WTF happened to this ng?

You are using google groups, it is long past time to change to a proper usenet service that filters out the spam. I'm currently trying out various options for client software and usenet service. Bob

I'm using news.albasani.net and eternal-september.net with Outlook Express. Some spam gets through but the noise level is quite tolerable even without a killfile list. I haven't checked recently to see how it compares with GG.

I'm using TeraNews which is free although I had to pay something like a $5 setup charge and bandwidth is limited. I use OE and I just multiple choice the spam and click delete.

Somehow I get an evil pleasure out of that. I just wish the delete would propagate back to the actual idiots who think such ads will make them rich. But maybe there are enough clueless people replying to make it worthwhile for them. The reason they target SED and SEB is that Google rates them as very high activity. And unfortunately the s0pammers themselves add to the stats so they don't realize that the legitimate usage is not that high.

Paul

I use Supernews and Agent, with some filters set up for the obvious stuff. I see some occasional spam that the combination doesn't get, but it's not bad... less spam than real posts.

John

d/

Ah, that might be it, actually. I prefer to use a proper client (pan or thunderbird) and connect to an actual server, also. AT&T dropped USENET service some time ago, and i've been away for most of that time (school and stuff). I visit another ng via google groups slightly more often but the spam seems to be pretty low on that one.

I guess I didn't realize how much crap I had tagged for the filter, over the years. What USENET services have you tried thus far, Bob?

-J

eternal-september.org. Go to their

server to sign up, then point your newsclient at the news.eternal-september.org server.

It's free, is working like a champ, and has a.b.s.e and a couple of other non-PR0N alt.* groups.

I have no idea how they get their money - maybe a rich benefactor or something.

Cheers! Rich

^^^ .org . :-)

Cheers! Rich

I don't know how to deal with the googlies that ask .basics questions in the .design NG.

Thanks, Rich

That's part of the illusion. Whether or not spam is up here, posts are down, so that makes the ratio a lot higher than in the old days.

The excuse too many make is that there's more traffic in .design, so they post there, but of course that's recursive, there's no traffic here because people are asking elsewhere.

Michael

Oops! :-)

r

or

NET

but

r

Mind if I ask what you use for a newsclient? I registered at eternal- sept, discovered I needed something called a client.. and found a hugh list of avalible newsclients.

Thanks, George

Some people don't care where they post and sometimes the distinction between basic and design is blurry. A few days ago, I saw someone post what seemed to me to be a basic question in seb (I don't remember the question) and someone else criticised him for not posting it to sed.

Especia lly considering the fact that Google Groups is the origin of the spam.

Rich is using Pan:

User-Agent: Pan/0.14.2.91 (As She Crawled Across the Table)

This is mainly a Unix/Linux client (you can use it Windows, but it has a noticeable ported-from-Unix feel).

Popular native Windows clients include Thunderbird, Seamonkey, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Forte Agent.

I wouldn't bother with the more obscure ones, or anything which costs money, or anything with an emphasis on binaries.

How do you do multiple selection in OE?

I just hold the Ctrl key down and click on everything I want to destroy. Then click Delete, answer Yes, and all the crap is flushed down the bit bucket.

Paul

The junk from M$ ignores standards and formats posts in a way that looks like a 5 year old did them. That leaves it to you to do manually. Typical stupid M$ junk. Best to avoid those.

Right-o.