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  • Re: Am observing significant drop in postings on Usenet?

    From Martin Brown@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, May 28, 2026 10:55:15
    On 24/05/2026 16:02, Jan Panteltje wrote:
    Goes for many groups.
    Anybody experience the same?

    It has been dead for several years on most of the scientific groups.

    sci.astro.research [moderated] recently celebrated having the first on
    topic post this year that got through moderation.

    sci.chem has very few on topic posts a year if that. Most of the
    postings there are by a bot that summarises quarterly statistics.

    Is the war house ape killing it?

    No Usenet was pretty much dead in the water nearly a decade ago.

    sci.electronics.design is almost unique in the sci.* hierarchy in that
    it still has a community of regular posters mostly on topic.

    --
    Martin Brown


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Don Y@3:633/10 to All on Thursday, May 28, 2026 09:10:15
    On 5/28/2026 2:55 AM, Martin Brown wrote:
    On 24/05/2026 16:02, Jan Panteltje wrote:
    Goes for many groups.
    Anybody experience the same?

    It has been dead for several years on most of the scientific groups.

    sci.astro.research [moderated] recently celebrated having the first on topic post this year that got through moderation.

    sci.chem has very few on topic posts a year if that. Most of the postings there
    are by a bot that summarises quarterly statistics.

    Is the war house ape killing it?

    No Usenet was pretty much dead in the water nearly a decade ago.

    I'd put that closer to *two* decades. We used to have "thoughtful"
    topics (not "how do I wire up <whatever>") that required a very
    deliberate balancing of conflicting and competing issues (which,
    IMO, is the essence of engineering; not "how to replicate what
    I/you have already done")

    [I recall a discussion about *time* that still haunts me and, like
    most GOOD problems, likely has no canonical solution!]

    sci.electronics.design is almost unique in the sci.* hierarchy in that it still
    has a community of regular posters mostly on topic.

    There is little need for USENET, nowadays. Mailing lists, forums,
    "support communities", etc. all target very specific issues instead
    of such broad generalizations.

    The downside is you have to explicitly interact with most of those
    (web-based) portals whereas USENET "comes to you".

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)