Paying for my fix.

[gridlore]

I'm still a Usenet junkie. I tend to dislike web-based boards (the threading tends to suck) and I like the wide-open nature of Usenet. It's like the internet was before it became the Web. We, for example, gleefully engage in swearing, character assassination, and flame wars.

Good times, people, good times.

But the problem has become finding a server. As Usenet fades, more of the big ISPs are dropping or neglecting their NNTP duties. Earthlink (our ISP had a server that went to shit months ago. So I switched to aioe.org, a free server. But their groups list was curiously spotty, and today the server vanished. Can't even find a status page. So I bit the bullet, did some research, and subscribed to easynews. It's only $10/month.

The problem is I'm a new user there. So Agent is trying to download everything in their servers. For alt.atheism, that means 897,085 posts.

Good thing I'm home early today.

Comments

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

This might be a good time to set up your own local server, like leafnode. Then it won't pull the same article more than once if you have any further trouble.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

easynews is my provider also. No complaints.

[kengr]

Well, when I can afford it, I'll be going back to an unlimited Giganews account. $25/month, fast and no download limits.

Comcast throws in a Giganews account with a 2 gig/month limit with their service, but if you are into binaries, that'll get you nowhere.

I have access to Supernews via another ISP, but the download rate sucks.

[darthgeek.livejournal.com]

I've been with Easynews for a number of years now and have had no problems at all. I recently upgraded to their premium service with 100 days of retention, and a bunch of other stuff for an extra $5/mo.