Low volume on this NG

Does anyone know what has happened to this newsgroup? I have been on
it for close to 15 years, and the volume has really dropped recently.

Is there another forum that is being used now? There were some really
good contributors that I have not seen hear for some time.

KM

 

Usenet is dying because ISPs keep dropping usenet service. For example, Cox
Communications (my provider) dropped USENET this summer. I would suspect
most young people don't relate to it because it's "old fasioned" and the
ISPs cater more towards them than the older folks, so they can save money by
dropping the service.

 

Plus, when you go to the groups day after day, and all you see is spam
crap, like buy purses cheap, you quit going.

 

they are all "bloggers"

 

I would have thought that at least in this group (if not others) that
the drop would be caused because people in certain age demographics have
something better to do during the summer than read or post to usenet.

People that have problems with their (ugh) minivan (or other chrysler
vehicle) are usually motivated to find and post to this newsgroup. So
either there are fewer problems with chrysler products, or people with
problems are really not taking the time to find a way to post here.

The regular chit-chat pertaining to chrysler is down, probably because
there is basically nothing noteworthy happening with the company. No
new cars, no new corporate news, etc.

There are plenty of text-only newsgroup servers. Perhaps most people
really are brain dead and can't figure that out.

ISP's drop usenet for liability and legal reasons, not cost reasons.
They don't want to risk being taken to court or being seen as operating
a server hosting copyright-infringing or liable/defamation or obscene or
illegal or emotionally troubling or hate material.

Usenet is enjoying some revived popularity in as far as the paid binary
servers are hosting giga-bytes of copyrighted material available for
downloading (movies, music, etc).

It's sad that you haven't figured out or discovered that the free
servers (like the one I use - AIOE.org) operate various spam-detecting
features (cleanfeed, noceum) such that I almost never see any usenet
spam postings in the groups I read.

I see that you're a "google-grouper", and hence there is basically no
respect for people like you by some usenet veterans who look down on you
and the method you use to access usenet (google groups). Some of them
go to such lengths as kill-filing any posts made through google, on the
assumption that the posts will be spam or will otherwise be of such
little value as to be ignor-able.

Google does not seem to operate any spam filter, and they archive every
spam posting and sporge flood that comes their way.

You are advised to start using a real usenet client and connect to a
real usenet server. I recommend news.aioe.org.

 

Bit of an extreme reply...especially at the end.

Usenet in this form is dying. I see it in my other groups.

My ISP dropped usenet (without warning, I might add) end of July. They had
been using Giganews. I switched to Eternal September but it makes no
difference to the volumes, obviously.

DAS

 

As mentioned by some others, my ISP does not provide a usenet server
either, so that is why I starting using Google. Whick usenet client
would you recommend for Windows?

KM

 

Although others scoff at it, I've always used Outlook Express. When Cox
dropped newsgroups I simply
changed servers to: news.eternal-september.org It's free for text and
more than meets my simple needs.

 

KirkM unnecessarily full-quoted:

Most email programs (like outlook express) can also read and post
messages to usenet.

You should start by reading this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Usenet_newsreaders

But the short answer to your question is:

- Forté Agent
- Outlook Express
- Opera Mail
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups

Most windows users use Outlook Express, since it's usually already
installed on most windows systems (possibly not Seven or Vista).

If you don't like OE or don't have it, the next best candidate is
probably Thunderbird or Seamonkey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Thunderbird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaMonkey

But note that Opera and Forte Agent is also somewhat popular.