«

I wonder if blogs could be used to replace newsgroups? I've had a look at a
few, and it seems to me that they could work very well.

If somebody sets one up, it would be just a matter of finding it.

Geopelia

Geopelia wrote:

> I wonder if blogs could be used to replace newsgroups? I've had a look at a
> few, and it seems to me that they could work very well.
>
> If somebody sets one up, it would be just a matter of finding it.

Depends what the blog is discussing.
If it's politics, the person controlling the blog can censor and
delete anything he dislikes. It's also a continual problem with
anonymous posters who try to wreck the blog. With newsgroups they
can be killfiled, and uninteresting threads can be marked to be
ignored.
Blogs are seldom archived, and never as well as Google archives
newsgroups, and blogs cannot be searched with the power of Google.

To answer the question in the subject line

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO




Patrick

"Matty F" <> wrote in message
news:TFo4g.6365$...
> Geopelia wrote:
>
>> I wonder if blogs could be used to replace newsgroups? I've had a look at
>> a few, and it seems to me that they could work very well.
>>
>> If somebody sets one up, it would be just a matter of finding it.
>
> Depends what the blog is discussing.
> If it's politics, the person controlling the blog can censor and delete
> anything he dislikes. It's also a continual problem with anonymous posters
> who try to wreck the blog. With newsgroups they can be killfiled, and
> uninteresting threads can be marked to be ignored.
> Blogs are seldom archived, and never as well as Google archives
> newsgroups, and blogs cannot be searched with the power of Google.

Thank you. I don't know much about blogs, and haven't made one yet. It was
just an idea.
I'm moving all my favourite newsgroups to Google, but I don't think it will
be as easy to use as the xtra one. Seems to be a different format.

Geopelia

Geopelia wrote:
> "Matty F" <> wrote in message
> news:TFo4g.6365$...
>> Geopelia wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder if blogs could be used to replace newsgroups? I've had a look at
>>> a few, and it seems to me that they could work very well.
>>>
>>> If somebody sets one up, it would be just a matter of finding it.
>> Depends what the blog is discussing.
>> If it's politics, the person controlling the blog can censor and delete
>> anything he dislikes. It's also a continual problem with anonymous posters
>> who try to wreck the blog. With newsgroups they can be killfiled, and
>> uninteresting threads can be marked to be ignored.
>> Blogs are seldom archived, and never as well as Google archives
>> newsgroups, and blogs cannot be searched with the power of Google.
>
> Thank you. I don't know much about blogs, and haven't made one yet. It was
> just an idea.
> I'm moving all my favourite newsgroups to Google, but I don't think it will
> be as easy to use as the xtra one. Seems to be a different format.
>
> Geopelia
>
>
Personally, I have set up a new account with :-

http://news.aioe.org/

as an NNTP account using my ordinary reader client (Thunderbird). I have
also setup a Google group account but that is certainly a completely
different experience and not what I am used to.

Thunderbird allows a number of nntp accounts.

Geopelia wrote:
> "Matty F" <> wrote in message
> news:TFo4g.6365$...
>> Geopelia wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder if blogs could be used to replace newsgroups? I've had a look at
>>> a few, and it seems to me that they could work very well.
>>>
>>> If somebody sets one up, it would be just a matter of finding it.
>> Depends what the blog is discussing.
>> If it's politics, the person controlling the blog can censor and delete
>> anything he dislikes. It's also a continual problem with anonymous posters
>> who try to wreck the blog. With newsgroups they can be killfiled, and
>> uninteresting threads can be marked to be ignored.
>> Blogs are seldom archived, and never as well as Google archives
>> newsgroups, and blogs cannot be searched with the power of Google.
>
> Thank you. I don't know much about blogs, and haven't made one yet. It was
> just an idea.
> I'm moving all my favourite newsgroups to Google, but I don't think it will
> be as easy to use as the xtra one. Seems to be a different format.

Do you mean you are using Google groups to browse newsgroups? Don't you
find it painfully slow and difficult to manage, compared to a news client?

-=rjh=- wrote:

> Geopelia wrote:

> > Thank you. I don't know much about blogs, and haven't made one yet. It was
> > just an idea.
> > I'm moving all my favourite newsgroups to Google, but I don't think it will
> > be as easy to use as the xtra one. Seems to be a different format.

> Do you mean you are using Google groups to browse newsgroups? Don't you
> find it painfully slow and difficult to manage, compared to a news client?

It actually has all the basic functionality of a newsreader, including
the ability to subscribe to groups, identify new postings since your
last visit, and view postings in threaded format. The interface is
clean and simple, so everything loads in a flash if you have a
broadband connection.

Honestly, it's really not as bad as many people think.

"alastair.geek.nz" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> -=rjh=- wrote:
>
>> Geopelia wrote:
>
>> > Thank you. I don't know much about blogs, and haven't made one yet. It
>> > was
>> > just an idea.
>> > I'm moving all my favourite newsgroups to Google, but I don't think it
>> > will
>> > be as easy to use as the xtra one. Seems to be a different format.
>
>> Do you mean you are using Google groups to browse newsgroups? Don't you
>> find it painfully slow and difficult to manage, compared to a news
>> client?
>
> It actually has all the basic functionality of a newsreader, including
> the ability to subscribe to groups, identify new postings since your
> last visit, and view postings in threaded format. The interface is
> clean and simple, so everything loads in a flash if you have a
> broadband connection.
>
> Honestly, it's really not as bad as many people think.

I've got dial up. I've got xtra, but have to move as they are closing the
newsgroups. I'm just starting with Google groups.
Google is great for the internet, and used to be good with groups too before
they changed them.
>

Geopelia wrote:
> "alastair.geek.nz" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>> -=rjh=- wrote:
>>
>>> Geopelia wrote:
>>>> Thank you. I don't know much about blogs, and haven't made one yet. It
>>>> was
>>>> just an idea.
>>>> I'm moving all my favourite newsgroups to Google, but I don't think it
>>>> will
>>>> be as easy to use as the xtra one. Seems to be a different format.
>>> Do you mean you are using Google groups to browse newsgroups? Don't you
>>> find it painfully slow and difficult to manage, compared to a news
>>> client?
>> It actually has all the basic functionality of a newsreader, including
>> the ability to subscribe to groups, identify new postings since your
>> last visit, and view postings in threaded format. The interface is
>> clean and simple, so everything loads in a flash if you have a
>> broadband connection.
>>
>> Honestly, it's really not as bad as many people think.
>
> I've got dial up. I've got xtra, but have to move as they are closing the
> newsgroups. I'm just starting with Google groups.
> Google is great for the internet, and used to be good with groups too before
> they changed them.
>
>
Hi Geopelia (and all the other Xtra users affected by the demise of news.xtra.co.nz)

You don't have to move from xtra as your ISP - you can change your nntp server
(currently news.xtra.co.nz) to another server and you do this simply as follows
(in OE, assuming you have just started it, and all this is from memory...):

1. Choose 'Tools' (along the top part of the OE window), then choose accounts.
2. Choose 'Add' on the right hand side, then choose 'news'.
3. You will now be asked to enter your name (Geopelia). Click 'next'.
4. You will now be asked to enter your email address. Most users always enter
a false address here to ensure privacy. It means that people reading your
messages can only respond through newsgroups and that spamers cannot harvest
your real address. I use '' and would encourage
everyone to do the same or similar.
5. You will now be asked to enter the nntp server name - enter the one that you
have chosen instead of news.xtra.co.nz.
6. Click 'next' then 'finish'. You will now be asked if you wish to download
all newsgroups. Click 'Yes' and the list of newsgroups available from the
server will be downloaded.

7. The new account should appear in the left-hand side of the main OE window -
along with your email details and the Xtra news account. It will have a name of
the server you typed in step 5. You can right-click on the server name and
rename it to something more meaningful if needed. You can also right-click on
it and enter the newsgroups you wish to subscribe to.

Apart from a large download the first time around you are now ready to go and
can delete the old news account that uses the xtra server.

I am currently trying the nntp.aioe.org server (enter this as the server name in
step 5). It has all the nz. groups and all the others that interest me - and it
is free - so I intend to use this one from now on.


I am intending to ditch Xtra because they are closing their Usenet server - but
not until I have looked closely at all the alternatives.

Crash.

On Sat, 29 Apr 2006 15:43:37 +1200, Crash wrote:

>
> I am currently trying the nntp.aioe.org server (enter this as the server name in
> step 5). It has all the nz. groups and all the others that interest me - and it
> is free - so I intend to use this one from now on.
>
>
> I am intending to ditch Xtra because they are closing their Usenet server - but
> not until I have looked closely at all the alternatives.
>
> Crash.


It's a pretty good one albeit a little slow, however it does carry a
decent list of groups and I have found a couple of interest to me that
xtra never carried. like the ubuntu one.