SyberShock

I found a youtube version of this article being read by a gray-bearded tech nerd with a Hawaiian shirt: https://youtu.be/KsDYul3J3Dc

Maybe I should pop a pineapple pizza in the oven and watch the drama.

"Last, I must express my deep disappointment and disbelief at the accusation of excluding people from minority or marginalized backgrounds. As someone who highly values diversity and inclusion, this accusation is not only unfounded but also insulting. Throughout my career, I have consistently supported work towards creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all individuals, regardless of their background." -- Eelco Dolstra, (Nix Founder)

For those who might think that NNTP does not scale, keep in mind that in its heyday Usenet was not the only NNTP network. There were countless niche NNTP servers not necessarily peering with Usenet. Some niche NNTP communities continue to thrive to this day.

A small closed network of just a few peers can service hundreds to thousands of participants. Social media architecture has accustomed users to having the whole world flooding their feed or inbox, when it need not be this way. This is why I like NNTP. The lack of overwhelming mass participation is a feature, not a bug.

I love treasure hunting. Sometimes Usenet feels like the dusty old thrift store of the Internet. If you have ever found a thrift store with rows of shelves chock full of books, old compact discs, and ancient cassette tapes, then you know what I mean.

I gathered some html colors and dubbed some zany names. Also find enclosed some color schemes for text and accents.

Usenet runs on the NNTP protocol. NNTP stands for "Network News Transfer Protocol." It is not a mailing list but many mailing list operators mirror their mailing lists in a NNTP newsgroup. This is done with a mail-to-news gateway script.

Usenet is typically accessed with a news reader application like Thunderbird. Thunderbird is not just a email client. It is also a news client that allows you to subscribe to and post to newsgroups.

> What can I do with Usenet?

You can enjoy threaded discussion in unmoderated groups without worrying about viewpoint censorship.

You can run your own NNTP peer and create your own newsgroups for your own community.

You can use a threaded newsreader application (like Thunderbird or Seamonkey or Claws Mail) which is much more efficient and organized than web forums.

> ... but I’ve got no idea what Usenet is.

You can start exploring Usenet here: https://news.novabbs.org

There are still active, moderated newsgroups. The majority of them have dried up, but some are still relevant.

People are working on this. In particular Retro Guy has one very good web front end that is really the only viable replacement for Google Groups at this point. Look for Rocksolid Light (rslight) on gitlab.

The source code is here: https://gitlab.com/rslight-public/rocksolid-light

The live demo site is here: https://news.novabbs.org/rocksolid/index.php

It has a retro look on purpose. There are several themes included and it is really easy to create a new theme CSS file.

You can run a peer to carry text groups on a raspberry pi or a cheap VPS. Visit the rocksolid.* hierarchy on Usenet if you have questions about running a peer. Please don't ask questions about Rocksolid here on HN, as that would not benefit the people learning in the newsgroups.

Disclosure: I am not the maintainer of Rocksolid Light and I am not promoting my own product. I just like the software and I think the maintainer has the right ideas and right attitude of retro-styled usability in his project.

I never thought I would see a poet put Kipling in his place. This is a masterpiece.

Usenet is the original social network and still the home of free speech online.

Several more BIG8 hosts are added to the list.

Tuesday, September 11088, 1993

  Usenet is dead.
  Usenet has always been dead.
  Usenet is dying.
  Usenet is always dying.
  Live with it.
  
  Long live Usenet!

Google Groups is pulling the plug on Usenet. But the Eternal September will not end ...

> "I wonder if SSH should really be used at all for git. While TLS certificates are relatively short lived these days thanks to Let’s Encrypt, SSH host keys live a very long time. If GitHub’s SSH host keys were stolen, how long would an attacker get away with intercepting communications?"

The solution is to use SSH Certificate Authentication as opposed to SSH Key Authentication. The Certificate has a forced expiry and is verified by a CA. Then interception is rendered a moot problem since keys are verified with the CA before use.

> This community especially can be very toxic to people that are starting out, that aren't geniuses

The toxic ones are especially cruel to people that have special genius.

And the toxic ones usually consider themselves the deep well of genius. Anything that threatens that perception incurs ire.

You can find this in places where there is a, "pecking order" and someone who comes along with a new inspiration gets beat down viciously.

I am starting this thread to document complaints to Google to resolve the tsunami of Usenet spam originating with their servers. The spam flood attack has persisted for a very long time.

Since 8/31 the last 10000 messages I polled from Usenet group 'sci.crypt' are mostly automated spam originating with google path headers.

Only 44 messages were found that are not spam. This means that roughly 99.56% of all messages in the group are spam originating with google servers.

I suggest others file abuse complaints with Google, then post copies of those complaints as follow-ups to this thread in news.admin.peering. This way we can document efforts to request Google cease enabling the spam abuse.

Conquest banner: grammar Nazi vs. syntax Soviet.

Take it to a whole new level. MIDI anthem not included.

Network News, AKA, 'Usenet' is still available as a means of propagating and discussing information on a censorship-resistant network. A world-wide network of NNTP servers store and forward messages in a flood-propagation protocol. Curious persons may get free access using this list. Usenet reader clients abound. Thunderbird and Claws Mail are two mature clients. If you've never tried Usenet be careful; you might get hooked!