On Mon, 06 Oct 2008, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban, in article
<BfOdnS6BlPxKanfVnZ2dnUVZ_qKdnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, brigid nelson wrote:
>I've been reading/posting in 4 or 5 different alt. groups for, let's
>say 16 years (Laznerian). It's been interesting to watch the growth
>of different web-based fora - I think we've about got to a place where
>most of those septemberites have been sucked away by a more
>user-friendly format.
Part of that can be attributed to the difficulty of figuring out how
to use a computer. It seems that many "learn" how to use a web browser
of one kind or another, and expect that to be their interface to the
world. That leads to the premise that all computer names on the
Internet begin with 'www.' and end with '.com'.
>Those that are still here are those that were here before.
Some groups - this being one - have a very well established group of
readers/posters. Many of the other groups I scan seem to have users
that pop in for a week - a month at most, then disappear never to be
seen again.
>On one hand I'm happy that it takes more effort to get here, but I'm
>not willing to pay for services no longer rendered.
That was why I suggested sending something to your state PUC.
>We've been looking at various free newsreaders and I think we've
>found one that will probably work for us. The remaining issue is
>that by ridding ourselves of the evil that is comcast, we're looking
>at welcoming back the evil that is Qwest.
Someone mentioned this "solution" in another group yesterday, which
caused me to look through my news spool. It's only 81 groups, and it
has a limited retention, but looking at the 'Path:' header of all of
the articles, I found just one post yesterday (2 today) that had
come from QWorst, compared to 59 yesterday (51 today) from Comcast.
Thus, I'm not sure they would be a solution to Usenet problems. It
could just be that QWorst users don't have the same interests as I
or the relative sizes of each (I'm aware of ~1 million IP addresses
owned/used by QWest vs ~40 million owned/used by Comcast).
If you are considering DSL (as opposed to cable), you don't have to
use the provider that owns "the last mile" of phone lines to your
house, just as years ago when you were using dialin, you didn't have
to use your telephone provider as an ISP. There were numerous other
choices then, and there are now - the difference being DSL is faster
than dialin. Have a look at (watch the line wrap)
http://www.business.com/directory/internet_and_online/internet_service_
providers_isp/isps_by_country/united_states/
that's all one line. Another URL might be
http://www.magicyellow.com/category/Internet_Service_Providers
>Where is Cthulu when you really need him?
So many things to devour/destroy, so little time...
Old guy
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