Where are folks posting these days?

[Dr. Rich Staats]

It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...

Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Rich

htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

[Stephenls]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Online forums, mostly. http://www.rpg.net/ and http://www.enworld.org/
are two of the bigger ones (though the latter is d20 specific).

[mcv]

Post by Stephenls

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Online forums, mostly. http://www.rpg.net/ and http://www.enworld.org/
are two of the bigger ones (though the latter is d20 specific).

But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora. But I admit, even I
am a regular of several webfora nowadays.

rec.fames.frp.gurps is still reasonably active, though. More than .misc,
at least.


mcv.

[Stephenls]

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

[Jasin Zujovic]

Post by Stephenls

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

Which is a shame, really.

[Malachias Invictus]

Post by Jasin Zujovic

Post by Stephenls

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

Which is a shame, really.

Which is? Most people online not knowing how to set up a newsreader, or
everybody knowing how to type in URLs?

Personally, I think the requirement of setting up a newsreader is acting as
an idiot filter. Granted, it is far from perfect...

[Jasin Zujovic]

Post by Malachias Invictus

Post by Jasin Zujovic

Post by Stephenls

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

Which is a shame, really.

Which is? Most people online not knowing how to set up a newsreader, or
everybody knowing how to type in URLs?

The former.

Post by Malachias Invictus
Personally, I think the requirement of setting up a newsreader is acting as
an idiot filter. Granted, it is far from perfect...

That is a benefit, sometimes, but it also filters out many people it
shouldn't and doesn't filter out many it should. That's makes in a not
very good filter.

[mcv]

Post by Stephenls

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

That's not usenet's fault, but the fault of OS distributions. They tend to
come with a free, ready-to-use browser, but if you want a newsreader, you've
got to work on it. Once set up, however, the newsreader allows you direct
access to thousands of newsgroups, while every webforum has its own URL
you need to type, you're bound to a single, often very crummy, interface,
and you need to register and log in seperately for each forum. And webfora
are fragmenting the user group for the discussions; many games have several
forums, and if you want to read everything about that game, you have to
follow several groups. And then there's the mailinglists...


mcv.

[Sherm Pendley]

Post by mcv
come with a free, ready-to-use browser, but if you want a newsreader,
you've got to work on it.

Not true - The most popular messaging clients, Outlook Express and Mozilla,
include newsreaders by default.

sherm--

[Wayne Shaw]

Post by mcv

Post by Stephenls

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

That's not usenet's fault, but the fault of OS distributions. They tend to
come with a free, ready-to-use browser, but if you want a newsreader, you've
got to work on it. Once set up, however, the newsreader allows you direct

Not the only reason; many providers, especially smaller ones, don't
even bother to have a USENET feed anymore.

Post by mcv
access to thousands of newsgroups, while every webforum has its own URL

With bookmarking, this is hardly a serious issue for most people.

Post by mcv
you need to type, you're bound to a single, often very crummy, interface,

I tend to agree with this.

Post by mcv
and you need to register and log in seperately for each forum. And webfora

Uhm, not all fora require registration, you know. Relatively few do
just for reading.

Post by mcv
are fragmenting the user group for the discussions; many games have several
forums, and if you want to read everything about that game, you have to
follow several groups. And then there's the mailinglists...

Actually, I tend to prefer mailing lists to _either_ USENET or
webgroups.

[Robert Singers]

Out from under a rock popped mcv and said

Post by mcv
That's not usenet's fault, but the fault of OS distributions. They
tend to come with a free, ready-to-use browser, but if you want a
newsreader, you've got to work on it.

Sorry but every version of Windows and *NIX that I've installed for years
now has come with both.

[Duane VanderPol]

Post by mcv

Post by Stephenls

Post by mcv
But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora.

No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

That's not usenet's fault, but the fault of OS distributions. They tend to
come with a free, ready-to-use browser, but if you want a newsreader, you've
got to work on it. Once set up, however, the newsreader allows you direct

You seem to have missed the point. People don't know or care to set up a
newsreader. They use web forums because they know how to access the web.
It's not that setting up to read Usenet is HARD, or that web forums are
faster, more efficient to use, etc. - it's just that going to the net is
EASIER. It also requires knowledge that Usenet even exists and I'd risk
saying that the vast majority of internet users do not.

[Peter Knutsen]

Duane VanderPol wrote:
[...]

Post by Duane VanderPol
You seem to have missed the point. People don't know or care to set up a
newsreader. They use web forums because they know how to access the web.
It's not that setting up to read Usenet is HARD, or that web forums are
faster, more efficient to use, etc. - it's just that going to the net is
EASIER. It also requires knowledge that Usenet even exists and I'd risk
saying that the vast majority of internet users do not.

I don't think the real problem is that people don't know that
Usenet exists. It's that they don't know what Usenet means. They
assume that Usenet is "just another discussion forum", failing
to realize the *centrality* of it: One forum per topic. So that
you get all the debate on (e.g.) GURPS in one place, instead of
fragmented into five or twenty or eight hundred different fora.

[Wayne Shaw]

Post by Peter Knutsen
I don't think the real problem is that people don't know that
Usenet exists. It's that they don't know what Usenet means. They
assume that Usenet is "just another discussion forum", failing
to realize the *centrality* of it: One forum per topic. So that
you get all the debate on (e.g.) GURPS in one place, instead of
fragmented into five or twenty or eight hundred different fora.

But of course it _is_ just another forum these days. You'll probably
see at least as much discussion of D&D on the Wizards webforums or
ENWorld as here (and yes, I know I'm understating) and at least as
much discussion of GURPS on Pyramid as in r.g.f.g.

[RJH]

Post by Stephenls
No, it's not. Most people online nowadays don't even know how to set up
a newsreader program or connect to a USENET provider. Everybody online
knows how to type in URLs.

You don't even need a news reader these days -- just go to the Google
Groups section. The only thing you don't get are all the copyrighted
binary images, but who needs those anyway? :-)

--
Bob

[Wayne Shaw]

Post by mcv
rec.fames.frp.gurps is still reasonably active, though. More than .misc,
at least.

.misc always suffers from the fact any system-specific topic interests
only a tiny part of the users.

[Marcq]

ds.com/ophir

Post by mcv

Post by Stephenls

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Online forums, mostly. http://www.rpg.net/ and http://www.enworld.org/
are two of the bigger ones (though the latter is d20 specific).

But why? usenet is far more accessible than webfora. But I admit, even I
am a regular of several webfora nowadays.

I wouldn't be surprised if many posters prefered environments like Enworld's
"no *sshole"-land. This forum can be pretty harsh on both neophytes and
those who post "unapproved opinions". Yeah, you can say usenet is all about
the unfettered exchange of ideas but it may come with a price, like
declining relevance.

Marc

[www.docsblog.com]

Post by Marcq
ds.com/ophir
I wouldn't be surprised if many posters prefered environments like Enworld's
"no *sshole"-land. This forum can be pretty harsh on both neophytes and
those who post "unapproved opinions". Yeah, you can say usenet is all about
the unfettered exchange of ideas but it may come with a price, like
declining relevance.
Marc

A lot of folks (like myself) have indeed moved to both forums (like
ENWorld, the Forge, RPGNet, and others), and individual weblogs
(blogs) to share ideas / information.

Ones I read fluctuate, as the signal-to-noise ratio of each rises and
falls. I don't always agree with moderated groups (i.e. ENWorld), but
it's refreshing not to have to deal with high volumes of complete
drivel :)

There are so many different communication channels now, including IM
groups, IRC groups, and the above-mentioned forum-based groups that
it's hard to keep track of where all the good info hides.

I periodically post things like lists of free RPG e-zines, games, etc
on my weblog (http://www.docsblog.com). You folks have got me
thinking (drat that silly brain's at it again) that I should post an
updated list of "where to find RPG discussions". I have listed free
games and ezines, but never compiled a list of the actual underlying
discussion forums. Thanks for the idea!

Doc

[CARRIER LOST]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...

everything is dying a slow death, entropy is funny that way.

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

geez, if i said, all the loosers would post there, too.

[Leon Workman]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

There are so many sites and boards all over the internet these days
that we are being scattered to the wind. I still prefer newsgroups,
though.

Perhaps enworld.org or wizards.com have more active forums...dunno.

Leon

[Ralph Glatt]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

There are so many web based forums, people don't even think of looking
for usenet anymore. In fact, I'm inclined to think that most people
online today have never even *heard* of usenet. I remember being in a
class at college when one girl said "The web *IS* the internet!" I
really wanted to smack her, but I didn't. She was too young to
remember what it was like before html.


Ralph Glatt

Member, Old Farts Club

[Brent]

On 7/14/04 8:08 PM, in article

Post by Ralph Glatt

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

There are so many web based forums, people don't even think of looking
for usenet anymore. In fact, I'm inclined to think that most people
online today have never even *heard* of usenet. I remember being in a
class at college when one girl said "The web *IS* the internet!" I
really wanted to smack her, but I didn't. She was too young to
remember what it was like before html.

Wow. And it was only 1986 when I first became aware of the NG's - seems
like yesterday....

Been watching VH1's "I love the '90's" feeling old.

Staring at my collection of c. 1981 games and feeling old as well....

Went into a game store when I was in Corning and asked about "Ars Magica"
and the kid behind the counter had *no idea* what I was talking about.
Wow....

[s***@sonic.net]

Post by Brent
Went into a game store when I was in Corning and asked about "Ars Magica"
and the kid behind the counter had *no idea* what I was talking about.

If it ain't d20 and it ain't Palid Wild Canine, most gamestore employees
have *no* idea. IMHO/IME, anyhow. In one shop, the KBtC had never heard
of Ars Magica & went to ask the more-knowlegable owner. "Oh, yeah. They
stopped publishing that game about 5 years ago," I was told. Lest y'all
think this info is *accurate*, I'll observe that the 4th edition is still
available from the publisher and from (some) FLGS's, and that the 5th
edition is entering the final round(s) of playtest. Atlas Games has been
producing several supplements every year, and plans to continue that as
the new edition comes out.

FWIW, _most_ "smaller" games seem to have the same phenomenon. Most of
the FLGS's I've visited have *NO* idea what "Nobilis" is, for (another)
example.

Umm... Y'know, I *used* to think that when you went to a specialty store,
you could reasonably expect 'em to be reasonably conversant with their
specialty... more than just the 1-3 highest-profile slots. <sigh>

The truth is, fans of particular games usually are *MUCH* better informed
about those games, because they have the time to follow the game-specific
mailing-lists, the game-developers blogs, the publisher-sponsored forum,
etc. There are too many games, from too many publishers, for the average
FLGS to keep up with. Sad, but true.

[Downtym]

In rec.games.frp.dnd Ralph Glatt wrote:

: There are so many web based forums, people don't even think of looking
: for usenet anymore. In fact, I'm inclined to think that most people
: online today have never even *heard* of usenet. I remember being in a
: class at college when one girl said "The web *IS* the internet!" I
: really wanted to smack her, but I didn't. She was too young to
: remember what it was like before html.

Hey, I'm only in my early 20's and I remember the days of BBS'ing around
and posting on FidoNet.

[Rupert Boleyn]

Post by Ralph Glatt

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

There are so many web based forums, people don't even think of looking
for usenet anymore. In fact, I'm inclined to think that most people
online today have never even *heard* of usenet. I remember being in a
class at college when one girl said "The web *IS* the internet!" I
really wanted to smack her, but I didn't. She was too young to
remember what it was like before html.

I'd have gone with "So what's email", but with all the web-based email
services that probably wouldn't have worked either.

[Sea Wasp]

Post by Rupert Boleyn

Post by Ralph Glatt

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

There are so many web based forums, people don't even think of looking
for usenet anymore. In fact, I'm inclined to think that most people
online today have never even *heard* of usenet. I remember being in a
class at college when one girl said "The web *IS* the internet!" I
really wanted to smack her, but I didn't. She was too young to
remember what it was like before html.

I'd have gone with "So what's email", but with all the web-based email
services that probably wouldn't have worked either.

I would have laughed, mocked her publicly, crushed her self esteem
and spirit, and left her, broken and sobbing, before the entire classroom.

If I was feeling kind, that is.

[Rupert Boleyn]

Post by Sea Wasp
I would have laughed, mocked her publicly, crushed her self esteem
and spirit, and left her, broken and sobbing, before the entire classroom.
If I was feeling kind, that is.

Living up to your nick, I see.

[Sea Wasp]

Post by Rupert Boleyn

Post by Sea Wasp
I would have laughed, mocked her publicly, crushed her self esteem
and spirit, and left her, broken and sobbing, before the entire classroom.
If I was feeling kind, that is.

Living up to your nick, I see.

Well, no. If I was, I'd simply kill her. Within 30 seconds to a
few minutes. Admittedly of screaming agony, but still, it'd be over quick.

[Ralph Glatt]

Post by Sea Wasp

Post by Rupert Boleyn

Post by Ralph Glatt

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

There are so many web based forums, people don't even think of looking
for usenet anymore. In fact, I'm inclined to think that most people
online today have never even *heard* of usenet. I remember being in a
class at college when one girl said "The web *IS* the internet!" I
really wanted to smack her, but I didn't. She was too young to
remember what it was like before html.

I'd have gone with "So what's email", but with all the web-based email
services that probably wouldn't have worked either.

I would have laughed, mocked her publicly, crushed her self esteem
and spirit, and left her, broken and sobbing, before the entire classroom.
If I was feeling kind, that is.

I leave my classmates to do that, with the other stupid things she
says. It's amazing how really ignorant she is. I have to wonder how
she got into college in the first place.


Ralph Glatt

Member, Old Farts Club

[Sea Wasp]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...

I haven't noticed that.

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

I'm still here. I also am seen on LiveJournal and Baen's Bar.

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

[Indiana Joe]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

rec.gambling.poker :-)

OK, they aren't talking about RPGs, but there have been over 2000
messages since Monday. :-)

[Dirk Collins]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

I think that USENET and e-mail have taken a tremendous blow,
especially over the last 36 months or so.

The incessant spam e-mails launched into both are wasting so much
time, that people are losing interest, and turning to other more
creative activities. Others are taking their communications into
private enclaves, so that communications are untainted by unwanted
advertising, and protected from the greed of stupid criminals.

I have probably 200 different kinds of filters on my e-mail that
siphon messages containing specific text strings, and if any
message has a subject line that is irrelevant to my personal
interests, it's gone as well. Just about everyone I know has set
up, or is part of, a private mailing list, often multiple mailing
lists.

Secure communications are the future since open communications are
abused to the extent they have been.

With Regards,
Dirk Collins

[shoggoth]

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 03:21:45 GMT, Dirk Collins

Post by Dirk Collins

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

I think that USENET and e-mail have taken a tremendous blow,
especially over the last 36 months or so.
The incessant spam e-mails launched into both are wasting so much
time, that people are losing interest, and turning to other more
creative activities. Others are taking their communications into
private enclaves, so that communications are untainted by unwanted
advertising, and protected from the greed of stupid criminals.
I have probably 200 different kinds of filters on my e-mail that
siphon messages containing specific text strings, and if any
message has a subject line that is irrelevant to my personal
interests, it's gone as well. Just about everyone I know has set
up, or is part of, a private mailing list, often multiple mailing
lists.
Secure communications are the future since open communications are
abused to the extent they have been.
With Regards,
Dirk Collins

The only email filters I use are the ones my ISP forces me to
use (pre-filtered before I even see it!) or the ones Outlook
creates by default. I find the delete key acts as a good filter
after you've scanned the subject.

[Ubiquitous]

In rec.games.frp.dnd shoggoth <***@rlyeh.com> wrote:
: On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 03:21:45 GMT(!), Dirk Collins
: <***@Earthlink.Net> wrote:

:>I think that USENET and e-mail have taken a tremendous blow,
:>especially over the last 36 months or so.
:>
:>The incessant spam e-mails launched into both are wasting so much
:>time, that people are losing interest, and turning to other more
:>creative activities. Others are taking their communications into
:>private enclaves, so that communications are untainted by unwanted
:>advertising, and protected from the greed of stupid criminals.
:>
:>I have probably 200 different kinds of filters on my e-mail that
:>siphon messages containing specific text strings, and if any
:>message has a subject line that is irrelevant to my personal
:>interests, it's gone as well. Just about everyone I know has set
:>up, or is part of, a private mailing list, often multiple mailing
:>lists.
:>
:>Secure communications are the future since open communications are
:>abused to the extent they have been.
:
: The only email filters I use are the ones my ISP forces me to
: use (pre-filtered before I even see it!) or the ones Outlook
: creates by default. I find the delete key acts as a good filter
: after you've scanned the subject.

I am sure most interweb newbies frequent the forums on various web sites
now-a-days.

[Joseph Teller]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

Livejournal has a number of roleplaying related communities, that's
where you'll find me. There's also a number of Yahoo related mailing
lists.

The drop off of USENET is because so many ISP's no longer offer
newsgroups, or when they do such a limited number of specific groups,
that folks aren't exposed to them.

--------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Teller ***@mindspring.com
www.fantasylibrary.com

[Tetsubo]

Post by Joseph Teller

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

Livejournal has a number of roleplaying related communities, that's
where you'll find me. There's also a number of Yahoo related mailing
lists.
The drop off of USENET is because so many ISP's no longer offer
newsgroups, or when they do such a limited number of specific groups,
that folks aren't exposed to them.

When Comcast swallowed my old ISP I discovered that they would be
having a third party handle their newsgroups. I'm limited to a set
amount of downloads/uploads per month for "free". After that I would
need to "upgrade" my service for an addition charge. I was not thrilled
to find this out. I am still not thrilled. If there were another cable
company in my area that offered access I'd switch. Don't you just love a
monopoly?

Post by Joseph Teller
--------------------------------------------------------
www.fantasylibrary.com

[Richard Wingrove]

Post by Tetsubo

Post by Joseph Teller

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

Livejournal has a number of roleplaying related communities, that's
where you'll find me. There's also a number of Yahoo related mailing
lists.
The drop off of USENET is because so many ISP's no longer offer
newsgroups, or when they do such a limited number of specific groups,
that folks aren't exposed to them.

When Comcast swallowed my old ISP I discovered that they would be
having a third party handle their newsgroups. I'm limited to a set
amount of downloads/uploads per month for "free". After that I would
need to "upgrade" my service for an addition charge. I was not thrilled
to find this out. I am still not thrilled. If there were another cable
company in my area that offered access I'd switch. Don't you just love a
monopoly?

There's plenty of good, free news servers out there. I don't use my ISPs
one, I use news.individual.net. You have to register, but that's it. Carries
loads of groups, but not binaries.

Rich

[Tetsubo]

Post by Richard Wingrove

Post by Tetsubo

Post by Joseph Teller

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

Livejournal has a number of roleplaying related communities, that's
where you'll find me. There's also a number of Yahoo related mailing
lists.
The drop off of USENET is because so many ISP's no longer offer
newsgroups, or when they do such a limited number of specific groups,
that folks aren't exposed to them.

When Comcast swallowed my old ISP I discovered that they would be
having a third party handle their newsgroups. I'm limited to a set
amount of downloads/uploads per month for "free". After that I would
need to "upgrade" my service for an addition charge. I was not thrilled
to find this out. I am still not thrilled. If there were another cable
company in my area that offered access I'd switch. Don't you just love a
monopoly?

There's plenty of good, free news servers out there. I don't use my ISPs
one, I use news.individual.net. You have to register, but that's it. Carries
loads of groups, but not binaries.
Rich

Which is why I am sticking with Comcast. I post sketches and photos
to a number of groups.

[Stephenls]

Post by Tetsubo
When Comcast swallowed my old ISP I discovered that they would be
having a third party handle their newsgroups. I'm limited to a set
amount of downloads/uploads per month for "free". After that I would
need to "upgrade" my service for an addition charge. I was not thrilled
to find this out. I am still not thrilled. If there were another cable
company in my area that offered access I'd switch. Don't you just love a
monopoly?

http://www.individual.com/

Completely free and quite reliable news server. I've been using it for
years, now.

[Stephenls]

Post by Stephenls
http://www.individual.com/

Drat. Richard Wingrove has it right. I use http://www.individual.net/.
I don't think they're the same...

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Stephenls

Post by Stephenls
http://www.individual.com/

Drat. Richard Wingrove has it right. I use http://www.individual.net/.
I don't think they're the same...

Right you are, Ken!

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Tetsubo
When Comcast swallowed my old ISP I discovered that they would be
having a third party handle their newsgroups. I'm limited to a set
amount of downloads/uploads per month for "free". After that I would
need to "upgrade" my service for an addition charge. I was not thrilled
to find this out. I am still not thrilled.

Ohh, let me guess -- Supernews?

[Ralph Glatt]

Post by Joseph Teller

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

Livejournal has a number of roleplaying related communities, that's
where you'll find me. There's also a number of Yahoo related mailing
lists.
The drop off of USENET is because so many ISP's no longer offer
newsgroups, or when they do such a limited number of specific groups,
that folks aren't exposed to them.

Well, in a way, I can understand having a limited number of groups,
not so much for the bandwidth, but because a lot of piracy goes on in
the binary newsgroups.


Ralph Glatt

Member, Old Farts Club

[Leszek Karlik]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Pyramid fora, which are just like UseNet (since they are accessible
through NNTP) but without spammers and a higher signal-to-noise
ratio.

[And even Peter Knutsen is a bit more civil there. <grin>]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
Rich

Leslie

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Far, far, far too many web forums, mailing lists, and newsfroups
to ever catch up on all of them.

[shoggoth]

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Recently my most interesting discussions about RPG have been in
chat and personal email.

Usenet is too destructive of any kind of new idea. People just
want to take the piss out of other people. People respond to
your posts and completely ignore anything substantial you say in
favour of nitpicking over a completely unimportant point. Also,
USENET threads never seem to go anywhere because the
protagonists can never make any common ground. Discussions are
polarized and this happens even more so than would be the case
in reality (i.e. if those same protagonists were in conversation
or dialog in the same room).

I'm not saying that chat is much better (too many people patting
each other) but with chat you can create a constructive dialog
that goes somewhere, but finding someone worth chatting with can
be a little difficult!

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
Rich
htt://www.geocities.com/dr_games

[Werebat]

Post by shoggoth

Post by Dr. Rich Staats
It looks like the USENET is dying a slow death, ...
Where are folks posting/communicating these days?

Recently my most interesting discussions about RPG have been in
chat and personal email.
Usenet is too destructive of any kind of new idea. People just
want to take the piss out of other people. People respond to
your posts and completely ignore anything substantial you say in
favour of nitpicking over a completely unimportant point. Also,
USENET threads never seem to go anywhere because the
protagonists can never make any common ground. Discussions are
polarized and this happens even more so than would be the case
in reality (i.e. if those same protagonists were in conversation
or dialog in the same room).
I'm not saying that chat is much better (too many people patting
each other) but with chat you can create a constructive dialog
that goes somewhere, but finding someone worth chatting with can
be a little difficult!

I disagree. I think Usenet is a fine place to bandy about new ideas.

It's just that you have to have BETTER ideas to impress the entirety of
Usenet, than to impress a chat room.

Other than that, you also have to be able to effectively blow people off
who disagree with you in order to have a satisfactory experience. It's
a lot like "the real world" that way.

- Ron ^*^

[Murf]

for what its worth, I still like usenet a lot. I have always had some
reasonable responses to my questions. This newsgroup has definately
helped me in the transition from 1st/2nd ed to the jolly nature of 3ed.


However, I do get pisseed off with some of the posts. I enjoy the
off-subjecty ones which *are* witty, but all the spamming cross posting
twats who write the "FBI perverts should be bummed" style posts piss me
off no end. I use google groups mlk 2 and there is no killfile tool.

[f412 hu5541n]

Try this site!!
~~~~>WWW.MOBILES4ALL.COM<~~~~
U can make so much money out of it!
People are paying £10 for this link on ebay!
U pay £20 and purchase a cd or dongle then you get a free boxed phone
of your choice.It works in a matrix system,which really works,much
better than a pyramid system!I have got over three phones from the
site so far and sold them for a further £120 on ebay each, i am on
other lists at the moment!
When you sign up put this code in the referall code bit-->31000123

Post by Murf
for what its worth, I still like usenet a lot. I have always had some
reasonable responses to my questions. This newsgroup has definately
helped me in the transition from 1st/2nd ed to the jolly nature of 3ed.
However, I do get pisseed off with some of the posts. I enjoy the
off-subjecty ones which *are* witty, but all the spamming cross posting
twats who write the "FBI perverts should be bummed" style posts piss me
off no end. I use google groups mlk 2 and there is no killfile tool.

[Ubiquitous]

Post by f412 hu5541n
Try this site!!

I hope you weren't too attached to that account. It's toast.