Hello!

This is only relevant for those people who read or post in that
newsgroup using Google Groups.

Google will discontinue Groups in 2024.

For those who do not know Usenet:

Usenet is a distributed communication system consisting of many servers.
Google Groups is only one of them that closes down - other servers will
stay available, but people need to use another server to read and post
here.

There are 2 alternatives:

Using a web-based Usenet interface:
Those behave similar to Google Groups, you can read there, but for
posting you need to register an account for free.

One of them is:
https://www.novabbs.com/computers/thread.php?group=alt.obituaries

Another alternative is to use an NNTP server with a so called
newsreader.

As an NNTP server, some free services exist where you have to register:
https://www.eternal-september.org/
https://solani.org/
https://www.i2pn2.org/

For using it, you need a newsreader.

Some examples are:
https://www.thunderbird.net
https://www.betterbird.eu/
https://claws-mail.org/
https://www.seamonkey-project.org/

You then need to configure a newsgroup account, sometimes also
called NNTP.

For most servers, authentication must be enforced in the newsreader's
settings.

For Thunderbird, a tutorial is available here:
https://www.big-8.org/wiki/Getting_Started_with_Usenet

For questions about configuring those readers, feel free to ask in
the group news.software.readers.

Thanks for your posting. Still, you sound like you're unaware that some of us unsophisticated users have NO CLUE as to how in Heaven's name one can "configure a newsgroup account", something I certainly never did to read this soon-to-be-unavailable alt.obits group!

Meanwhile, a pal who is NOT an unsophisticated user checked out this Thunderbird thing, and she tells me that at my level of Apple wizardry--which you could describe as "able to log-on and read the internet, but NEVER able to troubleshoot if ANYTHING goes wrong (which often occurs)"--I'm just asking for more endless cyber-trouble

Here's a simple question: since I didn't "configure" (or anything else) to get to this newsgroup account--I just merely logged on and typed alt.obituaries into a search engine (which was NOT Google, by the way!), why with all of these alternatives to Google Groups do I have all SORTS of cyber-hurdles in front of me?

Please understand, I've NEVER been trained on my computer--way way way too far from closest Apple Store--and anyway, I'm a guy who isn't skilled at these things (for instance, never ONCE have I successfully "installed" ANYTHING on my Apple 27-inch Retina--something ALWAYS goes awry, and I can NEVER troubleshoot it on my own).

Isn't there some SIMPLE way (i.e., just log onto some site and read alt.obits) to access alt.obits after Google quits next month? I have zero interest in any other newsgroups, but THIS one is like a lifeline to me. Thanks for your anticipated response.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

Dear Marco,

Again, thanks for your concern about this Google-abandonment looming next month.

But you should know: I just now read--or more precisely, TRIED to read--your linked Thunderbird tutorial.

It might as well have been in Mandarin, Tagalog or Thai. That is, I understood many of the words, but virtually NONE of the concepts. And my cyber-hip lady friend (elsewhere in the USA, so she can't train me) who warned me that Thunderbird would be WAY over my skill level seems to have been actually UNDERSTATING it.

Look, I understand calculus, nuclear physics and advanced algebra, but never getting a whit of training-after-sale for my Apple, this is ALL Greek to me. (You don't know how much I envy people like yourself who are so well-trained in cyber stuff that this Thunderbird tutorial seems pretty simple to you.) Now, the Apple saleslady DID assure me, "Hey, you're clearly a smart guy, and this is an intuitively-designed computer, so you'll pick it up." That was seven years ago, and she couldn't have been more incorrect.

Can't you or SOMEONE out there offer a simple (i.e., five steps or so, not 25 or so) process that DOESN'T require installing ANYTHING to simply read-and-post re alt.obits? Again, I don't care a whit about other newsgroups, but this one is HUGELY important to me.

Thanks for your response. (Send a private email, if you prefer, to: RadioactiveSeattle["at"-sign symbol]Gmail.com

Thanks again!

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

Bryan, the answer you asked for was in the article you just replied
to.

https://www.novabbs.com/computers/thread.php?group=alt.obituaries

"radioacti...@gmail.com" <radioactiveseattle@gmail.com> wrote in
news:93866a51-2a36-4166-8d98-8b898a2c5ec6n@googlegroups.com:

> Thanks for your posting. Still, you sound like you're unaware that
> some of us unsophisticated users have NO CLUE as to how in Heaven's
> name one can "configure a newsgroup account", something I certainly
> never did to read this soon-to-be-unavailable alt.obits group!

Go to the USENET (NNTP) Server of your choice.

Ask for or Register for an account. In some cases you might need to
verify your email,

You will be given the the Server Name, Server Port, and your personal
Name and Password to configure into your News Reader. Did you not think
this was easy to do?

Once connected your Newsgroup Reader may ask to download the list of
newsgroups offered by the server. Answer YES. Then sign up for the
groupa you want to read and post in.
> Meanwhile, a pal who is NOT an unsophisticated user checked out this
> Thunderbird thing, and she tells me that at my level of Apple
> wizardry--which you could describe as "able to log-on and read the
> internet, but NEVER able to troubleshoot if ANYTHING goes wrong (which
> often occurs)"--I'm just asking for more endless cyber-trouble

As with most things these days you can find online tutorials if you can't
read and follow the steps at the USENET Server. It usually provides
intructions from the web site interface.

> Here's a simple question: since I didn't "configure" (or anything
> else) to get to this newsgroup account--I just merely logged on and
> typed alt.obituaries into a search engine (which was NOT Google, by
> the way!), why with all of these alternatives to Google Groups do I
> have all SORTS of cyber-hurdles in front of me?
>
> Please understand, I've NEVER been trained on my computer--way way way
> too far from closest Apple Store--and anyway, I'm a guy who isn't
> skilled at these things (for instance, never ONCE have I successfully
> "installed" ANYTHING on my Apple 27-inch Retina--something ALWAYS goes
> awry, and I can NEVER troubleshoot it on my own).

We humans used to talk to one another to get help. Try that. Sorry.
> Isn't there some SIMPLE way (i.e., just log onto some site and read
> alt.obits) to access alt.obits after Google quits next month? I have
> zero interest in any other newsgroups, but THIS one is like a lifeline
> to me. Thanks for your anticipated response.
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
>

Hi Bryan, you've been around for years. I thought you were native to
USENET. I have a similar problem - I won't use anything Apple, save for
my Apple }{+. Far too expensive a company.

By the way, where are you located? Perhaps I could call or drive over
and help you. I'm in west central Florida.

Good luck, everyone.

radioactiveseattle@gmail.com wrote:

>Thanks for your posting. Still, you sound like you're unaware that some
>of us unsophisticated users have NO CLUE as to how in Heaven's name one
>can "configure a newsgroup account", something I certainly never did to
>read this soon-to-be-unavailable alt.obits group!

Look, Bryan. If I could do it, you could do it. I've been on Usenet
prior to Google's purchase of DejaNews. There was no Google Groups Web
interface to Usenet.

It has nothing to do with "unsophisticated" but following instructions.

>Meanwhile, a pal who is NOT an unsophisticated user checked out this
>Thunderbird thing, and she tells me that at my level of Apple
>wizardry--which you could describe as "able to log-on and read the
>internet, but NEVER able to troubleshoot if ANYTHING goes wrong (which
>often occurs)"--I'm just asking for more endless cyber-trouble

Get new friends.

>. . .

David LaRue <huey.dll@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>radioactiveseattle@gmail.com wrote:

>>Thanks for your posting. Still, you sound like you're unaware that
>>some of us unsophisticated users have NO CLUE as to how in Heaven's
>>name one can "configure a newsgroup account", something I certainly
>>never did to read this soon-to-be-unavailable alt.obits group!

>Go to the USENET (NNTP) Server of your choice.

>Ask for or Register for an account. In some cases you might need to
>verify your email,

>You will be given the the Server Name, Server Port, and your personal
>Name and Password to configure into your News Reader. Did you not think
>this was easy to do?

If you become a user on news.eternal-september.org, then you must check
"always authenticate" in Thunderbird or another newsreader when setting
up access to that News server.

>. . .

Marco Moock <mm+solani@dorfdsl.de> wrote:
> Hello!
>
> This is only relevant for those people who read or post in that
> newsgroup using Google Groups.
>
> Google will discontinue Groups in 2024.
>
> For those who do not know Usenet:
>
> Usenet is a distributed communication system consisting of many servers.
> Google Groups is only one of them that closes down - other servers will
> stay available, but people need to use another server to read and post
> here.
>
> There are 2 alternatives:
>
> Using a web-based Usenet interface:
> Those behave similar to Google Groups, you can read there, but for
> posting you need to register an account for free.
>
> One of them is:
> https://www.novabbs.com/computers/thread.php?group=alt.obituaries
>
> Another alternative is to use an NNTP server with a so called
> newsreader.
>
> As an NNTP server, some free services exist where you have to register:
> https://www.eternal-september.org/
> https://solani.org/
> https://www.i2pn2.org/
>
> For using it, you need a newsreader.
>
> Some examples are:
> https://www.thunderbird.net
> https://www.betterbird.eu/
> https://claws-mail.org/
> https://www.seamonkey-project.org/
>
> You then need to configure a newsgroup account, sometimes also
> called NNTP.

If you have a *nix shell account on any Internet server,
you can use whatever newsreader programs are installed on
that server and available to your account.
> For most servers, authentication must be enforced in the newsreader's
> settings.
>
> For Thunderbird, a tutorial is available here:
> https://www.big-8.org/wiki/Getting_Started_with_Usenet
>
> For questions about configuring those readers, feel free to ask in
> the group news.software.readers.
>

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

radioacti...@gmail.com <radioactiveseattle@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Isn't there some SIMPLE way (i.e., just log onto some site and read alt.obits) to access alt.obits after Google quits next month? I have zero interest in any other newsgroups, but THIS one is like a lifeline to me. Thanks for your anticipated response.
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

I log into my shell account on my computer.

At a prompt,I type

tin -g news.panix.com

This invokes the tin newsreader program installed on my computer
and instructs it to connect to the remote server news.panix.com
where I have a different shell account,whose name it knows (same
as my lekno.ws account) and whose password it asks me for.

I enter that password.

My menu of subscribed newsgroups displays on the screen.

I move the cursor to alt.obituaries and hit enter/return.

The menu of message threads in alt.obituaries comes up.

I navigate to the ones I want to read.

Nothing about this is other than SIMPLE.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

> Nothing about this is other than SIMPLE.

Unless you're trying to do it on your phone... Then it becomes annoying and
significantly more complicated pretty fast.

Big Mongo <bigmongo1963@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Nothing about this is other than SIMPLE.
>
> Unless you're trying to do it on your phone... Then it becomes annoying and
> significantly more complicated pretty fast.

Simply don't try to use a phone for a computer's job.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

radioacti...@gmail.com <radioactiveseattle@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Marco,
>
> Again, thanks for your concern about this Google-abandonment looming next month.
>
> But you should know: I just now read--or more precisely, TRIED to read--your linked Thunderbird tutorial.
>
> It might as well have been in Mandarin, Tagalog or Thai. That is, I understood many of the words, but virtually NONE of the concepts. And my cyber-hip lady friend (elsewhere in the USA, so she can't train me) who warned me that Thunderbird would be WAY over my skill level seems to have been actually UNDERSTATING it.
>
> Look, I understand calculus, nuclear physics and advanced algebra, but never getting a whit of training-after-sale for my Apple, this is ALL Greek to me. (You don't know how much I envy people like yourself who are so well-trained in cyber stuff that this Thunderbird tutorial seems pretty simple to you.) Now, the Apple saleslady DID assure me, "Hey, you're clearly a smart guy, and this is an intuitively-designed computer, so you'll pick it up." That was seven years ago, and she couldn't have been more incorrect.
>
> Can't you or SOMEONE out there offer a simple (i.e., five steps or so, not 25 or so) process that DOESN'T require installing ANYTHING to simply read-and-post re alt.obits? Again, I don't care a whit about other newsgroups, but this one is HUGELY important to me.
>
> Thanks for your response. (Send a private email, if you prefer, to: RadioactiveSeattle["at"-sign symbol]Gmail.com
>
> Thanks again!
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

(I am of course grateful that ultimately this newsgroup has not been deStybleized by Google's disengagement).

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

I've been doing fairly well with https://www.novabbs.com/interests/thread.php?group=alt.obituaries (which goes straight to our group). Or you can use https://www.novabbs.com/common/grouplist.php if you want to read or post in other groups.

Thank you for those links! I will be checking them out soon.

I've been following here but haven't posted anything until this. I figured this note would be better than the usual posting of the word "test."

Obviously, there are far less posting here than on the old alt.obituaries. Do you guys think it's because people aren't used to it yet, or am I doing something wrong and not seeing things?

I hope all is well with everyone and I look forward to seeing more postings.

MJ

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 23:30:18 +0000, mjsmagic@aol.com (MJ) wrote:

>Thank you for those links! I will be checking them out soon.
>
>I've been following here but haven't posted anything until this. I figured this note would be better than the usual posting of the word "test."
>
>Obviously, there are far less posting here than on the old alt.obituaries. Do you guys think it's because people aren't used to it yet, or am I doing something wrong and not seeing things?
>
>I hope all is well with everyone and I look forward to seeing more postings.
>
>MJ

I'm also seeing far fewer posts. I also use a newsreader and
subscribe to a newsserver for access so it's not an artifact of using
other means of access. Google pulling out did a lot of damage (Well,
it depends on your point of view I guess.).

John M. <jcm1139TRASH@gmail.com> wrote:
>Tue, 26 Mar 2024 23:30:18 +0000, mjsmagic@aol.com (MJ) wrote:

>>Thank you for those links! I will be checking them out soon.

>>I've been following here but haven't posted anything until this. I figured this note would be better than the usual posting of the word "test."

>>Obviously, there are far less posting here than on the old alt.obituaries. Do you guys think it's because people aren't used to it yet, or am I doing something wrong and not seeing things?

>>I hope all is well with everyone and I look forward to seeing more postings.

>I'm also seeing far fewer posts. I also use a newsreader and
>subscribe to a newsserver for access so it's not an artifact of using
>other means of access. Google pulling out did a lot of damage (Well,
>it depends on your point of view I guess.).

Somebody in every single active newsgroup told Google Groups users to
become users on genuine News servers and to use newsreaders. Plenty
didn't. It's not like people weren't trying to help them change their
posting habits.

Their decision to leave Usenet

I've had to change News servers many many times in the decades I've been
on Usenet. So has almost everyone else. It's just one of those things.
There is no reason why Google Groups users couldn't.

In article <uu070h$2kqdi$3@dont-email.me>,
Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>John M. <jcm1139TRASH@gmail.com> wrote:
....
>>I'm also seeing far fewer posts. I also use a newsreader and
>>subscribe to a newsserver for access so it's not an artifact of using
>>other means of access. Google pulling out did a lot of damage (Well,
>>it depends on your point of view I guess.).

I've definitely noticed an increase in the signal-to-noise (SN) ratio in
the past month, in many/most of the groups I follow. That's a Good Thing.

To be fair, there is less total signal, which is a loss, but far less
noise. In particular, one particular group that I follow got taken over by
gmail/google trolls several years ago. It has recovered nicely since
Google pulled out. It is actually readable now. So, that also is a Good Thing.

>Somebody in every single active newsgroup told Google Groups users to
>become users on genuine News servers and to use newsreaders. Plenty
>didn't. It's not like people weren't trying to help them change their
>posting habits.

And, presumably, the skilled ones did, the less skilled ones switched to
novabbs (or similar) (*) and the unskilled ones just left. That also, is a
Good Thing.

(*) Including, incidentally, Mr. BS.

>Their decision to leave Usenet

Sometimes, circumstances force decisions.

>I've had to change News servers many many times in the decades I've been
>on Usenet. So has almost everyone else. It's just one of those things.
>There is no reason why Google Groups users couldn't.

There is a reason. It all comes down to skill levels. See above.

--
In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue.
-- Barack Obama --

Sorry to AGAIN belabor a point that many--even most?--of you fine folk suspected I was being obnoxious about in the FIRST place.

BUT: I've still yet to figure out what a "news reader" is in an Internet context. Was it my Apple "Safari" program? Was it the "usenet" system I that the now shut-down-for-posting alt-obituaries? (For instance, is this "RockSolidLight" website I'm using right now my "newsreader"?)

I've been often accused of faking my misunderstanding of all this cyber-techno detail (as if it's patently obvious what ALL this stuff means to you sophisticated onliners), but no, some of us are (in such folks' view) just uninformed on these matters. (Though such critics I'm sure instead just figure I'm as e-dimwitted as they find my posted mini-essays.)

Me, I figure it's the fact that NO ONE ever since my first Commodore 64 computer in 1985 has ever TRAINED me on ANY of this stuff. They always sold me hardware and insisted I'd pick things up by just using it. (Even the personnel literally DOZENS of law offices, radio stations and TV stations I've worked at (since 1980 when PCs started appearing in offices) never REALLY cyber-trained me to a point where I understood things; I was always expected to pick it up on my own; I gather everyone figured since I SEEMED smart to them based on my command of English and wide-ranging general knowledge, they assumed I could self-learn cyber stuff.)

THAT'S why some of us--or at least little ol' inconsequential me--don't have these skills that many of those derisive toward me consider 1st grade (or at least middle-school) level skills. And the alleged tutorials available on YouTube, etc., are SELDOM of help, for the guys and gals who do these seem to never know how to present things in a way that don't leave you (well, ME, I mean) more confused than before.

Heck, I'd be happy if someone just defined "news reader" and/or "newsreader". (I always though that was someone who followed public events.)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

bryan_styble <radioactiveseattle@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry to AGAIN belabor a point that many--even most?--of you fine folk suspected I was being obnoxious about in the FIRST place.
>
> BUT: I've still yet to figure out what a "news reader" is in an Internet context. Was it my Apple "Safari" program? Was it the "usenet" system I that the now shut-down-for-posting alt-obituaries? (For instance, is this
> "RockSolidLight" website I'm using right now my "newsreader"?)

A news reader is a client program like tin or trn whereby you read newsgroup articles (and can reply).
The news server computer you are reading them from runs a program like inn or Dnews that receives articles
from and sends articles to the rest of the news servers on the Internet,storing what it has for your
reading pleasure or displeasure according to rules set for its configuration.

> I've been often accused of faking my misunderstanding of all this cyber-techno detail (as if it's patently obvious what ALL this stuff means to you sophisticated onliners), but no, some of us are (in such folks' view) just
> uninformed on these matters. (Though such critics I'm sure instead just figure I'm as e-dimwitted as they find my posted mini-essays.)
>
> Me, I figure it's the fact that NO ONE ever since my first Commodore 64 computer in 1985 has ever TRAINED me on ANY of this stuff. They always sold me hardware and insisted I'd pick things up by just using it. (Even the personnel
> literally DOZENS of law offices, radio stations and TV stations I've worked at (since 1980 when PCs started appearing in offices) never REALLY cyber-trained me to a point where I understood things; I was always expected to pick it
> up on my own; I gather everyone figured since I SEEMED smart to them based on my command of English and wide-ranging general knowledge, they assumed I could self-learn cyber stuff.)
>
> THAT'S why some of us--or at least little ol' inconsequential me--don't have these skills that many of those derisive toward me consider 1st grade (or at least middle-school) level skills. And the alleged tutorials available on
> YouTube, etc., are SELDOM of help, for the guys and gals who do these seem to never know how to present things in a way that don't leave you (well, ME, I mean) more confused than before.
>
> Heck, I'd be happy if someone just defined "news reader" and/or "newsreader". (I always though that was someone who followed public events.)
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

I am certainly one of the less skilled :-)

In article <1ed1cfd996d7a2a1a4a572105c4d124e@www.novabbs.org>,
Mig.Rhodes <mig73allenford2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>I am certainly one of the less skilled :-)

But, luckily, not one of the unskilled.

--
I don't do things wrong.
I do things right.

I'm a legitimate person.