Even some users who tried to accommodate GG posters have eventually thrown in the towel. Evan Platt is one of them; he tried for years.
I finally gave up and I'm blocking google groups posters.
A few days later, he adds:
Ever since I dropped Google Groups, the world has become a better place.
And returns to say:
I wish the whole world would drop google groups.
Mara checks in:
There's some talk, off and on, of Supernews simply blocking all of Google Groups themselves. Personally, I'm for that. Sure there's a couple of people who post from there that make sense once in awhile, but the S/N is simply way too low.
A few weeks later, she adds:
You know, I couldn't get nfilter to work with Giganews, but I've never tried it with Supernews. Given the amount of pure garbage coming from there, I think I'll try it. If it works for Evan [see entry above Mara's] it should work for me, I think, and I'm thoroughly sick and tired of google gropers. If that works, I might even go on to NTL. They're really about the same now.
John McGaw's observation on the odds:
From my own informal sampling, the trash from Google _far_ outweighs the treasure and I'll gladly accept a few losses.
Here's a response from Barbara de Zoete to a typical GG poster:
I just don't understand you google.group guys. Had you shown any interest in this group or in usenet newsgroups in general, you would have noticed how participants post and reply.... For me this is the end for google.groups now. Quite honestly, I've had it with you lot. Because of the hit and run nature of your participating in newsgroups, you just miss what's relevant for communications. I dislike that behaviour more and more now. So, for my good, any post containing [a header showing Google Groups origination] is from now on kill filed.
Mike Yetto on the GG hit-and-run posters Barbara mentions:
GGers are blocked here, but not followups, they're scored down. A major reason is to help me avoid throwing a perfectly good answer (or wise-ass remark) at a drive-by.
gort looks at GG:
Google groups is one of, if not THE, worst ways to access Usenet, their way of allowing people to reply to questions in Usenet groups allows the threads to be broken very easily. Many, many people have contacted Google requesting that they follow standard practice but no, GG have to go off at a tangent and piss everybody off on newsgroups. Best advice to anyone is get a proper newsreader and a proper newsserver and do it correctly.
Peter J Ross discovers the irony of his posts being "rated" by some kind of voting system the "Google Gropers" (as he likes to call them) have:
Am I popular with a group of users I mostly despise or what?!?
I call them Google Gropers, since they grope in the dark, lacking the enlightenment that comes from using a newsreader.
T Wake's take:
The main reason I am hesitant is there are actually one or two people who post via the abomination that is Google groups who provide worthwhile information and discussion (granted not really in this group) so (a stupid) part of me wants to hold out hope for redemption of the service.
If I am honest, I think it is only a matter of time before I have to follow your lead here though.
I have been looking at the posts in other newsgroups and I think I have finally identified there are really few enough "good" GG posts for me to go with the idea.
drsquare via slashdot:
If they dumb it down, fuck over all the 'old' users, and try to attract the drooling masses with a bloated cartoon interface, they can get more ad-hits. Bollocks to usability or functionality, bollocks to the integrity of one of the Internet's oldest services, nothing is sacred from the latest dot-com raping it for profit.
AOL announced that it would discontinue its integrated Usenet service in early 2005, citing the growing popularity of weblogs, chat forums and on-line conferencing. The AOL community had a tremendous role in popularizing the Usenet some 11 years earlier, with all of its positive and negative aspects. This change marked the end of the legendary Eternal September. Others, however, feel that Google Groups, especially with its new user interface, has picked up the torch that AOL has dropped – and that Eternal September has yet to end. – Wikipedia
