Once in a while I get tired of all the OT posts by folks that seem to think we have no news sources of our own. The noise to signal ratio here has certainly increased in the last month or two... I'd ask that only subjects aligned with the newsgroup heading are appropriate or responded to but these characters think someone is interested IF they get replies. Nuf said. John :-#(#
OT posts? How about shunning them as a solution...
Started by ●June 24, 2022
Reply by ●June 24, 20222022-06-24
On 6/24/2022 22:24, John Robertson wrote:> Once in a while I get tired of all the OT posts by folks that seem to > think we have no news sources of our own. > > The noise to signal ratio here has certainly increased in the last month > or two... > > I'd ask that only subjects aligned with the newsgroup heading are > appropriate or responded to but these characters think someone is > interested IF they get replies. > > Nuf said. > > John :-#(#It is not the OT posts, many of which are OK, if we talk only on topic the group will rapidly die. It is the trolls - we all know who they are and many of us could do a better job ignoring them. Not sure it would help as they are more than one and feed each other though, so probably no workable solution. One of them tried to post to CAE and after getting zero responses to their two posts seems to have given up.
Reply by ●June 24, 20222022-06-24
On 6/24/2022 1:50 PM, Dimiter_Popoff wrote:> On 6/24/2022 22:24, John Robertson wrote: >> Once in a while I get tired of all the OT posts by folks that seem to think >> we have no news sources of our own. >> >> The noise to signal ratio here has certainly increased in the last month or >> two... >> >> I'd ask that only subjects aligned with the newsgroup heading are appropriate >> or responded to but these characters think someone is interested IF they get >> replies. >> >> Nuf said. >> >> John :-#(# > > It is not the OT posts, many of which are OK, if we talk only on > topic the group will rapidly die.Yup. USENET stopped being a source of information decades ago. There are simply too many other/better sources available to folks, nowadays (personal contacts, mailing lists, forums). All of these have the advantage of effectively being *moderated*. [An email correspondent can "go dark" if your contacts "wander"; you can be booted from a mailing list/forum for similar reasons.] USENET is the "virtual pub" wherein folks "shoot the shit" about <whatever> with little expectation of targeted replies. If you don't like what the guy on the next barstool is yacking about, get up and move. On topic posts here tend to be "Gee, look what I did!", "This is a problem I'm having; have I overlooked anything?", or "There doesn't seem to be an clean solution to address this issue; are there any OtB ideas that I should explore?"> It is the trolls - we all know who they are and many of us could do > a better job ignoring them. Not sure it would help as they are > more than one and feed each other though, so probably no workable > solution. One of them tried to post to CAE and after getting zero > responses to their two posts seems to have given up.
Reply by ●June 25, 20222022-06-25
Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:> Yup. USENET stopped being a source of information decades ago.But you're still here.> There are simply too many other/better sources available to folks, > nowadays (personal contacts, mailing lists, forums). All of these > have the advantage of effectively being *moderated*.That's probably true for many groups, but as I have asked before... Point to one such group for electronics design.
Reply by ●June 25, 20222022-06-25
On Friday, June 24, 2022 at 3:24:25 PM UTC-4, John Robertson wrote:> Once in a while I get tired of all the OT posts by folks that seem to > think we have no news sources of our own. > > The noise to signal ratio here has certainly increased in the last month > or two... > > I'd ask that only subjects aligned with the newsgroup heading are > appropriate or responded to but these characters think someone is > interested IF they get replies. > > Nuf said.You have no control over what gets posted so get over it. If you don't like OT then don't read them.> > John :-#(#
Reply by ●June 25, 20222022-06-25
On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 7:51:38 PM UTC, Fred Bloggs wrote:> On Friday, June 24, 2022 at 3:24:25 PM UTC-4, John Robertson wrote: > > Once in a while I get tired of all the OT posts by folks that seem to > > think we have no news sources of our own. > > > > The noise to signal ratio here has certainly increased in the last month > > or two... > > > > I'd ask that only subjects aligned with the newsgroup heading are > > appropriate or responded to but these characters think someone is > > interested IF they get replies. > > > > Nuf said.I hear you John. This & other 'profession-oriented' newsgroups rely on the good will of mature people. These groups were small enclaves within the vast wilderness of the internet. But the ratio (topical / non-topical) shifted as collective will shifted. There simply more of "them" than "us". There are several reasons, and I'm not sure that much could be done, i.e., to reach out to other engineering professionals, technicians, professors, and college students -- but other more modern internet platforms get all the love. = Rich S.
Reply by ●June 25, 20222022-06-25
John Robertson <spam@flippers.com> wrote:> Once in a while I get tired of all the OT posts by folks that seem to > think we have no news sources of our own. > > The noise to signal ratio here has certainly increased in the last month > or two... > > I'd ask that only subjects aligned with the newsgroup heading are > appropriate or responded to but these characters think someone is > interested IF they get replies.This is exactly why killfiles exist. They let you clean up the cruft yourself. Adding always.look@message.header, manta103g@gmail.com, user@example.net, soar2morrow@yahoo.com, dtgamer99@gmail.com, skybuckflying@gmail.com and bill.sloman@ieee.org to your killfile would immediately remove almost all the OT stuff from your view of the group.
