Re: Curious (SBC)

Zeke wrote:
<ropeyarn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Those who use Google (as I do when traveling) to access newsgroups (whether its RMAS other others) complain regularly about the interface and the timeliness of updates.

Yea, the few times I've tried to use Google (when Comcast is having problems with their Usenet server, which is rare, but does happen occasionally) I was unimpressed with the interface. Ugly, slow, hard to read. Makes reading a newsgroup much more work than it's worth.

Comcast offers it's own newserver, and Outlook Express is a good reader. I suppose, if Comcast follows suit with the rest of these ISPs (they haven't, so far) I'll get me one of 'em fancy news-server services and a pantsy newsreader.

But 'til then, Comcast & OE are a nice combo.

As much of a relic as newsgroups may seem (they predate the WWW by many years; AOL gave them up long ago and other providers are dropping the binary groups in a hurry), they remain a great source for discussion --and answers-- on the arcane.

And for everybody in the world reading your posts, from now through eternity.

That's the thing that bugs me. I don't mind neighbors or old friends reading my posts. Hell, I welcome it. But nowadays prospective employers are Google crazy. And with the subject matters that we all talk about here, let's just say that a screen name and phoney email ID are mandatory nowadays, unless you never change jobs.

It didn't used to be that way. Backinnaday, you had to know about Giganews to call up a person's old posts. Thus, you knew that any HR Mgr "Giga'ing" you was also a Usenet fan. You were being checked out by someone who shared your enjoyment of good conversation. But nowadays any fool with a computer can dig up all your posts.

It's frustrating to realize that you could not get a job you were about to get, because some HR clerk who prolly has a lot worse things going on in his or her life than your Usenet participation, can (and they do!) reject you, after reading through some of your old Usenet posts. Frankly, I'm amazed that Google hasn't been sued over this issue yet.

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Q: What's the difference between Vietnam & Iraq?
A: Bush & Cheney knew how to get out of Vietnam.



Comcast oustources its news servers to Giganews...
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