Usenet

[cannonmc]

Thanks for those, I will read them later

[NYcram]

I recently went back to usenet (to get a TV series that is broadcast here with an infuriating delay of several months). I discovered that Easynews has 1-year retention on its web interface and 7-year (!) retention on its NNTP interface. Been exploring the NNTP backlog ever since.

The file names seem to be less obfuscated than I remember from the past. i don't know if Easynews uses some de-obfuscating process on the posts.

[Frederick]

@NYcram:

I recently went back to usenet (to get a TV series that is broadcast here with an infuriating delay of several months). I discovered that Easynews has 1-year retention on its web interface and 7-year (!) retention on its NNTP interface. Been exploring the NNTP backlog ever since.

The file names seem to be less obfuscated than I remember from the past. i don't know if Easynews uses some de-obfuscating process on the posts.

I used to use Easynews, and that is probably the best.  I used to chat with the guys that ran it… they went by the names "King Kong" and "Godzilla".  I think they are gone though... and I gave up on the USENET because of so many trash files and malware.  At the time, Easynews made virtually no attempt to clean the crap out of their groups.

[Frederick]

@cannonmc:

Usenet hasn't died, it still has terabytes of posts a day. But the method of downloading has moved on.

For instance, Easynews has a browser interface where you can show only completed movies, no spam and all scanned, ready to download as a complete file.

It is still the first place I look for movies and software because the download is fast, I don't have to seed but I do have to pay $10 a month

Hmmm.. maybe I will give it another try in a few months.  The price has not changed - $10 a month.

[cannonmc]

Frederick, combined with torrents I find the minimum is more than enough for me.

If you do try easynews again, get in touch and I can give you some shortcut tips for the Web interface 

[Frederick]

@cannonmc:

Frederick, combined with torrents I find the minimum is more than enough for me.

If you do try easynews again, get in touch and I can give you some shortcut tips for the Web interface 

I have not used the Usenet in years, but I remember they had a Web interface.  Before that, I always used Forte Agent.

I have noticed that plain old web searches now do a much better job of finding things than they did even a few months ago.

I fear that in the future, the internet will be completely regulated and there will be no anonymity nor "underground" left.

[cannonmc]

Amazingly I still use Forte Agent for email, too lazy to change I suspect. I rarely use it for movies because my version doesn't join the parts whereas the web interface does.

I still use Agent for downloading music though.

[MrMazda]

Speaking of joining files back together, have you ever tried HJ Split?

If using Linux, I've found Gnome Split to be just the thing that I need to do that kind of thing.

[cannonmc]

Heavens, do you think I'm an elephant  ;D

My memory only goes back as far as the Crimean War… But I seem to recall HJSplit was a bad program. I may be wrong but it did cause problems.

The one I used to use was JAS, just another splitter. It became very hard to get the correct version and after people really started using QickPar/PAR2 to check integrity and rejoin, JAS fell out of fashion.

I've just done a search for JAS and it seems to have fallen into the big black hole.

[MrMazda]

I do know of what you speak… From my experience, there was once a time when HJSplit was rather annoying and didn't work quite right half of the time. That however was long ago fixed with a new version that was released back a loooooooong time ago.