XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, alt.windows7.general

This was just posted on the Windows newsgroups, but it applies equally to
those on these specialty newsgroups who search before they ask questions.
*Google Groups Archives for this newsgroup*

Paul wrote:

Google Groups stopped adding groups, some time ago.

It has added a ton of its own private groups.
Which nobody cares about.

Hi Paul,

I often run a search before asking questions, and when researching
issues to help answer others, so I've been involved in this for years.

I think your assumption is not quite accurate, as I have been using Google Groups archival links for many years, but I didn't do any explicit research
so it's just my "experienced assumption" that Google _does_ add groups.

They're just extremely selective about which groups they bother to add. :)

In fact, on this very newsgroup we _created_ the tinyurl links of the past:
<rec.photo.digital>
<alt.comp.microsoft.windows>
<microsoft.public.windowsxp.general>
<alt.comp.os.windows-11>
<alt.comp.os.windows-10>
<alt.comp.os.windows-8>
<alt.windows7.general>
<alt.msdos.batch>
<alt.os.linux>
<comp.mobile.android>
<comp.mobile.ipad>
<misc.phone.mobile.iphone>
<alt.comp.freeware>
etc.

Which was well before Google changed their archival links to something easy
to remember, but when the "N" archives used exactly those monikers, namely:
<https://rec.photo.digital.narchive.com>
<https://alt.comp.microsoft.windows.narchive.com>
<https://microsoft.public.windowsxp.general.narchive.com>
<https://alt.comp.os.windows-11.narchive.com>
<https://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narchive.com>
<https://alt.comp.os.windows-8.narchive.com>
<https://alt.windows7.general.narchive.com>
<https://alt.msdos.batch.narchive.com>
<https://alt.os.linux.narchive.com>
<https://comp.mobile.android.narchive.com>
<https://comp.mobile.ipad.narchive.com>
<https://misc.phone.mobile.iphone.narchive.com>
<https://alt.comp.freeware.narchive.com>
etc.

What I had created were tinyurl links which were the best I could do then:
<https://tinyurl.com/rec-photo-digital>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-microsoft-windows>
<https://tinyurl.com/microsoft-public-windowsxp-gen> (30-character limit)
I also had created an easier URL:<https://tinyurl.com/windowsxp-general>
<alt.comp.os.windows-11> At the time this didn't exist for me to set up
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-os-windows-10>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-os-windows-8>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-os-windows-7>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-windows7-general>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-msdos-batch>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-os-linux>
<https://tinyurl.com/comp-mobile-android>
<https://tinyurl.com/comp-mobile-ipad>
<https://tinyurl.com/misc-phone-mobile-iphone>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-freeware>
etc.

Note these are all so old they link to the now-deprecated Google Groups:
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/rec.photo.digital>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.comp.microsoft.windows>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general>
<alt.comp.os.windows-11> At the time this didn't exist for me to set up
<http://www.pcbanter.net/forumdisplay.php?f=52> for Windows 10
<http://www.pcbanter.net/forumdisplay.php?f=50> for Windows-8
<http://www.pcbanter.net/forumdisplay.php?f=48> for Windows-7
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.msdos.batch>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.os.linux>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.mobile.android>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.mobile.ipad>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/misc.phone.mobile.iphone>
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.comp.freeware>
etc.

Which, after the great reshuffling, currently boil down to the following
much easier to remember and logically derived Google Groups search links:
<https://groups.google.com/g/rec.photo.digital>
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows>
<https://groups.google.com/g/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general>
<alt.comp.os.windows-11>
<alt.comp.os.windows-10>
<alt.comp.os.windows-8>
<alt.windows7.general>
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.msdos.batch>
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.os.linux>
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android>
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.ipad>
<https://groups.google.com/g/misc.phone.mobile.iphone>
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware>
etc.

In summary, I "think" Google _does_ add groups when _they_ see fit.
They just do NOT see fit to add Windows variants as archived groups.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to disseminate useful information
which, in this case, is to faithfully elucidate group search archival URLs.

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