Journal Alioth's Journal: The September that Never Ended 5
I've been reading and posting to the usenet groups rec.aviation.* for over ten years now. But I feel like giving up.
Rec.aviation.piloting has turned into a troll fest of the likes I've never seen, only exacerbated by the forthcoming US presidential elections. I don't mind political discussion, and there's quite a bit of on-topic political discussion for a piloting group (from the the political overlords of the FAA, to the politics of fuel supply). However, in the run-up to the election it just turns into vitriol, trolling and flames. It never used to be like this - before the '96 and 2000 elections, there was none of this crap. In the run-up to the '04 election there was plenty, and now any mention of the presidential election is just a hate-filled thread with nothing useful contained within. Think of the worst troll/flame filled posting on Slashdot when someone mentions a presidential candidate, then magnify the hate and vitriol by a factor of 10 and you have what r.a.p is like if someone mentions McCain. Magnify it by 100 if they mention Obama. And it's all off topic, too.
Then there are a couple of persistent trolls who have taken over the group. One of the trolls is often quite informative, but in every thread he posts to, another troll must call him names, then the rest of the thread from that point on is useless as the trolls sling insults. While the 'informative' troll can be informative, he joins too many threads to tell someone he dislikes simply that they are a 'fjjjuckwit'. Sigh.
It seems like in the last 6 months the signal to noise ratio has gone from mostly signal and a little noise to nearly all noise and no signal. I might find 5 posts in 200 worth reading for all the mindless trolling and rants about the Presidential candidates, along with the conspiracy posts by kooks.
To be honest I may as well unsubscribe from rec.aviation.piloting.
I know what you mean (Score:2)
These days the only groups I can stand to follow are in the bofh.* hierarchy.
Re: (Score:2)
no doubt due to the clue filter and rather aggressive action against anyone acting like an ass.
Some moderated groups are ok, though many have turned into echo chambers or don't bother to filter anything but the worst of the worst.
With the rise of blogs and webboards I'm of the mind Usenet is pretty much dead at this point.
'tis a pity though, as many groups were fun and/or informative back in the day.
Re: (Score:2)
More importantly about the rise of blogs and web-boards taking over from Usenet, is that Usenet allowed one to choose your own user interface and use it for everything, rather than having to learn a new posting system and comment system for each one. Plus it was "push" rather than "pull".
I keep hoping that with so many people abandoning Usenet that it will eventually get back to something like it was in the late 80s.
Re: (Score:2)
More importantly about the rise of blogs and web-boards taking over from Usenet, is that Usenet allowed one to choose your own user interface and use it for everything, rather than having to learn a new posting system and comment system for each one. Plus it was "push" rather than "pull".
Too true, though RSS does help some.
I keep hoping that with so many people abandoning Usenet that it will eventually get back to something like it was in the late 80s.
Unfortunately it always seems to be the wrong people who are abandoning Usenet. The trolls, idiots, and echo chamber lovers are always the last to go before a group goes to 100% spam.
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly, I think those days are long gone. I stopped reading Usenet in about 1993 or so. I dread to think how much further it's deteriorated since then.