google - what happened

[Bob Smith]

Google news archives do not appear to be updating as of May 27, 2004. Anyone
know what's up?

bobs

bob smith
bs studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com

[Doc]

"Bob Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Google news archives do not appear to be updating as of May 27, 2004.
Anyone
> know what's up?
>

I've noticed they seem to go through periods where things don't happen
regularly, especially around holidays. I'm no tech but I sense that at some
point it requires human intervention to happen or to fix problems, and
doesn't happen until someome pushes buttons somewhere or fixes problems.

[Doc]

"Bob Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Google news archives do not appear to be updating as of May 27, 2004.
Anyone
> know what's up?
>

I've noticed they seem to go through periods where things don't happen
regularly, especially around holidays. I'm no tech but I sense that at some
point it requires human intervention to happen or to fix problems, and
doesn't happen until someome pushes buttons somewhere or fixes problems.

[Arny Krueger]

Doc wrote:
> "Bob Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Google news archives do not appear to be updating as of May 27,
>> 2004. Anyone know what's up?
>>
>
> I've noticed they seem to go through periods where things don't happen
> regularly, especially around holidays. I'm no tech but I sense that
> at some point it requires human intervention to happen or to fix
> problems, and doesn't happen until someome pushes buttons somewhere
> or fixes problems.

Or... this is when they schedule upgrades that require them to freeze parts
of the system.

[Arny Krueger]

Doc wrote:
> "Bob Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Google news archives do not appear to be updating as of May 27,
>> 2004. Anyone know what's up?
>>
>
> I've noticed they seem to go through periods where things don't happen
> regularly, especially around holidays. I'm no tech but I sense that
> at some point it requires human intervention to happen or to fix
> problems, and doesn't happen until someome pushes buttons somewhere
> or fixes problems.

Or... this is when they schedule upgrades that require them to freeze parts
of the system.

[benbradley]

I just saw this google alternative from another group (RMMS, IIRC):

http://www.talkaboutnetwork.com

and so I'm posting this post through it. I want to (among other things)
see what the headers look like.
The links to get to RAP from the main site are Audio, then Professional
Audio Equipment, so I guess if you post through this service you better
not discuss technique.
I recall that posts (from anywhere, IIRC, not just from google) are
delayed several hours before being displayed on Google, but it looks like
this one may not have that 'problem' - they say it can take up to ten
minutes for a post to show up. If only all news servers were so good...

[benbradley]

I just saw this google alternative from another group (RMMS, IIRC):

http://www.talkaboutnetwork.com

and so I'm posting this post through it. I want to (among other things)
see what the headers look like.
The links to get to RAP from the main site are Audio, then Professional
Audio Equipment, so I guess if you post through this service you better
not discuss technique.
I recall that posts (from anywhere, IIRC, not just from google) are
delayed several hours before being displayed on Google, but it looks like
this one may not have that 'problem' - they say it can take up to ten
minutes for a post to show up. If only all news servers were so good...

[Scott Dorsey]

benbradley > wrote:
> I recall that posts (from anywhere, IIRC, not just from google) are
>delayed several hours before being displayed on Google, but it looks like
>this one may not have that 'problem' - they say it can take up to ten
>minutes for a post to show up. If only all news servers were so good...

Since you are a Mindspring customer, why not use the Mindspring news servers?

I was pretty ****ed off when Mindspring bought out Netcom and promised us
so much better news service and basically gave us crap that was substantially
slower than the direct-spool stuff on Netcom. But it has to have improved
in the past four years. God knows it can't have got any worse.

I can strongly recommend Panix as having real news service that actually works
and is well maintained. You can even call them up on the phone and talk to
someone who actually runs the news server. And they have shell service too,
if that's important to you. (It probably isn't, but I like it.)
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

benbradley > wrote:
> I recall that posts (from anywhere, IIRC, not just from google) are
>delayed several hours before being displayed on Google, but it looks like
>this one may not have that 'problem' - they say it can take up to ten
>minutes for a post to show up. If only all news servers were so good...

Since you are a Mindspring customer, why not use the Mindspring news servers?

I was pretty ****ed off when Mindspring bought out Netcom and promised us
so much better news service and basically gave us crap that was substantially
slower than the direct-spool stuff on Netcom. But it has to have improved
in the past four years. God knows it can't have got any worse.

I can strongly recommend Panix as having real news service that actually works
and is well maintained. You can even call them up on the phone and talk to
someone who actually runs the news server. And they have shell service too,
if that's important to you. (It probably isn't, but I like it.)
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Marc Wielage]

On Mon, 31 May 2004 20:09:00 -0700, Scott Dorsey wrote:

> Since you are a Mindspring customer, why not use the Mindspring news servers?
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<

I know your comment was made to Ben Bradley, but for the record, I believe
Mindspring was completely bought out by Earthlink some years back.

--MFW

[Marc Wielage]

On Mon, 31 May 2004 20:09:00 -0700, Scott Dorsey wrote:

> Since you are a Mindspring customer, why not use the Mindspring news servers?
>--------------------------------snip----------------------------------<

I know your comment was made to Ben Bradley, but for the record, I believe
Mindspring was completely bought out by Earthlink some years back.

--MFW

[Ben Bradley]

On 31 May 2004 23:09:00 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>benbradley > wrote:
>> I recall that posts (from anywhere, IIRC, not just from google) are
>>delayed several hours before being displayed on Google, but it looks like
>>this one may not have that 'problem' - they say it can take up to ten
>>minutes for a post to show up. If only all news servers were so good...
>
>Since you are a Mindspring customer, why not use the Mindspring news servers?

I don't usually use Google or other web-Usenet gateways, but it's
an operational backup when the ISP's server has problems.

>I was pretty ****ed off when Mindspring bought out Netcom and promised us
>so much better news service and basically gave us crap that was substantially
>slower than the direct-spool stuff on Netcom. But it has to have improved
>in the past four years. God knows it can't have got any worse.

I've had this Mindspring account way too long (1997)...ISTR they
bought Netcom back then - I know Mindspring bought several other
East-coast ISP's as it grew through the mid to late '90's.
In late 1999, Mindspring and Earthlink (which had a greater
presence on the West Coast, which had also been growing by buying
smaller ISP's) merged (or "borged" or Earthlink took over, depending
on who you want to believe and how you want to look at it). It was
front-page news in the Atlanta newspapers. And yes, things DID get
worse. Sometime since then, Charles Brewer, the instigator and CEO of
Mindspring, quit and cashed out all his stock. One or more of those
who started Earthlink is a member of a Very Controversial
Organization. I should have left long ago. I should still...
If there's a good thing through all of this, it's that the old
domains and addresses still work. I've known people whose ISP's were
bought out and the domain name of their email address changed.
About two years ago I got access to Bellsouth DSL. All the ISP's
have tightened up Usenet servers so not only do you have to log into
the news server with the account email address and password, but you
have to be on an IP address owned by the ISP (I'm sure this prevents
sending Usenet spam somehow...). So while on DSL I can only access
Bellsouth's news server, and while on dialup to Mindspring/Earthlink I
can only access Earthlink's server.

>I can strongly recommend Panix as having real news service that actually works
>and is well maintained.

That would certainly be a positive change. Do they actually have
new groups that are trying to get started, such as
alt.music.home-studio? Bellsouth added it months ago, but for unknown
reasons it stopped showing messages (even ones I post, which show up
on other servers!) weeks ago.

>You can even call them up on the phone and talk to
>someone who actually runs the news server. And they have shell service too,
>if that's important to you. (It probably isn't, but I like it.)

If I actually knew much about a certain OS I'm sure I'd find it
useful.

>--scott

-----
http://mindspring.com/~benbradley

[Ben Bradley]

On 31 May 2004 23:09:00 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>benbradley > wrote:
>> I recall that posts (from anywhere, IIRC, not just from google) are
>>delayed several hours before being displayed on Google, but it looks like
>>this one may not have that 'problem' - they say it can take up to ten
>>minutes for a post to show up. If only all news servers were so good...
>
>Since you are a Mindspring customer, why not use the Mindspring news servers?

I don't usually use Google or other web-Usenet gateways, but it's
an operational backup when the ISP's server has problems.

>I was pretty ****ed off when Mindspring bought out Netcom and promised us
>so much better news service and basically gave us crap that was substantially
>slower than the direct-spool stuff on Netcom. But it has to have improved
>in the past four years. God knows it can't have got any worse.

I've had this Mindspring account way too long (1997)...ISTR they
bought Netcom back then - I know Mindspring bought several other
East-coast ISP's as it grew through the mid to late '90's.
In late 1999, Mindspring and Earthlink (which had a greater
presence on the West Coast, which had also been growing by buying
smaller ISP's) merged (or "borged" or Earthlink took over, depending
on who you want to believe and how you want to look at it). It was
front-page news in the Atlanta newspapers. And yes, things DID get
worse. Sometime since then, Charles Brewer, the instigator and CEO of
Mindspring, quit and cashed out all his stock. One or more of those
who started Earthlink is a member of a Very Controversial
Organization. I should have left long ago. I should still...
If there's a good thing through all of this, it's that the old
domains and addresses still work. I've known people whose ISP's were
bought out and the domain name of their email address changed.
About two years ago I got access to Bellsouth DSL. All the ISP's
have tightened up Usenet servers so not only do you have to log into
the news server with the account email address and password, but you
have to be on an IP address owned by the ISP (I'm sure this prevents
sending Usenet spam somehow...). So while on DSL I can only access
Bellsouth's news server, and while on dialup to Mindspring/Earthlink I
can only access Earthlink's server.

>I can strongly recommend Panix as having real news service that actually works
>and is well maintained.

That would certainly be a positive change. Do they actually have
new groups that are trying to get started, such as
alt.music.home-studio? Bellsouth added it months ago, but for unknown
reasons it stopped showing messages (even ones I post, which show up
on other servers!) weeks ago.

>You can even call them up on the phone and talk to
>someone who actually runs the news server. And they have shell service too,
>if that's important to you. (It probably isn't, but I like it.)

If I actually knew much about a certain OS I'm sure I'd find it
useful.

>--scott

-----
http://mindspring.com/~benbradley

[Scott Dorsey]

Ben Bradley > wrote:
Kludge writes:
>>I can strongly recommend Panix as having real news service that actually works
>>and is well maintained.
>
> That would certainly be a positive change. Do they actually have
>new groups that are trying to get started, such as
>alt.music.home-studio? Bellsouth added it months ago, but for unknown
>reasons it stopped showing messages (even ones I post, which show up
>on other servers!) weeks ago.

They usually pick up groups as soon as they catch a newgrp message. If
they don't have it, though, you can call the news admin and ask him to
pick it up. They have several upstream feeds so they can get a pretty wide
variety of weird groups outside the Big Eight, and they have crew who
actually spend some time keeping the Usenet feed running, rather than just
ignoring it.

Panix today is everything that Netcom was in 1990.

>>You can even call them up on the phone and talk to
>>someone who actually runs the news server. And they have shell service too,
>>if that's important to you. (It probably isn't, but I like it.)
>
> If I actually knew much about a certain OS I'm sure I'd find it
>useful.

It's a good way to learn about it. In the case of Panix, the shell systems
are running NetBSD, and somebody else actually takes care of running them.
For ten bucks a month you get access to the servers and if you screw something
up, they'll bail you out. It's hard to beat that, except maybe with Eskimo
which offers something similar.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

Ben Bradley > wrote:
Kludge writes:
>>I can strongly recommend Panix as having real news service that actually works
>>and is well maintained.
>
> That would certainly be a positive change. Do they actually have
>new groups that are trying to get started, such as
>alt.music.home-studio? Bellsouth added it months ago, but for unknown
>reasons it stopped showing messages (even ones I post, which show up
>on other servers!) weeks ago.

They usually pick up groups as soon as they catch a newgrp message. If
they don't have it, though, you can call the news admin and ask him to
pick it up. They have several upstream feeds so they can get a pretty wide
variety of weird groups outside the Big Eight, and they have crew who
actually spend some time keeping the Usenet feed running, rather than just
ignoring it.

Panix today is everything that Netcom was in 1990.

>>You can even call them up on the phone and talk to
>>someone who actually runs the news server. And they have shell service too,
>>if that's important to you. (It probably isn't, but I like it.)
>
> If I actually knew much about a certain OS I'm sure I'd find it
>useful.

It's a good way to learn about it. In the case of Panix, the shell systems
are running NetBSD, and somebody else actually takes care of running them.
For ten bucks a month you get access to the servers and if you screw something
up, they'll bail you out. It's hard to beat that, except maybe with Eskimo
which offers something similar.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[hank alrich]

Ben,

I access Usenet via Earthlink and find the service and performance
excellent. Why would your own access via them suck? Earthlink and
TheGrid merged a couple years back, and it was pretty damned seamless.
Down the timeline a bit Earthlink reconfigured their news servers, with
separate East and West US points, and that again improved performance.
Early this year they gave our area a new access number with far better
data rates even at the same nominal capacity. As computer saavy as you
are I can't imagine you would have much trouble configuring a
newsreader, unless Agent chews the poop or something.

--
ha

[hank alrich]

Ben,

I access Usenet via Earthlink and find the service and performance
excellent. Why would your own access via them suck? Earthlink and
TheGrid merged a couple years back, and it was pretty damned seamless.
Down the timeline a bit Earthlink reconfigured their news servers, with
separate East and West US points, and that again improved performance.
Early this year they gave our area a new access number with far better
data rates even at the same nominal capacity. As computer saavy as you
are I can't imagine you would have much trouble configuring a
newsreader, unless Agent chews the poop or something.

--
ha