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Originally Posted by Granity
I do use news groups but I find them a PITA as you get every thing downloaded whether you want to read it or not,
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Not with a decent newsreader - you can download just the headers, then go back and pick the threads you're interested in. But if you're reading every day, then on a moderately used newsgroup like urg, you shouldn't have problems with too large a download. You don't have to read everything, and the newsreader can be set to show you only new posts. And the really great advantage is that they are threaded correctly - something a web forum does not do.
The only problem is if you go on holiday - but that's still a problem with a web forum
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and the download speed is throttled to 116Kbs. With GB I just open the threads that interest me and they come down at 7.5Mbs
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that's not a function of newgroups, that's your particular supplier set up. Of course, back when everyone was using dial-up, there was a very real advantage to newsgroups in that you could read and draft replies off-line.
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Forums do have some very real advantages over groups, you don't need to quote anything unless you want to reply to a specific pert of someone's text,
you can use emoticons if you want,
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Both of these are true of newsgroups too. Emoticons originated in newsgroups
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you can embed pictures into your posts
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some newsgroups accept pictures. I agree most don't - I think because they originated in dial-up days
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but above all you can moderate and ban people if they seriously misbehave, you can set the rules in a 'stickey'
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You can moderate newsgroups and ban users. Moderation depends on a willing and committed moderator, which is why urg has never gone that route.
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It does get taken down if you click on the 'report as inappropriate button' but I think it is only if it originates from a GB subscriber, not an URG one.
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I've reported blatant spammers/advertisers only to see them pop up again a few days later.
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