On Sat, Mar 17, 2001, mulix wrote about "Re: Netvision NNTP Server":
> no. mailing lists and news groups differ pretty much only in the method of
> information retrieval- push vs. pull. there are mailing list <-> news
> gateways, too.
>
> the biggest problem news groups have is spam.
In the last several years newsgroups are becoming less and less useful, and
mailing lists are taking over. Even for huge subscriber-base (e.g., bugtraq)
mailing lists are winning.
I remember 8 years ago, when I stumbled across Tcl/Tk and wanted to learn
it, I immediately started reading the newsgroup and participating. Today
I probably would have joined a mailing list, or use a search engine when
I have a question - does new software or interest areas even have newsgroups
open for it? If so why are things like egroups and sourceforge's mailing
lists so successful?
So I'd say that, yes, usenet has become less useful lately. People don't
care about bandwidth anymore (Usenet's newsfeed was designed to save
bandwidth by copying each message once!), their mail servers have 24/7
connections (rather then having the NNTP connection innitiate a UUCP
transfer once in a while, like in the good-old-days), so mailing lists have
become a very viable solution. People have mail filters, and subscribe to
dozens of mailing lists (I subscribe to about 50, of varying degrees of
busyness). Mailing lists are better managed, and offer more sense of
community, at least nowadays when most of the usenet readers are either
spammers or search engine robots - few people will actually stick around
the newsgroup to hear an answer to their question, and see other frequently
asked questions, and that sucks.
People are also more inclined to start a mailing lists (especially when free
services like egroups are available) because it gives them some flattering
sense of control.
> ObNews: can anyone recommend interesting news groups?
> my favorites are:
> comp.lang.c++.moderated
> and the monastery.
My current favorites:
news.admin.net-abuse.email
alt.usage.english
rec.humor.funny
rec.humor.funny.reruns
--
Nadav Har'El | Saturday, Mar 17 2001, 22 Adar 5761
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