The Death of Usenet, part 237
in [UK Mac]
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From: Jim on 7 May 2010 11:45 On 2010-05-07, Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net> wrote: > Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> writes: > >> Yes, I use Individual, but they themselves have noticed a significant >> decline in traffic. If it continues then it'll only be a matter of time. > > The point is that Usenet is not something you can switch off easily. As > long as there are NNTP servers out there, there's Usenet around. It will > just die a very, very slow death. > > If you want to compare Usenet to the real world it's like a > non-commercial public place which needs people caring for it and seeing > the value of it without making a profit or owning the place. And if you > look around in the real world you will find that such places aren't > exactly booming there also. Uhuh. It spirals - the fewer people use it, the more servers will be switched off, which in turn will discourage more people from using it etc. Jim -- Twitter:@GreyAreaUK "[The MP4-12C] will be fitted with all manner of pointlessly shiny buttons that light up and a switch that says 'sport mode' that isn't connected to anything." The Daily Mash.
From: Dr Geoff Hone on 7 May 2010 13:25 On Fri, 7 May 2010 15:59:12 +0100, snipe(a)spambin.fsnet.co.uk (Sn!pe) wrote: >Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > >> > Should a plan B for ucsm be under consideration in case >> > the worst happens? >> >> Not for a while I'd have thought. Usenet might be slowly on its way out, >> but it's not dead yet. >> >> Give it five years and things might be a bit more serious. Migth be even longer. I made heavy use of Gopher in the early '90s, and remember when our support person went ape over this WWW thingy. Gopher was still around in the late '90s, and into the early '0s but the writing was on the wall. Same with Usenet. Some of the groups have fallen well by the wayside, and some are only used by spammers touting fake "Designer" goods. I have probably cut my list of groups by about 80%, as their value to me has waned. A bit like browsers really: Mosaic, Cello, Netscape, etc, all get replaced by something the users prefer. It's a bit like evolution, really - if it does not work, it's dead. Geoff
From: Jochem Huhmann on 7 May 2010 13:58 Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> writes: > Uhuh. It spirals - the fewer people use it, the more servers will be > switched off, which in turn will discourage more people from using it etc. And still Usenet will be there as long as there is at least one server running... which will be full of spam and raving lunatics, of course. Jochem -- "A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
From: Bernard Peek on 7 May 2010 15:34 On 07/05/10 18:58, Jochem Huhmann wrote: > Jim<jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> writes: > >> Uhuh. It spirals - the fewer people use it, the more servers will be >> switched off, which in turn will discourage more people from using it etc. > > And still Usenet will be there as long as there is at least one server > running... which will be full of spam and raving lunatics, of course. It will still exist but will consist of a number of privately owned servers each of which carries precisely one newsgroup not peered with any other systems. -- Bernard Peek bap(a)shrdlu.com
From: Jochem Huhmann on 7 May 2010 17:37
Bernard Peek <bap(a)shrdlu.com> writes: > On 07/05/10 18:58, Jochem Huhmann wrote: >> Jim<jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> writes: >> >>> Uhuh. It spirals - the fewer people use it, the more servers will be >>> switched off, which in turn will discourage more people from using it etc. >> >> And still Usenet will be there as long as there is at least one server >> running... which will be full of spam and raving lunatics, of course. > > It will still exist but will consist of a number of privately owned > servers each of which carries precisely one newsgroup not peered with > any other systems. This would not be "Usenet". But you're right, Usenet is not a technical thing. Basically it's a social thing. Usenet lives off a handful of news admins believing in it and keeping it up. If these people toss it, there may be any amount of NNTP servers, but there will be no Usenet anymore. Jochem -- "A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery |