In article <t_SdnWB49PoqOerVnZ2dnUVZ8vednZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
"Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robertson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
> "Robert Melson" <melsonr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:YNydnSBDQLcEXO_VnZ2dnUVZ_oHinZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> Guess I can count myself lucky: my ISP (earthlink) merely
>> shopped their usenet "connections" to a 3d party, one of the
>> larger news-only operations. What this will mean down line is
>> anybody's guess, but seems to be working tolerably well for now.
>>
>
> The Dutch Surfnet is dropping Usenet as of 1 Aug, according to an
> announcement I've seen. I'm lucky, my employer is going to retian it
> for at least a year, except the binary groups.
> This is beginning to look like a mass exit from the Newsgroups!
> Lesley Robertson
>
It's not surprising, I suppose, given the present behavior of
most folks on the 'net. Newsgroups have always been something
of a free-for-all, but you now have the members of the me-generation
descending on a group like a flock of starlings and driving the
ordinary denizens away with their vulgarity, hostility and ignorance.
ISPs, when inappropriate group behavior is re****ted, don't seem to
give much of a damn and rarely take action, even against the worst
of the offenders, witness Google's laissez faire attitude. You have
morons like Ed Conrad who seems to get smacked down regularly and
just as regularly crops up in a new "persona".
My killfile has grown hugely in the last couple of years, yet the
noise to signal ratio keeps increasing. It's one thing to generically
killfile all messages coming in from google-groups or gmail, but
that's overkill, really, and does a disservice to the few netizens
who use those services appropriately. Same thing applies to the
anonymous/anonymizing news sites. I suspect that there would be far
less abuse of the 'groups if folks had to post under their real names
and with their real addresses.
Where's it all going to end? I think you're right but hope you're
wrong.
Sad Ol' Bob
--
Robert G. Melson | Rio Grande MicroSolutions | El Paso, Texas
-----
Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable
reason so few engage in it. -- Henry Ford
|
