Bill,

I agree. This is the best place for these discussions.

Andy mentioned a few of the alternate places, but they certainly have
their negatives for our type of technical topics.

What amazes me is that many of those who frequent the 'other' places
seem completely unaware of the Apple II specific newsgroups. Or, maybe
they are aware and just don't care for the likes of guys like me. ;-)

I'm hopeful (without cause?) that these spammers will go away like that
last batch of spammers who were hitting us in the Italian language.

It's hard to believe that any of those spammers deliver results for
whomever 'hires' them.




Hugh Hood

On 12/2/2023 8:57 AM, Bill Chatfield wrote:

There's a lot of spam being sent to this group now. It is unfortunate
because this has been the best place for these discussions. Are
people going anywhere else? I'm trying to report the spam.

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In article <sRydncLcIs5QFPb4nZ2dnZfqn_idnZ2d@earthlink.com>, hughhood@earthlink.net (Hugh Hood) wrote:

What amazes me is that many of those who frequent the 'other'
places seem completely unaware of the Apple II specific newsgroups.
Or, maybe they are aware and just don't care for the likes of guys
like me. ;-)

The idea of stuff that isn't done in a web browser confuses many people
these days.

I'm hopeful (without cause?) that these spammers will go away like
that last batch of spammers who were hitting us in the Italian
language.

It's hard to believe that any of those spammers deliver results for
whomever 'hires' them.

I think it's an attempt to game Google's search engine by putting lots of
stuff into Google Groups. I haven't seen any of it in here (via Eternal September) but there's loads in other groups I read via ES.

John

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There's some recent discussion in the eternal-september.support newsgroup
and it looks like they run spamassassin on all messages from google (and
one other server).

-------
ProLine: kelvin@pro-kegs

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"Bill Chatfield" wrote:
What is SNAP?

SNAP is a Usenet client written by Speccie (available for free on his website) that works on an Internet-enabled Apple IIgs system.

Here you are, and check out all my other goodies while you are there:

https://speccie.uk/software/snap/

By the way, many people seem to think Usenet and this group has something to do with Google. That is not the case. Usenet is the grown up version of the BBS systems that started over 40 years ago now. If you post a message to one Usenet news server, it
is migrated automatically to all the other news servers on the net. Google is just one method of accessing these messages. Many of us will use news clients on a computer of their choice. On the IIgs, SNAP does that, and on the Mac, I used to use Thoth,
but am now using Hogwasher.

If you do not use Google to access Usenet, then you will need to either use a free news server, or one that you are subscribed to. Currently I am using Astraweb, as of the paid for servers, they are about the cheapest one out there at the moment, have
good speeds, and have been reliable for me over the years.

Cheers - Speccie

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Hi Bill,

I'll have to buy the Uthernet card for it. I have it already for the
Apple IIe, but they use different firmware. I haven't used it though.
Maybe it will be more useful on the IIgs.

Neither the Uthernet nor the Uthernet II have any firmware at all. Both
work equally well in both a //e and a IIgs. So if you don't use your
Uthernet (II) in your //e, you can simply put it in your IIgs.

Regards,
Oliver

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Bill,

But for the longest time I have not been able to find a Usenet server other than just using Google Groups. They have all disappeared.

There are still loads of servers out there, from the free ones that don’t do the binary groups, and the paid for ones that have all 111,000 groups. Type “news servers” into Google, and you will be flooded with results.

Of the paid for servers, the expensive but excellent Giganews is still there:

https://giganews.com

I use the cheaper Astraweb, which does not have all the frills of Giganews, but does have all the groups:

https://www.astraweb.com
Cheers - Ewen

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Rob,

The worst part is one can't report them or delete them til after viewing them. This is still really poor programming on Google's part or any newsreader for that matter.

But that is the nature of Usenet. There are no moderators for the groups, so anybody is free to post to them. Usenet has nothing to do with Google, as they are only involved as an optional client. It is up to the user to add rules to their client app to
filter out anything they don’t want. You can usually tell by the Subject line what the message is about, so do not have to read it if you don’t want to.

Cheers - Speccie

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Bill Chatfield <billchatfield1@gmail.com> writes:

On Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 3:12:30 AM UTC-5, Speccie wrote:

Bill,

But for the longest time I have not been able to find a Usenet server other than just

using Google Groups. They have all disappeared.
There are still loads of servers out there, from the free ones that don’t do the binary
groups, and the paid for ones that have all 111,000 groups. Type “news servers” into
Google, and you will be flooded with results.

Of the paid for servers, the expensive but excellent Giganews is still there:

https://giganews.com

I use the cheaper Astraweb, which does not have all the frills of Giganews, but does
have all the groups:

https://www.astraweb.com
Cheers - Ewen

I found http://www.eternal-september.org yesterday. It is free and seems to work pretty
well. I don't like either of the programs I've tried in Linux to access it though:
Evolution and Thunderbird. Evolution is slow and the setup is way more complicated than it
needs to be. Thunderbird's UI is terrible. I would like to try slrn, but I haven't figured
out how to set it up yet. There is also Claws Mail, but I haven't figured out how to set
that up either. I just have to get the IIgs out I guess. :-)

Well, don't give up on finding a client to read usenet with. There are
more out there.

The one I use on Linux probably ain't much of a suggestion for you,
because unless you already use `emacs`, you're unlikely to want to learn
it just to read newsgroups. I've been using its builtin `gnus` news
reader for years. In the past, I used `rn` (80s) and `nn` later on. I
might have used `tin`, which I see is still available for installation
on my Linux Mint system. It might be worth a shot?

--
Jerry jerry+a2 at jpen.ca

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On 2023-12-04 14:32:55 +0000, Bill Chatfield said:

On Monday, December 4, 2023 at 3:34:26 AM UTC-5, Speccie wrote:

"Bill Chatfield" wrote:> > What is SNAP?> >> > SNAP is a Usenet client
written by Speccie (available for free on his website) that works on an
Internet-enabled Apple IIgs system.

Here you are, and check out all my other goodies while you are there:>>
https://speccie.uk/software/snap/>> By the way, many people seem to
think Usenet and this group has something to do with Google. That is
not the case. Usenet is the grown up version of the BBS systems that
started over 40 years ago now. If you post a message to one Usenet news
server, it is migrated automatically to all the other news servers on
the net. Google is just one method of accessing these messages. Many of
us will use news clients on a computer of their choice. On the IIgs,
SNAP does that, and on the Mac, I used to use Thoth, but am now using
Hogwasher.>> If you do not use Google to access Usenet, then you will
need to either use a free news server, or one that you are subscribed
to. Currently I am using Astraweb, as of the paid for servers, they are
about the cheapest one out there at the moment, have good speeds, and
have been reliable for me over the years.>> Cheers - Speccie

Thank you so much for the info. I understand what Usenet is. I was
reading it in 1992. But for the longest time I have not been able to
find a Usenet server other than just using Google Groups. They have all disappeared. My Apple IIgs is in a box in the basement. I have my Apple
IIe setup, but I had to move it because my house guests' cats were
using it to jump up on top of my china cabinet. I don't have room to
set everything up. As soon as they leave, maybe I can get the IIgs out.
I'll have to buy the Uthernet card for it. I have it already for the
Apple IIe, but they use different firmware. I haven't used it though.
Maybe it will be more useful on the IIgs.

I didn't think Uthernet cards had specific firmware for IIe or IIGS.
I've only used an Uthernet II though, so my knowledge of Uthernet I is
more limited.

Alex

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On Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:17:32 +0000
Speccie <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:

Rob,

The worst part is one can't report them or delete them til after
viewing them. This is still really poor programming on Google's
part or any newsreader for that matter.

But that is the nature of Usenet. There are no moderators for the
groups, so anybody is free to post to them. Usenet has nothing to do
with Google, as they are only involved as an optional client. It is
up to the user to add rules to their client app to filter out
anything they don’t want. You can usually tell by the Subject line
what the message is about, so do not have to read it if you don’t
want to.

Cheers - Speccie

You have to click through multiple pages of junk to find the real
messages. Every newsreader I've tried besides google has filtered them
out, even when those newsreaders are broken in many other ways.

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Bill Chatfield wrote:

Every newsreader I've tried besides google has filtered them
out, even when those newsreaders are broken in many other ways.

All of man's creations are necessarily broken in some way, and neither does nature show us any worldly examples of perfection.

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On Sun, 10 Dec 2023 22:59:23 -0000 (UTC)
D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> wrote:

All of man's creations are necessarily broken in some way, and
neither does nature show us any worldly examples of perfection.

You apparently haven't read MY code yet. And when my cat curls his tail
it is a Fibonacci spiral. Haha

But, seriously, I guess that's a good point

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On Sat, 2 Dec 2023 08:21:26 -0800 (PST)
fadden <fadden@fadden.com> wrote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple2/ is one possibility, though it's more

I don't like reddit that much either. I don't understand why it is so
popular.

Which facebook groups are you guys on? I'm on these:

Apple II Software Enthusiasts
8-Bit Programming & Engineering
BASIC Programming Language
Apple II - GameZone!
Apple II Enthusiasts
Apple IIe Enthusiasts

I don't think any of these are as good as this Usenet group. You guys
are the best! :-)

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On Tue, 12 Dec 2023 09:58:37 -0500
Bill Chatfield <bill_chatfield@yahoo.com> wrote:

Which facebook groups are you guys on? I'm on these:

I also highly recommend the Facebook group "Redheads". Haha :-) :-) :-)

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