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AOL Access to Newsgroups

Is it true that AOL is going to discontinue access to Internet Newsgroups? If
so how would I access them.

Either through Google groups (google.com and follow the links) or get an
reader like Agent.

K Barrett

"TRAINMAN9" wrote in message
...
Is it true that AOL is going to discontinue access to Internet Newsgroups?
If
so how would I access them.

I replied to that a few days ago- at AOL "HELP" I was told that AOL had NO
intention of "Not delivering newsgroup messages"...and she also thought the
message was a fake.
And I do, also. But I still wonder......
Elinor

Is it true that AOL is going to discontinue access to Internet Newsgroups? If
so how would I access them.

I dont know if its true or not but to cover all basis I put each newsgroup I
have listed in my fovorite places. I hope this will work.
Bob

Its true. I just got the notification myself. It did not state when this was
to take effect, so I guess we will find out when it no longer works. I wonder
is AOL is in some kind of financial bind that they need to discontinue this
service??????

IiSpankyii wrote:

Its true. I just got the notification myself....................

You were notified by whom? Was it really AOL that told you this or
someone else?

Steve

Saw this today on ZDNet
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorD...ml?tag=nl.e502

which seems to confirm the aol rumor . . .

Scottie

"IiSpankyii" wrote in message
...
Its true. I just got the notification myself. It did not state when this
was
to take effect, so I guess we will find out when it no longer works. I
wonder
is AOL is in some kind of financial bind that they need to discontinue
this
service??????

A couple of thoughts -

1. Just because someone published an article aboutit doesn't necessarily
mean it's true. Note that the author got the info from another publication,
not directly from AOL. I'm not saying it's incorrect, just that it's not
sure-fire confirmation.

2. As the the financial perspective, it might be related, but maybe not in
the way "Spanky" suggested. AOL-Time Warner cannot make money from Usenet
unless they charge their minions for access to it, and there is a real cost
to providing the NNTP servers. I would guess that there aren't a sufficient
percentage of AOL subscribers that use newsgroups to warrant the cost of
servers and support for them. AOL also provides some smap- and virus
blocking, don't they? That's another cost without an assocated revenue
stream.

(DISCLAIMER: The following comment is opinion, and is made based upon a
limited amount of reading, but without first-hand knowledge of any facts.
It is not meant as a "put-down" to anyone.)

I suspect that the demographics of AOL subscribers leans very strongly to
folks that are new to computers, or the internet, or are inexperienced or
not all that knowledgeable about the ins-and-outs of it. They tend to
browse, chat, and shop, look up stuff for school assignments, or email
Grandma. As such, they may not even know what usenet is all about, for the
most part. If that was my subscriber base, I might make the same
decision...
--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!

"Scottie" wrote in message
.net...
Saw this today on ZDNet
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorD...ml?tag=nl.e502

which seems to confirm the aol rumor . . .

Scottie

"IiSpankyii" wrote in message
...
Its true. I just got the notification myself. It did not state when
this
was
to take effect, so I guess we will find out when it no longer works. I
wonder
is AOL is in some kind of financial bind that they need to discontinue
this
service??????

I agree w/ that last part Ray. I used to use AOL, back when I was new to
this, but now, it would just be a pain. My dad still does use it, and had no
clue what I was talking about about Usenet, even though he's a bit of a
geek. (He got the whole family started building our own computers - now none
of us buy bundles.) So, perhaps it's twofold - Newbies, combined with lack
of information.
Murri

"Ray" wrote in message
...
A couple of thoughts -

1. Just because someone published an article aboutit doesn't necessarily
mean it's true. Note that the author got the info from another
publication, not directly from AOL. I'm not saying it's incorrect, just
that it's not sure-fire confirmation.

2. As the the financial perspective, it might be related, but maybe not
in the way "Spanky" suggested. AOL-Time Warner cannot make money from
Usenet unless they charge their minions for access to it, and there is a
real cost to providing the NNTP servers. I would guess that there aren't
a sufficient percentage of AOL subscribers that use newsgroups to warrant
the cost of servers and support for them. AOL also provides some smap-
and virus blocking, don't they? That's another cost without an assocated
revenue stream.

(DISCLAIMER: The following comment is opinion, and is made based upon a
limited amount of reading, but without first-hand knowledge of any facts.
It is not meant as a "put-down" to anyone.)

I suspect that the demographics of AOL subscribers leans very strongly to
folks that are new to computers, or the internet, or are inexperienced or
not all that knowledgeable about the ins-and-outs of it. They tend to
browse, chat, and shop, look up stuff for school assignments, or email
Grandma. As such, they may not even know what usenet is all about, for
the most part. If that was my subscriber base, I might make the same
decision...
--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!

"Scottie" wrote in message
.net...
Saw this today on ZDNet
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorD...ml?tag=nl.e502

which seems to confirm the aol rumor . . .

Scottie

"IiSpankyii" wrote in message
...
Its true. I just got the notification myself. It did not state when
this
was
to take effect, so I guess we will find out when it no longer works. I
wonder
is AOL is in some kind of financial bind that they need to discontinue
this
service??????

Does anyone know if AOL has posted anything to the contrary?

IiSpankyii wrote:

Does anyone know if AOL has posted anything to the contrary?

I'm to the point of believing it's true. I went to AOL.com to see if
anything was there. I didn't see anything. I noticed they provided a
search feature, so I used it. I searched for aol newsgroups. That lead
to news stories from other sites that reported that AOL will stop
providing newsgroups early this year.

You don't need AOL anyway. See what else is available in your area. Call
them up first and make sure they offer both orchid newsgroups, RGO and ABPO.

AOL is an expensive dinosaur that provides lots of things that you don't
use anyway. Now they (perhaps) will not be offering what you do use.

Steve