End of an Era: Google Groups to Drop Usenet Support | Hacker News Reader

End of an Era: Google Groups to Drop Usenet Support

pcmag.com

72 pointsderefr31 comments

Big recent discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38649554

Thanks! Macroexpanded:

Google Groups ending support for Usenet - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38649554 - Dec 2023 (198 comments)

This might be in Usenet's best interest actually, considering the huge torrent of spam coming from Google's Usenet connectivity.

Are there any alternatives for the Usenet archive? Even if Google says they aren't removing access to that immediately, it's got to be a matter of time before they delete the archives probably as part of a total shutdown of Google Groups.

Internet Archive

YAAAY! Many people have taken to blocking all Google Groups posters on Usenet, it's quite literally THE only remaining spam vector there.

you're not wrong about google groups being a major vector for spam, but it is funny to watch people approve of gatekeeping interoperability when it's the one THEY care about.

the imessage thing is the same as google groups, or if google ran an open SMTP relay, it's gonna result in a ton of spam and people don't care as long as THEY get a personal win.

These aren’t comparable and honestly it’s disingenuous to compare them.

iMessage does not have open groups for random people to join and participate on.

All the spam control can be done on the client side (e.g. message requests handled entirely separately rather than just landing in your messaging apps front page).

Have yall used other messaging apps? You know this is a solved problem in them? Facebook messenger, signal, telegram (only with premium unfortunately).

In the Usenet case here, Google has the power to disable the spam vectors. They simply don’t give a shit.

I'm pro-gatekeeping, I was on the Internet before Eternal September and then later, when it became synonymous with web browsing.

As someone who uses the older Usenet material to maintain some ancient computing equipment, we have been backing up as much as possible to the Internet archive.

I sure hope they don't delete the archives, which contain my greatest troll of all time:

https://groups.google.com/g/alt.games.video.classic/c/WQ62u7...

Don Hopkins Dec 8, 1992, 6:23:20 AM alt.games.video.classic

en...@cs.montana.edu (Jacob Cormier) writes:

>Hasn't anyone here played Star Wars, the arcade game?!? It's the best! If I ever see that at an arcade again, I will whip out my credit card and buy it on the spot! I had a version for my Commidor64, but it was garbage.

My housemate brought home a Star Wars machine one day, and it became an important part of our lives. A very well designed game! After you blow up the Death Star, there's just enough time for bong hit.

-Don

https://groups.google.com/g/alt.games.video.classic/c/WQ62u7...

tjg...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu Dec 8, 1992, 5:35:54 PM alt.games.video.classic

What is the bong hit in Star Wars?

https://groups.google.com/g/alt.games.video.classic/c/WQ62u7...

Richard Stueven Dec 8, 1992, 10:31:28 PM alt.games.video.classic

>>In (an earlier article), (someone) wrote (something like) "In Star Wars, after you blew up the Death Star, there was just enough time for a bong hit."

>In article 75...@ultb.isc.rit.edu, tjg...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu () writes: What is the bong hit in Star Wars?

Heh, heh. :-)

gak

--- Richard Stueven g...@wrs.com attmail!gakhaus!gak 107/H/3&4 I'm always more outspoken after a few pints of Guinness.

whoa, ritvax! A blast from my alma mater's past!

Didn't RIT teach incoming freshmen about balancing their use of video games and drug paraphernalia in the orientation session? ;) Or was it still too hard to get weed on the East coast in 1992?

Well I started in '05 and my freshman dorm floor lost 1 guy to World of Warcraft and 1 guy to weed... I don't remember anything but maybe orientation could have been improved with a quick "don't forget to go to class occasionally" briefing.

I dunno. Sleeping glued to the heaters sure beat slogging the 1/4, mile at 8am with wind and sometimes snow whipping you in the face.

They didn't build the MOST IMPORTANT tunnel!

Depends if you believed the rumors or not...

Damn, nice to see my alma mater mentioned here. My 1st year was learning how to send e-mail using ritvax.. good times.

How will I know what B1FF is up to?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIFF_(Usenet)

B1FF is now using ChatGPT to design his own emoji oriented programming language:

The Future of GPT4 1337 Programming: CyberCode Tutorial with <BRAIN=BOMB\> cYber-C0mb1n4t0r !!! </BRAIN=BOMB>

https://donhopkins.medium.com/the-future-of-gpt4-programming...

I am honestly happy to see this. I am in several discussion related newsgroups and almost all of the spam that we get from Google groups and it's to the point where a lot of people are just blocking Google related messages.

I'm happily using Eternal September ( https://www.eternal-september.org/ ) and I use Thunderbird as a usenet client.

(2023)

Discussion from December: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38649554

But it is so useful for training LLMs on penis enlargement pill spam and uuencoded porn!

Is Lemmy the new Usenet?

Looks like there is quite some action already:

https://lemmyverse.net

It's great to see that spam will drop on the few text-based newsgroups I'm still subscribed to. I detest what Google has done to newsgroups, and I'd love for there to be another credible archive.

Wake me up when September ends...

At this point, Usenet is in the Eternal August.

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

Set your alarm for February 22nd so, 47 days to go.

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