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Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

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111–120 of 199 posts

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#111

Hi Folks, I have archives of comp.lang.c group going back 35 years (1986-2021) and when I saw this news I decided to prioritize this one and just started synchronizing it into my archive. In a couple of hours, you should be able to see all of the posts ever made to: comp.lang.c group over at my Usenet Archives: Here it is, enjoy: https://usenetarchives.com/threads.php?id=comp.lang.c&y=0&r=... BTW. I just reworked ent…

First of all, thank you for making this available. However without Search functionality the utility of this archive is very limited.

Is Google indexing the content? Maybe you can search it that way.

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#112
post #75
post #65

Earlier 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 I've met a number of old farts like me who were not thrilled when what we assumed was transient had been archived.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.

Before it becomes history:

Phase 1: hall monitor trolls in coordination with HR use it to keep people in line

Phase 2: the archive is rediscovered as truth about what the world used to be like and suppressed

Phase 3: there is no archive and never was

Phase 4: the archive is rediscovered, hidden and the esoteric knowledge used to start a cult

Phase 5: the cult eventually prevails in society, becomes a religion and suppresses inconvenient parts of the archive

Phase 6: well history repeats itself so why go on?

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#114
post #81
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NNTP is a standard. I use eternal-september.

I joined a couple of years back, but came away disappointed. All the groups I followed 20 years back are pale shadows of their former selves, filled with spam. And most of those were big in the day and included the comp.lang.c|c++ and a few of the comp.os groups. There's still a need for usenet, and I'd love to participate if there was anyone worth talking to. But it needs fixing first.

> filled with spam

I was there for Canter & Siegel https://www.wired.com/1999/04/the-spam-that-started-it-all/

My first usenet post, sometime in the late 80s, was in a discussion about a possible future "digital newspaper"

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#115

I dunno, you can write malware easily with C if you're not careful with pointers, memcpy, etc. The code samples have to be full of it.

Well I mean you can also write "malware" easily with styrofoam and gasoline in the right ratios. You can also make some sweet wargaming terrain with styrofoam and fuel a car with gasoline.

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#116
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno. History matters and historians would probably strongly disagree. Some things are more important than you think. Too much gets lost too easily.

Not everything is deserving of being treated as historical artifacts worthy of retention. A friend has lamented that when he was in college in the late 80s, he used USENET as a way to connect with people and work through some pretty heavy emotional challenges. Retaining his personal struggles is hardly "history" - if anything, the historical value of retaining the struggles of one inconsequential person is far lower…

To a sociologist

connect with people and work through some pretty heavy emotional challenges

is a goodmine and insight into history.

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if this were true, it would be better if the archives were not available for some decades after the original posting. I’m OK with my content being analyzed by historians, but the definition of “historian” presumes some professional detachment that is not available short years after the post was made.

> but the definition of “historian” presumes some professional detachment The idea of everything you've ever posted becoming part of a giant "digital permanent record" used by data brokers, advertisers, credit bureaus, trolls, nosy people, etc. is somewhat unappealing.

Yet what was always predicted. Followed by homes taking families hostage and we are almost there.

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#118
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

comp.lang.c is a Usenet forum, that Google Groups provides access to. You can access it from any NNTP server that provides the core of Usenet without using Groups, and it's better not to use Google's horrible interface anyways.

But if you want to find a particular post, it really depends on the retention policy of the server you use. Free ones may have a year of retention. Commercial one's have 12 years or so. The only one that I know of where one can find posts further back than that is Google groups.

astranews has comp.lang.c back to 30 June 2003.

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#119
Another case of ML based moderation. This ML based judging with no appeal must end. I was only mildly disturbed so far, but when it started affecting me personally, it really hit home. I wrote a book on third battle of Panipat and when I tried to advertise it on Facebook, the ML banned me because it thought that I am violating their guidelines and promoting violence. Alas, it can't differentiate between a 260 year old battle and today! And there is no way to talk to a human. If this is the way we continue, then no history books can be advertised since invariably our past has been filled with violence.

Re: Comp.lang.c Google Group has been banned

#120
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dunno. History matters and historians would probably strongly disagree. People don't live or structure their lives to satisfy historians...

People also don't live or structure their lives to satisfy those who had a written conversation and want the copies burned.

Well, they should. Permanent record of every small transgression or juvenile excess or stupidity is inhumane...
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