Well after several months of forewarning and a ton of increased spam coming out of google groups, Google have de-peered from Usenet.

news.bbs.nz was (before they de-peered) rejecting from 25k messages from Google... there was so much spam etc... the server went from around 500k total messages handled per day and is now down to around 190k per day, a bifg drop.

So while some folks may no longer engage with Usenet via Google Groups it will be interesting to see how a post Google peered Usenet evolves. Will a quieter less spammy environment encourage more posts from those still active in Usenet? Will spammers look for new vectors to inject their dross?

While Usenet is a shadow of it's former text halcyon days of yesteryear it's still got legs, and for those who embrace it's resilient ethos, perhaps a future :)

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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Re: Google Groups + Usenet
By: Avon to All on Wed Feb 28 2024 22:18:28

Hi, Avon.

So while some folks may no longer engage with Usenet via Google Groups it will be interesting to see how a post Google peered Usenet evolves.

Interesting... I have only come back to newsgroups since I picked up BBS last year and I very nearly turned off all the newsgroups I was subscribed to because of the sheer volume of junk coming in from Google Groups.

A tentatively welcome decision from that point of view, hopefully there's enough "proper" interest to keep Usenet going to a useful degree.

BobW
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Avon wrote to All <=-

Well after several months of forewarning and a ton of increased spam coming out of google groups, Google have de-peered from Usenet.

news.bbs.nz was (before they de-peered) rejecting from 25k messages
from Google... there was so much spam etc... the server went from
around 500k total messages handled per day and is now down to around
190k per day, a bifg drop.

I have a couple of newsgroups on my BBS, pulled down from a news server
(not gated) and this morning was greeted with a couple of groups' worth
of messages with no spam. This could bode well.

I'm just looking forward to not seeing my BBS ads intended for a
fixed-width font displaying in Arial on a web page. :)


... Walk without rhythm and you won't attact the worm.
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Originally I had read that Google just got tired of keeping track of
something that people didn't use much anymore. I wasn't even sure if you
could post to Usenet using a Google account -thought it was just for
archiveal purposes. I actually found my way into BBS' after doing research through rec.arts.anime.misc. I shouldn't be surprised about the spam, though.

Newtype Len
www.SaturdayAnime.com


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
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I thought that google shut down their groups a couple of years ago. And I haven't been on usenet since the ISP's here in the US shut down their news servers. I really miss the *.bin groups.

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On 28 Feb 2024 at 10:57a, Bob Worm pondered and said...

Interesting... I have only come back to newsgroups since I picked up BBS last year and I very nearly turned off all the newsgroups I was
subscribed to because of the sheer volume of junk coming in from Google Groups.

A tentatively welcome decision from that point of view, hopefully there's enough "proper" interest to keep Usenet going to a useful degree.

Yep I guess time will tell.

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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On 28 Feb 2024 at 06:51a, poindexter FORTRAN pondered and said...

I have a couple of newsgroups on my BBS, pulled down from a news server
(not gated) and this morning was greeted with a couple of groups' worth
of messages with no spam. This could bode well.

That's good news, let's keep in touch with our impressions of what's going on over the coming weeks... it will be interesting to swap notes.

I'm just looking forward to not seeing my BBS ads intended for a
fixed-width font displaying in Arial on a web page. :)

Ha!

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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On 28 Feb 2024 at 08:59a, Newtype Len pondered and said...

Originally I had read that Google just got tired of keeping track of something that people didn't use much anymore. I wasn't even sure if you could post to Usenet using a Google account -thought it was just for archiveal purposes. I actually found my way into BBS' after doing
research through rec.arts.anime.misc. I shouldn't be surprised about the spam, though.

I was reading an interesting thread in one of the Usenet admin groups last night, the general consensus was the it was felt Google had lost interest in supporting / administering their connections to Usenet and Google Groups as well.

Google spins it as 'active usage of Usenet has reduced a lot over the years + increased spam = we're pulling our connection to it' I'm not sure that's a totally fair characterization of events.

Certainly in recent months spam ex Google Groups into Usenet was way up and that led a number of NNTP server admin (myself included) to block posts from Google Groups as 99% of the traffic coming into Usenet was just floods of spam. Google did not appear to do anything to address the spam and/or have people engaged to focus on Google Groups.

Good you found your way into BBS via Usenet... I know a few who have :)

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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On 28 Feb 2024 at 12:58p, Geri Atricks pondered and said...

I thought that google shut down their groups a couple of years ago. And
I haven't been on usenet since the ISP's here in the US shut down their news servers. I really miss the *.bin groups.

I'm not sure about Google usenet groups, but what I am referring to is the link to Usenet that was in place (bi-directional) with Google Groups... as users of GG could also read/post to Usenet groups via that pathway.

That's now read only, and no new inflow of Usenet since Google de-peered with the rest of the NNTP servers.

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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