Re: google groups (a little OT, I know...)

eawckyegcy_at_yahoo.com
Date: 12/09/04 

Date: 9 Dec 2004 12:46:01 -0800

starburst wrote:

> I never posted via google, so that wasn't a problem with me. I just
used
> it as a way to quickly get access to the insane wealth of knowledge
on
> usenet. You could type in anything and search all of the groups
> instantly... now it looks like I need to go and search in specific
> group's archives. Crap. I don't know the names of all the freakazoid
> groups out there. But if somebody posted info on techniques for aging

> blue cheese in alt.dingbat.flyingsaucer, or about stepper motor
wiring
> in rec.autos.trabant I could find it immediately. One of the reasons
why
> I don't use yahoo groups much is because their archive is almost
> impossible to find anything in. Now it looks like google's going the
> same way.

Yahoo groups are all moderated, suffering from the usual problems that
result. I don't think there is anything worthwhile there myself, but I
can be easily educated. (I managed to get booted out of the Vixen
Sphinx group because I was speaking the truth to a bunch of freaked out
goofs who thought Vixen was scamming them or something. I should have
known.)

About google groups: I don't know what you are talking about. The new
interface does everything the old one does as far as I can see. I
heard someone else complaining that you can't do author searches
anymore (a _wickedly_ useful feature for USENET), but the
"author:eawckyegcy@yahoo.com" and the like still work just fine. Maybe
this is because I am a command-line guy, and all the kvetching is from
people who don't know how to type?

Fantastic improvement in interactivity. One thing: if google says the
article was "not posted" because of an error, it actually was posted
(experienced by me a few days ago). This used to be a big problem with
the N hour delay, but now, you can just check in a few minutes to see.

My complaints are basically cosmetic. The new interface is more
"spread out" than the old. Same information quantity, but the density
has dropped. At least that is my perception. "Command line" searches
have bizarre defaults that don't seem to be saved. (Do an author
search and you have to click on "order by date" to get a sensible
list.)

Note that if you can't tolerate the new interface, you can try going in
through a regional google site. www.google.ca is one. At least for
the time being.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: GOOGLE and USENET
    ... groups must be prepared to accept users OTHER than the "net addicts". ... USENET GROUP nor do I intend to! ... Google does a lot of disservice by providing Usenet access with the ... When interacting with Usenet via the Google interface - and that is ...
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  • Re: Im at a loss for words, perhaps some in the group may be of help
    ... That is because you are probably viewing RMMGA via Google, which shows your Google profile if you have created one using your posting address. ... RMMGA itself is actually on USENET, which is a far older system than even the World Wide Web, the graphics interface created back in the early 90s. ... It functions as a bulletin board, basically, with threaded text posts and responses. ...
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  • Re: International Conference on the Phaistos Disk
    ... Usenet itself. ... How many active members of sci.lang post via Google? ... Because the Google interface is so slow, ... As for the disk. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: How to turn a positive transaction into a negative one
    ... There are thousands of other usenet archives besides Google ... and using Google is NOT the "dominant posting interface". ...
    (alt.marketing.online.ebay)
  • Re: RAID 1
    ... >> repeated context that also clutters the archives, ... I suppose I should have given up on usenet ... he didn't have google to help sift through the cruft and probably ... It shows parts of your 100 most recent posts with links to the full text ...
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