How does UK DIY work

Hi

Sorry to ask, but how exactly does UK DIY work? Some of my posts & replies never seem to appear at all and this obviously effects other people because I see replies to questions I have never seen.

For example, the thread RE; uPVC Cutter, I can see the reply from Chris French but that's all, not the OP.

One reply I made to the Squeaky Bed thread didn't appear either.

Am I doing something wrong?

Dave

Reply to
David Lang
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It could be that your news server just doesn't get a very complete set of articles or is buggy or badly setup and loses articles. What you describe is commonly seen with the BT Openworld news server, but I don't know what Blueyonder's ones are like.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I'm through the Blueyonder news-text server and all seems fine here, but the next door neighbour is through the BT servers and keeps losing posts.

Reply to
BigWallop

Hi Dave I can see two replies from you in the "Squeaky Bed" thread and also your response in "uPVC Cutter" so your posts are getting through.

All "uk." newsgroups, along with the "alt." hierarchy, are propagated via Usenet. Usenet is effectively a global relay chain where messages are received and passed on between a great many servers. Your own ISP is a link in this chain and the Usenet access you receive is termed your "newsfeed".

Therein lies the problem. Some ISPs consider Usenet a bit "old hat" these days and don't maintain/upgrade their news servers as much as they could. So a poor newsfeed results in missing and delayed incoming messages to your computer. However most (if not all) messages that you post will get through and reach the newsgroup, even if you can't see them yourself.

The only thing you can do is complain to your ISP which is probably about as effective as pissing into the wind. Otherwise you could subscribe to a third-party newsfeed, whereby you can either browse and post more effectively using a web browser of obtain a better feed to a newsreader program such as 'Agent'. Another advantage is that you would get complete access to ALL newsgroups. Believe it or not your ISP censors what you can and can't read, sometimes by order of the State.

riccip

Reply to
riccip

I don't think there is such a thing as posting/browsing effectivley with a web browser :-)

Much the best way, which the OP is doing anyway.

The best alternative is this situation (for text groups) is probably still News Individual, now requires a small payment, but worth it. I would still use them, but my current ISP outsources it news service to Supernews which works very well.

Depends on what service you choose, NI is text only for instance, which is fine for me as I'm not interested in binary groups.

It may censor it, or it may choose not to carry certain groups heirachies for various reasons, or it may not. There are many ISP's.

Is there any legal power in the UK to force an ISP not to carry a group?

Reply to
chris French

WHY?

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

In message , Mary Fisher writes

Because most of their customers nowadays probably neither no about, nor if they do, actually use the news service, so it becomes a low priority. Most of the people I know on the net don't use newsgroups, and if they did it would be via a web interface.

Reply to
chris French

On 15 Jul 2005, Mary Fisher wrote

I've read that ISPs find that the proportion of their aubscribers who access Usenet is an extremely tiny minority -- so in terms of the user pecking-order, the news servers are about the lowest priority for a commercial ISP.

(FWIW, there's been even less incentive for ISPs to maintain Usenet access since google groups appeared.)

Reply to
Harvey Van Sickle

Running an ISP-sized news service properly is a reasonably skilled task. That means paying for someone who is appropriately skilled, providing the servers, buying/developing/modifying news software, negotiating peering arrangements, and dealing with abuse reports, etc. If an ISP doesn't think it will bring in enough customers, they just won't do it.

The brokeness of the BT openworld customer facing news server was why I left them. I guess if they thought it was important for getting/keeping customers, they would have fixed it. The irony is BT actually have a very good peering news service, which in a different circumstance was a reason for choosing them for a 34Mbit internet link.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I know there are 2 direct web links to this NG; one I use is this, which has been a bet for long time:

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way to keep tabs in Google view mode is to "Yellow Star" ie watch this post. When you revisit site select yellow star and they'll all be on 1 page without searching.

Reply to
Gel

Well, sometimes...

  1. you post a sensible and sometimes urgent question.
  2. we nitpick it apart
  3. we then discuss at length some aspect we find interesting but which is of no use to you
  4. we ignore all real calls for assistance
  5. you get peed off and demand an answer to your question
  6. we point out we dont owe you anything
  7. you realise its true, and get thoroughly fed up

Normally very helpful tho.

yes, we delete them at random to annoy people

we couldnt let you post that!!

If you want the full text of how NGs work.... let me see... no, maybe someone else knows where it is, the one explaining how it takes 1400 ng participants to change a lighbulb.

NT

Reply to
bigcat

On 15 Jul 2005 07:16:20 -0700,it is alleged that snipped-for-privacy@meeow.co.uk spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:

[snip]

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for giving me the impetus to look that up again!

Reply to
Chip

I used to be with Argonet, who speciaised originally with Acorn Computer users. Their dial up service got worse and worse, so I transferred to Pipex going broadband at the same time.

They've now closed down their ISP side, and an ex employee (Paul Vigay) has taken over most of their former customers, and seems to be offering a reasonable deal on broadband. Including a decent news service with good spam filtering etc. Although I doubt it'll carry any dubious groups. ;-)

I'm considering changing to him when my current subscription runs out. He's a regular contributor to the Acorn groups - so how about getting an answer to a problem from the actual ISP boss rather than a help line? ;-)

His ISP is, of course, open to PC, Mac and Linux as well as RISC OS.

formatting link

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Not always.

Rarely, most people when peed off just go home.

I've never known that.

And go home.

Or join the club - the best around!

Yes.

No we don't, ignore him, he's trying to be funny.

Same again.

Or how to spell lightbulb.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote advertising spam in message news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk...

Reply to
Doctor Evil

EXplain why that was spam please !!

Dave

Reply to
dave stanton

Don't encourage it/him!

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Drivel is the resident fool who hates being shown up to be wrong - which he has on several occasions recently. So like any little brat he likes trying to throw his weight around.

He's had his ISP account pulled several times through this sort of behaviour, and is well on his way to it happening again.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

That's no way to talk to a lady - shame on you.

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

It's no way to talk to anyone, it doesn't make sense.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

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