In 1915 we had Birth of a Nation, 108 years later we have Death of a
Newsgroup.
spoon fed.
having the research capability we have and the decades worth of information.
help me.
Post by Sarah AndersonI just looked in on groups.google.com and r.a.s really is unusably
bad. Pages and pages of repetitive spam.
Looking at a few other USENET groups at random in the rec.* branches,
I didn't see this much junk.
Using the google page, there is a gear icon... one of the options
there is "send feedback to google", which I did.
Worth a try, but I'm not holding my breath.
As far as a primer, I don't think it can be much easier than the
following. There's just too much variability in platforms & ISPs and
preferences. There is probably more than one way to set up t-bird,
I'll just describe what works for me.
I can't speak to phone/tablet versions since I don't use them for
USENET. Others are.
-- --
1. Download and install an appropriate (free) version of mozilla
thunderbird. You don't have to change whatever you're doing now with
email. Here: https://www.thunderbird.net/
2. Go to "https://www.eternal-september.org/" and "register", with
your name, and an arbitrary userID and an email E-S can contact you
with. (Free). This email address, and userID are only used for
contacting the E-S server and are not published. Once registered, you
should receive an email with a generated password and other
instructions from E-S.
3. Start and configure thunderbird. "File -> New -> Newsgroup
Account". At this point you will be prompted for a display name and
email address, which *will* be used for your public messages in the
newsgroup. Select the new group you created and you should see a page
with setup options. Click on the top line "Account settings" and set
thunderbird to point to the news server and port mentioned in the
email from step 2, above. The first time you connect, you will
receive a pop-up prompt for the userID/password you registered with
E-S. If it helps, for configuration on os X I am using
Server Name: news.eternal-september.org
Port: 563
Connection security: SSL/TLS
To send messages, you will also need a "SMTP"
SimpleMailTransferProtocol server. Look into your ISP documentation
Server Name: smtp.comcast.net
Port: 465
Connection security: SSL/TLS
Authentication method: Normal password
4. "subscribe" to rec.aviation.soaring. (Free). The key press varies,
but on OS X, a control-click on the newsgroup you created brings up a
pop-up menu including "subscribe". You can use this to check the box
for R.A.S. and whatever else you want.
--Fin--
Post by RamyOne must wonder why Google does not use spam filtering or servers
like Eternal November to fix the issue not just for RAS but for all
newsgroups accessed from Google? They already implement spam filters
in their email servers so why not for newsgroups?
Ramy
On Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 5:44:41 PM UTC-7, John DeRosa OHM Ω
Post by John DeRosa OHM ⦠http://aviation.derosaweb.netIMHO
RAS has a rich and vibrant history and is a great reservoir of
content. but in this day and age of TikTok, FB, Twitter (X), etc,
etc, how can we help invite new soaring people to our RAS
discussion forum? We need to provide them the easiest and fastest
method possible. Basically, <CLICK HERE> and instantly get content.
We can easily provide a simple web link to get to RAS (i.e.
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.aviation.soaring). Unfortunately,
this current access to RAS has become almost impossible to view
with so much chaff amongst the wheat. Every USENET group I used to
view has become the same way. Very sad. Blame AI and bots? Who knows.
Our best solution thus far to remove the chaff is to use, and
configure, a newsgroup viewing and filtering tool like Thunderbird.
Based on my working with our club's membership this is simply too
high of a hurdle for them.
- Has anyone created an instruction manual (PDF) on how to
download, install, update, and configure Thunderbird or the like?
- Does a simple link exist for the user to get directly to an
already moderated "clean" version of rec.aviation.soaring?
I would think that these things could be created by our soaring
techies. Heck, look at OGN and OLC to see what soaring technology
can be brought to bear.
My $0.02.
John (OHM)
Founder of RAS_Prime (https://groups.google.com/g/rasprime)
I like the last part. IMHO, saying one has to use a this or that app
does not resolve the issue. In the legend of the Dutch boy who put
his finger in the dike to stop a leak was only a bandaid, and did
not help the population as a whole. Saying one has to use some
specific app, other than what they’ve been using for this one
purpose is a loser. Yes, of course, these apps can be used for more
than RAS, but how do you convince someone to change from what
they’ve been using for the past 20 years? In years past, I loved
implementing the solution to my similar problems, but this is, as
John points out, a different world. For the population as a whole,
email is a tool and most can’t get beyond setting it up, regardless
of the app. Suggesting using Thunderbird seems to solve the issue
for the one user, but not the population as a whole. There is no
reason I can’t put thunderbird on my computer to solve the RAS issue
for me, but why should I have to do that? RAS has been a valuable
asset, but unless the basic issue is solved (and not bandaided
over), users are going to start disappearing for reasons John
specified. If you were to tell a newbie that RAS is a great tool,
but they have to install AppFilterSpam, maybe some will, but most
won’t, again IMHO.
Eric B. (No longer a user of RAS, other than to vent.)