[TelstraClear] TelstraClear Newsgroups

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TelstraClear

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TelstraClear

#28262 24-Nov-2008 16:01

TelstraClear would like to notify it will no longer be providing access to newsgroups from November 30, 2008. Given the cost of providing the access and the small number of customers using it the service is no longer economically viable to provide. Those wishing to enquire about sourcing their own access can do so at Giganews.

Novatech

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#179958 24-Nov-2008 17:04

<sarcasm> Gee, thanks for the extended notice period. </sarcasm>
I reallise that there's probably not a lot of usenet users on the network, and it's probably been a money sink for a while, but a little more than 6 days warning would be good.
Will we be getting a reduction in access costs now that this service is not being provided anymore ?

Was it the binary group leechers that killed it ?
I realise that http based forums have pretty much killed off nntp, but the signal-to-noise ratio has improved much recently because of this, it's sad to see one of the original internet messaging services dying off.

freitasm

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#179963 24-Nov-2008 17:12

I access about five or six NNTP servers - most except one - are private servers such as Microsoft Beta newsgroups, Microsoft MVP newsgroups, etc.

I actually like the NNTP format better than any web-based forum... I actually haven't visited an open NNTP server for ages now - used to hang on nz.comp out of news.paradise.net.nz

It's shame this is going away...

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sbiddle

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#179968 24-Nov-2008 17:26

Novatech:
Gee, thanks for the extended notice period.
I reallise that there's probably not a lot of usenet users on the network, and it's probably been a money sink for a while, but a little more than 6 days warning would be good.
Will we be getting a reduction in access costs now that this service is not being provided anymore ?

Was it the binary group leechers that killed it ?
I realise that http based forums have pretty much killed off nntp, but the signal-to-noise ratio has improved much recently because of this, it's sad to see one of the original internet messaging services dying off.

I saw a letter from them quite a while ago announcing this.. Maybe 4 or 6 weeks?

The irony was that TCL suggested alternatives such as Facebook - I wasn't aware of Facebook having a alt.binaries.*

Damo-K

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Master Geek

#180365 26-Nov-2008 09:35

sbiddle:The irony was that TCL suggested alternatives such as Facebook - I wasn't aware of Facebook having a alt.binaries.*

You'd be hard-pressed to find alt.binaries.* served by a NZ ISP, let alone TCL.

freitasm

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#184953 18-Dec-2008 12:18

Giganews has posted a discount offer here.

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Novatech

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#184956 18-Dec-2008 12:37

I'm in the process of setting up Papercut or Inn (Dnews sucks greatly).

With Actrix's blessing I may be offering free read-only nntp to anyone in the nz ip space, with the possibility of a *really cheap* or maybe even free paid posting server (depending on bandwidth and if I can get someone to donate some hardware/sponsorship/beer).

If anyone is interested in contrubuting experience/hardware/colo space/beer please pm.

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Screeb

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Ultimate Geek
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#185178 19-Dec-2008 17:22

Novatech: I'm in the process of setting up Papercut or Inn (Dnews sucks greatly).

With Actrix's blessing I may be offering free read-only nntp to anyone in the nz ip space, with the possibility of a *really cheap* or maybe even free paid posting server (depending on bandwidth and if I can get someone to donate some hardware/sponsorship/beer).

If anyone is interested in contrubuting experience/hardware/colo space/beer please pm.

Wow, that'd be awesome. Would the free read-only nntp include binaries? It would be pretty pointless otherwise, no? (given free text-only nntp is readily available from overseas)

Damo-K

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Master Geek

#185183 19-Dec-2008 17:49

Novatech: I'm in the process of setting up Papercut or Inn (Dnews sucks greatly).

With Actrix's blessing I may be offering free read-only nntp to anyone in the nz ip space, with the possibility of a *really cheap* or maybe even free paid posting server (depending on bandwidth and if I can get someone to donate some hardware/sponsorship/beer).

Don't discount DNews as it has the great ability to pull down only requested newsgroups instead of all newsgroups regardless of their usage - they call this Dynamic Suck Feed and this dramatically drops the amount of bandwidth and storage needed to hold all newsgroups. It's not part of the NNTP standard AFAIK so it'd be neat to know whether any other NNTP server implement this feature or similar.

With saying that, you might also find that the 'expensive' part of hosting NNTP is the newsgroup downloading - posting is relatively low volume.