Interesting. Well our visions of newsgroup differ quite a bit. Sure I can get help with my ATI card or Asus motherboard. That is the text side of the groups and that is good to have. But I have found MANY forums throughout the land of late that basically negate all that newsgroup stuff -- and they all have the requirement to at least Register, whereas with a newsgroup I can post a message as "KD" and back it up with a message from "SOB" - and it is the same person.
My definition of a newsgroup purely surrounds the binaries (Outlook Express is sufficient for text, but sucks with the multi-part binaries; educate yourself and visit newzbin.com). Movies; Music; videos; books; applications etc etc. Name it.. you'll probably find it. Buyer beware; make sure you have a great and updated virus checker. With Kazaa -- you SEARCH for something YOU want. With Newsgroups, you can ask, but typically you see it and get it - request fills are rare. Newsgroups are housed on ISP servers across the land.
Now why would Rogers or Bell or anyone not want to house them? First Bell does have a newsserver except they do not support binaries. But how good are their text boards is beyond me. (the single binaries I thought were working and I discovered they weren't either). Some don't want the headache, the "liability" nor the gobs of disk space. Easynews.com is a dedicated newsgroup service - the amount of disk required to house these groups is outrageous. All based on FIFO - hence you start entering the world of "speed" v. "retention".
A company can do what they want - when they want - and you the customer are SOL. Your only recourse is to STAY OR WALK. End of story.
Years ago when I was with Shaw - they were picky when it came to running "servers" and even questioned my FTP server. Definition of a server can be different amoungst various companies - but the mere fact that they see "port 80" open is enough to deem you running a server. I think if you read your Telus agreement they will say the same thing - so they gonna allow you to run a PORN site? All of them figure if you want those services, you should be buying them instead of running them (free) off their gear. Period. Is FTP even allowed? Dunno. I run both a server and FTP client - but the activity is limited by my use only (life management). Rogers does say they do not allow people to run servers. Apparently a firewall can prevent them from seeing the open ports.
Cheers!
Blake
"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
Tuco (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
"An umbrella with holes is better than no umbrella at all."
Dr. Alexander Elder on using stops.
