No, not old trousers, but old threads from this group from 15+ years
ago.
I was going through my ridiculously large and totally unnecessary
collection of data sticks.
I came across some archived posts from this group (hopefully you can
see them via this link at postimg).
I'm pleasantly surprised by how many posters are still positing 17+
years later.
https://i.postimg.cc/QdnrNvWM/oldT.png
No, not old trousers, but old threads from this group from 15+ years
ago.
I was going through my ridiculously large and totally unnecessary
collection of data sticks.
I came across some archived posts from this group (hopefully you can
see them via this link at postimg).
I'm pleasantly surprised by how many posters are still positing 17+
years later.
https://i.postimg.cc/QdnrNvWM/oldT.png
On 18/05/2025 16:09, Mr Rob wrote:
No, not old trousers, but old threads from this group from 15+ years
ago.
I was going through my ridiculously large and totally unnecessary
collection of data sticks.
I came across some archived posts from this group (hopefully you can
see them via this link at postimg).
I'm pleasantly surprised by how many posters are still positing 17+
years later.
https://i.postimg.cc/QdnrNvWM/oldT.png
Gee, I've been here that long!
Anyone else having problems with this game?
On Sun, 18 May 2025 16:09:52 +0100, Mr Rob
<[email protected]> wrote:
No, not old trousers, but old threads from this group from 15+ years
ago.
I was going through my ridiculously large and totally unnecessary >>collection of data sticks.
I came across some archived posts from this group (hopefully you can
see them via this link at postimg).
I'm pleasantly surprised by how many posters are still positing 17+
years later.
https://i.postimg.cc/QdnrNvWM/oldT.png
So many different people. Admittedly, that sample includes (just
under) three years of posts, but that's 40+ different names. The
current average for CSPIGA is about 14 unique posters. And Usenet was
already in massive decline back in 2007. Ten years earlier the user
count was in the hundreds, if not thousands.
I admit, I don't remember half of those names, and three quarters of
those that I _do_ remember, I only remember as people who posted here,
and don't recall any specific opinion of them.
I did get a kick out of seeing Werner Spahl's "VTM:B Unofficial Patch"
thread again, though.
Otherwise, the conversations seem mostly the same; a little less
discussion about individual games, but a lot of the usual talk about
more meta gaming topics (e.g., hardware, publisher shenanigins, DRM,
etc.) and -of course- the usual monthly "What Have You Been Playing"
threads. The biggest change is that nowadays at least a third of our conversations here in CSPIGA have to do with all the free games on
offer. Is that because we have nothing else to discuss, or because the freebies have become such a dominant part of gaming culture, I wonder?
On Mon, 19 May 2025 06:36:52 -0700, Justisaur <[email protected]>
wrote:
On 5/19/2025 1:28 AM, Mr Rob wrote:Yeah, that Spalls person has been around for a while. They were here
On Mon, 19 May 2025 08:34:29 +0100, JAB <[email protected]> wrote:
On 18/05/2025 16:09, Mr Rob wrote:
No, not old trousers, but old threads from this group from 15+ years >>>>> ago.
I was going through my ridiculously large and totally unnecessary
collection of data sticks.
I came across some archived posts from this group (hopefully you can >>>>> see them via this link at postimg).
I'm pleasantly surprised by how many posters are still positing 17+
years later.
https://i.postimg.cc/QdnrNvWM/oldT.png
Gee, I've been here that long!
The oldest post that I have found (so far) attributed to anyone that
still posts now, using the same name, is - you'd probably guess that
it was Spalls of course. I found it in my sent items from a very old
instance of Agent
before then too, but used a pseudonymn at the time.
Well if we're looking for oldest posts, it's easy to find them back to
the 90's on google groups. My oldest in this group is 2006 I think, so >>further back than that old bit that was found on a disused drive behind
a door marked "beware of the leopard."
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action/c/3xqicze2VAA/m/2NZP9zbz1xMJ
I was first posting to r.g.f.dnd at least since 2001, though originally >>under my real name (gasp!) for the first few.
I've tried to collect a full archive of my own posts (because yes, I'm
that vain and self-important ;-), but between the different names I
posted under, the various news-servers I used, and the multitude of >newsgroups I frequented, there are some significant gaps.
I'm pretty good from 2006 onwards, I think, but prior to that its a
spotty record, with quite noticable gaps in the late-90s era. These
days I archive all my posts for posterity. It'll make a fascinating
record of how the insane used the Internet for some future scholar ;-)
On 19 Jan 2007 01:52:52 -0800, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, pc games
wrote:
Valve move with STEAM can eventually turn PC Games into a
console system
Here's a hard-hitting reality for you:
STEAM is here to stay, it is a commercial success, and it's grip will only be augmented by similar systems in the near to distant future. I'd say that electronic delivery probably *is* the future, in fact. No matter how much you post to Usenet, it's not going away. Many people have decided their desire to play Valve games outweighs the risks presented by STEAM.
I uncomfortable with it too, but there you are. It's a done deal. :^/
I think you must have to have something more productive you can do with your skills and energy at this point. Go put your weight into a political campaign and/or volunteer to support changes you think need to happen in your locality.
You have a lot of energy and zeal and Usenet is going to get you NOWHERE towards what you want at this point.
I think you should take your energy, which is commendable, and use it somewhere
where it counts. You are *needed* in whatever cause you choose to work for. You
are only silenced while you remain here posting on Usenet to people who don't care. There aren't enough people doing productive work for political change in
this world. You should be one of them.
Maybe you already do this, in which case, accept my humble apology.
As for this "forum," I think even a BLOG would be more useful than pounding away at Usenet in a style that is considered by most to be spam. When you hit the same sour note again and again, you become a nuissance. People swat at nuissances, regardless of the "truth" of their message or their function. That's the resistance you're feeling at this point. It's not "denial," it's annoyance.
We've all heard you. It's time to move on, don't you think?
--
Zag
I thought I could organize freedom, how very
Scandinavian of me. ...Bj�rk
I had x-no-archive set for years, but this is the oldest "real" post I
could find. Someone quoted it. Of course, it's about Steam. Probably a
reply to Steamkiller.
On a vaguely related topic:
TIL there's a partial archive of FIDONet, a message board predecessor/contemporary to early Usenet. It's in no way complete
(300K messages from 1993 to 1998) but so much of that era has been
lost that it's nice to see SOMETHING has been preserved.
And it's not like its nothing; it's a half-gigabyte text file.
I briefly read FIDONet before I moved onto to Usenet. But that was so
long ago I don't even remember what forums I was involved with.
Available here: https://archive.org/details/fidonet_combined_execpc_starfleet_messages_1995_1999
On 5/30/2025 10:20 AM, Ant wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:
On a vaguely related topic:
TIL there's a partial archive of FIDONet, a message board
predecessor/contemporary to early Usenet. It's in no way complete
(300K messages from 1993 to 1998) but so much of that era has been
lost that it's nice to see SOMETHING has been preserved.
And it's not like its nothing; it's a half-gigabyte text file.
I briefly read FIDONet before I moved onto to Usenet. But that was so
long ago I don't even remember what forums I was involved with.
Available here:
https://archive.org/details/fidonet_combined_execpc_starfleet_messages_1995_1999
I remember those. I remember reading Apogee posts. :)
I've looked for my old messages to the DnD fidonet group, which were
before I joined usenet, but never found any. I don't have posts and
they aren't in this archive either. Sadness continues.
On Fri, 30 May 2025 20:22:26 -0700, Justisaur <[email protected]>
wrote:
On 5/30/2025 10:20 AM, Ant wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:
On a vaguely related topic:
TIL there's a partial archive of FIDONet, a message board
predecessor/contemporary to early Usenet. It's in no way complete
(300K messages from 1993 to 1998) but so much of that era has been
lost that it's nice to see SOMETHING has been preserved.
And it's not like its nothing; it's a half-gigabyte text file.
I briefly read FIDONet before I moved onto to Usenet. But that was so
long ago I don't even remember what forums I was involved with.
Available here:
https://archive.org/details/fidonet_combined_execpc_starfleet_messages_1995_1999
I remember those. I remember reading Apogee posts. :)
I've looked for my old messages to the DnD fidonet group, which were
before I joined usenet, but never found any. I don't have posts and
they aren't in this archive either. Sadness continues.
At least you have memory of what groups you engaged with, which is
more than I can say. In fact, if I am /absolutely/ honest, I can't
even be sure I _used_ FIDONet. I'm pretty sure I did, but at the time
I really didn't know /what/ I was using; it was just some weird and
wonderful message-board. It was only later --after I'd migrated to
Usenet-- that I put a name to it... and its quite possible it was the
wrong name.
The early days of Internet messaging were wild, with multiple major
networks, many with links to smaller bulletin board services. Unless
you were savvy, you never really were sure what you were using. Like I
said, I'm pretty sure --but not absolutely positive-- I used FIDONet.
Usenet too, obviously. I /think/ I may have trawled BITNet
listservs... or maybe it was UUCPNet. It wasn't really clear to me.
I really only have two memories from those days: one, there was this
/really/ awesome listserv where people shared riddles -- the classic
sort, like from "The Hobbit". Real brain-puzzles, those. I loved
trying to figure those out. Of all the lost parts of the early
Internet, that's the one I wish were preserved so I could revisit it.
Also, it was also how I first encountered Internet porn... and not
through any binaries or images. Not even through ASCII art. Just a lot
of very, very naughty stories. Probably tame compared to what was to
come later, but quite shocking at the time. I didn't actually spend
much time reading those (I was old enough that I could buy titalating material from the newsstand) but it was interesting as a concept
nonetheless.
But on the whole, I recall very little of what I read --and wrote-- or
even the general experience of accessing the data. Just a lot of text
and cryptic menus. ;-)
Huh. I didn't know FIDONet was still around. I mean, I guess I
shouldn't be surprised, but I just assumed it was absorbed by Usenet
years and years ago.
Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> writes:
Huh. I didn't know FIDONet was still around. I mean, I guess I
shouldn't be surprised, but I just assumed it was absorbed by Usenet
years and years ago.
But there're still occasional posts to Usenet from fidonet
addresses so Usenet is gatewayed. I wonder if the fidonet archives are
pure fidonet or does Usenet spread in there?
On Wed, 4 Jun 2025 13:00:06 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <[email protected]> wrote:
I used FIDONET a bit when I was on BBS forums more, back RIGHT before I >joined usenet in 2023.
Huh. I didn't know FIDONet was still around. I mean, I guess I
shouldn't be surprised, but I just assumed it was absorbed by Usenet
years and years ago.
Update: found another archive of FIDONet; several of the groups have tickmarks next to them indicating they are still active. https://www.ipingthereforeiam.com/bbs/msgs/
Let the Old School All-Text Forums Of Yesteryear (OSATFOY) never die!
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 715 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 150:13:21 |
| Calls: | 12,091 |
| Calls today: | 4 |
| Files: | 15,000 |
| Messages: | 6,517,595 |
