newsserver access

[Martin Hotze]

[This posting might sound as a commercial plug, but it isn't.]

Hi,

there was a discussion recently regarding access to newsservers and
problems with the one or the other provider. Now you have the
possibility to access usenet free of charge.

As you might know we are operating a usenet news server [1] with more
than 30 active feeds and we run cleanfeed for wiping out the garbage.
Currently we carry the following groups:
at.*
de.*
az.*
novell.*
oesterreich.*
rec.aviation.*

We are giving out *free* access to our text only news server (as a
service to the rec.aviation.* folks). If you want an account please send
an email (this should be a working email address because I have to reply
to you in order to send you the access information) to martin at hotze
dot com and please identify yourself with your name or screen name
(don't just reply to this post!). We reserve the right to deny service
to anyone, esp. to one [2].

please note:
- this is a free service, but as I use this server on my own I have the
highest interest in a working service. :-)
- please adhere to at least the basics of netiquette (no spamming, etc.)
- you won't receive any advertising nor will we sell your information
- you are free to suggest groups we should carry. We will collect this
information and might add these groups or hierarchies (text only groups,
no binaries).

how will it work:
you will receive a username and a password, you configure your usenet
client to connect to "news.hotze.com" on port 119 (= standard port).
Enter the username and password and you are free to read and post using
this newsserver.

hope this helps,

Martin


[1] see <http://www.hotze.com/index.php?page=newsfeed-peering>
[2] we aren't able to filter the one on our server, so you still have to
use your local filter.
--
I am not a terrorist <http://www.casualdisobedience.com/>

[Larry Dighera]

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:31:35 +0200, Martin Hotze >
wrote in >:

>hope this helps,

That is mighty generous of your Martin.

I hope it makes those who post through Google-Groups stop supporting
that source of Usenet spam.

[Martin Hotze]

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:46:12 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

>>hope this helps,
>
>That is mighty generous of your Martin.

thanks :-)

>I hope it makes those who post through Google-Groups stop supporting
>that source of Usenet spam.

... but after 1 week now I come to the conclusion that the level of pain
must still be too low. No one - up to now - was interested in this free
offer for usenet access. hmmm.

btw: we are also close to the solution for a filter for an unnamed poster
here. This *beep* *censored* §$&%"$§cleanfeed!"§§%&%§!! ;-)

#m
--
I am not a terrorist. <http://www.casualdisobedience.com/>

[Larry Dighera]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:22:22 +0200, Martin Hotze >
wrote in >:

>On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:46:12 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:
>
>>>hope this helps,
>>
>>That is mighty generous of your Martin.
>
>thanks :-)
>
>>I hope it makes those who post through Google-Groups stop supporting
>>that source of Usenet spam.
>
>.. but after 1 week now I come to the conclusion that the level of pain
>must still be too low. No one - up to now - was interested in this free
>offer for usenet access. hmmm.

Those users who choose to use GoogleGroups to access Usenet are
probably intimidated by the necessity to reconfigure their news reader
client software, and there's always the religious devotion to what
they have already learned, and the resistance to change...

I guess it's still September. :-(

>btw: we are also close to the solution for a filter for an unnamed poster
>here. This *beep* *censored* §$&%"$§cleanfeed!"§§%&%§!! ;-)
>
>#m

While I understand the desire to filter out noise, I personally prefer
the egalitarian aspect of Usenet be preserved, and the temptation of
censorship be resisted. Perhaps that "cleanfeed" could be made a user
configurable option, so people have a choice of a censored feed or
not.

Perhaps posting explicit instructions on how to obtain a Usenet/nntp
feed and using capital letters to spell out the word F R E E would
help wean folks away from supporting GoogleGroups. Just a thought....

I applaud your philanthropic effort to lead them to water.

[Martin Hotze]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:38:01 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

[...]
>>>I hope it makes those who post through Google-Groups stop supporting
>>>that source of Usenet spam.
>>
>>.. but after 1 week now I come to the conclusion that the level of pain
>>must still be too low. No one - up to now - was interested in this free
>>offer for usenet access. hmmm.
>
>Those users who choose to use GoogleGroups to access Usenet are
>probably intimidated by the necessity to reconfigure their news reader
>client software, and there's always the religious devotion to what
>they have already learned, and the resistance to change...

.... and it comes with a nice webinterface, too.

>I guess it's still September. :-(

yup.

>>btw: we are also close to the solution for a filter for an unnamed poster
>>here. This *beep* *censored* §$&%"$§cleanfeed!"§§%&%§!! ;-)
>>
>>#m
>
>While I understand the desire to filter out noise, I personally prefer
>the egalitarian aspect of Usenet be preserved, and the temptation of
>censorship be resisted.

the line of censorship is very hard to draw.
see here:
<http://news.hotze.com/stats/news-notice.2007.04.20-04.02.04.html#innd_perl>
in the last 24 hours we (automatically!) filtered more than 30.000 posts.
Should we not filter out all the *obvious* crap?

And 'the one' is a PI*my*A, and I don't want him wasting bytes on *my*
server. ;-)

>Perhaps that "cleanfeed" could be made a user
>configurable option, so people have a choice of a censored feed or
>not.

well, someone has to do it (costs time/money). And usenet is nothing to
make money off (at least if you're not giganews or a similar big company).
As an ISP you offer it because you believe that it is part of full access
to Internet. Or you don't offer it.

>Perhaps posting explicit instructions on how to obtain a Usenet/nntp
>feed and using capital letters to spell out the word F R E E would
>help wean folks away from supporting GoogleGroups. Just a thought....

I don't want to spam the group with that. It isn't worth that much noise.
People wanting and searching a solution are offered a solution - and they
will find out (sooner or later).

>I applaud your philanthropic effort to lead them to water.

Well, mostly I did it because I want to use it myself. I can also VPN to my
network and connect to my newsserver, but hey! There are different ways to
Rome :-)

#m
--
I am not a terrorist. <http://www.casualdisobedience.com/>

[Larry Dighera]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 16:14:34 +0200, Martin Hotze >
wrote in >:

>in the last 24 hours we (automatically!) filtered more than 30.000 posts.
>Should we not filter out all the *obvious* crap?

In the old days of B News, before nntp, Usenet sites that injected
spam articles would find their downstream news neighbors removing
their ability to inject news articles into the stream. Each Usenet
News Administrator was accountable to his news-neighbors for the
content authored on his site, and if he failed to police his users,
his feed was cut off. This personal accountability insured that
spamming Usenet was not a viable option. Alas, today ...

[Martin Hotze]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:48:11 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

>This personal accountability insured that
>spamming Usenet was not a viable option. Alas, today ...

.... today Google won't be what it is today.
But they made about $1 billion in Q1.

I share your sentiments, though.

#m
--
I am not a terrorist. <http://www.casualdisobedience.com/>

[Jose]

> ... today Google won't be what it is today.

What? Things are more like they are today than they've ever been
before. But that's gotta change!

Jose
--
Get high on gasoline: fly an airplane.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.