From Newsgroup: alt.free.newsservers

There is nothing more frustrating to me than the fact we have hundreds
of usenet servers and probably none of the admins bother to create
even the most basic statistics about groups. and by "basic statistics"
I don't mean "MESSAGES ON GROUP" because it tells you literally nothing.
Is it one guy who is talking to himself for 20 years? Is it just
spam? Or maybe a few people who just post links on social media?

So I've created a script which helps me at least somewhat figure out
which groups are actually alive.

server: paganini.bofh.team, analyzed 30 days (around feb/mar 2026).
excluded: *test groups, free.usenet, free.willey, free.pt
(these groups look like some kind of indexer / thank-you groups,
related to binary groups somehow)

Results are at the bottom of this post. but first, some conclusions:

- we are fucked. i mean look at the unique posters - i assume some
of them probably post from multiple accounts. barely 20 groups
have more than 50 active people per month. and i remind you this
is a service with thousands of servers worldwide. available
WORLDWIDE. or to put it differently: we are the elite lol

- national groups are strong

- political groups, except one national one, didn't make it into
this list - also a surprise. now i understand why political trolls
and nolifers keep spamming other groups all the time. because in
their own groups nobody wants to talk to them.


HOW I MEASURED IT
===================================================
reply rate = replies / total_msgs
participants = log(1 + unique_authors) / log(16),
saturates at 15 authors
diversity = min(msgs/10, 1) * (1 - Gini),
0 if single author
stickiness = authors_last_7d / authors_last_30d,
0 if single author
continuity = days_with_posts / 30
thread depth = min(avg_msgs_per_thread / 5, 1)
rhythm = max(0, 1 - median_gap_hours / 168)
volume = 1 - exp(-total_msgs / 50)

vitality score = reply_rate*0.22 + participants*0.18
+ diversity*0.18 + stickiness*0.13
+ continuity*0.09 + thread_depth*0.09
+ rhythm*0.04 + volume*0.07


RESULTS
=================================================================
groups with at least 10 unique posters, avg thread depth 5+,
active on at least 10 days out of 30, stickiness >= 0.3 (at
least 30% of last month's posters showed up in the last 7 days),
vitality >= 0.3. sorted by unique poster count descending.

comp.os.linux.advocacy 133 9.78 31 0.7725
it.hobby.fai-da-te 121 9.12 31 0.7923
uk.d-i-y 113 5.94 32 0.7985 sci.physics.relativity 112 9.37 31 0.768
rec.food.cooking 110 7.5 32 0.7597
sci.math 106 7.74 31 0.7885
comp.sys.mac.advocacy 102 5.57 31 0.7674
alt.usage.english 87 8.82 31 0.8134
comp.os.linux.misc 85 19.49 31 0.8023
de.sci.electronics 75 5.5 31 0.826
rec.arts.sf.written 69 6.03 31 0.7915
ger.ct 68 17.2 31 0.834
de.etc.fahrzeug.auto 66 19.92 30 0.8053 sci.electronics.design 61 9.58 31 0.7971 alt.comp.software.thunderbird 58 7.34 27 0.8028
it.sport.calcio.milan 57 7.94 31 0.7822
de.rec.fahrrad 56 8.63 29 0.843
de.etc.sprache.deutsch 51 14.17 31 0.8263 alt.folklore.computers 48 10.34 27 0.7886
uk.legal.moderated 47 12.88 31 0.8333
de.admin.news.groups 45 7.46 30 0.8538
uk.railway 44 13.73 31 0.8369 eternal-september.talk 44 8.7 30 0.8029
it.discussioni.auto 43 6.76 30 0.7982
nl.politiek 41 5.68 32 0.825 de.alt.folklore.computer 39 27.46 30 0.8479
de.rec.heimwerken 38 12.23 25 0.842
de.rec.mampf 35 16.62 25 0.8169
it.hobby.cucina 34 12.54 30 0.8235
uk.rec.motorcycles 32 10.86 30 0.84
uk.comp.sys.mac 32 5.16 28 0.8349
alt.free.newsservers 32 5.17 22 0.8233
uk.telecom 32 15.64 25 0.8118
it.comp.hardware 32 7.43 27 0.7935
pl.soc.prawo 30 23.33 31 0.8254
pl.misc.elektronika 29 12.75 28 0.8213
comp.lang.tcl 29 6.23 25 0.8039
comp.arch 28 8.12 31 0.8659
alt.russian.z1 28 7.17 31 0.8059 eternal-september.support 27 7.2 13 0.7735 it.comp.os.win.windows10 26 5.94 22 0.7999 fr.lettres.langue.francaise 26 9.07 27 0.7982
alt.windows7.general 26 7.17 24 0.7972
de.alt.comm.android 26 13.83 24 0.7957
de.alt.talk.unmut 25 21.88 28 0.863
rec.arts.comics.strips 25 9.35 19 0.796
alt.flame 25 6.08 29 0.7952
fr.bio.medecine 24 16.86 31 0.8305
alt.os.linux.mint 24 14.19 22 0.7903
de.etc.haushalt 24 8.67 13 0.7875
alt.usenet.kooks 23 6.6 30 0.8222
fr.rec.photo 22 11.26 31 0.8103
comp.theory 22 16.3 31 0.7927 fr.comp.usenet.lecteurs-de-news 22 13.18 19 0.7773
comp.unix.shell 22 61 10 0.7607
pl.misc.samochody 21 15.84 28 0.8061
spline.eisfair 21 9.33 23 0.8058 alt.comp.software.seamonkey 20 5.55 17 0.7763 de.comm.software.mozilla.mailnews 20 5.27 14 0.7683
de.sci.mathematik 19 21.7 29 0.8215
de.rec.film.misc 19 10.25 23 0.8114
fr.soc.environnement 19 11.65 30 0.8057
uk.tech.digital-tv 19 6.44 11 0.7656
pl.misc.telefonia.gsm 17 8.06 24 0.8035 de.soc.recht.strassenverkehr 17 13.33 13 0.7864
comp.lang.forth 16 8.61 28 0.8508
alt.recovery.aa 16 8.26 30 0.8475 alt.buddha.short.fat.guy 16 7.21 31 0.8323
alt.sixtyplus 16 7.73 10 0.796 it.comp.sicurezza.varie 16 5.6 14 0.7518
aus.cars 15 20.8 29 0.8761
sci.logic 15 20.47 24 0.8306
alt.os.linux.ubuntu 15 6.38 11 0.737
it.comp.reti.locali 14 17.67 12 0.7746
sci.skeptic 13 7.95 29 0.8207 sfnet.keskustelu.varaventtiili 12 8.02 31 0.8648
fr.sci.maths 12 23.86 25 0.8179 de.comm.software.mozilla.browser 12 7.5 10 0.7263
lada.talk 11 10.53 30 0.8334
de.rec.tv.serien 11 6.2 21 0.7875 rec.crafts.metalworking 11 8 27 0.7588
fr.comp.sys.atari 10 14.38 24 0.8344
comp.ai.philosophy 10 30.5 20 0.8046
uk.religion.christian 10 13.79 26 0.7996 it.sport.calcio.fiorentina 10 5.5 23 0.7708
fr.rec.moto 10 8.17 20 0.7442
aus.computers 10 8 13 0.7299 alt.comp.os.windows-xp 10 5.33 10 0.6962

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.free.newsservers

PN <noico@noico.net> posted:

So I've created a script which helps me at least somewhat figure out
which groups are actually alive.

Thanks, this looks worthwhile. I had wondered about trying to devise
some quality index for groups which I could add to my page at https://newsgrouper.org/tops but you seem to have done a comprehensive
job of this. Could I add your results there? Also do you intend to
repeat the analysis to track changes?
--
Colin Macleod ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://cmacleod.me.uk

FEED HOUSE SAVE FEED HOUSE SAVE FEED HOUSE SAVE
GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA GAZA
NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW!
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.free.newsservers

On Mon, 30 Mar 2026 08:34:39 GMT
Colin Macleod <user7@newsgrouper.org.invalid> wrote:

PN <noico@noico.net> posted:

So I've created a script which helps me at least somewhat figure out
which groups are actually alive.

Thanks, this looks worthwhile. I had wondered about trying to devise
some quality index for groups which I could add to my page at https://newsgrouper.org/tops but you seem to have done a comprehensive
job of this. Could I add your results there? Also do you intend to
repeat the analysis to track changes?

Even so 'a lot' of that traffic will be long-running disputes/flamewars
with no added value.
--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2