countdown timers (and probably sports betting, office pools etc.) are
beginning to appear over google's approaching disjunction from usenet

(using Tor Browser 13.0.9, pacific standard time 00:00-24:00|PT/UT-8) . . .
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20240222T00&p0=1241&msg=Google+Groups+Shutdown&font=slab&csz=1
>Google Groups Shutdown
>19 days 14 hours ... minutes ... seconds
>Time until Thursday, February 22, 2024 (Mountain View time)
[end quote]

guesstimate . . .

22 february 2024 02:14:14 am (074w00:11,40n44:29; jd 2460362.80155)
21 february 2024 11:14:14 pm (122w05:02,37n25:18; jd 2460362.80155)

On Fri, 2 Feb 2024 17:23:56 +0100 (CET), D <J@M> wrote:

>
>countdown timers (and probably sports betting, office pools etc.) are
>beginning to appear over google's approaching disjunction from usenet
>
>(using Tor Browser 13.0.9, pacific standard time 00:00-24:00|PT/UT-8) . . .
>https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20240222T00&p0=1241&msg=Google+Groups+Shutdown&font=slab&csz=1
>>Google Groups Shutdown
>>19 days 14 hours ... minutes ... seconds
>>Time until Thursday, February 22, 2024 (Mountain View time)
>[end quote]
>
>guesstimate . . .
>
>22 february 2024 02:14:14 am (074w00:11,40n44:29; jd 2460362.80155)
>21 february 2024 11:14:14 pm (122w05:02,37n25:18; jd 2460362.80155)
>
Google Groups isn't shutting down.

On Fri, 02 Feb 2024 09:43:26 -0700, Chris L Peterson <clp@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
>On Fri, 2 Feb 2024 17:23:56 +0100 (CET), D <J@M> wrote:
>>countdown timers (and probably sports betting, office pools etc.) are
>>beginning to appear over google's approaching disjunction from usenet
>>(using Tor Browser 13.0.9, pacific standard time 00:00-24:00|PT/UT-8) . . .
>>https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20240222T00&p0=1241&msg=Google+Groups+Shutdown&font=slab&csz=1
>>>Google Groups Shutdown
>>>19 days 14 hours ... minutes ... seconds
>>>Time until Thursday, February 22, 2024 (Mountain View time)
>>[end quote]
>>guesstimate . . .
>>22 february 2024 02:14:14 am (074w00:11,40n44:29; jd 2460362.80155)
>>21 february 2024 11:14:14 pm (122w05:02,37n25:18; jd 2460362.80155)
>>
>Google Groups isn't shutting down.

excluded, depeered, etc . . . sybershock's sysadmin posted this gem:

>Path: n...!i2pn.org!i2pn2.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
>From: SugarBug <3883@sugar.bug>
>Newsgroups: eternal-september.talk, alt.free.newsservers, alt.september
>Subject: Looming Groupocalypse : The Google Groupsspaggheddon Cometh!
>Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2024 03:38:43 -0600
>Organization: sybershock.com Baggy Jeans Mafia
>Message-ID: <1fa0133234a88bf23788c8d0ea360913$1@sybershock.com>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>Injection-Info: i2pn2.org;
> logging-data="2944723"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@i2pn2.org";
> posting-account="yZybWhCr+jI4C3MuGpPde+DhCwsjQrVZrsCOigcx7fM";
>X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.0
>Xref: n... eternal-september.talk:1545 alt.free.newsservers:6379 alt.september:5
>
> A Brain Candy Rant for Tin Hatters and Texters. (SyberShock!)
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Looming Groupocalypse : The Google Groupsspaggheddon Cometh!
> Tuesday, September 11088, 1993
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> List of Free Usenet Servers: https://sybershock.com/#usenet
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Usenet is dead.
> Usenet has always been dead.
> Usenet is dying.
> Usenet is always dying.
> Live with it.
> Long live Usenet!
> Google Groups has provided Usenet access for many years
> since Google acquired DejaNews 22 years ago, circa 2002.
> For some of these years Google has allowed a non-stop spam
> flooding, denial of service attack against the Usenet
> network. Google and other large Usenet providers have
> suborned a non-stop flood of zillions and bazillions of spam
> articles over the years, making newsgroups unusable for many
> end-users, causing much exodus from the Usenet network. Some
> believe that this was not incompetence or negligence, but
> intentional malice disguised as incompetence and negligence.
> Pretending to serve a network while undermining it in deed
> comports with the principle of "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish."
> Some are firmly convinced this is the real cause of the spam.
> A recent anti-spam campaign got a lot of people breathing
> down Google's neck. Rather than end the flooding and denial
> of service that it caused, Google has decided to stop
> peering Usenet feeds altogether. Some have opined that this
> is like amputating a leg to remedy a ingrown toenail. Google
> users will lose Usenet posting access without recourse.
> In February Google is pulling the plug. A large number of
> Google users will no longer be able to access Usenet. Those
> users will need to find some other way to access Usenet
> newsgroups. I like to think of it as 'unplugment day'.
> Some posters in the Usenet have been opining that it will
> be an apocalyptic event similar to Eternal September when
> hordes of AOL users were unleashed on Usenet decades ago.
> Since the influx of ISP users decimated politeness on the
> Usenet, it is said that September of 1993 never ended.
> Usenetizens still call this era the 'Eternal September.'
> Now a horde of Google Groups users will be potentially
> unleashed on the other Usenet service providers, especially
> the free providers. A swarm of new signups is expected. Some
> free Usenet providers are already dealing with a spike in
> new registrations.
> That cutoff date is February 22, 2024. After that time the
> Google users will no longer be able to access Usenet content.
> In Eternal September time the cutoff date will be the 11131st
> day of September, 1993.
> Since many Google users are clueless, some likely won't
> realize their Usenet access is sunset until the moment it is
> cut off. Then there is potential for a search panic as they
> try to discover why they cannot access Usenet groups via
> Google Groups. It has been jokingly called the Google Groups
> Apocalypse or the Google Groups Armageddon. Some users post
> Usenet articles counting down the days to the cutoff date.
> Some wordplay gives silly effect to these phrases:
> groupocalypse ==> group + apocalypse
> goopocalypse ==> google + apocalypse
> groupsspagheddon ==> groups + spaghetti + armageddon
> So now this ditty might make sense:
> The 'groupocalypse' looms.
> Google 'groupsspaggheddon' cometh.
> There shall be zoomer weeping,
> Karen wailing,
> and boomer gnashing of dentures.
> This is a spoof on verses from the books of Matthew and
> Revelation:
> "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire;
> so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man
> shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of
> his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
> iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there
> shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
> "The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her,
> shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping
> and wailing ..."
> "Weeping and wailing" becomes: "Zoomer weeping, Karen
> wailing ..."
> "Gnashing of teeth" becomes: "Boomer gnashing of dentures."
> I suppose that the "merchants" could spoof for spammers. Yet
> I doubt any spammers were, "made rich by her."
> Since it is the end of yet another era for Usenet, it is
> 'apocalyptic' in a lampoon way, like the end of the Usenet
> world when the month of Eternal September began. It is a
> comical, cosmological holy day, an 'apocalypse' for which we
> know the exact date of its coming. It is bombastic burlesque,
> a rampant style of humor that runs riot on Usenet.
> The impending cessation of Google Usenet peering may cause a
> chaotic scramble to find Usenet access. Or it may go hardly
> noticed, an anti-apocalyptic whimper in the night. The Google
> Groupocalypse might signal a great shift, or it may mererly
> result in less spam. That is a change I can live with.
> Whether February 22, 2024 comes in like a lion or a lamb, that
> day will always be September 11131, 1993. And one thing is
> sure: If September is eternal, then Usenet is eternal, too.
[end quote]

google groups counselors are standing by to assist dejected users with
free reconnection services available to the public in the form of free
usenet news servers, free news reader apps, and even your favorite web
browser for websites using the popular rocksolid web-to-news interface
join the global user's network for free and be part of the celebration

On Friday, February 2, 2024 at 9:43:33 AM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:

> Google Groups isn't shutting down.

That's true, but to many of us, it's function as a portal to USENET is the only one we use; their own native
groups, although no doubt useful to some, are less popular.

John Savard

On Sun, 4 Feb 2024 06:06:41 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca>
wrote:

>On Friday, February 2, 2024 at 9:43:33?AM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:
>
>> Google Groups isn't shutting down.
>
>That's true, but to many of us, it's function as a portal to USENET is the only one we use; their own native
>groups, although no doubt useful to some, are less popular.

But still available. (And really, much easier and nicer to use with a
news client.)