If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
I am a Verizon Online (DSL) subscriber and have just read their
announcement, quoted befow verbatim:- ================================================== ============== Dear Verizon Online Customer, As a Verizon Newsgroup service user, we wanted to let you know about some important changes that we will soon be making to our Newsgroup service. On June 24, 2008, we will be modifying our Newsgroup offerings to only offer groups in the Big-8 Newsgroup hierarchies, which are listed below. The 0.verizon.* newsgroup hierarchy will also continue to be available. Users will not be able to post or download from any other newsgroups using our Newsgroup service. comp.* humanities.* misc.* news.* rec.* sci.* soc.* talk.* More details regarding the Big 8 newsgroup hierarchies is available at: http://www.big-8.org/. This change will not affect your Internet access service. If you would like to subscribe to newsgroups other than those we offer, you will need to subscribe to a separate commercial news service. Please note that your use of any such service is still subject to our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. There are no changes required to your software, but you will need to unsubscribe from all Newsgroups other than the Big 8 hierarchies and the 0.verizon.* hierarchy noted above. The following link explains how to subscribe and unsubscribe in Outlook Express: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/171190 IMPORTANT: If you continue to subscribe to unsupported newsgroups, you may experience poor computer performance and slow throughput speeds. Failure to unsubscribe may also interfere with the functioning of the Verizon network or use of the network by other Verizon users, which is a violation of our Acceptable Use Policy. We appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to serve you in the future. Sincerely, Verizon Online ================================================== ==== Since the only alt. groups to which I subscribe are computer/console hardware-related, this is not particularly discomforting for me. There are alternate forums for such discussions. However, I sympathise with those who subscribe to many of the (non-porn) social groups. Verizon could have easily implemented fiters for the few dozen "nasties" (sex/porn, binaries, etc ) in the many thousands of alt. newsgroups. A sledgehammer to crack a nut.... However, for me there is also the practical problem of replying to postings that may also have been crossposted to alt. groups. To comply fully with the "IMPORTANT" paragraph in Verizon's directive, I believe I will have to manually check the reply-header of all my replies to eliminate any reference to the alt. domain if present. Thanks Verizon for nothing. Verizon provides me a near fault-free service with no bandwidth caps or erratic upload bandwidth, so I have no real inclination to change ISP providers. So, I say farewell to a couple of my favorite alt. groups unless Verizon has a change of heart stimulated by pocket-book considerations (which I doubt) John Lewis |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
Sounds like time to subscribe to ALL newsgroups they don't make available.
"John Lewis" wroted... IMPORTANT: Failure to unsubscribe may also interfere with the functioning of the Verizon network or use of the network by other Verizon users |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
It isn't just Verizon. There is a big list of the major ISP's doing
the same thing. This will eventually kill off Usenet since Usenet is not based on central servers but is distributed across multiple ISP newsgroup servers. This was part of the strength of using it to distribute pirate binaries since shutting out one point only meant a piece of the whole file was lost for awhile until it would be picked up at another point. Now, if all the major ISP's agree to not carry those pieces, then those groups eventually dry up and disappear. The only problem is that it will probably start taking down other non- related newsgroups. Usenet has been dying for years anyway. It used to be the place for historical computer events a long time ago. Google groups has a reference showing historical computer events that happened on. This is one list of firsts that happened on Usenet: http://yak.net/fqa/297.html |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:22:03 -0400, Folk wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:45:34 GMT, (John Lewis) wrote: Verizon provides me a near fault-free service with no bandwidth caps or erratic upload bandwidth, so I have no real inclination to change ISP providers [...] So, I say farewell to a couple of my favorite alt. groups.. I never understood people who based their ISP decisions on the quality of their Usenet service. Most folks long ago wised up and went with a third-party email service so that changing ISP's or crappy ISP related mail service wasn't a big issue, so why don't they do the same with Usenet? If all you're interested in is text based groups, then there are scores of independent Usenet providers who can hook you up for next to nothing. Even premium Usenet provider who offer all the groups and no download limits (or at least reasonable download limits) can be had for around $10/month. I switched to Giganews years ago, but I also use it for binaries. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
"Mr.E Solved!" wrote in message
. .. Folk wrote: On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:45:34 GMT, (John Lewis) wrote: Verizon provides me a near fault-free service with no bandwidth caps or erratic upload bandwidth, so I have no real inclination to change ISP providers [...] So, I say farewell to a couple of my favorite alt. groups.. I never understood people who based their ISP decisions on the quality of their Usenet service. Most folks long ago wised up and went with a third-party email service so that changing ISP's or crappy ISP related mail service wasn't a big issue, so why don't they do the same with Usenet? If all you're interested in is text based groups, then there are scores of independent Usenet providers who can hook you up for next to nothing. Even premium Usenet provider who offer all the groups and no download limits (or at least reasonable download limits) can be had for around $10/month. By your logic ISPs should not even offer email, nor should anyone pick an ISP based on their email service.. since you can get email at any third party provider. Regardless of the breach of contract by cutting out an enumerated service, regardless of the same old witch-hunt war-cry of child-sex vagaries, this is an attack on the free exchange of information. Not everyone has the same priorities as you Folk, nor do they roll over as easily when they tell you you're in for a rogering. Tell us Folk, what services exactly should ISPs provide for the end user? Just what the name says; Internet Service Provider. Everything else is a bonus. For email and web page I use 1&1. For usenet I use a couple of free ones and Supernews.. Dave T |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
Dave (The Other) wrote:
"Mr.E Solved!" wrote in message . .. Folk wrote: On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:45:34 GMT, (John Lewis) wrote: Verizon provides me a near fault-free service with no bandwidth caps or erratic upload bandwidth, so I have no real inclination to change ISP providers [...] So, I say farewell to a couple of my favorite alt. groups.. I never understood people who based their ISP decisions on the quality of their Usenet service. Most folks long ago wised up and went with a third-party email service so that changing ISP's or crappy ISP related mail service wasn't a big issue, so why don't they do the same with Usenet? If all you're interested in is text based groups, then there are scores of independent Usenet providers who can hook you up for next to nothing. Even premium Usenet provider who offer all the groups and no download limits (or at least reasonable download limits) can be had for around $10/month. By your logic ISPs should not even offer email, nor should anyone pick an ISP based on their email service.. since you can get email at any third party provider. Regardless of the breach of contract by cutting out an enumerated service, regardless of the same old witch-hunt war-cry of child-sex vagaries, this is an attack on the free exchange of information. Not everyone has the same priorities as you Folk, nor do they roll over as easily when they tell you you're in for a rogering. Tell us Folk, what services exactly should ISPs provide for the end user? Just what the name says; Internet Service Provider. Everything else is a bonus. For email and web page I use 1&1. For usenet I use a couple of free ones and Supernews.. Got my vote. My ISP is embroiled in the phorm row you may have heard of. They'll intercept and look at everything I do in order to serve me targeted advertsising... and call this a service improvement!! I'd like an ISP who just gives me a (private) gateway to the net. What I do with that is my own business. If I need any other service then I'll find it. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:37:34 -0400, "Mr.E Solved!"
wrote: Folk wrote: On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:45:34 GMT, (John Lewis) wrote: Verizon provides me a near fault-free service with no bandwidth caps or erratic upload bandwidth, so I have no real inclination to change ISP providers [...] So, I say farewell to a couple of my favorite alt. groups.. I never understood people who based their ISP decisions on the quality of their Usenet service. Most folks long ago wised up and went with a third-party email service so that changing ISP's or crappy ISP related mail service wasn't a big issue, so why don't they do the same with Usenet? If all you're interested in is text based groups, then there are scores of independent Usenet providers who can hook you up for next to nothing. Even premium Usenet provider who offer all the groups and no download limits (or at least reasonable download limits) can be had for around $10/month. By your logic ISPs should not even offer email, nor should anyone pick an ISP based on their email service.. since you can get email at any third party provider. Regardless of the breach of contract by cutting out an enumerated service, regardless of the same old witch-hunt war-cry of child-sex vagaries, this is an attack on the free exchange of information. Not everyone has the same priorities as you Folk, nor do they roll over as easily when they tell you you're in for a rogering. Tell us Folk, what services exactly should ISPs provide for the end user? Looks like a couple of people already provided the answer that you already knew (based on my post ) that I would provide. My main point though is that using third-party providers for email and Usenet insulates you from the eventual ISP change. Some people put up with crappy ISP service because "it's too much of a hassle to change my email address". To me, that's not a valid reason. It just seems odd to me that the OP would bid farewell to a newsgroup just because his ISP decided to do something stupid. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
FYI: Verizon are jerks.... eliminating the .alt groups
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:43:50 -0400, Folk wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:37:34 -0400, "Mr.E Solved!" wrote: Folk wrote: On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:45:34 GMT, (John Lewis) wrote: Verizon provides me a near fault-free service with no bandwidth caps or erratic upload bandwidth, so I have no real inclination to change ISP providers [...] So, I say farewell to a couple of my favorite alt. groups.. I never understood people who based their ISP decisions on the quality of their Usenet service. Most folks long ago wised up and went with a third-party email service so that changing ISP's or crappy ISP related mail service wasn't a big issue, so why don't they do the same with Usenet? If all you're interested in is text based groups, then there are scores of independent Usenet providers who can hook you up for next to nothing. Even premium Usenet provider who offer all the groups and no download limits (or at least reasonable download limits) can be had for around $10/month. By your logic ISPs should not even offer email, nor should anyone pick an ISP based on their email service.. since you can get email at any third party provider. Regardless of the breach of contract by cutting out an enumerated service, regardless of the same old witch-hunt war-cry of child-sex vagaries, this is an attack on the free exchange of information. Not everyone has the same priorities as you Folk, nor do they roll over as easily when they tell you you're in for a rogering. Tell us Folk, what services exactly should ISPs provide for the end user? Looks like a couple of people already provided the answer that you already knew (based on my post ) that I would provide. My main point though is that using third-party providers for email and Usenet insulates you from the eventual ISP change. Some people put up with crappy ISP service because "it's too much of a hassle to change my email address". To me, that's not a valid reason. A very valid reason actually, for those of us who have long-term memorable email addresses and excellent spam filters. It just seems odd to me that the OP would bid farewell to a newsgroup just because his ISP decided to do something stupid. Traffic on the particular alt. (computer/console-hardware) groups to which I subscribe has shrunk significantly over the past year or two, so the loss to me is not great and there are other forums available in which I actively participate. The Verizon decision to eliminate ALL alt. groups from their newservers instead of selectively filtering well-known culprit-groups - a technically trivial task - bears the hall-marks of a truly arrogant company that does not put their customers first. John Lewis |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Gateway jerks charging me for System Recovery Disk | Ablang | Gateway Computers | 2 | January 17th 08 03:13 PM |
Matrox & Asus Being Jerks! P4C800-E Dlx + P650/P750 Fails During Boot! | Rapu Rapala | Asus Motherboards | 13 | April 5th 04 07:11 AM |
Matrox & Asus Being Jerks! P4C800-E Dlx + P650/P750 Fails During Boot! | Rapu Rapala | Matrox Videocards | 10 | April 5th 04 07:11 AM |
Matrox & Asus Being Jerks! P4C800-E Dlx + P650/P750 Fails During Boot! | Rapu Rapala | Matrox Videocards | 2 | April 5th 04 05:20 AM |
Eliminating Windows XP Log On Box! - Help! | Denzil and Michelle Hathway | Gateway Computers | 1 | January 24th 04 06:02 PM |