what has this newsgroup turned into? - Triathlon Week

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

All I see is spam and porn offers. What happened?

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

TriAdmin wrote:
> All I see is spam and porn offers. What happened?
>
>
Sad, isn't it. I can remember when there would be 30-50 posts a day
here, all Tri related, and there was a community of sorts. I head over
to slowtwitch these days when I'm looking for anything useful, but I
still check here with some misguided optimism once a week or so. Nothing
but crap from China and other SPAM to be found though.

I blame Brian Wagner. :-)

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

Tom Henderson wrote:

> TriAdmin wrote:
>
>> All I see is spam and porn offers. What happened?
>>
> Sad, isn't it. I can remember when there would be 30-50 posts a day
> here, all Tri related, and there was a community of sorts. I head over
> to slowtwitch these days when I'm looking for anything useful, but I
> still check here with some misguided optimism once a week or so. Nothing
> but crap from China and other SPAM to be found though.
>
> I blame Brian Wagner. :-)

Oh that's very good. I haven't looked in here for ages and what do I see? B

lame B W. Of course. Me too. Brian, are you there?

rtk

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

exk7 wrote:
> Tom Henderson wrote:
>
>> TriAdmin wrote:
>>
>>> All I see is spam and porn offers. What happened?
>>>
>> Sad, isn't it. I can remember when there would be 30-50 posts a day
>> here, all Tri related, and there was a community of sorts. I head over
>> to slowtwitch these days when I'm looking for anything useful, but I
>> still check here with some misguided optimism once a week or so.
>> Nothing but crap from China and other SPAM to be found though.
>>
>> I blame Brian Wagner. :-)
>
> Oh that's very good. I haven't looked in here for ages and what do I see? B
>
>
> lame B W. Of course. Me too. Brian, are you there?
>
> rtk
Hi Ruth! How are the fish?

Actually, I kinda miss old BW. He was always good for a pointless argument.

By the way, you have a great website! Love the artwork, and I'm quite
jealous of those ponds!

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

THANK YOU!
We have three (3!) ducks residing in the ponds right now, so we'll have
more of the ducklings like the little movie I have on one of my pages,
but it will dna to learn the truth about them.

On topic: I'm signed up for the tri in D.C. in September. We run right
by the White House and I'm expecting plenty of secret service watching
our fingers wag as we dash by.

Yes, Brian was definitely an addition here. I visit Slowtwitch, but it
was more pleasant when he was here and it was more of a little party.
His site is too big for me to get to know anyone there.

rtk

Tom Henderson wrote:
> exk7 wrote:
>
>> Tom Henderson wrote:
>>
>>> TriAdmin wrote:
>>>
>>>> All I see is spam and porn offers. What happened?
>>>>
>>> Sad, isn't it. I can remember when there would be 30-50 posts a day
>>> here, all Tri related, and there was a community of sorts. I head
>>> over to slowtwitch these days when I'm looking for anything useful,
>>> but I still check here with some misguided optimism once a week or
>>> so. Nothing but crap from China and other SPAM to be found though.
>>>
>>> I blame Brian Wagner. :-)
>>
>>
>> Oh that's very good. I haven't looked in here for ages and what do I
>> see? B
>>
>>
>> lame B W. Of course. Me too. Brian, are you there?
>>
>> rtk
>
> Hi Ruth! How are the fish?
>
> Actually, I kinda miss old BW. He was always good for a pointless argument.
>
> By the way, you have a great website! Love the artwork, and I'm quite
> jealous of those ponds!

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

Yes it is sad, I used to get a lot out of the forums here.

"TriAdmin" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:XANPj.19847$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].. .
> All I see is spam and porn offers. What happened?
>

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

On Apr 25, 1:32 pm, exk7 <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>
> lame B W. Of course. Me too. Brian, are you there?
>

As a matter of fact, yes. I just happen to take a glance here for the
first time in five years, and what do I see but my name being taken in
vain. Warms the very cockles of my heart.

Of course, I was always here in spirit - all you ever had to do was
click your heals three times and say "I love my Oakleys.

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

On Apr 28, 1:02 pm, "TriAdmin" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
> Yes it is sad, I used to get a lot out of the forums here.
>

So, what DID happen? Did I really do all THIS?

And why all the porn spam - I don't see any of that at rec.scuba.

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
> On Apr 28, 1:02 pm, "TriAdmin" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
>>Yes it is sad, I used to get a lot out of the forums here.
>>
>
>
> So, what DID happen? Did I really do all THIS?
>
> And why all the porn spam - I don't see any of that at rec.scuba.

Oh Brian! So lowratelow isn't really you? Yes, I actually miss this
newsgroup, which translates as Where the hell is Brian and I'm so sorry
I stepped on your Oakleys.

rtk

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

On May 5, 12:25 pm, exk7 <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
y all the porn spam - I don't see any of that at rec.scuba.
>
> Oh Brian! So lowratelow isn't really you? Yes, I actually miss this
> newsgroup, which translates as Where the hell is Brian and I'm so sorry
> I stepped on your Oakleys.

I actually have a pair now, purchased for one dollar from dead people.

Haven't done any triathlon things for 4 years. Gained 30 lb. and got
out of shape at the new job. Struggling to find the time to correct
that, and the thing that's helped the most are two new Lab puppies who
love to run.

So, why all the porn spam here but not on other newsgroups?

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:

> So, why all the porn spam here but not on other newsgroups?

It happened also on a reef newsgroup I used to frequent, of all places,
which may be one of the reasons newsgroups generally have gone out of
favor and have been replaced by monitored forums. Slowtwitch got
everyone from here, but also got a thousand more. That's more than I
want so I only go there maybe monthly. The only other group I frequent
is a blog forum called talkingphilosophy that is totally humorless. They
are now arguing about whether to keep death bed promises. This really
was a special place. We must have exchanged 4000 words about those
stupid Oakleys.

Two labs? Ahh. My chocolate lab was my all time favorite. When she died
and I posted it there was a flood of lovely dog notes until someone
(you?) complained he was getting a toothache, presumably from all the
saccharine.

I'll drop in again in a couple of weeks and see if there are any other
walking corpses here. I'm signed up for IronGirl in August and The
Nation's Triathlon in D.C.in September.

rtk

05-20-2008, 09:16 AM

I think one reason is that - compared to, say, 10 years ago
- there are far more forum boards due to the availability of
free software and cheaper web space. Back in the mid to late
1990s newsgroups were practically the only place to have
discussions with like-minded people or people of similar
interests. Spammers and scammers can't get into forum boards
as easily as they can to newsgroups, which require no
registration or validation whatsoever.
My two penn'rth !

05-28-2008, 10:54 PM

On Mon, 12 May 2008 23:33:02 +0200, Helvetica wrote:

> I think one reason is that - compared to, say, 10 years ago - there are
> far more forum boards due to the availability of free software and
> cheaper web space. Back in the mid to late 1990s newsgroups were
> practically the only place to have discussions with like-minded people
> or people of similar interests. Spammers and scammers can't get into
> forum boards as easily as they can to newsgroups, which require no
> registration or validation whatsoever. My two penn'rth !

It seems that the discussion groups are suffering pretty badly from
spamming these days. I have a pretty long list of filters, and have to
add new ones every week.