Science and Technology news... :: View topic - Comcast is pulling the plug on sci.engr.lighting

Jeff Engel · Guest

I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.

JB · Guest

"Jeff Engel" <searcher623@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:iLCdnX-F9dGP3njVnZ2dnUVZ_s3inZ2d@comcast.com...
[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s stingy
decision.
[/quote]
I use http://www.individual.net/
Been with them for years. Text only NGs but that>s fine with me.
*Highly* Recommended.

JB

Guest

Jeff Engel <searcher623@comcast.net> wrote:
[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
[/quote]
For the moment, Cox (my ISP) still provides news, so I use them.

Google Groups is IMHO marginally OK for reading news, but it>s no good
whatsoever for posting. It does allow you to post, but you have to be
very careful or your posts end up poorly formatted and hard to read.
For searching old posts, it>s almost the only game in town, and for that
it works pretty well.

I know a few other people that use the individual.net service that JB
mentioned and they seem to be quite happy with it.

There are other commercial Usenet providers; most of them are geared for
high-volume downloaders. Some of them do offer a really low-price plan
that is more than enough for text newsgroups, though.

This is probably becoming less common over time, but many universities
used to run their own news servers. If you have any kind of an
affiliation with one, you might check to see if you can get news access
that way.

Matt Roberds

Jeff Waymouth · Guest

I just got that little "love note" from Comcast, too.

Jeff Waymouth

Jeff Engel wrote:
[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.[/quote]

Andrew Gabriel · Guest

In article <cc-dnTnM_8boaHjVnZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
Jeff Waymouth <jfwaymouth3@comcast.net> writes:
[quote]I just got that little "love note" from Comcast, too.

Jeff Waymouth

Jeff Engel wrote:
I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.
[/quote]
Are they picking on this group in particular, or ceasing all news?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

RickR · Guest

On Oct 3, 12:50 am, mrobe...@worldnet.att.net wrote:
[quote]Jeff Engel <searcher...@comcast.net> wrote:
I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.

For the moment, Cox (my ISP) still provides news, so I use them.

Google Groups is IMHO marginally OK for reading news, but it>s no good
whatsoever for posting. It does allow you to post, but you have to be
very careful or your posts end up poorly formatted and hard to read.
For searching old posts, it>s almost the only game in town, and for that
it works pretty well.

I know a few other people that use the individual.net service that JB
mentioned and they seem to be quite happy with it.

There are other commercial Usenet providers; most of them are geared for
high-volume downloaders. Some of them do offer a really low-price plan
that is more than enough for text newsgroups, though.

This is probably becoming less common over time, but many universities
used to run their own news servers. If you have any kind of an
affiliation with one, you might check to see if you can get news access
that way.

Matt Roberds
[/quote]
I use Google Groups without trouble. Mostly because all I want to do
is read and a few simple posts like this one.

Someone has to foot the bill. For me it>s the advertisers on the right
side of my screen, trying to link up with content.

------------
RickR

Bill Brown · Guest

[quote]Jeff Engel wrote:
I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.
[/quote]
In another group, misc.taxes.moderated, someone suggested
news.motzarella.org. I gave it a try and it was quite easy to get set up.
There is no charge and I haven>t seen any advertisements. I have compared
them to news.newsfeeds.com (at about $5-6 per month) and they are within 1
message when compared after 24 hours. We>ll have to see how this posts.

-bill

--
Posted Via Newsfeeds.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Service
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.Newsfeeds.com

Jeff Waymouth · Guest

Their message said they were discontinuing newsgroup access. I believee
that meant to all newsgroups

Jeff Waymouth

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
[quote]In article <cc-dnTnM_8boaHjVnZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d@comcast.com>,
Jeff Waymouth <jfwaymouth3@comcast.net> writes:
I just got that little "love note" from Comcast, too.

Jeff Waymouth

Jeff Engel wrote:
I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.

Are they picking on this group in particular, or ceasing all news?
[/quote]

brucek · Guest

test using news.motzarella.org, thankyou very much Comcast
"Jeff Engel" <searcher623@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:iLCdnX-F9dGP3njVnZ2dnUVZ_s3inZ2d@comcast.com...
[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s stingy
decision.[/quote]

Jeff Engel · Guest

brucek wrote:
[quote]test using news.motzarella.org, thankyou very much Comcast
"Jeff Engel" <searcher623@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:iLCdnX-F9dGP3njVnZ2dnUVZ_s3inZ2d@comcast.com...
I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s stingy
decision.

Thanks for the motzarella tip. Comcast is dropping all news server[/quote]
access. I>m surprised they didn>t offer to continue it at a premium.
Only 2% of their customers use newgroups (their stat). With what we pay
for HD cable and internet service per month, a little bit of bandwidth
for newsgroups couldn>t be that costly.

Peter McMullin · Guest

On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:55:05 -0400, Jeff Engel
<searcher623@comcast.net> wrote:

[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.
[/quote]
I>ve used Teranews.Com for several years. Their service is excellent.
The "Free" account requires a $3.00 or so signup fee, and never any
charge after that. They also have paid subscriptions for higher
bandwidth, but I>ve never needed it.

I haven>t had an ISP with decent nntp service in years, so I think we
have to look at the dedicated services, like Teranews, Giganews,
news.Astraweb.com and the like.

-Peter
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

JeffLauderdale · Guest

Jeff Engel wrote:
[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.
Thanks for the tip on Motzarella. This is my first test post using it.[/quote]

Guest

On Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:47:45 -0400 Jeff Engel <searcher623@comcast.net> wrote:
| brucek wrote:
|> test using news.motzarella.org, thankyou very much Comcast
|> "Jeff Engel" <searcher623@comcast.net> wrote in message
|> news:iLCdnX-F9dGP3njVnZ2dnUVZ_s3inZ2d@comcast.com...
|>> I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
|>> especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
|>> Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s stingy
|>> decision.
|>
|>
| Thanks for the motzarella tip. Comcast is dropping all news server
| access. I>m surprised they didn>t offer to continue it at a premium.
| Only 2% of their customers use newgroups (their stat). With what we pay
| for HD cable and internet service per month, a little bit of bandwidth
| for newsgroups couldn>t be that costly.

It>s not the bandwidth that is the issue for Comcast. The issue is more
complex. Many ISPs have dropped, or never started, Usenet services due to
the cost of running the servers vs. the benefit. Consider in the case of
Comcast how many customers they will LOSE vs. the cost of running that
service few use. Then there is the legal issue of having all that porn,
including kiddie porn, that comes across certain alt groups, vs. the issue
that once they start picking and choosing groups, they open the gate to all
who will demand certain groups be blocked for various reasons.

So subscribe to a separate Usenet provider service and just treat Comcast
as the packet delivery means. Yes, your costs do go up if you choose a
provider that you pay for. Or maybe the quality goes down if you choose a
free provider. Either way, you>re still using Comcast bandwidth to get
there. And you>re using their peering pipes, too (where before you were
using their infrastructure to get to their servers).

A lot of Usenet users have moved on to web based forums. Many of them will
readily kick out the abusive people.

I have considered, and am still considering, starting up a "private" NNTP
service, which will NOT exchange with the Usenet world at all. The idea is
that it provides for a more private forum (where abusers can be more easily
blocked out) while still using the programs that access via NNTP like Usenet
uses. The big issue is how to pay for it. I wouldn>t do it to get rich,
but I also wouldn>t do it to get poor. So that means some kind of advertising
would have to be involved.

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |

Adam Aglionby · Guest

On 8 Oct, 18:19, phil-news-nos...@ipal.net wrote:
[quote]On Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:47:45 -0400 Jeff Engel <searcher...@comcast.net> wrote:| brucek wrote:

|> test using news.motzarella.org, thankyou very much Comcast
|> "Jeff Engel" <searcher...@comcast.net> wrote in message
|>news:iLCdnX-F9dGP3njVnZ2dnUVZ_s3inZ2d@comcast.com...
|>> I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
|>> especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
|>> Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s stingy
|>> decision.
|
|
| Thanks for the motzarella tip. Comcast is dropping all news server
| access. I>m surprised they didn>t offer to continue it at a premium.
| Only 2% of their customers use newgroups (their stat). With what we pay
| for HD cable and internet service per month, a little bit of bandwidth
| for newsgroups couldn>t be that costly.

It>s not the bandwidth that is the issue for Comcast. The issue is more
complex. Many ISPs have dropped, or never started, Usenet services due to
the cost of running the servers vs. the benefit. Consider in the case of
Comcast how many customers they will LOSE vs. the cost of running that
service few use. Then there is the legal issue of having all that porn,
including kiddie porn, that comes across certain alt groups, vs. the issue
that once they start picking and choosing groups, they open the gate to all
who will demand certain groups be blocked for various reasons.

So subscribe to a separate Usenet provider service and just treat Comcast
as the packet delivery means. Yes, your costs do go up if you choose a
provider that you pay for. Or maybe the quality goes down if you choose a
free provider. Either way, you>re still using Comcast bandwidth to get
there. And you>re using their peering pipes, too (where before you were
using their infrastructure to get to their servers).

A lot of Usenet users have moved on to web based forums. Many of them will
readily kick out the abusive people.

I have considered, and am still considering, starting up a "private" NNTP
service, which will NOT exchange with the Usenet world at all. The idea is
that it provides for a more private forum (where abusers can be more easily
blocked out) while still using the programs that access via NNTP like Usenet
uses. The big issue is how to pay for it. I wouldn>t do it to get rich,
but I also wouldn>t do it to get poor. So that means some kind of advertising
would have to be involved.

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |
[/quote]
Google groups here, has the advantages of holding the archive and
being accessible anywhere with only needing a browser for a client.
Usenet servers take more than just bandwidth to support, Blueyonder/
Telewest/Virgin, UK cable provider, had a couple of very dedicated
guys looking after their servers ,but big scsi discs are expensive on
a limited budget for something that fewer and fewer users are using.

Web forums are fine but moderation neccesarily adoptes the views of
the moderators, which isn`t always a good thing.

Mailing lists work to an extent but personally find a forum/usenet
type solution to be easier to navigate.

usenet ahs advantge of living archive not totally dependent on an
individual paying a server bill.

Adam

Chris Caputo · Guest

Jeff Engel <searcher623@comcast.net> writes:
[quote]I>d like to hear from posters about the way you access this group,
especially if it is through a server not affiliated with your ISP.
Also I>d like to know if many other of us are affected by Comcast>s
stingy decision.
[/quote]
Please check out my service - Altopia. https://www.altopia.com/

--
Chris Caputo
President, Altopia Corporation


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