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Model Forum / General / Models / April 2008Do we need a replacement group?
I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know droves of people leaving this and other Usenet groups. I also subscribe to a number of Yahoo groups. Even when posting itself is not moderated, there IS a moderator for each group. So far there has been no attacks of similar scale on these groups. Even if it does eventually occur, one can then switch to moderating all messages with a quick setting of options, unlike the "voting" process needed to do this with Usenet. There can also be moderating of who joins the list, and posting restricted to members only. So far, however, all of the Yahoo groups I participate in related to modeling are genre specific or limited in other ways. There is no group with the wide topics of discussion, which is why I stay with rms. I do not want to take on moderating another Yahoo group, as I already moderate two. But if anyone else would like to start a "scale modeling" group, that is- a very wide subject group, I would be happy to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators to be set up to help administer each group). On Apr 22, 6:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> wrote: > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators > to be set up to help administer each group). I would be willing to help with the moderating if we can get a consensus from the regulars on this board. We would need the support of everyone who hangs out here to make it worthwhile. > On Apr 22, 6:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > consensus from the regulars on this board. We would need the support > of everyone who hangs out here to make it worthwhile. I'm filtering out around 95% of the spam with News Proxy and it makes a big difference. You think rms has it bad, take a hike over to rec.woodworking. Something like a couple of hundred spam posts a day over there. I'm now beginning to consider a UDP on google groups, which is unfair on the legitimate guys who post from there to rms but enough is enough. on 4/22/2008 10:40 AM flak monkey said the following: > >> On Apr 22, 6:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > beginning to consider a UDP on google groups, which is unfair on the > legitimate guys who post from there to rms but enough is enough. I also subscribe to rec.woodworking. As a one-time woodworker, I just lurk mostly. Since my filters are set on my newsserver rather than each individual group, all my subscribed groups use the one set of filter rules, so I don't get 99% of the spam there, or on any other subscribed groups.  SignatureBill In Hamptonburgh, NY To email, remove the double zeroes after @ > I'm filtering out around 95% of the spam with News Proxy and it makes a big > difference. You think rms has it bad, take a hike over to rec.woodworking. > Something like a couple of hundred spam posts a day over there. I'm now > beginning to consider a UDP on google groups, which is unfair on the > legitimate guys who post from there to rms but enough is enough. How does one set up filters for this crap? I'vce never seen anything on the Usenet interface that would lead me to think there is a filter of any sort? I'm very near to scrapping my connection with most mailing lists and Usenet. The spam has increased dramatically everywhere. It's just not worth my time to wade through the mailing list messages any more. The spam comes from the same few sources everywhere I go. There must be a way to stop it, and there also must be a lot of money in sending it. > How does one set up filters for this crap? I'vce never seen anything > on the Usenet interface that would lead me to think there is a filter [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > I use the filters within my email/news reader Thunderbird. Grandpa John > On Apr 22, 6:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > - Show quoted text - Okay, but how? I come on two or three times a day, but I doubt that that would be enough to fight the spam if I was moderating. I think that it would be a big job. Might be easier to either start a Yahoo group or co-opt an existing one that has fallen into disuse. I belong to a bunch that haven't seen action in months, some cases years. By the same token, there isn't any spam there either. > > On Apr 22, 6:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> > > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > action in months, some cases years. By the same token, there isn't any > spam there either. There will be if the groups become active. I belong to several yahoo groups but even most of the active ones are slow, and frankly, often dull. Not to mention that in some cases the slightest off topic comment gets you banned or at least roundly cussed. I'd like to see RMS saved and the spammers booted, but it aint gonna happen. > There will be if the groups become active. > I belong to several yahoo groups but even most of the active ones are > slow, and frankly, often dull. Not to mention that in some cases the > slightest off topic comment gets you banned or at least roundly > cussed. Sounds incredibly uninteresting. I already hang around the board at Spotlight Hobbies (formerly Hobby Heaven). It's privately owned and run and you can't say things that might annoy the owner or harshly criticise a car model kit, aftermarket supplier or one of the other posters (I wouldn't savage a co-poster, anyway ;)). Off-topic subjects are frequent. I guess I go there to see other's models and the occasional reference material shown. When they stick to the models it is one of the better places for info, BUT, I like this format much better. > I'd like to see RMS saved and the spammers booted, but it aint gonna > happen. I'm wondering if it isn't tied into the Tibet mess. It seemed to take off around that time. Since little in China is done that the government doesn't know about, I wouldn't be surprised to find them behind it. Personally, I have no plans to watch any of the Olympics. That's partly because the Nothing But Crap network does such a miserable job on the ones I have watched and partially because I think holding the games there was about as bright as holding them in Berlin in '36. Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr. Just a point - moderation doesn't stop SPAM. It is trivially easy to forge approval of a message, and nasty programs *designed* to do bad things to newsgroups make it even easier. Getting a vote through with enough *participants* would be a problem at the moment, far less worrying about which way the vote would go. So, we'd have to get enough votes for "rec.models.scale.mod" to be created, then wait for it propagate, and so on. Changing groups to be moderated doesn't work. Cheers, Gary B-) Signature______________________________________________________________________________ Armful of chairs: Something some people would not know whether you were up them with or not - Barry Humphries I agree, something needs to be done or it's the end of newsgroups for me. My ISP doesn't provide newsgroup access so I took out an AstraNews subscription. Basically, if it is still like this when my quota runs out then I shan't be renewing. Cheers, Nigel >I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill >Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know >droves of people leaving this and other Usenet groups. Is there any way to automatically send spam back to the originator and clog up his server? Let his ISP kill him for originating the junk. : Is there any way to automatically send spam back to the originator and : clog up his server? Let his ISP kill him for originating the junk. Given that the most recent spate of spam has originated with Google, do you REALLY think you are going to clog Google? No, I did not think so either. Bruce Signature------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I like bad!" Bruce Burden Austin, TX. - Thuganlitha The Power and the Prophet Robert Don Hughes >I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. Usenet's dying, but it's not from spam. It's from lack of support and interest from ISPs. They and others would love for usenet to dry up and drive everything to web based forums where they can add our eyes to the ad streams. Probably accounts for the spam assault on usenet - drive us to look at the webside billboards. I did eGroups with other hobbies back when the web forums started to emerge and gain in popularity - they have their uses. But they have their issues as well. I saw many a group implode under the weight of the "Cult of Personality" that inevitably intrudes to any gathering of humans where members are less than on equal terms. But most groups just withered away from lack of interest. And yet no frills, black and white all-text usenet rolls on year after year. Granted this forum and a few others I frequent are nothing like their former selves. Traffic is way down from the heady years of 97 or so (God, was that really 10-11 years ago) when you'd have 250-300 posts per DAY. You can pitch as many reasons at Usenet as you can the hobby itself for the decline. 350 messages might be a week's worth now (not counting spam and trolls to stupid to realize they're thrashing about in the binaries group). I don't miss the 250-350 posts per day. I just miss guys like Al and others that are irreplaceable to the hobby and most importantly to RMS. Usnet for me is like picking up the newspaper off my front porch and sitting down and reading it with a cup of coffee. Admittedly, my laptop is more likely to be beside that cup of coffee these days when I'm getting the national news, but I also still get and read the newspaper. Despite the fact that Knight Ridder are just left of Karl Marx. I like to keep up on the small local stories, obits, etc. When it comes to national news I get that from the web. By the time the stories make news print it's stale by at least 24 hours. And when I'm thru reading and feel like writing long winded messages like this I choose usenet. ;-) Like I said, enjoy the simplicity of the usenet - where therre's none of those squiggly little passwords to enter in to prove you're not a web bot. No cookies, no ad streams, no silly alter ego profile pictures that are almost never an actual picture of the person, and no equally silly forum member or message rating systems. That's right, no 3 out of 5 tubes of glue for this post from MajorRevellWmB_2008. WmB >I did eGroups with other hobbies back when the web forums started to emerge >and gain in popularity - they have their uses. But they have their issues as [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >years of 97 or so (God, was that really 10-11 years ago) when you'd have >250-300 posts per DAY. Excellent post that recaps the Usenet. I participate in a political forum group too and there it suffers from trolls who come and go. But that newsgroup has lasted since the Usenet (25 years?) became popular. I like the Usenet text only format. None of the advertising crap. I practice and would really appreciate other posters making a habit of adding the date and URL to the source they are quoting. As for trolls and spam it is easy enough to recognize their names and email signature to ignore them. Their subject titles are also a dead giveaway "not to read." > You can pitch as many reasons at Usenet as you can >the hobby itself for the decline. 350 messages might be a week's worth now >(not counting spam and trolls to stupid to realize they're thrashing about >in the binaries group). I don't miss the 250-350 posts per day. I just miss >guys like Al and others that are irreplaceable to the hobby and most >importantly to RMS. I don't think so. My local IPMS chapter is bigger than ever with 20 to 30 per meeting. There was a time when a dozen was a good turn out and I did drop out for a few years. I was into other pursuits and there was also this "Cult of Personality" issue where anyone not in their group couldn't possibly have respectable modelling skills. >>I did eGroups with other hobbies back when the web forums started to emerge >>and gain in popularity - they have their uses. But they have their issues as [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] >there was also this "Cult of Personality" issue where anyone not in >their group couldn't possibly have respectable modelling skills. The forums are getting hit too. I am a moderator for a forum, and while the forum is indeed moderated we battle CONSTANTLY with spammers. The administrator has made so many modifications to the forum software to keep out literally hundreds of spambots becoming "new users" every day, and we've had to lock down the "guest" boards due to some especially vile graphic porn pics that one of the spambots posted. Some of our forum members are very young and we tend to be a bit protective of them, so we were horrified to find this on the forum one day. As of right now we've got it so that only approved members can post, and they have to be vetted before they are accepted as a member (I'd rather not give our secrets away by posting in more detail). We also have a toolkit that we use to clean out the spam memberships from time to time. The "membership" number increases until we empty the toolkit, but new members' names don't appear on the members list before they are accepted. It's not perfect, but it's the best we can do for now with the filtering limitations the forum software permits. Another disadvantage of forums vs. Usenet is that while Usenet posts come up on Google searches, most forum posts don't. Those modelers announcing kits for sale, auction etc. are going to lose the majority of their audience if they post only on the forum. Similarly, those modelers searching for kits, hobby shops in... (insert city), how-to tips etc. won't see the forum posts either. So each medium has its pluses and minuses. "PaPaPeng" <PaPaPeng@yahoo.com> wrote in message >> You can pitch as many reasons at Usenet as you can >>the hobby itself for the decline. 350 messages might be a week's worth now [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > there was also this "Cult of Personality" issue where anyone not in > their group couldn't possibly have respectable modelling skills. Apart from RMS there's very little social aspect to my modeling - I suffer in solitude. ;-) So it's always good to here that folks in different areas are working it better than me. My hunch is that over all the hobby is in decline. Kids just don't seem to to be into it as much as when I was a model brat. Video games - now that's alive and well by all estimates. Now whether more adults are modeling or not - I have no idea. Sounds like that could very well be the case from what your club is experiencing. That would be good for the hobby no doubt. Young or old, today's modeler appears to be on average far more sophisticated than in the past, and that might be a worthwhile trade off - taking models from the toy aisle exclusively to the craftsman's table. WmB Killfile the bastards I say, delete or simply ignore the posts. I personally do not use a killfile feature, I just read what is of interest to me and get rid of the spam or junk. However, if the group decides to go with a moderator, count me in, but don't have me sign in with a password and other secret society crap. Ray === > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know > droves of people leaving this and other Usenet groups. Snip On Apr 22, 1:11 pm, "Ray S. & Nayda Katzaman" <rs...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Killfile the bastards I say, delete or simply ignore the posts. I > personally do not use a killfile feature, I just read what is of interest [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Snip The problem with killfiles is that many of us have ISPs who no longer support Usenet, and so we cannot use newsreaders (unless we pay for a third party server provider). So we use a web interface, usually Google groups. on 4/23/2008 9:58 AM Don Stauffer in Minnesota said the following: > On Apr 22, 1:11 pm, "Ray S. & Nayda Katzaman" <rs...@sbcglobal.net> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > I pay about .20 cents a day for Supernews. SignatureBill In Hamptonburgh, NY To email, remove the double zeroes after @ On Apr 23, 9:21 am, willshak <wills...@00hvc.rr.com> wrote:> on 4/23/2008 9:58 AM Don Stauffer in Minnesota said the following:> > > > > On Apr 22, 1:11 pm, "Ray S. & Nayda Katzaman" <rs...@sbcglobal.net>> > wrote:> > >> Killfile the bastards I say, delete or simply ignore the posts. I> >> personally do not use a killfile feature, I just read what is of interest> >> to me and get rid of the spam or junk. However, if the group decides to> >> go with a moderator, count me in, but don't have me sign in with a> >> password and other secret society crap.> > >> Ray> >> ===> > >> Don Stauffer in Minnesota wrote:> > >>> I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill> >>> Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know> >>> droves of people leaving this and other Usenet groups.> > >> Snip> > > The problem with killfiles is that many of us have ISPs who no longer> > support Usenet, and so we cannot use newsreaders (unless we pay for a> > third party server provider). So we use a web interface, usually> > Google groups.> > I pay about .20 cents a day for Supernews.> > --> > Bill> In Hamptonburgh, NY> To email, remove the double zeroes after @- Hide quoted text -> > - Show quoted text -I know that spam, especially the bulk that this particular a.shole is peddling, is irritating, but is it really so damned hard to spend three or four seconds passing it over?Tom On Apr 23, 5:15 pm, "maies...@netscape.com" <maies...@netscape.com> wrote: > On Apr 23, 9:21 am, willshak <wills...@00hvc.rr.com> wrote:> on > 4/23/2008 9:58 AM Don Stauffer in Minnesota said the following:> > > >> On Apr 22, 1:11 pm, "Ray S. & Nayda Katzaman" <rs...@sbcglobal.net>> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > particular a.shole is peddling, is irritating, but is it really so > damned hard to spend three or four seconds passing it over?Tom It's just that some days you can't find an on topic post between all the spam postings. It's damn annoying... On Apr 22, 9:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> wrote: > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators > to be set up to help administer each group). Many years ago, someone invited me to join their Yahoo group called Armorholics. I joined and was made a moderator, but it is basically a free, but unused armor modeling site. I offer it up to anyone who wants to take it over as a successor to RMS. Or if someone wants to see how that Yahoo group is formed and can create an RMS group using the Armorholics site as a template. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARMORHOLICS/ RobG > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators > to be set up to help administer each group). How do you set filters in thunderbird to stop most of the spam I have alwasy likes RMS and would not like to see it die > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators > to be set up to help administer each group). How do you set filters in thunderbird to stop most of the spam I have alwasy likes RMS and would not like to see it die on 4/22/2008 8:50 PM John Geigle masterpiecemodels said the following: >> I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill >> Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > How do you set filters in thunderbird to stop most of the spam > I have alwasy likes RMS and would not like to see it die My Thunderbird filters set under Tools - Message Filters - Filter Name, sneakers, etc. - Match any of the following: condition="OR (subject,contains,paypal accept) OR (subject,contains,handbag) OR (subject,contains,shoes) OR (subject,contains,wallet) OR (from,contains,163.com) OR (subject,contains,sneakers) OR (subject,contains,mens watch) OR (subject,contains,womens watch) OR (subject,contains,ladies watch) OR (subject,contains,paypal accept) OR (from,contains,replica) OR (subject,contains,sexy) OR (from,contains,.cn) (China country code = .cn) SignatureBill In Hamptonburgh, NY To email, remove the double zeroes after @ one - block all incoming news from groups.google.com two - block all messages with one of the following words in the title, jeans, sneakers, watch and its gone. We have similar problems at work with spam and phishers - and the IT guys apply appropriate filters - and bang its gone. There should be some kind of a tool to delete unwanted messages, in outlook its under tools pulldown then Message rules. Eventually legimate users will abandon google - followed by the spamers - Val Kraut > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators > to be set up to help administer each group). I access r.m.s. via my isp (Comcast) using my email program (Outlook Express). I don't personally find the multitude of spam postings that troublesome -- I just ignore them. What I do find bothersome is the ratio of spam postings to legitimate modeling postings. Sorta like in a garden: if there are enough flowers, it's easier to ignore a few weeds; but a dearth of flowers makes the weeds disproportionately obvious. With absolutely no disrespect to the fine modelers who still post to r.m.s., it seems as if many have migrated to other forums, especially the ones at HyperScale and Aircraft Resource Center. I confess that I check out Plane Talking at HyperScale more often than r.m.s. these days because there is always a lot more (sometimes) useful modeling discussion going on. I don't know what factors precipitated the migration. Did people get sick of the vitriolic flame wars? Did accessing newsgroups become more difficult? Whatever the reasons, I think the biggest threat to r.m.s. is not the spam but the dwindling of useful, model-related postings. As in so many other institutions, it's all about the people. What can we do to lure people back and/or attract new posters? Pip Moss > Whatever the reasons, I think the biggest threat to r.m.s. is not the spam > but the dwindling of useful, model-related postings. As in so many other > institutions, it's all about the people. What can we do to lure people back > and/or attract new posters? > > Pip Moss But I believe the diminishing number of posts IS a result of people leaving the group. I know several who used to subscribe but have moved to web-based forums. Fewer people, fewer posts. >> Whatever the reasons, I think the biggest threat to r.m.s. is not the spam >> but the dwindling of useful, model-related postings. As in so many other [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >leaving the group. I know several who used to subscribe but have moved >to web-based forums. Fewer people, fewer posts. I think is more related to Iraq. It may be cool for old geezers like us to refight WWII and the Korean and Vietnam Wars with all that fancy WWII and early post WWII hardware. Iraq I and Iraq II were no contests. With the quagmire and moral ambiguity of Iraq II it is no longer cool to shoot up the natives. Models issued for these wars don't sell I noticed. Magazine pretty much avoid glamorizing anything associated with Iraq I and II. So its back to us reliving stuff from 40 and more years ago and there's only so many of those models you want to do. The young folks no longer want war and war machines, not if you can't package them into video games. > On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:17:02 -0700 (PDT), Don Stauffer in Minnesota > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > want to do. The young folks no longer want war and war machines, not > if you can't package them into video games. I may be in a minority but I build civil models more than military anyway, like racing cars, commercial ships, trucks, etc. I know there are a fair number of car builders still in the group. And even when I do build military airplanes, WW1 is my most popular genre, with golden age (1920-1939) a close second. Now, maybe you are right, and that is why I stick with the group. Dunno. > Did people get sick of the vitriolic flame wars? Did accessing newsgroups become more difficult? I used to read rms and post hear almost daily, but the constant, pointless and stupid flamewars drove me away. The SPAM doesn't help either, even though I have pretty good filters and killfiles. > What can we do to lure people back and/or attract new posters? I'm not sure there is much that can be done to save RMS. A general purpose board would be great, but it would probably have to be web based and NOT Ad infected like Yahoo. There aren't many modelers out there anymore, and most already go to the various niche sites - Hyperscale, ARC, Modeling Madness, Armorama, SteelNavy, Modelwarships, Starship Modeler, etc. If you want a generic board, Hobbytalk and the Finescale Modeler both fit the bill and are moderated. SignatureFrank Henriquez Programmer/Analyst Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA frank@ucla.edu http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/index.htm > in article a291f107-db21-4ff0-87fb-d3064a800...@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com, > Don Stauffer in Minnesota at stauf...@usfamily.net wrote on 4/22/08 9:57 AM: [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > > - Show quoted text - Hey Pip, good to "see" you again, been about 3+ yrs. I think migration to other forums is what the actual cause of death was. There are several benefits to other forums: 1. They can be genre specific. The car modelers post at car sites, ship modelers at ship sites, armor modelers at armor sites, etc. So a member doesn't have to look at posts from areas he has little interest in. 2. Most forums allow for the insertion of photos. That allows modelers to post their work and get almost immediate feedback. They can also post photos to backup the written information when answering questions or requesting references. 3. Moderators help keep topics on track and try to defuse flame wars (although flame wars still exist on moderated forums). Habitual flame war starters are often banned and sent packing. 4. Lack of Spammers. Their topics are normally deleted and removed from sight. I think it is just a case of the internet evolving and becoming more multi-functional. RobG > > in article a291f107-db21-4ff0-87fb-d3064a800...@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com, > > Don Stauffer in Minnesota at stauf...@usfamily.net wrote on 4/22/08 9:57 AM: [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > > RobG Actually, the reason I LOVE this group is that it is NOT genre specific. I model virtually ALL genres, so subscribing to this group allows me to cover all bases with one group. Plus, tips on paints, glues, airbrushes, etc. apply to all genre. I did not see an overwhelming support to the creation of a scale model group, so laying that idea aside. However, one of the other groups I subscribe to has a member that is somehow converting all the spam messages- the ones with the big, long, full-paragraph subject lines, so that the subject lines just say "spam". This makes it easier to scroll through. I have no idea how he does it, but it actually appears that way in the group subject list. In my previous post I suggested to killfile the bastards or just ignore them. Well, for those other readers/posters that have problems with their ISPs dropping newsgroup, especially the binary groups, here is a suggestion. I use NetScape (NS) as my news reader and MS Explorer as the ISP (thru AT&T), specifically versions 4.2 - it is (I think) the third version of NS. It is a bit slow, and you get the gamut of spam and other crap, but it is free, I have been using it since I started reading groups around 1998 (wow, that long!). It has the regular filters albeit a bit arcane, but they are there. Go to the NS web page and follow the links to the downloadable versions - if not, go to Google and enter NetScape Version 4.2. Hope this helps those that have to pay for viewing the newsgroups. Ray === > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know > droves of people leaving this and other Usenet groups. SNIP. > In my previous post I suggested to killfile the bastards or just ignore > them. Well, for those other readers/posters that have problems with their [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Ray > === Netscape 4.7 here and I'd still be using 3.0 if W98 allowed it. I have a crapload of rms info on this computer but it's sealed in the little cut-off universe of 3.0 thanks to the last upgrade before the new computer. Putting google groups into the filter seems to have cleared up the spam - or I haven't gotten far enough down the list yet. Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr. >> In my previous post I suggested to killfile the bastards or just ignore >> them. Well, for those other readers/posters that have problems with their [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr. I switched to Seamonkey after NS went browser only, and am happy with it. Signature- Rufus On Apr 22, 9:57 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauf...@usfamily.net> wrote: > I am wondering if the flood of spam is going to basically kill > Usenet. It is happening to ALL the newsgroups I subscribe to. I know [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > to help, and maybe co-moderate (Yahoo allows a number of co-moderators > to be set up to help administer each group). ========================================================= Hi. I read the responses to this with interest. I don not think the spammers will*KILL* the groups but they will cubt down on knew members and possibly activity by those who access these groups from Google. Put yourself in a Newbie's shoes for a moment. Some one tells you about these groups or you discover them for yourself whilst browsing on the web. You think to yourself, "Yippee! Just whay I've been looking for!" You then visit a group and discover page after page of spam and/or off-topic posts. You are very disappointed. Are you likely to join that group? I do not think so. Many times recently I have reached this group via Google only to find five or more pages of spam (50+ messages) and perhaps two or three modelling related threads. MAny times those threads have been hijacked and are illed with post completely unrelated to the question or topic in the header. A good feature of these groups is that replies can be much faster than on a moderated forum even if the forum has a number of moderators. The problem with forums is how many times a day (if you are lucky) do the moderators check for new messages. Any worthwhile forum or group will require registration and a password in an effort to cut down on spammers. I moderate and also run a couple of Yahoo modelling groups. A big advantage of these is that you can *BAN* a spammer. It they try rejoining under a new identity it is disallowed. Another advantage to Yahoo groups and some forums is that you can post images *WITH* your posts. Those viewing your post to not have to go elsewhere to look at an image you are using to illustrate a question or a response. However, as has been mentioned, many of these forums and groups have a narrow field of what they consider on-topic posts. Perhaps that is in part because they do not want some one to post a query seeking help and then get only off-topic replies - which btw is another source of annoyance for many. I post queries here *BECAUSE* the potential responders form such a wide pol of knowledge and because responses are some times quicker. Since I do not have a dedicated newsreader nor have I been able to figure out how to set up Outlook Express t read the newsgroups I have drifted mostly to Yahoo groups and then to forums for help. Cheers from Peter : Another advantage to Yahoo groups and some forums is that you can : post images *WITH* your posts. You can always provide an HTML link to your photos in a post. People can then look at the link or not. Given the potential for "things" to be delivered by a specially crafted .jpg or such, I'll let others vet the link for me. :-) Then again, I doubt the spammers would get me with a windows exploit anyway... Bruce Signature------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I like bad!" Bruce Burden Austin, TX. - Thuganlitha The Power and the Prophet Robert Don Hughes Is it just me or is our Chinese a.shole friend missing today?Maybe his lead poisoning is acting up. :-)TomOn Apr 24, 7:41 pm, bruc...@realtime.net (Bruce Burden) wrote:> TankBuild...@yahoo.ca wrote:> > :> : Another advantage to Yahoo groups and some forums is that you can> : post images *WITH* your posts.> :> You can always provide an HTML link to your photos in a> post. People can then look at the link or not. Given the> potential for "things" to be delivered by a specially crafted> .jpg or such, I'll let others vet the link for me. :-)> > Then again, I doubt the spammers would get me with a windows> exploit anyway...> > Bruce> --> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > "I like bad!" Bruce Burden Austin, TX.> - Thuganlitha> The Power and the Prophet> Robert Don Hughes <Is it just me or is our Chinese a.shole friend missing today?Maybe his <lead poisoning is acting up. :-)TomOn Apr 24, 7:41 pm, Ahhhh...and I thought my finely crafted "blocked senders" list was finally starting to kick in :-( Still, it's pleasent to see a relatively clear field of posts, whatever the cause :-) Doug Day two without our jack-off.May be he's out trying to corner the rice market. :-)MAy he choke on it.TomOn Apr 25, 9:51 am, "Doug Wagner" <first.l...@verizon.net> wrote:> <maies...@netscape.com> wrote in message> > news: 94f252af-5f80-4a7c-87ba-182cc5ac51d9@b5g2000pri.googlegroups.com...> <Is it just me or is our Chinese a.shole friend missing today?Maybe his> <lead poisoning is acting up. :-)TomOn Apr 24, 7:41 pm,> > Ahhhh...and I thought my finely crafted "blocked senders" list was finally> starting to kick in :-(> Still, it's pleasent to see a relatively clear field of posts, whatever the> cause :-)> > Doug : Day two without our jack-off.May be he's out trying to corner the rice : market. :-) Maybe the goog folks took my suggestion and blocked anything the comes from the "watchesblog.cn" domain. Bruce Signature------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I like bad!" Bruce Burden Austin, TX. - Thuganlitha The Power and the Prophet Robert Don Hughes First, I'll apologize if this double or triple posts. When I hit th "submit" button it says it didn't work, and it doesn't show on my list o submitted posts. Sometimes it takes a bit to show up. That said, I'l try it one more time. There's a new moderated group that might be o interest. It's loosely based on StarshipModeler, and it's categorized bu not genre specific. It might be worth a look and we can let the spammer have RMS to deliver the Coup de gras. http://modeling.mybb3.org/index.ph - Message posted using http://www.talkaboutcrafting.com/group/rec.models.scale More information at http://www.talkaboutcrafting.com/faq.htm |
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