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Re: How To Improve This Group

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On 2025-04-12, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
> On 4/12/25 02:40, Borax Man wrote:
>> On 2025-04-11, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
[ * snip * ]
>>> On 2025-04-11 09:44, Borax Man wrote:
>>>
>>> In the case of NNTP, American Congress seems to have been succesful in
>>> killing most of it. If I remember correctly, some poorly informed
>>> politician had no idea what was going on on Usenet or even how to use
>>> it, but he felt that he could complain about its contents anyway. As a
>>> result, ISPs stopped providing a news server. The result is that those
>>> of us on Usenet are usually people who lived in the before times and are
>>> aware of its existence. I doubt that people under the age of 40 even
>>> know what a Usenet is. As for IRC, it is never mentioned to users of the
>>> Internet. Few web sites talk about it and ISPs themselves don't even
>>> mention its existence. After all, there is no money in it, so why would
>>> they bother. Instead, people are told about things like Discord and
>>> TikTok because there is a way of monetizing a user's presence on those
>>> sites. Once again, the people on IRC are usually Linux users who venture
>>> onto their distribution of choice's support channel, or people from he
>>> before times who are aware of its existence.
>>>
>> 
>> Yes, I remember my ISP carried Usenet, and cancelled it.  I'm in
>> Australia though, so it may be for different reasons.
>
> Depending on when it happened, it was probably caused by the decision of 
> the American Congress. Much like how the United States and other 
> countries in the West were convinced that Mortal Kombat and Night Trap 
> were going to traumatize a generation and we needed video game ratings, 
> they were convinced that Usenet was the center of all degeneracy. People 
> should not be surprised that countries in the Five Eyes Alliance all 
> behave similarly, which is why both Canadians and Americans should be 
> concerned that Brits are currently being arrested and sentenced for 
> sharing memes on social media.
>

>> It could simply
>> have been too much bother.  It would have taken a lot of bandwidth and
>> storage for something most customers weren't aware of.  It was sad to
>> see it go, and I do wish they maintained it, but from a business point
>> of view, I do understand.  They cancelled it mid or late 2000s, or
>> possible later.
>> 
>> I suppose then it is our job to mention these technologies and make
>> people aware of alternatives to the privacy traps and algorthmic
>> straight jackets that more modern alternatives hoist on thier
>> victims... um... users...
>> 
>> I set these up for my own personal clique, but they're not much into
>> communicating anyway, or are simply put or, or confused, by any client
>> that is not web based or an "app".  Unfortunately, I've not been able to
>> find a good NNTP web frontend that allows only encrypted connections.
>> Maybe I'll get to work on modifying an existing one to make it the way I
>> think it should be.
>
> I think that the bandwidth argument is an excuse. Even the "hotbed of 
> degeneracy and piracy" argument is a weak one. In reality, our Western 
> governments didn't like the fact that Usenet is an uncontrolled 
> environment where you can truly say what you think and discuss topics 
> that they consider to be taboo. They don't believe in freedom of speech, 
> so they are ready to take away any platform which protects it.
>

Given what has happened in the 2020s, and recently what has been exposed
with regards to government meddling in Social Media, I think this is a
credible hypothesis.  I think the storage and bandwidth would have
contributed, if the ISP's were pressured, to not push back too much.
There WERE a lot of binaries floating around, I do remember that.  Also,
Usenet didn't have that much dissident political discussion on it, that
I could see.  There was more to be found on Web Forums that Usenet, so
it could have been a target, but I don't think it was lucrative a target
as you might think.

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How To Improve This Group Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> - 2025-03-27 19:49 +0000
  Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-03-27 16:01 -0400
  Re: How To Improve This Group vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> - 2025-03-27 20:23 +0000
    Re: How To Improve This Group pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> - 2025-03-28 00:45 +0000
    Re: How To Improve This Group Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2025-03-28 11:30 -0400
  Re: How To Improve This Group candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> - 2025-04-09 19:00 +0000
    Re: How To Improve This Group Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> - 2025-04-09 20:55 +0000
      Re: How To Improve This Group candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> - 2025-04-09 23:40 +0000
        Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-04-09 19:47 -0400
        Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-09 20:02 -0400
          Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-10 12:58 +0000
            Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-04-10 09:02 -0400
            Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-10 09:48 -0400
              Re: How To Improve This Group rek2 hispagatos <rek2@hispagatos.meow.org.invalid> - 2025-04-10 14:01 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-04-10 10:04 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group rek2 hispagatos <rek2@hispagatos.meow.org.invalid> - 2025-04-10 16:36 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-10 10:13 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group rek2 hispagatos <rek2@hispagatos.meow.org.invalid> - 2025-04-10 16:26 +0000
              Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-11 07:02 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-04-11 03:06 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-11 08:49 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-11 13:44 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-11 11:22 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-04-11 17:40 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-11 19:30 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-04-12 02:59 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-12 08:00 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-12 06:40 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-12 08:55 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-12 23:06 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> - 2025-04-13 00:38 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-13 08:47 -0400
          Re: How To Improve This Group candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> - 2025-04-10 18:00 +0000
            Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-11 08:42 -0400
        Re: How To Improve This Group Farley Flud <fsquared@fsquared.linux> - 2025-04-10 11:08 +0000
          Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-10 13:03 +0000
            Re: How To Improve This Group Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> - 2025-04-10 20:06 +0000
              Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-11 07:10 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-11 08:50 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-11 12:58 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-11 09:18 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Farley Flud <fsquared@fsquared.linux> - 2025-04-11 15:16 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-04-11 17:46 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group Stéphane CARPENTIER <sc@fiat-linux.fr> - 2025-04-12 09:41 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-12 10:17 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-12 09:02 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-12 22:58 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-13 08:44 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-04-13 19:15 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group Borax Man <rotflol2@hotmail.com> - 2025-04-14 11:52 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-04-11 17:42 +0000
                Re: How To Improve This Group bill_wilson <bill_w@aol.com> - 2025-04-11 14:34 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-04-11 14:38 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group % <pursent100@gmail.com> - 2025-04-11 11:41 -0700
                Re: How To Improve This Group Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2025-04-11 14:51 -0400
                Re: How To Improve This Group % <pursent100@gmail.com> - 2025-04-11 12:12 -0700
                Re: How To Improve This Group Diego Garcia <dg@linux.rocks> - 2025-04-11 20:47 +0000
          Re: How To Improve This Group Stéphane CARPENTIER <sc@fiat-linux.fr> - 2025-04-12 09:34 +0000
            Re: How To Improve This Group Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> - 2025-04-12 19:58 +0000
              Re: How To Improve This Group % <pursent100@gmail.com> - 2025-04-12 13:07 -0700

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