WOS Forums NNTP gateway moved
The WOS Forums NNTP gateway now has a more permanent home, where it should be a bit faster and not so dependent on my home ADSL connection. You'll now find it at:
news.zxdemo.org
And since it never did get a proper announcement the first time round, here we go: This is a new service allowing you to read the WOS forums from the comfort of your newsreading program (such as Mozilla Thunderbird... insert other vociferous recommendations here) and enjoy such benefits as offline reading and full tracking of the posts you have and haven't read (so you don't have to read everything in one sitting). If you'd like to take advantage of this, point your newsreader to the above address - note that it's currently read only, and won't allow you to post. If you don't want to take advantage of it, then just sit back, carry on using WOS forums as normal, and rest assured that it won't sell your email address to Satan.
I'm probably going to turn off the old bluecanary.mine.nu address at some point tomorrow, so please update your newsreaders accordingly.
news.zxdemo.org
And since it never did get a proper announcement the first time round, here we go: This is a new service allowing you to read the WOS forums from the comfort of your newsreading program (such as Mozilla Thunderbird... insert other vociferous recommendations here) and enjoy such benefits as offline reading and full tracking of the posts you have and haven't read (so you don't have to read everything in one sitting). If you'd like to take advantage of this, point your newsreader to the above address - note that it's currently read only, and won't allow you to post. If you don't want to take advantage of it, then just sit back, carry on using WOS forums as normal, and rest assured that it won't sell your email address to Satan.
I'm probably going to turn off the old bluecanary.mine.nu address at some point tomorrow, so please update your newsreaders accordingly.
Post edited by gasman on
Comments
Nope, you don't need any login details (in fact it won't accept them if you try to give it some). Are you sure you're setting it up as a newsgroup account, rather than email?
In Thunderbird, it's File -> New -> Account... -> Newsgroup account -> enter a name and email address (which aren't used yet, until it supports posting...) -> Next -> enter news.zxdemo.org as the newsgroup server. Other people might be able to give you better pointers for other software...
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Cheers!
EDIT: You gotta love the Thunderbird/Firefox mail's threaded view feature!
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Necros.
Yep. Ditto here. Guess I'll just continue to lurk as I've done in the past. :grin:
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
You don't need too. You can read them slagging WoS off without subscribing.
...whilst also rarely talking about anything to do with the Spectrum...
Ahem.
CSS content is mainly: "Oooh, look - old posters!", "Oooh, look - new posters!", "X is rubbish!" (where X isn't a piece of Spectrum software or hardware), "Where's everybody gone?".
It's sad to say, but CSS isn't what it used to be - it's now far too cliquey, which is unsurprising considering the number of regular posters to it. I recommend reading old posts via Google Groups from a few years ago to get a flavour of how good it was.
ffs change the bloody record. Either you're using a crap news server or have a case of selective blindness to reinforce your delusional viewpoint.
I can see topics such as
"Need help with identifying a game"
"ZX81 Graphic Competition 2007" (ok not Spectrum but CSS is Sinclair related not ZX Spectrum-exclusive)
"Sinclair QL Microdrive help required"
"Tap Music"
within the past few days.
You sneer at the "them and us" attitude of CSS while showing exactly the same attitude here.
Obviously the H in NickH stands for hypocrite.
Necros.
Necros.
Looks for a white feather to wear as he likes both places despite their share of numpties.
I counted the number of posts, rather than topics, and I qualified it all with words such as "mainly". But I've stopped reading CSS now, therefore my opinion of it isn't valid and can be safely ignored - in fact, I shouldn't even be allowed to post it as some CSS regulars disagree with it.
*shrug*
As saying "CSS is dying" breaks all sorts of taboos for some people, I'll stop saying it. Consider myself silenced on that.
iirc Fuzz uses news.motzarella.org, which is a free news server (look at www.motzarella.org). I'm using nntp.aioe.org, which is also free but not as reliable as motzarella [1]
[1] So, why am I still using aioe.org? Because I'm a lazy git, that's why :).
--
Matt
www.mattrudge.net
Necros.
Q. Which WOS forum has attracted just over 50% of posts (1336 out of 2647) since I started indexing two weeks ago? Is it:
That'll be the Off-topic forum, no doubt. I don't see the relevance however. The number of WoS on-topic posts still easily outnumbers the posts to CSS.
Necros.
A. Irrelevant.
Q. Which WOS on-topic forum comes even close to matching the off-topic ratio in CSS?
I guess my problem is that I now measure CSS by the amount of on-topic content rather than the whole milleu... milloo... mull... stuff. I also measure the WoS Forums by the amount of on-topic content - the Chit Chat forum is just a place to blow off steam, and if that's what you think CSS should be these days, then fine - it's just not for me when there's little of real value to read there either.
And I *know* that when the whole hoopla over the NTTP gateway dies down and the friction spun off by it, and when the novelty of new posters arriving dies down, and the need to flame goes away, I *know* that traffic levels in CSS will drop down to minimal again - both on- and off-topic - as it was when I started openly wondering if CSS had a future a while ago.
But feel free to ignore me, I'm sure everything's fine.
IMHO, I'm happy here - I don't see why I should aim to improve a venue I've lost fondness for when there's another venue that suits me fine. Now the choice has been made, why should ex-CSS'ers improve CSS when it's of little relevance to them? I don't help a poor sandwich shop improve its food when there's a decent alternative around the corner that I can easily use - I just take my custom elsewhere.
CSS was fine in its day. So was the Sincnews mailing list that came before it. Times change.
Well... true - there's no point supporting something you have no fondness for. Personally, I read CSS and post there (reasonably) often. I read the forums here (much more frequently thanks to Matt's nntp gateway) and post here occasionally.
I do like both CSS and WoS and I'd hate to see either of them marginalised - to me they're both important parts of the same community. We are part of the same community.... aren't we? And it does seem slightly ironic that we're even discussing the supposed obsolescence of one medium compared to another, when we use them for talking about a computer that ceased production 14 years ago!
:)
--
Matt
www.mattrudge.net
Why are you so obsessed that you take every opportunity to criticise c.s.s where you no longer go, over and over and over again?
"I don't see why I should aim to improve a venue I've lost fondness"
Full of yourself aren't you?
So who's the CSS guy that keeps critising the WoS forums then keeps saying he's never been here and doesn't intend to?
And if CSS is soooo bloody great, why are you falling over yourselves to rip the WoS posts?
That'll be spike (Hi spike).