On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 16:41:36 GMT, Jim Elbrecht
wrote:

wrote:

-snip-
Sadly, I've just about decided that Usenet newsgroups are no
longer worth it: too many spammers, trolls, stalkers, other
problems (including the surreptitious harvesting of whole
groups for commercial websites), very poor noise/signal
ratio, etc. etc.

I don't know how anyone reads most groups these days without a filter
that eliminates crossposts. I use nfilter - no longer at



So I've pretty much switched to mailing lists instead. I
still read this group from time to time. I skipped the
whole eternal cross-posted thread.... ugh. That was a
beautiful, perhaps classic, example of why I don't think
newsgroups a worthwhile use of time at present.

Even without crossposts- after about 30 posts threads are rarely
productive, so I just killfile them when they get too far afield.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear about that. I have an excellent
news program (Agent). I wasn't referring to seeing the
cross-posted thread in more than one newsgroup.

I was referring to the fact that cross-posting is
notoriously indulged in by trolls (as well as sometimes by
non-trolls) and cross-posted threads tend to degenerate
fairly quickly into hostility and insult-slinging with no
redeeming value -- as indeed, the one here recently did.

Pat

--
To email me, remove the spam trap and type my first
name in its place.

CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/