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2013, the year of Usenet

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Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#61

Post by InclinedPlane »

infectoid wrote: post #50
InclinedPlane wrote: post #42

Usenet isn't going to make a comeback, it's a relic of a different sort of internet than the one that exists today. Though something similar may end up existing in the future, it will likely have a lot of new features (like karma or trust networking or some such) that make the spam and trolling problems tractable. For reference, I spent a lot of time on usenet back in the '90s, using "tin" as my newsreader. I even he…

I kind of have to agree with you. But I also don't think this is a bad thing. I'm glad I was there to see it all happen and despite the groans I may receive I think reddit (as mentioned by other commenters) is a perfect evolution of what was. It encourages small communities to exist in the form of sub-reddits which has allowed it to survive the several massive growth phases in the last several years. Part of the reas…

Reddit and HN can be alright, but they are a shadow of what was normal back in usenet's glory days. Some sub-reddits can be quite good, especially with heavy moderation, but they have all of the problems of usenet except worse.

Most discussions on HN/reddit have a 48-hour time horizon, if that, whereas usenet could easily support threads lasting for weeks or months, with obvious effects on the quality of discussion. Also, web-based discussion makes it difficult to get rid of the clutter of read messages and manages threading poorly so discussions that were perfectly fine when everyone was using newsreaders would today be unwieldy.

Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#63

Post by nclark »

throwaway0094 wrote: post #16
Havoc wrote: post #4

>brief resurgence distributing binaries - images, video, warez - but even that era faded The author is clearly not sufficiently connected. Binaries are going stronger than ever.

The TV networks, MPAA, RIAA started issuing automated DMCA notices in early 2013, making it more or less useless for content. Have things changed?

it has changed, but not nearly as much as "content providers" want it to. namely, it used to provide a wonderful archive for just about any kind of copyrighted material you can think of. usenet providers have been increasing their retention (e.g. 1900+ days of binary retention). so now with the take downs, a lot of copyrighted material is gone within a day or two.

i'm a little bit unsure if this is true, but it definitely seems to be. a usenet provider has "complied" with the DMCA request when they have removed enough of the yEncoded posts to break the file on their servers, including parity repair. different providers remove different posts.

thus the emergence of "block accounts," which are usenet providers that resell amounts of data with no time limit, as opposed to your main usenet provider who chargers monthly. then nzb downloaders (e.g. SABnzbd+, NzbVortex) look to your block server for articles that are missing. well really servers, it's not uncommon to have multiple. the key is to have your block accounts all from different top-level resellers.

http://www.reddit.com/r/usenet/wiki/providers

Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#64

Post by marionm »

Havoc wrote: post #4

>brief resurgence distributing binaries - images, video, warez - but even that era faded The author is clearly not sufficiently connected. Binaries are going stronger than ever.

Yes agreed.

Binary downloading seems to be increasing due to both the higher speeds and the anonymity USENET can provide in comparison to filesharing system like torrents.

Now yes, perhaps discussion groups are on the decline and being replaced by individual websites and their forums but I feel that USENET still offers a great advantage in the case of say medical conditions - were you want to be anonymous but still want to participate in a discussion.

Granted if you are uploading copyrighted content in your home country you can be tracked but otherwise USENET is anonymous

Also sites like http://usenetreviewz.com/ are advertising Black Friday specials and keep up to date news articles on their so yes, USENET may be now well known but I think USENET will be around for a long time

Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#66

Post by na85 »

jere wrote: post #57
na85 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've known about the Eternal September for quite some time, but I'm not sure why it's funny. Eternal September is/was a usenet meme, not really having much relation to the world wide web.

Sure, you're probably more knowledgeable about it than me. I was only observing that "things used to be better" is a constant theme and when one has nostalgia for a certain time, it's worth noting that people active then were reminiscing about an even earlier time.

Well sure, but all that seems to indicate to me is that things are always getting worse.

Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#67

Post by subsection1h »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #11
dredmorbius wrote: post #9

Usenet, or something very much like it, with a markup language (to allow for rich content), a paired messaging protocol (to allow for directly contacting individuals in chat / private message mode), and associated content distribution (images, video) could, I've felt for years, displace virtually all of existing social media. The primary missing elements are filtering (as noted) and a distributed search capability.

Reddit is more-or-less the Usenet of the masses, but without private messaging (and the fact that it's hosted on the World Wide Web).

plonk

Reddit doesn't have killfiles. For me, the killfile is Usenet's killer feature.

Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#69

Post by glanch »

zandorg wrote: post #18

This is my search engine for Usenet, currently only for the 1980s but I hope to have 2003 onwards searchable soon. I have about 2TB of news from 2003 which just needs indexing and uploading. http://www.dejadejadeja.com/10years/ My goal is to give people an alternative to 'Google Groups'. It's built on PHP and MySQL.

Kind of random, but I just checked out your site, typed in the first "1980s" thing that came to mind (Walter Payton) and really enjoyed reading this New England Patriots fan's post sizing up his teams chances against the Chicago Bears in the upcoming Super Bowl:

http://www.dejadejadeja.com/10years/getmsg.php?whichmsg=%3C4...

The Bears would crush the Patriots and win that game easily. I guess this might seem weird to some of you, but I grew up in the 90s and this game was one of the only iconic 80s moments that stood out to me.

Thanks for building the site. It's neat.

Re: 2013, the year of Usenet

#70

Post by Steuard »

kin wrote: post #49

I had no idea Usenet was like a community or something. I primarily use it to download stuff.

Oh, god, it was glorious. Or at least, a lot of parts of it were. I made good friends on the Tolkien newsgroups there, back when they were the place for discussions of his work (with multiple world-famous scholars taking part, and intense debates between many deeply knowledgeable people that could last for weeks). Nothing I've found today can compare. Heck, even the huge, high traffic groups like rec.humor had a real sense of community if you watched for a while and got to know the regulars. I still miss it (obviously).
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