{OT?} has googled killed the anonymity of Usenet ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter *ProteanThread*
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*ProteanThread*

several groups and several threads ago, i see sometimes when people post,
some wiseacre posts a comment about "what a lame question" or "what a bogus
request" or or "what an un-necessary question" or even "what a dumb ass
subject" that is and then are told (not quietly or politely) to "just google
it"

for example, when someone asked about acf history, i honestly didn't know
and stated that fact and politely told the person to "google it' ( some
university website probaly has a history of usenet somewhere stashed ). but
in another newsgroup where i asked a question, someone got pissed off (
although it *WAS* on topic for the group per the FAQ ) and told me to google
it because the question was "un-necessary" although it was on topic for the
group.

*IF* they are un-necessary, then why do so many respond and reply ? Isn't
the point of Usenet to ask questions and get an honest (or albeit heart
pounding opinionated) reply ? Telling someone to use a search engine simply
defeats the purpose of Usenet and is a lame excuse for either not knowing
the answer or unwilling to participate in the richness and comrade of
Usenet.

example: news://comp.os.cpm or

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=p...F-8&[email protected]&rnum=1

am i wrong ? Isn't the whole point of usenet about asking questions and
getting asnwers ?


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am i wrong ? Isn't the whole point of usenet about asking questions
and getting asnwers ?
Click to expand...

Here's another useless question:
Why are there so many OT topics on this forum lately?
 
*ProteanThread* said:
several groups and several threads ago, i see sometimes when people
post, some wiseacre posts a comment about "what a lame question" or
"what a bogus request" or or "what an un-necessary question" or even
"what a dumb ass subject" that is and then are told (not quietly or
politely) to "just google it"

for example, when someone asked about acf history, i honestly didn't
know and stated that fact and politely told the person to "google it'
( some university website probaly has a history of usenet somewhere
stashed ). but in another newsgroup where i asked a question,
someone got pissed off ( although it *WAS* on topic for the group per
the FAQ ) and told me to google it because the question was
"un-necessary" although it was on topic for the group.

*IF* they are un-necessary, then why do so many respond and reply ?
Isn't the point of Usenet to ask questions and get an honest (or
albeit heart pounding opinionated) reply ? Telling someone to use a
search engine simply defeats the purpose of Usenet and is a lame
excuse for either not knowing the answer or unwilling to participate
in the richness and comrade of Usenet.

example: news://comp.os.cpm or

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=p...F-8&[email protected]&rnum=1

am i wrong ? Isn't the whole point of usenet about asking questions
and getting asnwers ?
Click to expand...

It's also about opinions from a group of people sharing the same interest,
in this case: freeware.
If someone's looking for a specific program X, I would encourage him/her to
Google for X, and IMHO that someone should have done so in the first place.
If somenone's looking for opinions on program X, looking for alternitives,
or is simply unaware that program X exist and is looking for a program for
his/her needs, he/she would be in the right place here.
It's annoying when somebody asks for the location of a program and the first
ten hits on google are all direct hits. It suggests lazyness. I'm sure I'm
not the only one annoyed by this.

Rod
 
Rod said:
It's also about opinions from a group of people sharing the same interest,
in this case: freeware.
If someone's looking for a specific program X, I would encourage him/her to
Google for X, and IMHO that someone should have done so in the first place.
If somenone's looking for opinions on program X, looking for alternitives,
or is simply unaware that program X exist and is looking for a program for
his/her needs, he/she would be in the right place here.
It's annoying when somebody asks for the location of a program and the first
ten hits on google are all direct hits. It suggests lazyness. I'm sure I'm
not the only one annoyed by this.

Rod
Click to expand...


I agree, the question I was asking in the link to the thread I posted, can't
be easily googled; so it wasn't a matter of laziness on my part but on the
part of ther peson telling me to "just google it"
 
I agree, the question I was asking in the link to the thread I posted,
can't be easily googled; so it wasn't a matter of laziness on my part
but on the part of ther peson telling me to "just google it"
Click to expand...

Here are things that will trigger that response.

1. Almost every newsgroup has a question that is asked at least once a
week. Just a little searching by the asker would find the answer. Newsgroup
regulars get sick and tired of answering this question over and over and
properly tell you to Google it.

2. There are always wiseacres who respond to almost every question with
"Google it." It gives them a thrill or feeling of control. The regulars in
the group will have this person killfiled, but newcomers won't.
 
scroob said:
Here are things that will trigger that response.

1. Almost every newsgroup has a question that is asked at least once a
week. Just a little searching by the asker would find the answer. Newsgroup
regulars get sick and tired of answering this question over and over and
properly tell you to Google it.

2. There are always wiseacres who respond to almost every question with
"Google it." It gives them a thrill or feeling of control. The regulars in
the group will have this person killfiled, but newcomers won't.
Click to expand...


Which explains why no one answered "bill gates" or "french luser" (whatever
he calls herself) :o)

ok, other than me, one other peson :-)))
 
Telling someone to use a search engine simply
defeats the purpose of Usenet and is a lame excuse for either not knowing
the answer or unwilling to participate in the richness and comrade of
Usenet.
Click to expand...

Google carries different thoughts from different users and may include
other NGs from acf as well.

Many times, it is MORE the appropriate answer.
 
*ProteanThread* said:
I agree, the question I was asking in the link to the thread I
posted, can't be easily googled; so it wasn't a matter of laziness on
my part but on the part of ther peson telling me to "just google it"
Click to expand...

We agree.

Rod
 
*ProteanThread* said:
several groups and several threads ago, i see sometimes when people
post, some wiseacre posts a comment about "what a lame question" or
"what a bogus request" or or "what an un-necessary question" or even
"what a dumb ass subject" that is and then are told (not quietly or
politely) to "just google it"

for example, when someone asked about acf history, i honestly didn't
know and stated that fact and politely told the person to "google it'
( some university website probaly has a history of usenet somewhere
stashed ). but in another newsgroup where i asked a question,
someone got pissed off ( although it *WAS* on topic for the group per
the FAQ ) and told me to google it because the question was
"un-necessary" although it was on topic for the group.

*IF* they are un-necessary, then why do so many respond and reply ?
Isn't the point of Usenet to ask questions and get an honest (or
albeit heart pounding opinionated) reply ? Telling someone to use a
search engine simply defeats the purpose of Usenet and is a lame
excuse for either not knowing the answer or unwilling to participate
in the richness and comrade of Usenet.

example: news://comp.os.cpm or

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=p...F-8&[email protected]&rnum=1

am i wrong ? Isn't the whole point of usenet about asking questions
and getting asnwers ?
Click to expand...

My god. You really are a "dim bulb" (Google it) aren't you? You're
subject makes no sense (taken on it's own), and it doesn't match the
body of your message (for those who figure it out).

As an aside, telling someone nothing more than to "Google it" is lame.
Does doing so defeat the purpose of Usenet? No. It does give fools like
you something to whine about, though.
 
Here are things that will trigger that response.

1. Almost every newsgroup has a question that is asked at least once a
week. Just a little searching by the asker would find the answer. Newsgroup
regulars get sick and tired of answering this question over and over and
properly tell you to Google it.

2. There are always wiseacres who respond to almost every question with
"Google it." It gives them a thrill or feeling of control. The regulars in
the group will have this person killfiled, but newcomers won't.
Click to expand...

True on both accounts. It's best to do a search on Google. If you
can't find the answer, then at least you tried. Plus, if the answer is
found, you have the added benefit of getting the answer immediately.
Instead of waiting for someone to read your post, and respond.
 
*ProteanThread* said:
am i wrong ? Isn't the whole point of usenet about asking questions and
getting asnwers ?
Click to expand...
Give the answer and append with "Google is your friend" as a hint.
 
Tiger, upon reaching nirvana, postulated:
Yes. Sometimes the correct answer to the question is, "google it."
Click to expand...

In this group, that is a legitimate answer, because the group's nature
usually requires some sort of web access to actually get the software
discussed here. In *most* other groups, it is simply the biased opinion of
most people that everyone has web access. In reality there is a large
portion of people that have nttp access (either directly or through
mail2news gateways)that can not use google or would have to jump through a
lot of hoops to use it. As for the OP question about usenet anonymity, the
only way to achieve pseudo-anonymity is to use a remailer(or a lot of
them), and even then you would have to trust the server admin not to cave
in when the cops come calling. The perceived anonymity in Usenet has never
really existed. If you think that the XNA header will keep you out of the
google archives, you might want to browse around the new beta project
there: http://groups-beta.google.com/ I found quite a lot of XNA marked
articles when I last visited there. It would seem to me that Google
archives everything it can get, but just marks the XNA articles as not
available for the general public. Considering how much file space they are
now offering on their GMail accounts, I'm pretty sure it would be no great
feat for them to archive binaries as well. If you post to usenet, there is
almost never anonymity. It's something you should be aware of before
hitting the send button.
 
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