Usenet and NNTP are not dead, far from it. Similar to IRC, they are
still in use, more so than ever even, so why do most people use Reddit
instead of a time-tested and arguably better alternative, Usenet?

For starters, newsreaders have much better filtering capabilities than
Reddit will ever have. Newsgroups can host binaries in addition to text.
NNTP is a light protocol compared to the hundreds of kilobytes of
JavaScript you have to run in a bloated web browser. Usenet doesn't
have ads, nor corporate influence or privacy issues. It is a near
drop-in replacement. It has postings (posts), replies (comments),
newsgroups (subreddits), binaries, and more.

I have personally never used Usenet but from what I have read and seen
it is very good. Popular Internet services are now just that - services,
owned and run by one corporation. They could get sold, breached or even
shut down (see AIM el at). As long as something can't be run on your own server, its days are numbered.

For the people who like both, there is a gateway available but it cannot
post yet but should be good enough for general usage: https://github.com/taviso/nntpit
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Totgesafte leben aber auch nicht immer laenger..

On 2021-03-23, 04dco <O4dco@tilde.institute> wrote:

Usenet and NNTP are not dead, far from it. Similar to IRC, they are
still in use, more so than ever even, so why do most people use Reddit instead of a time-tested and arguably better alternative, Usenet?

For starters, newsreaders have much better filtering capabilities than
Reddit will ever have. Newsgroups can host binaries in addition to text.
NNTP is a light protocol compared to the hundreds of kilobytes of
JavaScript you have to run in a bloated web browser. Usenet doesn't
have ads, nor corporate influence or privacy issues. It is a near
drop-in replacement. It has postings (posts), replies (comments),
newsgroups (subreddits), binaries, and more.

I have personally never used Usenet but from what I have read and seen
it is very good. Popular Internet services are now just that - services, owned and run by one corporation. They could get sold, breached or even
shut down (see AIM el at). As long as something can't be run on your own server, its days are numbered.

For the people who like both, there is a gateway available but it cannot
post yet but should be good enough for general usage: https://github.com/taviso/nntpit

--- Synchronet 3.18b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Fenris <fenris@invalid.invalid> writes:

Totgesafte leben aber auch nicht immer laenger..

Reddit darf gern sterben!
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

04dco <O4dco@tilde.institute> wrote:

Usenet and NNTP are not dead, far from it. Similar to IRC, they are
still in use, more so than ever even, so why do most people use Reddit instead of a time-tested and arguably better alternative, Usenet?

Interestingly, this is coming up again as Reddit is increasing
its API access prices, meaning that apps that filter the the ads
are running into this. On fedi, I've tried to push the message
that net news can be an alternative. With peering, the groups
are "federated" to use a fedi word. It's great! And I wrote a
little web front-end to help people using browsers to access
news servers.

Example: https://campaignwiki.org/news

Alex
--
I apologize for all the bad signatures I used in the past.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Alex Schroeder <alex@alexschroeder.ch> writes:

On fedi, I've tried to push the message that net news can be an
alternative. With peering, the groups are "federated" to use a fedi
word. It's great! And I wrote a little web front-end to help people
using browsers to access news servers.

Example: https://campaignwiki.org/news

| _
| / )
| ___ / /__
| |-' _)
| | _)
| | _)
| ___|-.____)
|

We really should bundle mail and news in an easy end-user friendly and
p2p-y way and restart the net from there.
--
Take Back Control! -- Mesh The Planet!
Do you GNUS too? -- Stop worrying about spam and start to score.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

This is great - keep up the good fight! I was reading a Reddit thread just today lamenting the upcoming API changes and I was happy to see that there were actually multiple people hyping up "small net" alternatives like
Usenet.

On Thu, 1 Jun 2023, Alex Schroeder wrote:

04dco <O4dco@tilde.institute> wrote:

Usenet and NNTP are not dead, far from it. Similar to IRC, they are
still in use, more so than ever even, so why do most people use Reddit
instead of a time-tested and arguably better alternative, Usenet?

Interestingly, this is coming up again as Reddit is increasing
its API access prices, meaning that apps that filter the the ads
are running into this. On fedi, I've tried to push the message
that net news can be an alternative. With peering, the groups
are "federated" to use a fedi word. It's great! And I wrote a
little web front-end to help people using browsers to access
news servers.

Example: https://campaignwiki.org/news

Alex
--
I apologize for all the bad signatures I used in the past.

--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

On 6/1/23 18:27, ultrachip@tilde.club wrote:

This is great - keep up the good fight! I was reading a Reddit thread
just today lamenting the upcoming API changes and I was happy to see
that there were actually multiple people hyping up "small net"
alternatives like Usenet.

There have been a few threads on Hacker News recently about Usenet/NNTP
as a "Reddit alternative", and I threw my $0.02 in for smallnet services
like Tilde (and our news service).

Here's hoping that we see more activity here!

~ Anthony

--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Some have thought about NNTP-ing the fediverse, but that did not go
beyond a README:

https://koldfront.dk/git/hydrant/about/

I think the existing clients to news are good enough, but every user
just should have a simplified news server at home for managing an own
hierarchy and imports/exports from/to peers and uplinks too.

I need to look at Cyrus NNTP somewhen. https://www.cyrusimap.org/imap/reference/admin/nntp.html

What I definitely do not miss (to say the least) in news is counting
clicks, followers, boosts and such. I hope those stay away.
--
1. Hitchhiker 12: (67) "OK," the computer continued. "Here's an
interesting little notion. Did you realize that most people's lives are governed by telephone numbers?"
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

On 2023-06-02, yeti <yeti@tilde.institute> wrote:

What I definitely do not miss (to say the least) in news is counting
clicks, followers, boosts and such. I hope those stay away.

👍 (I had to do it)
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

James Tomasino <tomasino@cosmic.voyage> writes:

On 2023-06-02, yeti <yeti@tilde.institute> wrote:

What I definitely do not miss (to say the least) in news is counting
clicks, followers, boosts and such. I hope those stay away.

👍 (I had to do it)

I'll not start counting them. So they stay just a statement flying
by... \o/ ...ok that way.

Ii's the counters, what gives me the bad taste, not the individual
(uncounted) reaction of someone.
--
Take Back Control! -- Mesh The Planet!
Do you GNUS too? -- Stop worrying about spam and start to score.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

So something interesting I learned just today... apparently there is a
website named "Tildes" that's essentially a clone of old-style Reddit, and
a lot of Reddit users have been suggesting it as an alternative as Reddit proper continues to completely implode.

I wonder how many users are recommending "tildes" in the pubnix sense vs. "Tildes" as in this new site?


On Fri, 2 Jun 2023, Anthony Giacalone wrote:

On 6/1/23 18:27, ultrachip@tilde.club wrote:

This is great - keep up the good fight! I was reading a Reddit thread just >> today lamenting the upcoming API changes and I was happy to see that there >> were actually multiple people hyping up "small net" alternatives like
Usenet.

There have been a few threads on Hacker News recently about Usenet/NNTP as a "Reddit alternative", and I threw my $0.02 in for smallnet services like Tilde (and our news service).

Here's hoping that we see more activity here!

~ Anthony

--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

On Fri, 2 Jun 2023, Anthony Giacalone wrote:

Here's hoping that we see more activity here!

~ Anthony

Well, it sure brought me back. Being bored at work was about the
only time I ever used Reddit/Tilde, and since I don't want to use
Reddit anymore--or more accurately, I've been pushed out by Reddit
disabling i.reddit.com and then their mobile website entirely
(allegedly), here I am.

Actually, it's been kind of nice, seeing how many posts were waiting
for me in the lists here.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

rdh <rdh@tilde.institute> writes:

Being bored at work was about the only time I ever used Reddit/Tilde,
and since I don't want to use Reddit anymore--or more accurately, I've
been pushed out by Reddit disabling i.reddit.com and then their mobile website entirely (allegedly), here I am.

Make news great again!

\o/ Thanks, Reddit! \o/
--
Take Back Control! -- Mesh The Planet!
Do you GNUS too? -- Stop worrying about spam and start to score.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

On 2023-06-12, rdh <rdh@tilde.institute> wrote:

On Fri, 2 Jun 2023, Anthony Giacalone wrote:

Here's hoping that we see more activity here!

~ Anthony

Well, it sure brought me back. Being bored at work was about the
only time I ever used Reddit/Tilde, and since I don't want to use
Reddit anymore--or more accurately, I've been pushed out by Reddit
disabling i.reddit.com and then their mobile website entirely
(allegedly), here I am.

Actually, it's been kind of nice, seeing how many posts were waiting
for me in the lists here.

Reddit started making it hard to visit in the browser a year or two
back. Ever since, I just stopped going there. It's like a paywall on a
news site. I'll just go somewhere else.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

On 6/12/23 09:00, rdh wrote:

Well, it sure brought me back. Being bored at work was about the
only time I ever used Reddit/Tilde, and since I don't want to use
Reddit anymore--or more accurately, I've been pushed out by Reddit
disabling i.reddit.com and then their mobile website entirely
(allegedly), here I am.

I deleted my Reddit account the other day and have no plans on going
back, so this won't matter as much for me anymore, but I suspect that old.reddit.com is next on the chopping block despite Reddit's claims
that it is "safe".

The user experience on these sites will suffer again.

I'm all for putting my efforts in things like NNTP and the newer
federated services like Mastodon and Lemmy.

~ Anthony
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

On 6/12/23 09:33, James Tomasino wrote:

Reddit started making it hard to visit in the browser a year or two
back. Ever since, I just stopped going there. It's like a paywall on a
news site. I'll just go somewhere else.

Especially on mobile devices. I tend to read a lot on my iPad in the
evening, and every time I get redirected to a Reddit site, it wants me
to download their mobile app.

No thanks, Reddit.

~ Anthony
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Here's an interesting post found on alt.folklore.computers:

https://sybershock.com/forum/retro/article-flat.php?id=420&group=alt.bbs.mystic#420

usenet and the tildeverse mentioned prominently and showcasing another
NNTP to Web interface.

~lkh
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Laurens Kils-Huetten <lkh@cosmic.voyage> writes:

Here's an interesting post found on alt.folklore.computers:

https://sybershock.com/forum/retro/article-flat.php?id=420&group=alt.bbs.mystic#420

Page not found.
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Patricia Ferreira <pferreira@example.com> wrote:

Laurens Kils-Huetten <lkh@cosmic.voyage> writes:

Here's an interesting post found on alt.folklore.computers:

https://sybershock.com/forum/retro/article-flat.php?id=420&group=alt.bbs.mystic#420

Page not found.
.

Hm, that's to bad. Why do things always go away?

Now I can't even remember what it was about ...

Looking back over this thread I'll agree though:

Enshittification of Reddit is in full progress, and I'm
using IRC and netnews more than ever before.

I deleted my reddit acount in the meantime, btw. So
also over there some things (or dudes) just go away ...

Cheers, happy day to all of you! :)

~lkh
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Laurens Kils-Huetten <lkh@cosmic.voyage> writes:

Patricia Ferreira <pferreira@example.com> wrote:

Laurens Kils-Huetten <lkh@cosmic.voyage> writes:

Here's an interesting post found on alt.folklore.computers:

https://sybershock.com/forum/retro/article-flat.php?id=420&group=alt.bbs.mystic#420

Page not found.
.

Hey! I didn't put that period there. You're fabricating statements
here. (Busted!) :)

Hm, that's to bad. Why do things always go away?

Omg, that's a very hard question.

Now I can't even remember what it was about ...

Let me show you some basic computer skills. (Lol.) When you find an interesting web page, print it to a file. (The kids these days also say
``save it to a PDF''.)

Then attach it here. (If the community won't punch you in the face for
that.)

Seriously, I think every NNTP-based community should also count with a
file bin and an image bin. I don't think files to be attached because
that hurs our searching performance, but I do think img bins and file
bins might be okay. Because we often need to exchange small files.

I don't think NNTP needs to display images like the web. I think it's perfectly fine---in fact preferable---to view images sort of separately
from the reading. It is no good to look at pictures when reading books
without getting an introduction to the picture by the text. It's
similar to code reading: first read an informal description of the code
and only afterwards read the code in high-precision language.

It's not clear to me the best way img and file bins with NNTP. I'm
interested in hearing ideas.

Looking back over this thread I'll agree though:

Enshittification of Reddit is in full progress, and I'm
using IRC and netnews more than ever before.

Community-based software cannot be left at the hands of profit-seeking entities. More generally, a community must stand on its own.

I deleted my reddit acount in the meantime, btw.

Good for you!

Cheers!
--- Synchronet 3.19a-Linux NewsLink 1.113