Post by Chris L PetersonPost by Dcountdown timers (and probably sports betting, office pools etc.) are
beginning to appear over google's approaching disjunction from usenet
(using Tor Browser 13.0.9, pacific standard time 00:00-24:00|PT/UT-8) . . .
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20240222T00&p0=1241&msg=Google+Groups+Shutdown&font=slab&csz=1
Google Groups Shutdown
19 days 14 hours ... minutes ... seconds
Time until Thursday, February 22, 2024 (Mountain View time)
[end quote]
guesstimate . . .
22 february 2024 02:14:14 am (074w00:11,40n44:29; jd 2460362.80155)
21 february 2024 11:14:14 pm (122w05:02,37n25:18; jd 2460362.80155)
Google Groups isn't shutting down.
Path: n...!i2pn.org!i2pn2.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: eternal-september.talk, alt.free.newsservers, alt.september
Subject: Looming Groupocalypse : The Google Groupsspaggheddon Cometh!
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2024 03:38:43 -0600
Organization: sybershock.com Baggy Jeans Mafia
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Info: i2pn2.org;
posting-account="yZybWhCr+jI4C3MuGpPde+DhCwsjQrVZrsCOigcx7fM";
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.0
Xref: n... eternal-september.talk:1545 alt.free.newsservers:6379 alt.september:5
A Brain Candy Rant for Tin Hatters and Texters. (SyberShock!)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Looming Groupocalypse : The Google Groupsspaggheddon Cometh!
Tuesday, September 11088, 1993
-------------------------------------------------------------
List of Free Usenet Servers: https://sybershock.com/#usenet
-------------------------------------------------------------
Usenet is dead.
Usenet has always been dead.
Usenet is dying.
Usenet is always dying.
Live with it.
Long live Usenet!
Google Groups has provided Usenet access for many years
since Google acquired DejaNews 22 years ago, circa 2002.
For some of these years Google has allowed a non-stop spam
flooding, denial of service attack against the Usenet
network. Google and other large Usenet providers have
suborned a non-stop flood of zillions and bazillions of spam
articles over the years, making newsgroups unusable for many
end-users, causing much exodus from the Usenet network. Some
believe that this was not incompetence or negligence, but
intentional malice disguised as incompetence and negligence.
Pretending to serve a network while undermining it in deed
comports with the principle of "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish."
Some are firmly convinced this is the real cause of the spam.
A recent anti-spam campaign got a lot of people breathing
down Google's neck. Rather than end the flooding and denial
of service that it caused, Google has decided to stop
peering Usenet feeds altogether. Some have opined that this
is like amputating a leg to remedy a ingrown toenail. Google
users will lose Usenet posting access without recourse.
In February Google is pulling the plug. A large number of
Google users will no longer be able to access Usenet. Those
users will need to find some other way to access Usenet
newsgroups. I like to think of it as 'unplugment day'.
Some posters in the Usenet have been opining that it will
be an apocalyptic event similar to Eternal September when
hordes of AOL users were unleashed on Usenet decades ago.
Since the influx of ISP users decimated politeness on the
Usenet, it is said that September of 1993 never ended.
Usenetizens still call this era the 'Eternal September.'
Now a horde of Google Groups users will be potentially
unleashed on the other Usenet service providers, especially
the free providers. A swarm of new signups is expected. Some
free Usenet providers are already dealing with a spike in
new registrations.
That cutoff date is February 22, 2024. After that time the
Google users will no longer be able to access Usenet content.
In Eternal September time the cutoff date will be the 11131st
day of September, 1993.
Since many Google users are clueless, some likely won't
realize their Usenet access is sunset until the moment it is
cut off. Then there is potential for a search panic as they
try to discover why they cannot access Usenet groups via
Google Groups. It has been jokingly called the Google Groups
Apocalypse or the Google Groups Armageddon. Some users post
Usenet articles counting down the days to the cutoff date.
groupocalypse ==> group + apocalypse
goopocalypse ==> google + apocalypse
groupsspagheddon ==> groups + spaghetti + armageddon
The 'groupocalypse' looms.
Google 'groupsspaggheddon' cometh.
There shall be zoomer weeping,
Karen wailing,
and boomer gnashing of dentures.
This is a spoof on verses from the books of Matthew and
"As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire;
so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of
his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
"The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her,
shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping
and wailing ..."
"Weeping and wailing" becomes: "Zoomer weeping, Karen
wailing ..."
"Gnashing of teeth" becomes: "Boomer gnashing of dentures."
I suppose that the "merchants" could spoof for spammers. Yet
I doubt any spammers were, "made rich by her."
Since it is the end of yet another era for Usenet, it is
'apocalyptic' in a lampoon way, like the end of the Usenet
world when the month of Eternal September began. It is a
comical, cosmological holy day, an 'apocalypse' for which we
know the exact date of its coming. It is bombastic burlesque,
a rampant style of humor that runs riot on Usenet.
The impending cessation of Google Usenet peering may cause a
chaotic scramble to find Usenet access. Or it may go hardly
noticed, an anti-apocalyptic whimper in the night. The Google
Groupocalypse might signal a great shift, or it may mererly
result in less spam. That is a change I can live with.
Whether February 22, 2024 comes in like a lion or a lamb, that
day will always be September 11131, 1993. And one thing is
sure: If September is eternal, then Usenet is eternal, too.