Looking for an open NNTP Usenet server (just for text)

[Pepinno]

Hello all.

My ISP years ago pulled the plug on their NNTP Usernet server. I have since been using the free and open NNTP server "news.x-privat.org", but it seems it has died.

I am not interested in binary groups, but only on the 'traditional' text groups. I was subscribed to:

alt.folklore.computers
alt.solaris.x86
alt.sysadmin.recovery
comp.os.cpm
comp.sys.amstrad.8bit
comp.unix.admin
comp.unix.misc
comp.unix.sco.misc
comp.unix.solaris

Does anyone know of some open and free NNTP server I could use?

Thanks!

 

[tingo]

I use Eternal September (http://www.eternal-september.org/). You must register, but it is free.

 

[Pepinno]

I use Eternal September (http://www.eternal-september.org/). You must register, but it is free.

Thanks a lot! I'm in now.

 

[barythrin]

I guess you're wanting to post too? I thought google was archiving these as well now.. they bought some other news archive that I've since forgotten the name of. I don't recall though if there was a way to post to usenet via google though. There are some sites that rate open usenet servers but they're probably more focused on binaries.

 

[Jorg]

they bought some other news archive that I've since forgotten the name of.

Dejanews I guess

 

[Doug G]

Dejanews I guess

I think so too. I thought the Internet was going to crash to a halt when deja was going to close their doors and dump all the usenet archive forever. Google stepped up to the plate and took over, and I've had a soft spot for google ever since.

According to this blog post deja was google's first acquisition

http://www.ngrblog.com/googles-deja-news/

 

[g4ugm]

I have been using

http://albasani.net/index.html.en

for a whi

 

[Pepinno]

With my now recovered USENET access, thanks to eternal-september.org, I just stumbled upon this post from Mark Crispin (of IMAP fame, and author of the hilarious RFC 748), where he says (about a NNTP-IMAP gateway functionality in some IMAP server products):

With netnews and NNTP being more or less moribund, this is primarily of historical interest these days.

The UW IMAP installation at UW exported netnews via IMAP for many years in the 1990s. I used it that way; but could probably count the number of other people who used it on one hand and have fingers left over. As obvious and attractive as the capability seemed, there was simply no demand. Then again, by the 2000s fewer than 100 people at UW still used netnews at all; UW's NNTP service was turned off several years ago with little protest.

(Found in: Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.2.00.1201150833460.38441 @ hsinghsing.panda.com> )

It is sad to see USENET die, and be bastardized into a warez distribution system for warez etc.

---

Edit to add:

Another perl of wisdom from Mark Crispin:

I have nothing against Usenet. After all, I still use it (albeit I only read three newsgroups). Sadly, due to a combination of factors (not all technological), Usenet passed its zenith long ago. I don't see much hope for it to arise again.

I have little doubt that some vestige of Usenet will continue to exist for quite some time to come, but never again as a major infrastructure. The "tragedy of the commons" factor will never go away; the lesson learned is that the otherwise-desirable notion of the "commons" does not scale.

It's actually remarkable that Usenet scaled as well as it once did. Dedicated and honorable individuals fought a valiant battle to keep Usenet usable for many long years. But ultimately it proved futile.

-- Mark --

(Found in: Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.2.00.1201160816460.38441 @ hsinghsing.panda.com>)