DejaNews all over again--a URL for Usenet Searching (fwd)

Forwarded message:
> 
> I usually avoid passing on URLs of interesting sites, in the name of
> conserving bandwidth (*), but this one really has me jazzed:
> 
> http://dejanews.com/
> 
> It allows searching of Usenet archives (a few months' worth, from what I
> can see).
> 

> 
> "    Want to know what people are saying about some new book?  About
> some political topic?  Most importantly, about you behind your back?
> Check it out!  Lots of fun, and a bit scary."
> 

Or to paraphrase Huey Long, "Every Man a Kibo".

My two cents: I've used Dejanews for almost a month now, and have been
consistently impressed with the results. The uses are many; the danger,
as others have noted, is that people forget (or never realize in the
first place) that you should never post anything to Usenet that you
wouldn't want to see plastered on the evening news.

Having said that, I'm greatly looking forward to the impending addition
of the alt.* groups to their archives. Everyone is indeed a Kibo now,
and the general public has become more aware of the need for reputations
as a result.

--
 http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~frogfarm  ..for the best in unapproved information
  EmmaGoldmanCamillePagliaMarieCurieAynRandSapphoDianaToriAmosPJHarvey&Demona
 Living in dread with your fragile brain and the executioner's got your number
 I feel a groove comin' on                              Freedom...yeah, right.

On Mon, 6 Nov 1995, Damaged Justice wrote:

> My two cents: I've used Dejanews for almost a month now, and have been
> consistently impressed with the results. The uses are many; the danger,
> as others have noted, is that people forget (or never realize in the
> first place) that you should never post anything to Usenet that you
> wouldn't want to see plastered on the evening news.
> 
> Having said that, I'm greatly looking forward to the impending addition
> of the alt.* groups to their archives. Everyone is indeed a Kibo now,
> and the general public has become more aware of the need for reputations
> as a result.

I absitively agree. I have no quarrel with archiving and redistributing 
public information. I think it's great.

Might also help spread aewareness of the anonymity options available. It 
would be good to see if the dejanews folks would give the anon servers a 
plug. Anybody friendly with them?

-rich

frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu writes:
[re: http://dejanews.com]
> Having said that, I'm greatly looking forward to the impending addition
> of the alt.* groups to their archives. Everyone is indeed a Kibo now,
> and the general public has become more aware of the need for reputations
> as a result.

They now have some alt.*. They've got my rmgroup of 
alt.wild.sex.with.cute.nonAIDSinfected.interesting.sonsofbitches, which 
suggests they've done a pretty thorough job for some time period.

As others have noted, this has clearly been coming for a long time. 
Pseudonymous accounts like Community Connexion's are a partial solution. But
I expect an expansion of the market for strongly pseudonymous mail aliases,
providing fewer services for cheaper rates. It's not enough just to separate 
your True Name (verinym) from your name on the net. Many will want to use 
tentacles (*), er, separate pseudonyms for discussions in different parts of 
the net. After all, I might not want the c'punks to hear about my past life as
a control freak (pun intended) in alt.config. Just a reminder....

-L. Futplex McCarthy  Remailer Feedback Page: 
                      http://www.cs.umass.edu/~lmccarth/remailers/feedback.html

(*) Speaking of tentacles, Dejanews reveals that my name is on the long list
of people whose signatures have been appropriated by Detweiler ;)