• Re: free / open text usenet servers

    From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to alt.free.newsservers,news.software.readers,news.software.nntp on Wed Oct 1 15:17:31 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    Two newsgroups claimed to be in a nonexistant top-level a.* hierarchy
    and another nonexistant group cut from crosspost.

    Billy G. <contact-5c2e-000@pugleaf.net> wrote:

    here are some free alternatives for reading.
    most servers listed need an account for posting.

    + more: open pugleaf servers at Port 119 or 563 SSL
    Retention starts: Sep 01, 2025.

    Efc?Efca news-can.pugleaf.net | Montreal / Canada
    TOR: pkq37mrydcjc4hkv2pu6alvad2f2iysnyffwbkquj5twzi7lshwje7id.onion:119
    YGG: [200:2b14:f2d1:f63e:7d97:cd8a:6d1f:a95f]:119

    Efc|Efc+ news-lax.pugleaf.net | Los Angeles / USA West
    TOR: derpefchhgbmou6nivzq2ajnkegpguk25xc654meujs5ldu6x7avl3id.onion:119
    YGG: [200:9359:d9ae:fb4e:05d8:6038:1f24:cb03]:119

    Efc|Efc+ news-sfo.pugleaf.net | San Francisco / USA West
    TOR: mlmwfop6ysdohrlidazpramtkjeanznrpuj2o54jaxfew7ubqf5gbxqd.onion:119
    YGG: [200:6bb2:dbd7:41b4:23e2:5999:88f9:c6cc]:119

    Efc|Efc+ news-wdc.pugleaf.net | Washington / USA East
    TOR: tws5lk6q4k343oxnvp5ejnxldhkpaolll6wl6yo5etcb3opq4u2333id.onion:119
    YGG: [201:fa2e:6602:364a:a091:6ab9:4d30:bc61]:119

    Efc|Efc# news-ams.pugleaf.net | Amsterdam / Netherlands
    TOR: apjhyuwozpsrxhudiefxp547dpv2u46xowo4l6ufpqgek2xu5irot5yd.onion:119
    YGG: [203:4b12:83a0:63d9:8bc6:3f03:b4b1:2da5]:119

    Efc-Efc- news-fra.pugleaf.net | Frankfurt / Germany
    TOR: daizdh5dzadcx4v56vwilbpw76y4fnfhkutn3pspbkklxp3swkg4oaqd.onion:119
    YGG: [201:bd18:433e:96a6:928e:cccb:a5e6:64f7]:119

    Efc4Efco news-lon.pugleaf.net | London / United Kingdom
    TOR: iat3kqk4wx75ai24rjz7u5lqr6xwbgp7gvqwt5t2kcb74wtkpamfk6ad.onion:119
    YGG: [203:0f26:377c:a258:8e6a:22a2:9878:f923]:119

    Efc+Efc4 news-sin.pugleaf.net | Singapore / Singapore
    TOR: k2jncpwygu7u6p24aol6zxs36jhnyrvey2kjjpq3ktpzr433v7texvad.onion:119
    YGG: [201:8874:d610:a9cd:9d0e:173d:8345:5758]:119

    Efc| news-tyo.pugleaf.net | Tokyo / Japan
    TOR: h7yirgkelxgefct6qrn7esakg7cxjurmttnel2hkhp2lhojr6h5d7kad.onion:119
    YGG: [200:1e11:6663:0f50:6773:84ed:51f0:a9cd]:119

    --
    .......
    Billy G. (go-while)
    https://pugleaf.net
    @Newsgroup: rocksolid.nodes.help
    irc.pugleaf.net:6697 (SSL) #lounge
    TOR-IRC: ij7fmstcudrwyty5p6iloodeenur4wksovlhbyrfubat7eixplmrxvqd.onion:6667

    Why are you encouraging users to use a subdomain under pugleaf.net with
    nobody@ on their From lines?
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Jesse Rehmer@jesse.rehmer@blueworldhosting.com to alt.free.newsservers,news.software.nntp,news.software.readers on Wed Oct 1 17:56:49 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    On Oct 1, 2025 at 10:17:31rC>AM CDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Two newsgroups claimed to be in a nonexistant top-level a.* hierarchy
    and another nonexistant group cut from crosspost.

    Technically, it was only two a.* groups that were erroneous. alt.free.nntp exists here and in the active file available from ISC.

    For Billy G - a.* shouldn't exist, but you'll find it in a lot of articles, particularly in archives. From my perspective, text articles posted there were intended to be posted to alt.*.

    Some newsreaders abbreviate newsgroups within the UI, which may confuse naive users (Thunderbird displays n.a.misc for news.admin.misc, for example). Most commericial NSPs accept posts with any value in the Newsgroups header and pass them along.

    On instances you are allowing posting, I'd limit accepted newsgroups to what
    is currently found at https://downloads.isc.org/usenet/CONFIG/active.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Billy G.@42-contact-42@pugleaf.net to alt.free.newsservers,news.software.nntp,news.software.readers,alt.privacy.anon-server on Wed Oct 1 18:13:07 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    Jesse Rehmer wrote:
    On Oct 1, 2025 at 10:17:31rC>AM CDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Two newsgroups claimed to be in a nonexistant top-level a.* hierarchy
    and another nonexistant group cut from crosspost.

    Technically, it was only two a.* groups that were erroneous. alt.free.nntp exists here and in the active file available from ISC.

    For Billy G - a.* shouldn't exist, but you'll find it in a lot of articles, particularly in archives. From my perspective, text articles posted there were
    intended to be posted to alt.*.

    Some newsreaders abbreviate newsgroups within the UI, which may confuse naive users (Thunderbird displays n.a.misc for news.admin.misc, for example). Most commericial NSPs accept posts with any value in the Newsgroups header and pass
    them along.

    On instances you are allowing posting, I'd limit accepted newsgroups to what is currently found at https://downloads.isc.org/usenet/CONFIG/active.

    oh now I see :D should not fly over lines but read sometimes.

    why did I put a.* and not alt. ?
    no idea... bug in the matrix
    don't drink and drive!

    Thanks!
    --
    .......
    Billy G. (go-while)
    https://pugleaf.net
    @Newsgroup: rocksolid.nodes.help
    irc.pugleaf.net:6697 (SSL) #lounge
    TOR-IRC: ij7fmstcudrwyty5p6iloodeenur4wksovlhbyrfubat7eixplmrxvqd.onion:6667 --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to alt.free.newsservers,news.software.nntp on Wed Oct 1 18:39:00 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    Billy G. <42-contact-42@pugleaf.net> wrote:
    Adam H. Kerman wrote:

    Two newsgroups claimed to be in a nonexistant top-level a.* hierarchy
    and another nonexistant group cut from crosspost.

    you: .eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail

    other servers carry them.

    They get to act according to their own view of Usenet. As Usenet is decentralized, no one has a say about anyone else's view of Usenet. That a
    News site may have created those groups has nothing to do with my statement that they don't exist. I have the final say in which newsgroups I crosspost
    to. If I say they don't exist, then I cut them from my crosspost in
    followup.

    According to the archived newgroup messages, a.* was started
    unintentionally in 1996 when a clueless News administrator triggered
    something that automatically generated newgroup messages for a few
    newsgroups named into a.*. It's likely that local newsgroups were being
    created that were misnamed and the newgroup messages were distributed in
    error, which is how they got archived.

    You crossposted to two newsgroups in a.* that lack archived newgroup messages.

    As far as alt.free.nntp, anyone around at the time remembers this flame
    war between Jay Denebeim and the proponent of alt.free.newsservers. Jay
    sent a half dozen rmgroup messages because the first rmgroup message was insufficient to express his disapproval. For whatever reason, a truly
    oblivious proponent sent a newgroup for the redundant alt.free.nntp
    just months later. Ignoring crossposting, over the years, the on topic discussions of free News sites have taken place in alt.free.newsservers
    with alt.free.nntp being little used.

    + https://rocksolid-us.pugleaf.net/groups/alt.privacy/threads
    + https://rocksolid-us.pugleaf.net/groups/alt.privacy.anon-server/threads
    + https://rocksolid-us.pugleaf.net/groups/alt.free.nntp

    Why are you encouraging users to use a subdomain under
    pugleaf.net with nobody@ on their From lines?

    user can edit the value in their profile to anything.

    what else would you put there by default?

    The News server MUST NOT set a default address on From. MUST NOT

    You aren't operating a Mail server. You haven't created mailboxes for
    your users. Therefore, your user MUST NOT falsely claim to have a
    personal mailbox in one of your subdomains.

    If the user is complying with the intent of the standard, then he MUST
    use his own mailbox as the address on From. It need not be an address he
    uses for business nor personal communication and there is no obligation
    to read incoming messages. If the user doesn't wish to use a mailbox,
    then he may use an *.invalid address.

    There are a handful of well-known mailboxes set up as spam traps that
    anyone may use. Otherwise, a user MUST NOT claim association with a
    domain he has no mailbox in and MUST NOT make up what appears to be a
    domain name because it might be someone's domain name now or in future.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to alt.free.newsservers,news.software.nntp,news.software.readers on Wed Oct 1 18:44:00 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    Jesse Rehmer <jesse.rehmer@blueworldhosting.com> wrote:
    On Oct 1, 2025 at 10:17:31 AM CDT, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Two newsgroups claimed to be in a nonexistant top-level a.* hierarchy
    and another nonexistant group cut from crosspost.

    Technically, it was only two a.* groups that were erroneous. alt.free.nntp >exists here and in the active file available from ISC.

    I was around at the time and well remember how alt.free.newsservers got
    started and the clueless proponent for the deliberately redundant alt.free.nntp. See my other followup.

    . . .
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Jesse Rehmer@jesse.rehmer@blueworldhosting.com to alt.free.newsservers,news.software.nntp on Wed Oct 1 19:09:29 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    On Oct 1, 2025 at 1:39:00rC>PM CDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    According to the archived newgroup messages, a.* was started
    unintentionally in 1996 when a clueless News administrator triggered something that automatically generated newgroup messages for a few
    newsgroups named into a.*. It's likely that local newsgroups were being created that were misnamed and the newgroup messages were distributed in error, which is how they got archived.

    I often forget to look at the control message archive at ISC. Amusing how certain things came to be...

    From news@mail Fri Apr 19 23:01:57 1996
    Path: uunet!in2.uu.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!psinntp!psin ntp!psinntp!uknet!pub.news.uk.psi.net!mail!news
    From: news@mail (news)
    Newsgroups: a.a.mis.admin
    Subject: cmsg newgroup a.a.mis.admin
    Control: newgroup a.a.mis.admin
    Date: 17 Apr 1996 13:48:29 GMT
    Organization: PSINet UK Public Usenet Site
    Lines: 2
    Approved: newsmaster@web-uk.net
    Distribution: bogo
    Message-ID: <4l2srd$d2c@pub.news.uk.psi.net>
    NNTP-Posting-Host: mail.bogo.co.uk
    Xref: uunet control.newgroup:10604

    This group is automatically created by newjunk
    problems to postmaster at this host.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rudy Canoza@hemorrhoids@hendrie.con to alt.free.newsservers, alt.idiot.adam-h-kerman, alt.scumbag.adam-kerman, news.software.nntp, news.software.readers on Thu Oct 2 03:26:41 2025
    From Newsgroup: news.software.nntp

    On 01 Oct 2025, "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> posted some news:10bjgmb$e2kk$1@dont-email.me:

    Two newsgroups claimed to be in a nonexistant top-level a.* hierarchy
    and another nonexistant group cut from crosspost.

    Billy G. <contact-5c2e-000@pugleaf.net> wrote:

    here are some free alternatives for reading.
    most servers listed need an account for posting.

    + more: open pugleaf servers at Port 119 or 563 SSL
    Retention starts: Sep 01, 2025.

    Efc?Efca news-can.pugleaf.net | Montreal / Canada
    TOR:
    pkq37mrydcjc4hkv2pu6alvad2f2iysnyffwbkquj5twzi7lshwje7id.onion:119
    YGG: [200:2b14:f2d1:f63e:7d97:cd8a:6d1f:a95f]:119

    Efc|Efc+ news-lax.pugleaf.net | Los Angeles / USA West
    TOR:
    derpefchhgbmou6nivzq2ajnkegpguk25xc654meujs5ldu6x7avl3id.onion:119
    YGG: [200:9359:d9ae:fb4e:05d8:6038:1f24:cb03]:119

    Efc|Efc+ news-sfo.pugleaf.net | San Francisco / USA West
    TOR:
    mlmwfop6ysdohrlidazpramtkjeanznrpuj2o54jaxfew7ubqf5gbxqd.onion:119
    YGG: [200:6bb2:dbd7:41b4:23e2:5999:88f9:c6cc]:119

    Efc|Efc+ news-wdc.pugleaf.net | Washington / USA East
    TOR:
    tws5lk6q4k343oxnvp5ejnxldhkpaolll6wl6yo5etcb3opq4u2333id.onion:119
    YGG: [201:fa2e:6602:364a:a091:6ab9:4d30:bc61]:119

    Efc|Efc# news-ams.pugleaf.net | Amsterdam / Netherlands
    TOR:
    apjhyuwozpsrxhudiefxp547dpv2u46xowo4l6ufpqgek2xu5irot5yd.onion:119
    YGG: [203:4b12:83a0:63d9:8bc6:3f03:b4b1:2da5]:119

    Efc-Efc- news-fra.pugleaf.net | Frankfurt / Germany
    TOR:
    daizdh5dzadcx4v56vwilbpw76y4fnfhkutn3pspbkklxp3swkg4oaqd.onion:119
    YGG: [201:bd18:433e:96a6:928e:cccb:a5e6:64f7]:119

    Efc4Efco news-lon.pugleaf.net | London / United Kingdom
    TOR:
    iat3kqk4wx75ai24rjz7u5lqr6xwbgp7gvqwt5t2kcb74wtkpamfk6ad.onion:119
    YGG: [203:0f26:377c:a258:8e6a:22a2:9878:f923]:119

    Efc+Efc4 news-sin.pugleaf.net | Singapore / Singapore
    TOR:
    k2jncpwygu7u6p24aol6zxs36jhnyrvey2kjjpq3ktpzr433v7texvad.onion:119
    YGG: [201:8874:d610:a9cd:9d0e:173d:8345:5758]:119

    Efc| news-tyo.pugleaf.net | Tokyo / Japan
    TOR:
    h7yirgkelxgefct6qrn7esakg7cxjurmttnel2hkhp2lhojr6h5d7kad.onion:119
    YGG: [200:1e11:6663:0f50:6773:84ed:51f0:a9cd]:119

    --
    .......
    Billy G. (go-while)
    https://pugleaf.net
    @Newsgroup: rocksolid.nodes.help
    irc.pugleaf.net:6697 (SSL) #lounge
    TOR-IRC: >>ij7fmstcudrwyty5p6iloodeenur4wksovlhbyrfubat7eixplmrxvqd.onion:6667

    Why are you encouraging users to use a subdomain under pugleaf.net
    with nobody@ on their From lines?

    He's trolling for suckerfish. Looks like he got one.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2