misc.transport.road

[Beltway]

I checked misc.transport.road recently, first time in over a year.  I see that it has been essentially destroyed by the trolls, and only a handful of people are still posting in the ashes of the newsgroup.  Probably averages less than 10 road-related posts per day.  Sad.

[US71]

To be honest: 1/3 is Trolls, 1/3 is feeding the trolls and 1/3 is people pushing their religion or politics (which technically is Trolling, I guess  )

[Brandon]

I'd say AA Roads has become the new mtr as we knew it before the trolls.

[Beltway]

I'd say AA Roads has become the new mtr as we knew it before the trolls.

Yes, but many of the same persons are now posting here.

Some of them are already testing the limits with the moderators, and it may just be a matter of time before they try to overwhelm the moderators, and try to make it like m.t.r with all the trolling and political diatribes.

[corco]

This is a private forum though- if people are doing that, the banhammer can easily be wielded.

[kurumi]

My hat's off to noble people like H. B. who are still posting good stuff there.

[Brandon]

This is a private forum though- if people are doing that, the banhammer can easily be wielded.

Exactly.  MTR lacked any sort of controls.  Here, an overly political discussion can be shunted to the Off-Topic area or deleted altogether.

[realjd]

It's not just m.t.r. Usenet as a whole is pretty much useless. It's all overrun with spam and trolls. Although it does raise the question, can a troll really be a troll if nobody is listening?

[Takumi]

Went to MTR once, saw nothing but mudslinging and trolling, never went back. If I wanted to see that, I'd go to (insert almost any website here).

[hbelkins]

My hat's off to noble people like H. B. who are still posting good stuff there.

Only to see it hijacked by idiots like Randy Hersh.

I'll always have a soft spot for the newsgroup because it was the first road forum I discovered on the Internet, but I don't see a lot of the posts anymore. My killfile is full, mostly from people whom I not-so-affectionately call the cellphone Nazis.

[US71]

It's not just m.t.r. Usenet as a whole is pretty much useless. It's all overrun with spam and trolls. Although it does raise the question, can a troll really be a troll if nobody is listening?

Well, we had OSTT (Operation Starve The Troll) on MTR for a while, but it didn't last: too many people felt compelled to respond even when they knew they shouldn't.

But it isn't just m.t.r. : I gave up on rec.org.sca because it became little more than a Spam collector.  Plus a lot of ISP's are giving up on usenet.

[mgk920]

My hat's off to noble people like H. B. who are still posting good stuff there.

Only to see it hijacked by idiots like Randy Hersh.

I'll always have a soft spot for the newsgroup because it was the first road forum I discovered on the Internet, but I don't see a lot of the posts anymore. My killfile is full, mostly from people whom I not-so-affectionately call the cellphone Nazis.

Ditto George Conklin.  Don't get me started on the damage that he did to the UseNet urban planning forvm!

Grrrrrrr.....

I agree on the 'soft spot' that I have in my heart, too, for MTR and for the same reason.  In fact, recently, I was going though old MTR archives to try to reconstruct the itineraries of my late 1990s and early 2000s roadtrips.

Mike

[Brandon]

It's not just m.t.r. Usenet as a whole is pretty much useless. It's all overrun with spam and trolls. Although it does raise the question, can a troll really be a troll if nobody is listening?

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

[Alps]

It's not just m.t.r. Usenet as a whole is pretty much useless. It's all overrun with spam and trolls. Although it does raise the question, can a troll really be a troll if nobody is listening?

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

That's easy. Watch the Simpsons' mini golf episode.

I'd say AA Roads has become the new mtr as we knew it before the trolls.

Yes, but many of the same persons are now posting here.

Some of them are already testing the limits with the moderators, and it may just be a matter of time before they try to overwhelm the moderators, and try to make it like m.t.r with all the trolling and political diatribes.

No, it won't be.

[vdeane]

I still check mtr everyday through Google, and while I've seen a decent discussion once in a blue moon, it's getting less frequent over time.  I'll probably stop checking it within a couple of months.

[hbelkins]

Well, we had OSTT (Operation Starve The Troll) on MTR for a while, but it didn't last: too many people felt compelled to respond even when they knew they shouldn't.

And, too, we have all kinds of people who act like they cannot stand Randy in other places, but they either sock up or nymshift and continue to carry the water for him.

Carl is funny, but Randy's just nasty.

Plus a lot of ISP's are giving up on usenet.

I blame Eliot Spitzer in large part for that.

[realjd]

Plus a lot of ISP's are giving up on usenet.

I blame Eliot Spitzer in large part for that.

The former NY governor who was caught with the prostitutes? I'm curious, how is he involved with usenet's demise?

[Alps]

Plus a lot of ISP's are giving up on usenet.

I blame Eliot Spitzer in large part for that.

The former NY governor who was caught with the prostitutes? I'm curious, how is he involved with usenet's demise?

I know there was one politician who went after Usenet for the spread of pedophilia. I don't see why this would require any more effort than going after a few dark corners and trying to stop spam, but apparently that politician decided all of Usenet was the problem and basically broke off both its legs and arms, metaphorically speaking, to try to stop the spread. In other words, the cure was possibly worse than the disease. If that politician was Spitzer, there you go, but I don't recall.

[Takumi]

It was Andrew Cuomo, when he was Spitzer's attorney general.

[US71]

I know there was one politician who went after Usenet for the spread of pedophilia. I don't see why this would require any more effort than going after a few dark corners and trying to stop spam, but apparently that politician decided all of Usenet was the problem and basically broke off both its legs and arms, metaphorically speaking, to try to stop the spread. In other words, the cure was possibly worse than the disease. If that politician was Spitzer, there you go, but I don't recall.

Maybe he thought he could get more press by attacking Usenet than individual spammers?

[Alps]

I know there was one politician who went after Usenet for the spread of pedophilia. I don't see why this would require any more effort than going after a few dark corners and trying to stop spam, but apparently that politician decided all of Usenet was the problem and basically broke off both its legs and arms, metaphorically speaking, to try to stop the spread. In other words, the cure was possibly worse than the disease. If that politician was Spitzer, there you go, but I don't recall.

Maybe he thought he could get more press by attacking Usenet than individual spammers?

Perhaps. People need a scapegoat to latch onto, after all.

[hbelkins]

It was Andrew Cuomo, when he was Spitzer's attorney general.

I thought it was Spitzer when he was AG.

At any rate, he was going after child pr0n and the binary groups are a leading source of it. So instead of just dropping the offending groups or the alt.binaries.* hierarchy in general, a lot of ISPs just dropped Usenet altogether. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. AOL dropped the newsgroups and pointed people toward some of the pay services (EasyNews, etc.) or Motzarella/Eternal September. When AT&T dropped Usenet, it caused a lot of local independent ISPs to have to drop Usenet as well because many of them used AT&T's Usenet feed.

[ARMOURERERIC]

It's not just m.t.r. Usenet as a whole is pretty much useless. It's all overrun with spam and trolls. Although it does raise the question, can a troll really be a troll if nobody is listening?

Well, we had OSTT (Operation Starve The Troll) on MTR for a while, but it didn't last: too many people felt compelled to respond even when they knew they shouldn't.

But it isn't just m.t.r. : I gave up on rec.org.sca because it became little more than a Spam collector.  Plus a lot of ISP's are giving up on usenet.

Are you a scadian as well

[US71]

It's not just m.t.r. Usenet as a whole is pretty much useless. It's all overrun with spam and trolls. Although it does raise the question, can a troll really be a troll if nobody is listening?

Well, we had OSTT (Operation Starve The Troll) on MTR for a while, but it didn't last: too many people felt compelled to respond even when they knew they shouldn't.

But it isn't just m.t.r. : I gave up on rec.org.sca because it became little more than a Spam collector.  Plus a lot of ISP's are giving up on usenet.

Are you a scadian as well

Yes. Just got home from Gulf Wars

[ARMOURERERIC]

I own James River Armoury