesting character. It handles horrible
situations easily and personal interactions difficultly. Like I said,
interesting.

Quotes from the book:
1. "Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I
dropped to 97 percent efficiency."
2. "I hate having emotions about reality; I’d much rather have them
about Sanctuary Moon."
3. "The sense of urgency just wasn’t there. Also, you may have noticed,
I don’t care."

Warning: There is violence and death in the books. Books one through
four are a series of novellas, not regular length books. Book five is a
regular length novel, book six is back to the novella, and book seven is
a full length novel due out in November 2023. You can buy a collection
of the first four hardbacks at a nice discount.
https://www.amazon.com/Murderbot-Diaries-Artificial-Condition-Protocol/dp/1250784271/

There is a short story "Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory" between
books four and five.
https://www.tor.com/2021/04/19/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/

The author has a website at:
https://www.marthawells.com/

There is a wiki for Murderbot including various episodes of "The Rise
and Fall of Sanctuary Moon":
https://murderbot.fandom.com/wiki/Murderbot_Wiki
and
https://murderbot.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Sanctuary_Moon

There is a much better review at:
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/im-not-just-one-of-your-many-toys

My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (42,802 reviews)

Lynn

“The Expanse” authors announcing a new scifi series tomorrow

Just got posted on twitter. Excited to see more from them!
https://x.com/orbitbooks/status/1722011047954174334?s=46&t=yPU7I9vYJoe0OROYDt9rKA

Stolen from
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/17q6ww4/the_expanse_authors_announcing_a_new_scifi_series/

Lynn

In article <uih2nc$1qciv$2@epsilon3.eternal-september.org>,
Jay E. Morris <morrisj@epsilon3.comcon> wrote:
>On 11/8/2023 12:28 PM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 12:47:20 PM UTC-5, Robert Woodward wrote:
>>> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
>>> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
>>> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
>>> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
>>> from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
>>> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).
>>
>> That would explain why many of my posts go answered by people I expected
>> to take an interest.
>>
>> pt
>
>First, like the typo.
>
>Over in Eternal September support there's been much discussion about GG
>(with quite a few just saying de-peer them). I believe the owner of
>n.i.n has posted there. Both he and Ray have, IIRC, taken the GG link
>offline for a day or two at times while trying to fine tune spam filters.

Depeer Google GRoups now!
--
Member - Liberal International This is doctor@nk.ca Ici doctor@nk.ca
Yahweh, King & country!Never Satan President Republic!Beware AntiChrist rising!
Look at Psalms 14 and 53 on Atheism ; unsubscribe from Google Groups to be seen
The conclusion already reached is easy to arrive at. -unknown Beware https://mindspring.com

On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
> Depeer Google GRoups now!

Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
!do something constructive?

Perhaps assess how many group members are
making positive contributions through Google?
Or have you done that?

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25 AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
> > Depeer Google GRoups now!
>
> Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
> !do something constructive?
>
> Perhaps assess how many group members are
> making positive contributions through Google?
> Or have you done that?

I post mainly through GG. NNTP won't go through
my corporate firewall, and the number of clients
that work on an iPad or Android is approximately
zero.

I don't want' to be limited to firing up my laptop
(Linux/Windows) to use Usenet.

pt

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25 AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
> > Depeer Google GRoups now!
>
> Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
> !do something constructive?
>
> Perhaps assess how many group members are
> making positive contributions through Google?
> Or have you done that?

For that matter, has anyone checked what proportion
of the spam is coming through GG?

pt

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:53:23 AM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25 AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> > On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
> > > Depeer Google GRoups now!
> >
> > Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
> > !do something constructive?
> >
> > Perhaps assess how many group members are
> > making positive contributions through Google?
> > Or have you done that?

He is, I believe, the source of the monthly statistics post.

> I post mainly through GG. NNTP won't go through
> my corporate firewall, and the number of clients
> that work on an iPad or Android is approximately
> zero.
>
> I don't want' to be limited to firing up my laptop
> (Linux/Windows) to use Usenet.

You usta to that all the time! The laptop was so much more convenient than going over to the desktop!

It's like the convenience of streaming music rather than the bother of turning on the amplifier and the CD player, finding the album in your collection, and juggling the disk into the tray, then waiting those endless seconds for it to spin up. I wonder if today's vinyl aficionados have a ritual like my '80s roommate, starting with taking the record out of its special non-paper sleeve, putting it on the turntable, and using a special cleaning brush -with a couple drops of a special cleaning fluid- before starting to play.

--
-Jack

In article <kr321mFo60hU1@mid.individual.net>,
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
>In article <robertaw-53F13F.09471308112023@news.individual.net>,
>Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>>I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
>>carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
>>r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
>>originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
>>from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
>>those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).
>>
>>--
>>"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
>>Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
>>�-----------------------------------------------------
>>Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com
>
>I sent them an email.

I got back a response, which I have permission to share here:

Yes, we are currently not accepting articles from both
Google Groups and Abavia because of persistant spam flodding
that is so random that we cannot properly distinguish spam
from non spam articles with our anti spam tools even when
putting in several hours of manual filtering and training
every day, and had to cut off the entire sites.

We are aware that is not good solution because we are cutting
off regular users as well, but the disruption caused in
many groups was literally destroying them and causing
multiple complaints.

You might want to check news.admin.net-abuse.usenet for
discussions on that matter or take a look at groups like
comp.lang.c (you need to go back a few days) to see what
spam via Google Groups was doing to the groups and Google
is not stopping this abuse for many weeks.

We are not happy with the solution but it was the best we
could do for the time being.

We will of course lift the ban if Google stops the abuse,
and we are also considering whitelisting based on group (it
seems that they spared rec.arts.sf.written until now) or
based on user.

We are very sorry for inconvenience (and also a bit sad -
we care a lot about Usenet and hate is when people abuse
it), but letting the flooding continue was not an option.

Disappointing from a user perspective, but at least it's something
they are aware of and are actively involved in.

What was Google's corporate motto again?
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Jack Bohn <jack.bohn64@gmail.com> writes:

>It's like the convenience of streaming music rather than the bother of turn=
>ing on the amplifier and the CD player, finding the album in your collectio=
>n, and juggling the disk into the tray, then waiting those endless seconds =
>for it to spin up.

Most of us just rip CD's to their home computer and use an amplifier/receiver
that supports DLNA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLNA

My receiver has a web interface, so I can control it completely from
my cell phone, laptop, desktop or the physical controls on the receiver.

Before that, I had a pair of sony 400-disc CD changers which could be
configured to random play across both units (while one was playing
a track, the other would select a random disk and track and would
be ready to play when the other one finished its track).

> I wonder if today's vinyl aficionados have a ritual lik=
>e my '80s roommate, starting with taking the record out of its special non-=
>paper sleeve, putting it on the turntable, and using a special cleaning bru=
>sh -with a couple drops of a special cleaning fluid- before starting to pla=
>y.

I would hope so, cleaning the record before use is a good thing. Still
have a discwasher D3, but my turntable belt has broken.

I'm not sure if ricepaper sleeves are still a thing, I haven't bought
new vinyl since 1988 or thereabouts.

On 11/9/2023 8:50 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <kr321mFo60hU1@mid.individual.net>,
> Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
>> In article <robertaw-53F13F.09471308112023@news.individual.net>,
>> Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>>> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
>>> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
>>> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
>>> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
>> >from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
>>> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).
>>>
>>> --
>>> "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
>>> Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
>>> ‹-----------------------------------------------------
>>> Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com
>>
>> I sent them an email.
>
> I got back a response, which I have permission to share here:
>
> Yes, we are currently not accepting articles from both
> Google Groups and Abavia because of persistant spam flodding
> that is so random that we cannot properly distinguish spam
> from non spam articles with our anti spam tools even when
> putting in several hours of manual filtering and training
> every day, and had to cut off the entire sites.
>
> We are aware that is not good solution because we are cutting
> off regular users as well, but the disruption caused in
> many groups was literally destroying them and causing
> multiple complaints.
>
> You might want to check news.admin.net-abuse.usenet for
> discussions on that matter or take a look at groups like
> comp.lang.c (you need to go back a few days) to see what
> spam via Google Groups was doing to the groups and Google
> is not stopping this abuse for many weeks.
>
> We are not happy with the solution but it was the best we
> could do for the time being.
>
> We will of course lift the ban if Google stops the abuse,
> and we are also considering whitelisting based on group (it
> seems that they spared rec.arts.sf.written until now) or
> based on user.
>
> We are very sorry for inconvenience (and also a bit sad -
> we care a lot about Usenet and hate is when people abuse
> it), but letting the flooding continue was not an option.
>
> Disappointing from a user perspective, but at least it's something
> they are aware of and are actively involved in.
>
> What was Google's corporate motto again?

Google dropped the "Do not evil" a long while ago.

Lynn

On 11/9/2023 6:50 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <kr321mFo60hU1@mid.individual.net>,
> Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
>> In article <robertaw-53F13F.09471308112023@news.individual.net>,
>> Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>>> I have discovered that the 'news.individual.net' newserver is not
>>> carrying posts that were posted from Google Groups (at least in the
>>> r.a.sf.* hierarchy). I guess that is one way to stop all the spam
>>> originating from Google Groups. But that means that I don't see posts
>> >from William Hyde, Andrew McDowell, and others (at least until I check
>>> those newsgroups on the Supernews newserver).
>>>
>>> --
>>> "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
>>> Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
>>> ‹-----------------------------------------------------
>>> Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com
>>
>> I sent them an email.
>
> I got back a response, which I have permission to share here:
>
> Yes, we are currently not accepting articles from both
> Google Groups and Abavia because of persistant spam flodding
> that is so random that we cannot properly distinguish spam
> from non spam articles with our anti spam tools even when
> putting in several hours of manual filtering and training
> every day, and had to cut off the entire sites.
>
> We are aware that is not good solution because we are cutting
> off regular users as well, but the disruption caused in
> many groups was literally destroying them and causing
> multiple complaints.
>
> You might want to check news.admin.net-abuse.usenet for
> discussions on that matter or take a look at groups like
> comp.lang.c (you need to go back a few days) to see what
> spam via Google Groups was doing to the groups and Google
> is not stopping this abuse for many weeks.
>
> We are not happy with the solution but it was the best we
> could do for the time being.
>
> We will of course lift the ban if Google stops the abuse,
> and we are also considering whitelisting based on group (it
> seems that they spared rec.arts.sf.written until now) or
> based on user.
>
> We are very sorry for inconvenience (and also a bit sad -
> we care a lot about Usenet and hate is when people abuse
> it), but letting the flooding continue was not an option.
>
> Disappointing from a user perspective, but at least it's something
> they are aware of and are actively involved in.
>
> What was Google's corporate motto again?

"More Money!"

Google isn't going to do anything about being a source of massive spam.
If they were they would have many years ago. If they put any thought at
all into it they would probably conclude that killing Usenet is a good
thing for them. And anything they do to reduce it reduces usage of
their sites which reduces ad views with reduces income. Spammers (they
think) make them money.

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

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 1:28:25 PM UTC, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
> > Depeer Google GRoups now!
>
> Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
> !do something constructive?
>
> Perhaps assess how many group members are
> making positive contributions through Google?
> Or have you done that?
I tried to link my Windows XP machine up with Eternal September some time ago and failed. That machine is slowly becoming less and less useful, as it is not only XP, but runs an AMD 64-bit chip without SSE instructions, which means that I cannot get a browser update for it. It looks like I can read Google Groups on it, but the "I am not a robot" dialog fails. So my posting is via a browser on my company laptop, which at least means that browser is bang up to date.

On Thu, 9 Nov 2023 06:46:21 -0800 (PST), Jack Bohn
<jack.bohn64@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:53:23?AM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25?AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> > On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
>> > > Depeer Google GRoups now!
>> >
>> > Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
>> > !do something constructive?
>> >
>> > Perhaps assess how many group members are
>> > making positive contributions through Google?
>> > Or have you done that?
>
>He is, I believe, the source of the monthly statistics post.
>
>> I post mainly through GG. NNTP won't go through
>> my corporate firewall, and the number of clients
>> that work on an iPad or Android is approximately
>> zero.
>>
>> I don't want' to be limited to firing up my laptop
>> (Linux/Windows) to use Usenet.
>
>You usta to that all the time! The laptop was so much more convenient than going over to the desktop!
>
>It's like the convenience of streaming music rather than the bother of turning on the amplifier and the CD player, finding the album in your collection, and juggling the disk into the tray, then waiting those endless seconds for it to spin up. I wonder if today's vinyl aficionados have a ritual like my '80s roommate, starting with taking the record out of its special non-paper sleeve, putting it on the turntable, and using a special cleaning brush -with a couple drops of a special cleaning fluid- before starting to play.

I did that with the LPs when I was deciding to keep them or not. I
listened to each and every one. Well, except the plays: I had already
decided I didn't want to hear them anymore (not music).

And, for those for which "keep", did not mean "replace with a CD"
because there was no CD, when I digitized them before burning them.

And then ripping them, as I did the CDs, organizing them as /I/ felt
best, and loading them on my desktop player, the first and best
"device" I have ever bought: a Logitach Squeezebox Touch. With a 32G
memory card installed.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On Thu, 9 Nov 2023 05:54:19 -0800 (PST), "pete...@gmail.com"
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25?AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
>> > Depeer Google GRoups now!
>>
>> Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
>> !do something constructive?
>>
>> Perhaps assess how many group members are
>> making positive contributions through Google?
>> Or have you done that?
>
>For that matter, has anyone checked what proportion
>of the spam is coming through GG?

I'm too busy getting Agent to filter them.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25 AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
>> > Depeer Google GRoups now!
>>
>> Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
>> !do something constructive?

Given that Google Groups answer consistently amounts to:
* They provide spam filtering on GG hosted (internal) Groups.
* They don't filter spam at all on GG Usenet groups.
* They don't ban people for spamming Usenet via us.
* If they get enough complaints, they'll mark the group as read-only
in GG (no, this doesn't result in any action against the spammer which
is free to spam a different group).

I think calling for an UDP is a perfectly reasonable response.

Or just drop all articles orginating or coming via Google Groups,
since the GG team is clearly fine with all Usenet groups (eventually)
becoming read-only on GG. Basically soft-UDP.

This does suck for people wanting to use GG's Web interface but given
the outright refusal by Google to do anything at all about this for
years if not decades, well, it's likely the right thing to do.

It's not like there's any realistic chance anyone at GG is ever going
fix any of this. That ship sailed long ago.

>> Perhaps assess how many group members are
>> making positive contributions through Google?
>> Or have you done that?
>
>For that matter, has anyone checked what proportion
>of the spam is coming through GG?

Recently in several of the affected groups? 100% of the spam in them
came from GG and outnumbered the legitimate post (by everyone, not
just GG) by *many* orders of magnitude.

Each group is different but the reality is that there's actually not
many (if any) large scale spam sources left on the text groups on
Usenet - GG is pretty much it right now.

I guess you could bemoan the fact that text Usenet isn't popular
enough to attract large spammers any longer! I'm specifically exluding
the binary parts of usenet because I have no idea what's going on over
there.

On 09/11/2023 08.46, Jack Bohn wrote:
> On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:53:23 AM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com wrote:

>> I don't want' to be limited to firing up my laptop
>> (Linux/Windows) to use Usenet.
>
> You usta to that all the time! The laptop was so much more convenient than going over to the desktop!
>
> I wonder if today's vinyl aficionados have a ritual like my '80s roommate, starting with taking the record out of its special non-paper sleeve, putting it on the turntable, and using a special cleaning brush -with a couple drops of a special cleaning fluid- before starting to play.

I wouldn't call myself a "vinyl aficionado", but I certainly clean my
LPs before playing them.

--
Michael F. Stemper
A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with.

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 9:46:25 AM UTC-5, Jack Bohn wrote:
> On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:53:23 AM UTC-5, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25 AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> > > On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
> > > > Depeer Google GRoups now!
> > >
> > > Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
> > > !do something constructive?
> > >
> > > Perhaps assess how many group members are
> > > making positive contributions through Google?
> > > Or have you done that?
> He is, I believe, the source of the monthly statistics post.
> > I post mainly through GG. NNTP won't go through
> > my corporate firewall, and the number of clients
> > that work on an iPad or Android is approximately
> > zero.
> >
> > I don't want' to be limited to firing up my laptop
> > (Linux/Windows) to use Usenet.
> You usta to that all the time! The laptop was so much more convenient than going over to the desktop!
>
> It's like the convenience of streaming music rather than the bother of turning on the amplifier and the CD player, finding the album in your collection, and juggling the disk into the tray, then waiting those endless seconds for it to spin up. I wonder if today's vinyl aficionados have a ritual like my '80s roommate, starting with taking the record out of its special non-paper sleeve, putting it on the turntable, and using a special cleaning brush -with a couple drops of a special cleaning fluid- before starting to play.

Yes, they do. My brother is one of the few full time professional turntable tuners in the country, and he has stories....

I carry my ipad and Android phone nearly all the time. Most of my workday is spent in front of two massive
screens, with my work laptop (boat anchor HP) in a docking station. Since I frequently post from work, its
right there, all the time. My personal laptop is a bit large to actually fit in a lap - its meant for gaming.

So, during the workday, the work connection behind a fearsome firewall is the easiest to access, and when
I'm not working, the ipad. This should change in a few weeks - I'm retiring, and the personal gaming laptop
will become my main 'power user' machine. But when I'm not in that room, I'll still want to use the ipad.

pt

On 11/9/2023 7:54 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 8:28:25 AM UTC-5, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> On Thursday, 9 November 2023 at 13:02:55 UTC, The Doctor wrote:
>>> Depeer Google GRoups now!
>>
>> Instead of saying that all the time why don't you
>> !do something constructive?
>>
>> Perhaps assess how many group members are
>> making positive contributions through Google?
>> Or have you done that?
>
> For that matter, has anyone checked what proportion
> of the spam is coming through GG?
>
> pt

The below figures are from eternal-september.com. This is just from GG.
In comp.os.vms I'm seeing about 10-20 articles a day that escape the
filters.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
>> No, E-S filters all GG stuff for spam. And the spammers have now
>> switched from slot machines to football.
> I do not think filters are useful. They seem to be just dumping out
> garbage-- random names and addresses, in obscure fonts and languages.
> Sometimes it is movie titles. Probably generated by chatGP

Now, there are filters and filters. These are my filter results
for yesterday (just the top 5 spam groups):

Date Group No. of spam articles rejected
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2023-11-06 comp.cad.cadence 5,155
2023-11-06 microsoft.public.project 4,999
2023-11-06 bit.listserv.ibm-main 4,430
2023-11-06 comp.text.tex 3,785
2023-11-06 comp.protocols.dicom 2,386
[...]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sum 41,309

What you are seeing in these newsgroups is just the articles that
escaped the filters. And the movie spam is already being rejected
as of today,

On Friday, November 10, 2023 at 1:50:11 AM UTC+11, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <kr321m...@mid.individual.net>,
>
> Yes, we are currently not accepting articles from both
> Google Groups and Abavia because of persistant spam flodding
> that is so random that we cannot properly distinguish spam
> from non spam articles with our anti spam tools even when
> putting in several hours of manual filtering and training
> every day, and had to cut off the entire sites.
>
> Disappointing from a user perspective, but at least it's something
> they are aware of and are actively involved in.
>
> What was Google's corporate motto again?

Was it "Mo money, more problems"
or "Money changes everything"