"Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."

Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find another location.

On 12/14/2023 5:35 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> "Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
>
> Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find another location.

I do not set policy for Gurgle and I wouldn't venture a
guess to their 'inside politics'.

But out in the world, 'When it's free, YOU are the product'.

I'd guess either usenet user numbers are too small or their
demographic is not sought by advertisers. Or both.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:35:16 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
<cyclintom@gmail.com> wrote:

>"Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
>
>Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find another location.

Google announced that they're pulling the plug on Usenet about 9
months ago. I missed the announcement so Andre's announcement was a
surprise.

Usenet is a distributed database. There is no central server that
runs the system. Google just happens to be the largest archive server
after they rescued Deja News from impoverishment in 2001:
<https://www.wired.com/2001/02/google-buys-deja-archive/>
If Google disappears, some group or consortium might be able to take
over the news archive or parts of the archive and continue business as
usual.

There are also service providers that currently have 20+ years of text
archives stored on their servers. For example, I subscribe to
SuperNews which has:
<https://www.supernews.com/indi/>
"Outstanding retention - Supernews offers newsgroup article retention
that rivals our most expensive competitors. Enjoy an average of 3+
years of retention for binary articles and 20+ years of retention for
plain text articles."

There are various ways to read RBT online. Currently, you use Google
Groups via a web browser. I'm not up to date on the latest changes,
but this should suffice for a start:
<https://www.newsgroupreviews.com/best-usenet.html>
If you're only reading RBT and other text newsgroups, a text only
(non-binary) service will be cheaper. Note that Giganews has owned
Supernews since 2008.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Tom Kunich wrote:
> "Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support
> new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and
> new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching
> of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
>
> Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and
> can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find
> another location.

More likely that Google decided that Usenet has declined enough that
there's inadequate benefit for them to continue.

I think that part of it may be in how much of a conduit that Google is
for spam in newsgroups and where they can't do much (at least at
reasonable cost to them) to stop it. I've seen mail-focused newsgroups
that have had a lot of discussion about how users can filter the volume
of spam originating from Google.

Usenet isn't going away, just that Google is declining to participate.
Thus, to keep access to newsgroups, Google users will need to find
another Usenet provider. Some are paid, some free. I've been using
eternal-september.org for a couple of years. It's free, and works well
for me. You do have to set up a user ID to connect, but that's easy
enough. And you'll need to find a news reading client. There are
several dedicated news clients out there, although the news capacity
built into Mozilla Thunderbird may be sufficient for many.

Smith

On 12/15/2023 10:58 AM, NFN Smith wrote:
> Tom Kunich wrote:
>> "Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support
>> new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and
>> new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching
>> of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
>>
>> Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and
>> can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find
>> another location.
>
> More likely that Google decided that Usenet has declined enough that
> there's inadequate benefit for them to continue.
>
> I think that part of it may be in how much of a conduit that Google is
> for spam in newsgroups and where they can't do much (at least at
> reasonable cost to them) to stop it.  I've seen mail-focused newsgroups
> that have had a lot of discussion about how users can filter the volume
> of spam originating from Google.
>
> Usenet isn't going away, just that Google is declining to participate.
> Thus, to keep access to newsgroups, Google users will need to find
> another Usenet provider.  Some are paid, some free.  I've been using
> eternal-september.org for a couple of years.  It's free, and works well
> for me.  You do have to set up a user ID to connect, but that's easy
> enough.  And you'll need to find a news reading client.  There are
> several dedicated news clients out there, although the news capacity
> built into Mozilla Thunderbird may be sufficient for many.
>
> Smith

I just literally this morning installed Thunderbird and Eternal September.

On the positive side, we won't have to deal with kunich or his little
sycophant any longer. Neither one of them will be able to figure out how
to configure linked applications (despite their narcissistic claims of
advanced technological prowess).

Tommy's clownshow of repeated fuckups will be missed purely for their
comedic merit. I can't say the same about "a writer of vanity novels and
diarrhea-mouthed, long winded poster to the Usenet - where he pretends
to be famous." -
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bandon,_County_Cork&oldid=127907139#People

--
Add xx to reply

On Friday, December 15, 2023 at 8:34:14 AM UTC-8, Zen Cycle wrote:
> On 12/15/2023 10:58 AM, NFN Smith wrote:
> > Tom Kunich wrote:
> >> "Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support
> >> new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and
> >> new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching
> >> of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
> >>
> >> Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and
> >> can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find
> >> another location.
> >
> > More likely that Google decided that Usenet has declined enough that
> > there's inadequate benefit for them to continue.
> >
> > I think that part of it may be in how much of a conduit that Google is
> > for spam in newsgroups and where they can't do much (at least at
> > reasonable cost to them) to stop it. I've seen mail-focused newsgroups
> > that have had a lot of discussion about how users can filter the volume
> > of spam originating from Google.
> >
> > Usenet isn't going away, just that Google is declining to participate.
> > Thus, to keep access to newsgroups, Google users will need to find
> > another Usenet provider. Some are paid, some free. I've been using
> > eternal-september.org for a couple of years. It's free, and works well
> > for me. You do have to set up a user ID to connect, but that's easy
> > enough. And you'll need to find a news reading client. There are
> > several dedicated news clients out there, although the news capacity
> > built into Mozilla Thunderbird may be sufficient for many.
> >
> > Smith
> I just literally this morning installed Thunderbird and Eternal September..
>
> On the positive side, we won't have to deal with kunich or his little
> sycophant any longer. Neither one of them will be able to figure out how
> to configure linked applications (despite their narcissistic claims of
> advanced technological prowess).
>
> Tommy's clownshow of repeated fuckups will be missed purely for their
> comedic merit. I can't say the same about "a writer of vanity novels and
> diarrhea-mouthed, long winded poster to the Usenet - where he pretends
> to be famous." -
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bandon,_County_Cork&oldid=127907139#People
>
> --
> Add xx to reply
Another piece of shit hiding behind a phony name. Who is surprised. You're probably nothing more than Flunky trying to get noticed.

On 12/15/2023 12:57 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> On Friday, December 15, 2023 at 8:34:14 AM UTC-8, Zen Cycle wrote:
>> On 12/15/2023 10:58 AM, NFN Smith wrote:
>>> Tom Kunich wrote:
>>>> "Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support
>>>> new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and
>>>> new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching
>>>> of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
>>>>
>>>> Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and
>>>> can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find
>>>> another location.
>>>
>>> More likely that Google decided that Usenet has declined enough that
>>> there's inadequate benefit for them to continue.
>>>
>>> I think that part of it may be in how much of a conduit that Google is
>>> for spam in newsgroups and where they can't do much (at least at
>>> reasonable cost to them) to stop it. I've seen mail-focused newsgroups
>>> that have had a lot of discussion about how users can filter the volume
>>> of spam originating from Google.
>>>
>>> Usenet isn't going away, just that Google is declining to participate.
>>> Thus, to keep access to newsgroups, Google users will need to find
>>> another Usenet provider. Some are paid, some free. I've been using
>>> eternal-september.org for a couple of years. It's free, and works well
>>> for me. You do have to set up a user ID to connect, but that's easy
>>> enough. And you'll need to find a news reading client. There are
>>> several dedicated news clients out there, although the news capacity
>>> built into Mozilla Thunderbird may be sufficient for many.
>>>
>>> Smith
>> I just literally this morning installed Thunderbird and Eternal September.
>>
>> On the positive side, we won't have to deal with kunich or his little
>> sycophant any longer. Neither one of them will be able to figure out how
>> to configure linked applications (despite their narcissistic claims of
>> advanced technological prowess).
>>
>> Tommy's clownshow of repeated fuckups will be missed purely for their
>> comedic merit. I can't say the same about "a writer of vanity novels and
>> diarrhea-mouthed, long winded poster to the Usenet - where he pretends
>> to be famous." -
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bandon,_County_Cork&oldid=127907139#People
>>
>> --
>> Add xx to reply
> Another piece of shit hiding behind a phony name. Who is surprised. You're probably nothing more than Flunky trying to get noticed.

Pay attention sparky, "I just literally this morning installed
Thunderbird and Eternal September" because I was using google groups,
which will soon no longer be cooperating (leaving you out in the cold).
It's the same funkmaster as before. The same object of your unrequited
affection, that same poltergeist living rent-free in your head.

--
Add xx to reply

On Friday, December 15, 2023 at 10:37:06 AM UTC-8, Zen Cycle wrote:
> On 12/15/2023 12:57 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> > On Friday, December 15, 2023 at 8:34:14 AM UTC-8, Zen Cycle wrote:
> >> On 12/15/2023 10:58 AM, NFN Smith wrote:
> >>> Tom Kunich wrote:
> >>>> "Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support
> >>>> new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and
> >>>> new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching
> >>>> of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
> >>>>
> >>>> Andrew does that mean that Google has cut their own Woke throats and
> >>>> can no longer afford groups? If so, I imagine that we can find
> >>>> another location.
> >>>
> >>> More likely that Google decided that Usenet has declined enough that
> >>> there's inadequate benefit for them to continue.
> >>>
> >>> I think that part of it may be in how much of a conduit that Google is
> >>> for spam in newsgroups and where they can't do much (at least at
> >>> reasonable cost to them) to stop it. I've seen mail-focused newsgroups
> >>> that have had a lot of discussion about how users can filter the volume
> >>> of spam originating from Google.
> >>>
> >>> Usenet isn't going away, just that Google is declining to participate..
> >>> Thus, to keep access to newsgroups, Google users will need to find
> >>> another Usenet provider. Some are paid, some free. I've been using
> >>> eternal-september.org for a couple of years. It's free, and works well
> >>> for me. You do have to set up a user ID to connect, but that's easy
> >>> enough. And you'll need to find a news reading client. There are
> >>> several dedicated news clients out there, although the news capacity
> >>> built into Mozilla Thunderbird may be sufficient for many.
> >>>
> >>> Smith
> >> I just literally this morning installed Thunderbird and Eternal September.
> >>
> >> On the positive side, we won't have to deal with kunich or his little
> >> sycophant any longer. Neither one of them will be able to figure out how
> >> to configure linked applications (despite their narcissistic claims of
> >> advanced technological prowess).
> >>
> >> Tommy's clownshow of repeated fuckups will be missed purely for their
> >> comedic merit. I can't say the same about "a writer of vanity novels and
> >> diarrhea-mouthed, long winded poster to the Usenet - where he pretends
> >> to be famous." -
> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bandon,_County_Cork&oldid=127907139#People
> >>
> >> --
> >> Add xx to reply
> > Another piece of shit hiding behind a phony name. Who is surprised. You're probably nothing more than Flunky trying to get noticed.
> Pay attention sparky, "I just literally this morning installed
> Thunderbird and Eternal September" because I was using google groups,
> which will soon no longer be cooperating (leaving you out in the cold).
> It's the same funkmaster as before. The same object of your unrequited
> affection, that same poltergeist living rent-free in your head.
> --
> Add xx to reply
Some people have to listen very closely because people who have no teeth have very poor pronunciation skills.