What's happened to this NG?

[Rthoreau]

On 19 Jan 2007 10:09:52 -0800, Rthoreau wrote:



I use the same username and password on every forum - no problem.

So if someone uses social engineering and finds one of your forums
passwords you will be power owned! Or if someone has access to your
computer they could do the same. I usually try to lurk for a while,
then if the forum seems like a good place to post I join in. In fact
some forums I have lurked for years, it makes it easier if you can post
without signing up. I normally find that forums are good places to find
information about people. For instance if you have a forum that has IRC
presence and users use the same nick as the forums you can find a boat
load of information. But of course google groups does a remarkable good
job as well.

But we probably knew that already if a person is paranoid, forums and
Usenet is not the right place to be, that goes for signatures as well.

Rthoreau

 

[Art]

What an excellent plug for your site, I am surprised not more people
are plugging their favorite forum! I mean this thread could almost be
trollish in this regard.

The only problem I have about forums, is all the passwords you need to
keep up with, yeah I know that your browser, wm can store them but if
you reinstall, or clear out your cookies, and don't remember your
passwords your in trouble. Maybe I will have to take a gander over to
the forums, readup on guest policy.

I use an iD Vault. It's a little USB thing that stores all my logins and
passwords (encrypted, like a smart card). I click the URL under "Secure
Favorites" in my browser and it asks me for my iD Vault pin. Then signs me
in. I have about 40 sites and forums in there and only have to remember my
pin. Handy little device if you like to visit lots of forums and sites but
hate trying to remember/lookup the various logins and passwords. It
attaches to a key ring and cannot be used by anyone that doesn't know the
pin so if you lose it, no one steals your stuff. You can also back it up to
a secure drive or another iD Vault in case you lose it. I know this sounds
like a commercial but I do not work for the company that makes it (I'm not
sure which company does).

I just buy so much stuff that doesn't work (DLink Internet Security) it is
very refreshing and energizing when something actually works out of the box.

Newegg sells them for $29.00.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832731001

I haven't checked the prices anywhere else. I just ordered my 2nd one for
my wife as she visits lots of sites that requires logins and it always seems
they have different login and password requirements.

HTH,

Art

 

[Rthoreau]

/


Hmm, could I ask what's the story behind that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/September-that-never-ended.html

This is a link to one of the first posts I made using this nick.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....003/a3bfde6c240d2fe0?q=rthoreau&lnk=ol&hl=en&

I have other nicks that are in use before that one, but I will leave it
up to the industrious to find my first net post! Not that it really
matters, as lots of folks have been on for longer, I just thought it
was a good aside to discussion about September.

Rthoreau

 

[The little lost angel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/September-that-never-ended.html

This is a link to one of the first posts I made using this nick.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....003/a3bfde6c240d2fe0?q=rthoreau&lnk=ol&hl=en&

I have other nicks that are in use before that one, but I will leave it
up to the industrious to find my first net post! Not that it really
matters, as lots of folks have been on for longer, I just thought it
was a good aside to discussion about September.

Ah thanks! Although unfortunately, if my memory serves me correctly, I
might had started participating in NG in the year of the eternal Sep
pPp

 

[Oliver Nowak]

Franc Zabkar wrote:

I refuse to accept that people *prefer* slow, moderated, ad infested
web forums, it's just that they are unaware of the alternative.

Yet I've also seen (commercial) web sites who *dared* to offer a
*threaded* discussion board (i.e. posts being organized in a tree
structure) being shouted down by rabid supporters of the UBB/phpBB
model who woudn't give up until they had their souped-up guestbook-like
forum.

O.

 

[Pipboy]

So if someone uses social engineering and finds one of your forums
passwords you will be power owned! Or if someone has access to your
computer they could do the same. I usually try to lurk for a while,
then if the forum seems like a good place to post I join in. In fact
some forums I have lurked for years, it makes it easier if you can post
without signing up. I normally find that forums are good places to find
information about people. For instance if you have a forum that has IRC
presence and users use the same nick as the forums you can find a boat
load of information. But of course google groups does a remarkable good
job as well.

But we probably knew that already if a person is paranoid, forums and
Usenet is not the right place to be, that goes for signatures as well.

Rthoreau

I said I use the same username and password for web forums and not anything
else.

 

[David Kanter]

What an excellent plug for your site, I am surprised not more people
are plugging their favorite forum! I mean this thread could almost be
trollish in this regard.

You asked where people went, and I answered for the case of two folks
who read here.

The only problem I have about forums, is all the passwords you need to
keep up with, yeah I know that your browser, wm can store them but if
you reinstall, or clear out your cookies, and don't remember your
passwords your in trouble. Maybe I will have to take a gander over to
the forums, readup on guest policy.

Now I'll shamelessly plug my forum: we dont' require usernames or
passwords : )

DK

 

[Sebastian Kaliszewski]

Dean and I both comment rather regularly in the forums at
www.realworldtech.com. You'll probably find a lot of folks from the
comp.arch newsgroup there too, although some are in lurking mode.

I can't really speak for anyone else.

If only that formu was not so horribly sloooowwwww...

rgds
\SK

 

[Scott Alfter]

So if someone uses social engineering and finds one of your forums
passwords you will be power owned!

As long as you're not also using the same password for stuff that matters
(like email or financial stuff), I don't see that as a huge problem. In the
big picture, forums aren't that important.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

 

[David Kanter]

If only that formu was not so horribly sloooowwwww...

We're working on fixing it!

DK

 

[gaffo]

: The Lone Gunman wrote:
::: On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:23:57 +0100, The Lone Gunman wrote:
:::
:::: Just a lurker here wondering why posts have dropped to
:::: nearly zero in this group....what a damn shame. :-(
:::
::: It's not just this group, just about all discussion groups
::: are dropping in post count and it's because many people
::: prefer web forums. HardOCP forum is much more interesting
::: than this newsgroup and covers the same subject matter.
::
:: LOL! Web forums suck...the WWWait sucks. Usenet will always
:: rule....you don't have much of clue, do you?
:
: What's Usenet!
:
: That is the answer I get more and more often. I think that a
: lot of people are not aware of Usenet. It seems that only the
: old farts, and those who had an idea are still on the net.
: Just look at IRC, same problem the users are in general older.
:
: Another aspect of why this group has not seen much traffic is
: when was the last time a major chip was released? Intel and
: AMD pretty much have shown their cards. Now it's just a faster
: upgrade of what was out 3 months ago, sometimes we talk about
: chipsets, but really that is off topic in this group as it is
: called chips. Another aspect is that people now have RSS feeds
: so they get the news almost in real time. The day you logged
: onto Usenet to check news is way gone, then you got to
: remember that most controversial people have moved to the
: forums, more chance of a successful troll, or getting one on
: the line. I also think that blogs had something to do with it
: as well, you used to get a few posts about people telling us
: their views, and opinions but now most will go to blogs as
: their is no pain or fear of flames or people calling the BS
: flag.
:

Not aware of Usenet? Then educate yourself! What bothers me is the
lack of posts from "regulars" in this NG including (but certainly not
limited to): Keith W., Tony H.; George M.; Del C.; Yousuf K.;
ChrisV.; Robert M.; Felger C.; Dean K.; and a host of others. This
USED to be a great NG. What the hell happened??

RSS? F**k that. IRC? HAHAHAHA....LOL again!

BTW dude, this is NOT a "news" channel, it's a NG that enthusiasts
such as myself come to to hear and discuss hardware and architecture
(even software sometimes) related to the x86. Why would you think
this is a "news only" NG? Later.

Wep.

I used to post here in the mid-90's up to maybe 2000 or so on occasion.

Used to check threads every couple of months or so to see what was
going on.

But these last 3-yrs or so just pop in once every 6-months or so ;-/.


slow indeed. very little going on here.

Dead???????????

Hell goto

alt.radio.pirate - a subject which I'm passionate about.

THAT place used to be happening in the late-90s. dead dead dead!!!!!!
for the past 3-yrs. ;-/.

I do think Usenet traffic is half of what it was only 5-yrs ago IMO.

peace.

--

 

[gaffo]

So if someone uses social engineering and finds one of your forums
passwords you will be power owned! Or if someone has access to your
computer they could do the same. I usually try to lurk for a while,
then if the forum seems like a good place to post I join in. In fact
some forums I have lurked for years,

it makes it easier if you can
post without signing up.

Hell Ya!......used to post AG (anonymous gerbil) at TechReport for a
few years.............until they ended guest posting!

than i said **** it. never bothered to registered and only go there
every once in a while now.

as soon as I have to "register" anywhere - I usually simply leave that
forum. something about it really pisses me off. I think it is the Big
Brother thing,


and conversely why I like Usenet.

Rthoreau

--

 

[gaffo]

in this >> group....what a damn shame. :-(

I refuse to accept that people prefer slow, moderated, ad infested
web forums, it's just that they are unaware of the alternative. One
reason may be that ISPs have no desire to promote Usenet. This is
because web based forums cost them essentially nothing, but Usenet
requires significant amounts of storage.


I've participated in some web based forums, but only in desperation.
Yahoo Groups, for example, have some good hacking forums (eg Mediatek
DVD firmware mods), but their content is invisible to Google.

- Franc Zabkar

text does not require much storage. it is the BINARIES groups that take
up all the storage.

must ISPs have REALLY shitty binary completion rates.

--

 

[gaffo]

But you can use "emoticons" and cute little pictures next to your
name! 8)

When I got hooked with broadband a few years back, I asked the ISP's
installer guy the name of of the news server... He didn't know, and
said that no one had ever asked him that before.

same experience here - even back in the 90's!!

It's sort of too bad that usenet is losing-out to the Web forums...
OTOH, imagine how many idiots there would be if they all came here.

OTOH, Usenet can fly "under the radar" of RIAA and company. so many
nice albums from all types of music in the mp3 binaries groups. I like
the movie "soundtracks" group myself ;-).

RIAA goes after Napster/etc, and now Bit-torrent.........and ignores
Usenet!! ;-).

fine by me!
--

 

[chrisv]

Hell Ya!......used to post AG (anonymous gerbil) at TechReport for a
few years.............until they ended guest posting!

than i said **** it. never bothered to registered and only go there
every once in a while now.

as soon as I have to "register" anywhere - I usually simply leave that
forum. something about it really pisses me off. I think it is the Big
Brother thing,


and conversely why I like Usenet.

Good point.

 

[chrisv]

OTOH, Usenet can fly "under the radar" of RIAA and company. so many
nice albums from all types of music in the mp3 binaries groups. I like
the movie "soundtracks" group myself ;-).

RIAA goes after Napster/etc, and now Bit-torrent.........and ignores
Usenet!! ;-).

fine by me!

Likewise, there's still a lot of nice photos to be found in
usenetland...

8)

 

[Dean Kent]

:

Not aware of Usenet? Then educate yourself! What bothers me is the lack of
posts from "regulars" in this NG including (but certainly not limited to):
Keith W., Tony H.; George M.; Del C.; Yousuf K.; ChrisV.; Robert M.; Felger
C.; Dean K.; and a host of others. This USED to be a great NG. What the
hell happened??

First - I stopped because of some of the other regulars who decided that
this was their playground and anyone who had a different opinion was stupid,
uneducated, etc. My personal opinion is that when an individual who posted
as John Corse polluted the group, the reaction was that many of those
regulars took a militant stand and just wouldn't put up with anything
remotely like an opposing opinion. It got nasty. My personal dislike was
for George M who regularly used personal attacks as a 'rebuttal' to
arguments, and when he couldn't support his stand he would invoke Keith to
defend him (whom I still have a lot of respect for).

Anyway - the point is that you asked for a reason why the post count is so
low and when it was given you started attacking those who provided the
answer. Now you have the answer. The culture has become "attack when you
don't like the answer". That's why I don't read/post anymore. I just
happened to see this because I saw the news about global warming today, and
remembered George M ridiculing it and anyone who even suggested it might be
a valid issue. His response was that *real* scientists didn't believe it
(just like they didn't believe in secondhand smoke effects), and everyone
else was either on the take or ignorant. I just wanted to see if he was
still in denial.

Sorry - I'll go away now. You can find me at the RWT forum if you really
care (and yes, there is *real* technical discussion there from *real*
engineers and scientists - LOL!).

Regards,
Dean

 

[Dean Kent]

If only that formu was not so horribly sloooowwwww...

It used to be horribly slow. Now it is just slow...

Regards,
Dean

 

[Dean Kent]

I refuse to accept that people *prefer* slow, moderated, ad infested
web forums, it's just that they are unaware of the alternative. One
reason may be that ISPs have no desire to promote Usenet. This is
because web based forums cost them essentially nothing, but Usenet
requires significant amounts of storage.

Unaware includes ignorance in how to set them up. I moved from sonic.net to
ATT DSL recently, and I had to search for a long time to find any reference
to their new server. When I found it, it worked for a couple of months and
then just stopped responding (their LA news server). I then had to search
awhile longer to find their San Francisco server. Anyone with less
motivation or clue would have just given up and used Google Groups. At
that point, you are using a web based forum - so Usenet is no longer
'special' for them.

Regards,
Dean

 

[gaffo]

Unaware includes ignorance in how to set them up. I moved from
sonic.net to ATT DSL recently, and I had to search for a long time to
find any reference to their new server. When I found it, it worked
for a couple of months and then just stopped responding (their LA
news server). I then had to search awhile longer to find their San
Francisco server. Anyone with less motivation or clue would have
just given up and used Google Groups. At that point, you are using
a web based forum - so Usenet is no longer 'special' for them.

Regards,
Dean

well, since I've been on SBC for 4 yrs, and ATT was bought by them 2
yrs ago, I know that SBC went from the absolute shittest completion and
a imposed limit of 128-bps to one of the best with highs speeds and
99.5-% completion.


since I had ATT dialup 6 yrs ago and remembered such traits back them -
one can only assume that SBC shut down their shitty usenet servers and
is now using ATTs.


funny though. I never had to rename the server name in my Agent config
section. its still "news.***(city nearby).sbcglobal.net - same post ATT
aquisition as pre.

of course one can choose to log into any city - not just the closest to
ya.

ATT is just GONE - in name too!



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