"comp.lang.c has been identified as containing spam, malware, or other malicious content." Hehe. Insert Rust joke here.
unsafe { comp.lang.c }
Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
71–80 of 199 posts
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#72Some fun comp.lang.c history: Dennis Ritchie posted, sharing an extremely early version of a C compiler. Richard Heathfield (well known C book author) jokingly chided Ritchie for posting something off-topic, as it was not part of ANSI C. In typical Usenet fashion, this triggered a huge thread, arguing over the appropriateness of the joke. Even Linus Torvalds got involved. Apparently Heathfield emailed Ritchie private…
This is hilarious. I could see something similar happening on HN today.
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#73C is a dangerous language, but I would not ban discussions about it.
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an interesting point: that a commitment to practical free speech for everyone, everywhere, will tend towards consolidation of platforms and natural monopolies. Cancellation, deplatforming, etc. might actually drive platform diversity and innovation which will, in turn, further freedom of expression far more effectively than public pressure to tolerate everything.
Careful , it will also drive to isolationism, echo-chambers and the quashing of controversial dissenting opinions. If you dont think right now we have opinions as controversial as "Gay people should be able to marry each other if they want" was 100 years ago,an opinion which right now we consider almost self-evident, I would urge you to think harder.
I understand the idea that a diverse selection of exclusive communities leads to isolationism and echo-chambers. I just don't know how to judge if it's true or not.
As others observe, those exclusive communities were the precursors of our inclusive communities. They gave the marginalized a safe space to learn acceptance, confidence, and toughness, and take that out of their safe space. And no one is a member of just one community, isolated from the rest, even when we try to be. The issue seems to me to be less about how exclusive of opinion those communities are, and more about how freely one may join and leave them while staying within bounds.
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
> " ... complete archive of ... Usenet " sotto voce > Usenet postings were never meant to be permanent. I was there in its heyday and nobody expected their postings to live beyond the spool expiration lifetime.
Yup. I've met a number of old farts like me who were not thrilled when what we assumed was transient had been archived. I'm not a big fan of the opt-out model of archiving where archivers just assume that they have implied consent to grab anything and everyone from everyone who hasn't explicitly said no.
Dunno. History matters and historians would probably strongly disagree. Some things are more important than you think.
Too much gets lost too easily.
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup. I've met a number of old farts like me who were not thrilled when what we assumed was transient had been archived. I'm not a big fan of the opt-out model of archiving where archivers just assume that they have implied consent to grab anything and everyone from everyone who hasn't explicitly said no.
Dunno. History matters and historians would probably strongly disagree. Some things are more important than you think. Too much gets lost too easily.
>Dunno. History matters and historians would probably strongly disagree.
People don't live or structure their lives to satisfy historians...
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess I’m getting old but I’m always amazed when people don’t know what Usenet is. Or at least aren’t able to spot a Usenet group by name.
Where would you learn about it? I've never seen an invite or an indication that any form of contribution is welcomed, or even possible.
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Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess I’m getting old but I’m always amazed when people don’t know what Usenet is. Or at least aren’t able to spot a Usenet group by name.
Every ISP I used a decade or two ago had its own Usenet server. No ISP I have used in recent years does. They have all been switched off, with the ISP citing low levels of use. It's hard to blame them, with modern Web-based discussion forums able to do better in almost every way, but that's a lot of freely available information and insight about a lot of subjects that is being consigned to history. Maybe one of the o…
In the mid 90s the only reason that I wanted internet access was for usenet. The web felt insignificant compared to the information available on usenet. It did not matter the topic, there was a discussion group for it. Web sites and services slowly started to move me away from reading Usenet to the point today where I check posts maybe three times per year.
For the heck of it, I just fired up tin to see how many posts since I read last:
1 3866 alt.folklore.computers Stories & anecdotes about computers (some true!). 2 151 alt.hacker No description. 3 1951 alt.obituaries Notices of dead folks. 4 13 comp.graphics.algorithms Algorithms used in producing computer graphics. 5 5021 comp.lang.c Discussion about C. 6 17 comp.os.linux.hardware Hardware compatibility with the Linux operating system. 7 1 comp.os.linux.setup Linux installation and system administration. 8 30 comp.sys.hp48 Hewlett-Packard's HP48 and HP28 calculators. 9 comp.unix.misc Various topics that don't fit other groups. 10 501 comp.unix.programmer Q&A for people programming under Unix. 11 1 comp.unix.questions UNIX neophytes group. 12 1190 comp.unix.shell Using and programming the Unix shell. 13 comp.unix.admin Administering a Unix-based system. 14 465 comp.misc General topics about computers not covered elsewhere. 15 138 rec.games.roguelike.nethack The computer game Nethack. 16 4001 comp.lang.python The Python computer language. 17 2119 comp.sys.raspberry-pi Raspberry Pi computers & related hardware and software. 18 8 alt.sources Alternative source code, unmoderated. Caveat Emptor.
Not completely dead yet.
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#79I am wondering if we could solve the current madness with arbitrary content policing by waiving copyright protection for monopolistic platforms and enforcing interoperability. Imagine if anyone was legally allowed to create their own fork of Reddit, or Google Groups, preserving the original content , and even being able to post new content through the fork, as if they did it directly. If google decided to ban some co…
So I pay my monthly subscription to FAANG which obliges me to allow every spammer in the world to syndicate my content, and the result is that conversations I start have replies spread across an unlimited number of platforms, each with their own EULA. Jeez, and I thought the status quo of social media verged on dystopic...
Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned
#80On behalf of Usenet users everywhere, this is excellent news, and I wouldn't be surprised if Usenetters begin stuffing other useful newsgroups with crap in order to removed from Google as well. Google's assimilation of Usenet content had promise at first but quickly turned into a dystopia and the general consensus on Usenet is that Google has been a disaster for Usenet.
I would have thought that that had already happened to every Usenet group by now, or even 20 years ago.