Re: usenet

[Emanuel Berg]

qqk8 wrote:

> Don't look this. I'm newbie and I don't know
> English and how to use usenet.

Priviet!

First, your English is good enough. Second,
this isn't Usenet. There were once a thriving
Usenet group called gnu.emacs.help (which still
exists) - actually, there were/are many
Emacs-related groups on Usenet. However I would
not recommend them to anyone.

Now there is a mailing list
(help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org) and with Gmane, you
can access it thru gmane.emacs.help *as if it
was a Usenet newsgroup*!

The reason for all this is, in terms of
technology Usenet is great, but the people just
got worse and worse. When all that remains are
insults and off-topic chatter the reasonable
people moved away, which of course just made
the Usenet situation worse. Now, there are so
many spammers and flamers and people who tell
their personal senile stories over and over so
Usenet has really ceased to be useful, despite
its name.

Some groups are better than other, but this is
the general trend, and it is a broad one.
Since very, very few new people come to Usenet,
the situation isn't likely to improve - on the
contrary.

Also, even if you are are person who aren't
like "them" - if you spend too much time with
them, that's who you will be, sooner or later,
no matter how strong you are. It is inevitable.

If you want to try the real deal, i.e. the old
and still existing Usenet, be very wary when
entering a group. What is the mood here?
Is this really a place I like? And don't for
a minute think that *you* can influence the
rest of the gang by being
polite/professional/whatever. Just leave at the
first insult! It is not going to get better -
on the contrary...

That is why most people prefer the mailing list
(listbot) approach. But if you are attracted to
the Usenet interface/architecture, check out
Gmane, which I like to call Usenet 2.0 or
"Usenet Reloaded". It is the best of both
worlds :)

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573