From: email@is.over   
      
   In article <9859b73c.0409252324.405edbf@posting.google.com>,   
    jkhammond@gmail.com (JKH) wrote:   
      
   > > why are people insisting on creating an alternative to Usenet which is   
   > > an open system that's simple to use and already gets the job done?   
      
   [snip]   
      
   >   
   > But regardless, what are you saying? That mailing lists (aka email   
   > groups) and usenet groups are the same thing? Well, if that's what you   
   > think, I'm not even going to try to explain to you the difference. All   
   > I'd tell you is that I'm subscribed to plenty of mailing lists and I   
   > only occasionally come to the newsgroups. Same goes for *millions* of   
   > people. Many don't even want to get close to USENET or even know it   
   > exists. What works for you may not work for many other people.   
   >   
      
   thats part of the charm of usenet, at least for me.  u know that the   
   users here are (generally) just a bit more knowledgable than average.   
      
   while to those of us that use it daily its a very normal thing i am   
   constantly encountering people who have no idea it exists.. and have   
   difficulty with the concept when its explained to them..   
      
   those people will never waste ur time here ; )   
      
   theres still plenty of monkeys knocking about.. but the noise is a   
   little more interesting..   
      
   also.. i personally find web forums to be .. slow, clunky, obnoxious..   
      
   this is just personal preference though.. there is nothing wrong with   
   any of these things IMO .. use what u like, type where u will.   
      
      
   > Besides, mailing lists have been around many years before the USENET   
   > was created, did you know that? So these folks, eGrupos, as well as   
   > yahoogroups and others, are not creating anything new, simply   
   > expanding a technology that has been around probably since many of us   
   > didn't even know what a computer was (for the record, mailing lists   
   > have been around since the very early 70's, the USENET only appeared   
   > at the very end, in 1979).   
      
      
   mailing lists are fine, though i don't find the comparison to be a good   
   one.  if u read a list in an email client that does threadinng it looks   
   the same as usenet, functions basically the same.  i read a debian users   
   list in mutt and can't see many functional differences between that   
   "forum" and this one.   
      
   i also read a local LUG mailing list thats run through Yahoo.. and it   
   makes my skin crawl.  just the act of logging into the web interface   
   gives me the screaming heebie jeebies.. its not right.   
      
   again, personal preference.  i don't like the web.   
      
   >   
   > Creating an alternative to USENET? They're expanding on a technology   
   > several years older than USENET!   
      
   i think the real objection here isn't the means but the method.. by   
   which i mean.. egroup, mailing list, usenet, whatever.. the problem   
   (IMO) comes in when u have an orginization like Yahoo or Google running   
   the show.. now u have marketing and the spectre of surveillance coming   
   into play.. the reason i hate Yahoo so much is the annoying   
   advertisements i have to click past to get to the messages.. and the sig   
   tags they tack onto every mail..   
      
   a similar service, run by an individual or collection of individuals,   
   would be fine with me.. usenet is a nice alternative because given the   
   sheer volume of servers out there control is not an option.. if any of   
   the bigger networks goes down it doesn't matter.. no one agency can   
   seize control of usenet.. anyone can run a functioning nntp server from   
   thier home (this is not an exxagerration.. i've done it myself.. for   
   text only feeds and a moderate # of users, >500,  the reasources needed   
   are shockingly small.. a cable/dsl connection and the oldest, ugliest,   
   cheapest computer u can find will handle it)   
      
      
   but.. to each his own.   
      
   ..   
   alias   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)