OT: How long does Google groups keep their old usenet archive?

Discussion:

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Sawfish

2024-10-08 18:02:42 UTC

I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but currently,
they still support their archive and I wonder how far back it goes.

At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around with this
without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch of narrowing
searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I found was 6/6/98.
This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the context of this post
*looks* as if I had already been posting for a while, leading me to
think that nothing earlier still exists due to a cut-off date.

Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles turned up
nothing.

Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST posts they
can find?

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer.
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

jdeluise

2024-10-08 19:47:51 UTC

Permalink

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under
two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I think google's archive is as close to canonical as is publicly
available, but I could be wrong. I have archives locally in a
database from 2003 forward. It's nice because it affords some
better searching capabilities than google groups interface. But,
it's also a bit of extra maintenance, and if my provider reindexes
messages I have to adjust. I had hoped archive.org would either
buy Google's archive or Google would donate it. Honestly,
text-only archives of usenet is a drop in the bucket storage-wise.
It seems like a no-brainer to keep messages from the dawn of the
internet safe from a fickle company like Google.

bmoore

2024-10-09 01:27:38 UTC

Permalink

Post by jdeluise

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Sawfish

2024-10-09 01:40:19 UTC

Permalink

Post by bmoore

Post by jdeluise

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.

I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

Sawfish

2024-10-09 02:09:38 UTC

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.
I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

It's weird.

I did a similar search for Whisper as I did for myself, since off the
top of my head I *think* he was on RST at the time I started, but
according to GG search, he first comes up 10/19/2000, and the context
again seems like he may have posted earlier.

Is anyone aware of any known gaps or issues with the GG archive? Was it
known to be incomplete? Maybe stuff got lost on the transition from
DejaNews to GG?

So I posted for a while as "Makule Fool", then later as "Cloudburst",
and I see none of that. My best guess is that Makule Fool was maybe
94-95, and Cloudburst for a brief period either before or after that.
The sigfile was something like "Stay dry, kids!".

Not important, just interesting (to me).

This all comes from jd mentioning a guy named Hazlewood, whom I very
vaguely recall.

As an aside, when I went back to my early stuff, most posts in RST were
indeed about tennis and tennis techniques. It was interesting to read
the drivel I was posting... ;^)

--
--Sawfish
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would accept someone like me
as a member." --G. Marx

jdeluise

2024-10-09 02:38:45 UTC

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts,
but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played
around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a
bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a
while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as
'94?--under
two
different handles, but searches for posts under those
handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of
RST
posts
they can find?

I think google's archive is as close to canonical as is
publicly
available, but I could be wrong. I have archives locally in a
database from 2003 forward. It's nice because it affords
some
better searching capabilities than google groups interface. But,
it's also a bit of extra maintenance, and if my provider
reindexes
messages I have to adjust. I had hoped archive.org would
either
buy Google's archive or Google would donate it. Honestly,
text-only archives of usenet is a drop in the bucket
storage-wise.
It seems like a no-brainer to keep messages from the dawn of the
internet safe from a fickle company like Google.

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.
I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start
date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

It's weird.
I did a similar search for Whisper as I did for myself, since
off the
top of my head I *think* he was on RST at the time I started,
but
according to GG search, he first comes up 10/19/2000, and the
context
again seems like he may have posted earlier.
Is anyone aware of any known gaps or issues with the GG archive?
Was
it known to be incomplete? Maybe stuff got lost on the
transition from
DejaNews to GG?
So I posted for a while as "Makule Fool", then later as
"Cloudburst",
and I see none of that. My best guess is that Makule Fool was
maybe
94-95, and Cloudburst for a brief period either before or after
that. The sigfile was something like "Stay dry, kids!".
Not important, just interesting (to me).
This all comes from jd mentioning a guy named Hazlewood, whom I very
vaguely recall.
As an aside, when I went back to my early stuff, most posts in
RST
were indeed about tennis and tennis techniques. It was
interesting to
read the drivel I was posting... ;^)

Personally, I think the search function in the latest iteration of
the GG interface is buggy. I feel like I used to be able to
search with a lot more precision, but now it seems to return a lot
of irrelevant results. Ironic since it's google.

Sawfish

2024-10-09 02:45:19 UTC

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.
I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

It's weird.
I did a similar search for Whisper as I did for myself, since off the
top of my head I *think* he was on RST at the time I started, but
according to GG search, he first comes up 10/19/2000, and the context
again seems like he may have posted earlier.
Is anyone aware of any known gaps or issues with the GG archive? Was
it known to be incomplete? Maybe stuff got lost on the transition from
DejaNews to GG?
So I posted for a while as "Makule Fool", then later as "Cloudburst",
and I see none of that. My best guess is that Makule Fool was maybe
94-95, and Cloudburst for a brief period either before or after
that. The sigfile was something like "Stay dry, kids!".
Not important, just interesting (to me).
This all comes from jd mentioning a guy named Hazlewood, whom I very
vaguely recall.
As an aside, when I went back to my early stuff, most posts in RST
were indeed about tennis and tennis techniques. It was interesting to
read the drivel I was posting... ;^)

Personally, I think the search function in the latest iteration of the
GG interface is buggy. I feel like I used to be able to search with a
lot more precision, but now it seems to return a lot of irrelevant
results. Ironic since it's google.

Some of the earlier iterations of the search function were hard to use.

So now it's easier to not find what you're looking for rather hard to
not find what you're looking for.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Favorite tattoo:

BORN TOULOUSE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2024-10-27 02:02:06 UTC

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.
I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

It's weird.
I did a similar search for Whisper as I did for myself, since off the
top of my head I *think* he was on RST at the time I started, but
according to GG search, he first comes up 10/19/2000, and the context
again seems like he may have posted earlier.
Is anyone aware of any known gaps or issues with the GG archive? Was
it known to be incomplete? Maybe stuff got lost on the transition from
DejaNews to GG?
So I posted for a while as "Makule Fool", then later as "Cloudburst",
and I see none of that. My best guess is that Makule Fool was maybe
94-95, and Cloudburst for a brief period either before or after
that. The sigfile was something like "Stay dry, kids!".
Not important, just interesting (to me).
This all comes from jd mentioning a guy named Hazlewood, whom I very
vaguely recall.
As an aside, when I went back to my early stuff, most posts in RST
were indeed about tennis and tennis techniques. It was interesting to
read the drivel I was posting... ;^)

Personally, I think the search function in the latest iteration of the
GG interface is buggy. I feel like I used to be able to search with a
lot more precision, but now it seems to return a lot of irrelevant
results. Ironic since it's google.

I think google in general returns more irrelevant results nowadays.
Also pic search seems to be fucked up. Maps not on front page & return
some unusable private maps the last I looked.

Google AI, Gemini, hasn't really gotten much smarter either.

2024-10-27 11:40:34 UTC

Post by TT

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.
I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

It's weird.
I did a similar search for Whisper as I did for myself, since off the
top of my head I *think* he was on RST at the time I started, but
according to GG search, he first comes up 10/19/2000, and the context
again seems like he may have posted earlier.
Is anyone aware of any known gaps or issues with the GG archive? Was
it known to be incomplete? Maybe stuff got lost on the transition from
DejaNews to GG?
So I posted for a while as "Makule Fool", then later as "Cloudburst",
and I see none of that. My best guess is that Makule Fool was maybe
94-95, and Cloudburst for a brief period either before or after
that. The sigfile was something like "Stay dry, kids!".
Not important, just interesting (to me).
This all comes from jd mentioning a guy named Hazlewood, whom I very
vaguely recall.
As an aside, when I went back to my early stuff, most posts in RST
were indeed about tennis and tennis techniques. It was interesting to
read the drivel I was posting... ;^)

Personally, I think the search function in the latest iteration of the
GG interface is buggy. I feel like I used to be able to search with a
lot more precision, but now it seems to return a lot of irrelevant
results. Ironic since it's google.

I think google in general returns more irrelevant results nowadays.
Also pic search seems to be fucked up. Maps not on front page & return
some unusable private maps the last I looked.
Google AI, Gemini, hasn't really gotten much smarter either.

Not entirely fair, I think it has gotten a bit smarter...

But it's still weirdly programmed. I asked which do more early voting,
republicans or democrats... it answered that elections is not its
expertise.

Had to google it, answer democrats... but republicans have closed the
gap in these elections according to polls, due to Trump campaign's
change of heart on early voting...

As for A.I. in general... I think it wont be long that they make
blockbuster movies written & done entirely by A.I. The shorts at YT are
very impressive visually. The negative, currently, would be that same
character can look quite different on different scenes... and also that
different people can look quite same.

This looks a bit plastic, but I think you'd appreciate the effort:

"Half Vulcan - all vixen" :))))

Stumbled across this yesterday...

Impressive.

bmoore

2024-10-09 03:35:53 UTC

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but
currently, they still support their archive and I wonder how far
back
it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around
with
this without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch
of
narrowing searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I
found was
6/6/98. This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the
context of
this post *looks* as if I had already been posting for a while,
leading me to think that nothing earlier still exists due to a
cut-off
date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles
turned
up nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST
posts
they can find?

I was able to find RST posts from 1991 on GG.

Good info. It'll give me more to work with.
I assume you did a search on *any* user, and specified start date as
01/01/01, or something like that?

I did an intelligent search, on any user, and nothing showed up in 1990, but did in 1991. The date was just today's
date.

Nomen Nescio

2024-10-11 08:51:41 UTC

Permalink

Post by jdeluise

The wayback machine (archive.org) has been officially hacked and is
currently out of action.

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1g04916/internet_archive_hacked_
data_breach_impacts_31/?rdt=58719

Democrats are trying to erase evidence of their criminal activity.

Whisper

2024-10-09 08:17:48 UTC

Permalink

Post by Sawfish
I'm not asking when/if they decide to drop all old posts, but currently,
they still support their archive and I wonder how far back it goes.
At one point I had heard (read?) 25 years and I played around with this
without ever really coming to closure. Today, I did a bunch of narrowing
searches for "Sawfish" posts and the earliest on I found was 6/6/98.
This is approximately 26 years 4 months. Also, the context of this post
*looks* as if I had already been posting for a while, leading me to
think that nothing earlier still exists due to a cut-off date.
Too, I had posted much earlier--maybe as early as '94?--under two
different handles, but searches for posts under those handles turned up
nothing.
Does anyone have definitive info on the earliest dates of RST posts they
can find?

You can download the whole of wikipedia as it's only 102gb. Wonder if
there's any way to download rst?