XPost: alt.windows7.general, microsoft.public.windowsxp.general   
   From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On 12/22/2021 1:08 PM, Brian Gregory wrote:   
   > On 21/12/2021 16:02, mechanic wrote:   
   >> On Tue, 21 Dec 2021 06:55:52 -0800, RecentlyOrLately wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> microsoft.public.windowsxp.general   
   >>>   
   >>> is the popular one.   
   >>   
   >> For some weird definition of 'popular'.   
   >   
   > But there are so many other microsoft.public.windowsxp.* groups that you'd   
   need to join just to make sure you didn't miss anything.   
   >   
      
   In rough round numbers, there used to be 3000 microsoft.* groups   
   in a private hierarchy.   
      
   After the great cleanup, this was reduced to 2000. Some   
   of the groups had not had posts for around 2 years or so,   
      
   After this, Microsoft closed their own hierarchy, without sending   
   signed rmgroup() commands. For many administrators, they would simply   
   accept these and the groups would disappear.   
      
   Because Microsoft did not do the right things, the groups languish   
   at the favor of the individual administrators. Administrators still   
   sweep house once in a while, and say, those alt.* groups created could   
   be removed if the traffic isn't there.   
      
   Not even all the vanity alt groups were removed. Although at one time,   
   perhaps a hundred thousand groups that had been created by users, needed   
   to be removed. Not all of them disappeared, just most of them.   
      
   A given group exists, unless you give someone an incentive to remove it.   
      
       Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)