Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with usenet

Is there a way to retrieve/download all my old Usenet posts?

Lazlo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:28:26 -0800

Usenet was my first real online community -- it's coming up on twenty-five years (!) since I pushed my first clump of snarky, juvenile flamage out into the aether. I'd like to download copies of my old messages from Google Groups, but they don't make it easy, and worse, a lot of what Google used to have isn't showing up in searches anymore... About five years ago I searched Google Groups for all the old email addresses I could think of, and dug up around 8250 of my old Usenet posts from the late '90s back to 1984. It's enough to fill a sizeable book and the closest thing I have to a diary from that period, and I'm in the mood to go back and check it out again. But since my original research the Groups UI has gone to hell in a handbasket and many/most of those messages aren't coming back in searches anymore. I used to assume that this stuff would always be available -- stupid me!

Is there any way to do bulk downloads of raw Usenet messages from Google Groups? And if not, are there any alternate archives out there anywhere? I know most of the pre-1995 posts were filled in by came from "other sources" after Google acquired DejaNews; do those sources still exist, and if so, who/where are they?

(You could probably comfortably torrent everything posted on the pre-alt.binaries-era Usenet in a single weekend...and actually, I'd like to.)

saltgirl

bgribble — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:28:25 -0800

Regarding scrubbed Internet history. Anyone remember a famous-for-the-time poster on the alt.sex newsgroups who called herself Saltgirl? Google doesn't. This would have been in the early 1990's. There was a long series of semi-anonymous explorations of her sexuality (hot), the growing realization that she had a novel form of celebrity (fun), the realization that this might not be a good thing (scary), the final self-outing of her Real Name in a GBCW (orgasmic). Loads of meta and lots of long threads. None of it comes up in Google or Google Groups search. Where did it all go?

A Pail af Air

dustsquid — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:05:45 -0800

I recall reading a thread years ago on alt.astronomy or one of the similar news groups regarding the, "Pail of Air" scenario. The basic idea is, if the sun were to go out tomorrow how long would life on earth survive? The thread had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of posts and lasted for months. Does anyone have a link to a copy of that discussion?

Oh dear

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:18:38 -0800

Many moons ago, when I was naive and young, I left an embarrassing trail of incriminating Usenet posts. I had Google remove them from their archive but, forward a few years, they're back! How can I get them deleted for good? The original posts remain deleted but the messages have begun to appear as 'snippets' in Google Group's search results. I'm not sure how long these snippets have been appearing but, as far as I can tell from other forums, other users have reported the problem as occuring as far back as early last year.

Google itself seems to be silent on the matter. There was mention last year that they were working on it but there is no word of when it will be sorted. Understandably, I don't want these posts on the radar for too long. I'd like them gone right now.

People have posted complaints to Google's own help forums, but Google has made little response. I'd like to contact Google personally (preferably by email, as this would be the best as far as privacy would be concerned). I've tried searching for a contact email address for them (specifically, Google Groups) but have had no luck.

Does anyone know the best way to get a fast response from the Big G? Is there an email address I can write to? Does anyone know the score with this problem?

Potential employers will be hitting the search button soon!

You must be THIS nerdy to enter.

eurasian — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:15:59 -0800

How much does a spaceship weigh? I can't believe that this hasn't been asked before. Or, rather, I can't believe my google-fu is THIS bad. How much does a spaceship weigh, where spaceship can be:

1) Enterprise (either from TOS or TNG)
2) Battlestar Galactica (new series)
3) Imperial Star Destroyer

Or answer for all of them, whatevs homies.

Automating TV show downloads off of usenet?

cosmic osmo — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:14:10 -0800

Is there a way I can automate downloading TV shows off of usenet? I download a few TV shows every week off of usenet. I get the .NZB from Newzbin after it's been posted, download the .rars (and the .pars) using Unison, unpack the file with MacPAR deLuxe and watch the file.

This is all fine, but it takes a while to download, and it'd be great if my computer could be doing that while I'm sleeping (the .NZBs usually get posted a few hours after the shows air, so sometime in the wee hours). It'd be awesome if it would also unpack them for me, but just downloading them is fine.

I've seen a few guides on how to do this kind of thing with Bit Torrent, but nothing about usenet. I'm on a Mac, running the latest version of Leopard. Is this kind of automation possible?

Google is not great after all

Phire — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:00:30 -0800

Google Groups denied two requests to add new subscribers to a listserv. Can I appeal this decision? Or, failing that, is there a way to see the two lists of emails that it denied? I run the listserv for a University student association, managed through Google Groups. We recently had around 200 students sign up at a orientation week event to receive emails from us about upcoming events. I tried to add these emails to the list of subscribers in two batches (70 and 120), and upon learning that these were "pending review", explained the purpose of the listserv, where to find the club online, and where these new subscribers came from.

I received an email from google today saying both requests had been denied. Fwiw, the listserv's been running for a good 3-4 years, and there have been far bigger batches added in the past that were approved with no problem. I browsed around the help groups a bit, but couldn't find any information on what to do if I believe that my request to add new members was unfairly denied. Is there an appeal process in place, or am I stuck emailing a generic google help email and hoping they respond?

Furthermore - I can't seem to find a way to access the list of all the emails I entered. I stupidly did not back them up when I first added them into the group, and really don't relish the thought of trying to decipher 200-some emails written in cramped and barely legible writing all over again. I know which request numbers they were, but is that the only info Google Groups stores?

Thanks in advance; I am, understandably I think, a tad miffed about this.

Someone didn't follow the first rule of usenet... now we're all screwed.

willie11 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:02:06 -0800

Grrrr, Time Warner Cable has unceremoniously removed their stellar USENET access. What do I do now? First of all, Noooooooo! For those of you who didn't know, Time Warner gave unlimited d/l and awesome retention at shocking speeds, so this is a big loss for a lot of file-sharers and online discusserers.

1) Any recommendations on premium USENET Providers? I end up using around 12 - 20 gig/month.

2) WTF? Do I have any legal recourse here? Well, not legal for obvious reasons... but is there anything I can formally do to make myself feel better about Time Warner's dastardly removal of the second best thing on the tubes?

3) Now I have NO reason to subscribe to TWC/Roadrunner. But in my area (Raleigh, NC), there seems to be no other alternative. Any thoughts? Could I shift down to a lesser bandwidth solution and still get eye melting speeds through my premium news server?

4) I've been known to accidentally d/l the occasion bit o' proprietary material. Audiobooks and daily shows and the like. Should I be concerned about giving my credit card information over to a premium provider?

Thanks!

First rule of Usenet, Dont talk about Usenet?

Funky Claude — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:10:42 -0800

Can someone explain Usenet to me? Specifically how to use it and read newsgroups. How do I connect to newsgroups? A google search for "usenet" pulls up many providers charging for access to usenet. Do I have to pay to get on? Sorry I'm sort of clueless about this.

Usenet dwellers, lend me your expertise.

lowfi — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:17:11 -0800

I created a website that "tracks" Usenet related software. Whenever a new revision is announced, I list it along with a ChangeLog. But I'm having trouble finding the right community to market it to. It seems that most Usenet people tend to keep to themselves. Is this a crazy niche that I should abandon, or does it have real merit? The website tracks newsreaders across all of the major platforms - as that's where my interests are. I'm also trying to keep it from being a "binaries only" site (but there's not a lot of development being done on text centric newsreaders).

I've made postings on FileSharingTalk, Slyck, Usenet itself, and a few smaller websites. I've been organically "Stumbled" once, and I've tried taking an ad out on StumbleUpon.

I'm receiving about 50 hits a day.

It strikes me that the service would be useful, but after running it for a month an a half, and not really gaining very many readers, I'm questioning its usefulness.

(I'm not sure if posting the actual site is allowed. So I'm going to err on the side of "No". It's in my profile if you'd like to look. If I am allowed to, I'll post it in a followup.)

Thanks!

Early internet discussions?

vizsla — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:40:20 -0800

Besides Google Groups, where else can I find archives of discussions from the early days of the internet? (on any subject)

Recommend to me a good (and preferably free) NZB download site

tundro — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:35:18 -0800

Recommend to me a good (and preferably free) NZB download site So I've been using nzbsrus.com and a few others for the last couple of months to download binaries from Usenet. Not terribly impressed. I would sign up for an account with newzbin.com, but their account registrations are closed. What are you recommendations for a good NZB site? I'd prefer a free one.

Is there more to TV online than iTunes?

dpcoffin — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:28:15 -0800

I wanna download TV to watch on my TV; where do I learn... How?

OK, I’m liking iTunes for commercial-free TV viewing a LOT, and gonna go for an Apple TV (don’t really care about the movie rentals so far; Netflix working fine for that...) but hating how little seems to be available, how I can’t tell when or where any given show is going to be available, willing but not geeky or young enough to understand how to use bitTorrent or Usenet or even Unison, or make sense of any online “explanations” so far found, don’t know if there’s any way to get streaming episodes to be viewable or worth viewing on my HD TV...Sheesh, I guess I’m Lost. And on a Mac, btw.

Where’s my downloading for duffer dummies resource and/or my one-stop overview of legal options and offerings while I wait for this industry to get its act together?

What's a good source for finding TV shows online? Specifically, Ninja Warrior (originally titles Sasuke in Japan)?

ignignokt — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:23:52 -0800

TV-over-the-internet-filter: What's a good source for finding TV shows online? Specifically, Ninja Warrior (originally titled Sasuke in Japan)? I don't have a Tivo and am not usually at home during prime time, so I download my TV shows and watch them when convenient. I haven't had problems finding episodes of The Office and The Ultimate Fighter on Usenet and Demonoid (a torrent sharing site), but Ninja Warrior (from G4TV, which I don't receive, BTW, so I can't do an old-school VCR recording of it) is giving me trouble. I've found three episodes, and I've found a torrent for an episode recorded straight from Japanese TV, but that's about it.

Any tips? Where do you guys usually get your shows?

Use it or lose it.

matkline — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:53:01 -0800

What's the best way to find cool stuff on Usenet? I often wish there was a Digg style interface for usenet to enable my finding of obscure awesomeness. I've set several lots of fancy search criteria within newzbin, and that seems to have yielded results close to what I want. (I've set them up to have the most viewed reports at the top) Unfortunately, that method prefers things like NOW 9423 cds, etc.

Any suggestions?

What are the risks of downloading from Usenet

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:52:17 -0800

Downloading from Usenet: what are the risks? I'm trying to convince someone to *stop* downloading things (music, software) from Usenet. I think it's like stealing -- he thinks it's fine. My fallback argument: he could get caught. He says that's impossible. Aside from all the other issues about this being right or wrong -- just how likely is it that a person doing this would be caught?

Cyber stalking?

fuse theorem — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 09:29:03 -0800

On the Internet, maybe somebody does know you're not a... Last night I spent some time reviewing my Usenet posting history. I do it periodically, mainly to track my writing style. I used Google Groups to do the review and noticed an unexpected pattern that's directly related to Google Groups itself.

A little history: I've been posting on Usenet since the early nineties, under various IDs since I've switched ISPs several times. I have an established presence of over a decade in one newsgroup in particular. About a year ago I switched to using a Gmail ID for my posts and about a year ago (give or take some weeks) Google instituted their "enhanced interface" which included the ability to rate each post (the point of which I'm still unclear on). Note, you can only use the rating function if you're logged on via a Google account.

Last night I noticed that my posts were getting tagged via this Google rating system, beginning shortly after I started using the Gmail ID. The tagging itself isn't a big deal to me; I couldn't care less whether someone thinks my posts are "poor" or "average" or "superfantastic" or whatever. The part that got my attention is that this tagging is occuring across several newsgroups (most of which I rarely post to) and often singles me out.

There are threads where my post is the only one tagged (or, there may have been several posts if I followed up on more than one comment in the thread, and often each of my posts is tagged but not anyone else's). Since it has occurred across multiple newsgroups, it looks to me like for the past year some Google account user (or users, perhaps) has been going to specific effort to watch my posts on Usenet. I probably wouldn't have picked up on it were it not for the rating function, and theoretically it could have been going on for years. It feels like stalking.

As far as I can tell you can't identify who tagged you so there's probably nothing that can be done about the situation I've described. Nevertheless, I'm trying to understand why someone would be making an extended extra effort to do this. I'm now considering--yet again--changing to another ID or temporarily posting via an anonymizer, just so I can see if this pattern continues. Am I seeing this wrong, am I being paranoid?

Powergrab 2.6 has been acting kinda funny on me lately.

porpoise — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:43:37 -0800

Best usenet binary newsgroup reader? For WinXP. Bonus points for being free, or a one-time outlay. I'd rather not subscribe to a service (I'm quite happy with my premium provider and I haven't really minded downloading headers).

Agent support sucks

polexxia — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:18:46 -0800

I've used Forte Agent (paid) for about 10 years. However, they are now claiming they don't have a record of my most-recent upgrade and some of the tweaks they've made, I'm not cool with. Can anyone recommend a (preferably freeware) newsreader that has the following: Support for multiple servers (where it doesn't seperate each server like Thunderbird does), ease of use (remember, I'm familiar with Agent's interface), and tailored for offline (since I like to just read at leisure). I tried installing 40Tude's Dialog, but it will not run on my system for some reason.

Big downloads on firewire external disks?

PenguinBukkake — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:04:02 -0800

OK, let's say I'd like to download this thing, but it's a 56 GB thing (well, it's a bunch of things, let's say, for educational purposes only, .par and .rar files). My hard disk is only 30 GB (about 11 GB of currently free space). But: I have a 250GB external drive (firewire) that I sometimes use to store stuff. Can I download the big file (it'll take, I guess, an entire day) straight on the external drive? Or is my Mac (G4) going to blow up for some reason? thanks!!!

Join .ts files in OS X

PenguinBukkake — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:34:20 -0800

Any good, free, hopefully easy-to-use tools to join .ts files in OS X? mpgtxwrap does not work for me (10.3.9). Thanks!

Cool Newsgroups Providers

PenguinBukkake — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 08:53:26 -0800

Usenet question. Is TITANNews still the way to go? Are there any newer, cooler, hi-speed, no-logs-kept, Mac-friendly places? thanks!

What are the rules & regulations of deleting self-authored Usenet posts?

pricklypear — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:10:53 -0800

Is there a simple way to have very old Usenet posts authored by you, deleted? Can Usenet posts older than 1 year be deleted? Although Google Groups makes this simple with their archive, many sites seem to also archive Usenet posts. For certain reasons, I'd like to have some things removed. If it's relevant, I still have access to the original e-mail address used.

The questions:
-Is there some kind of "headquarters" that will remove your Usenet posts from all archiving sites?
-Must Usenet posts be deleted at the request of the author, or can some authority refuse?
-If someone copied & pasted your information into their post, is that portion removable by some authority?
-At the very least, can you have your name or e-mail information erased from self-authored posts?

"The Best of Metafilter." $9.99 at your local Barnes & Noble

grumblebee — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:21:42 -0800

Who owns the posts to Internet forums? I know someone who produced and acted in a one-woman show in which she "performed" weird stuff she found on Usenet. She claimed this was legal. Was it? For that matter, who owns all my Metafilter posts? Me? Matt? Public Domain? What if I publish a book that quotes from an anonymous message-board? There's no way I can get permission to use this quote (let's assume I post to be board, asking for permission, but never hear anything back). Can I safely use the quote?

where is "oh noes!" from?

kenko — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 08:13:51 -0800

What's the origin of "oh noes!"? I think I first encountered it at fafblog.