Newswatcher and Supernews

In article <310320081455010710%maser@umich.edu>,
Steve Maser <maser@umich.edu> wrote:

> In article < 310320081136415713%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbal
derstone.ca>, Dave
> Balderstone <dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbalderstone.ca> wrote: 
>
> FWIW, I'm not...

Count yourself lucky. You're probably not subscribed to news groups
where we are seeing it. What you probably don't realize is you're
actually missing posts in other news groups.  ; )

> But that said -- having been subscribed to Supernews for a couple of
> years now...
>
> Why should I be worried about Giganews buying them out and taking them
> over?
>
> I had little problems resetting my groups list (checked all groups this
> morning, then redid my group list after the server swap.)

Yep - and it;s a safe bet you missed posts as a result.

> Am I missing something that makes Giganews "evil"?  Everything (so far)
> seems exactly the same to me as before the swap (after rebuilding my
> group lists/article numbers of course...)

Giganews doesn't include a lot of headers in their overview.fmt
database, so you will only be able to filter on these specific headers:

Subject:
From:
Date:
Message-ID:
References:
Bytes:
Lines:
Xref:full

If you want to filter on any other headers, you'll have to switch news
providers.

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

In article <310320081455010710%maser@umich.edu>, Steve Maser
<maser@umich.edu> wrote:

> Am I missing something that makes Giganews "evil"?  Everything (so far)
> seems exactly the same to me as before the swap (after rebuilding my
> group lists/article numbers of course...)

It is not exactly the same for me. I signed up with Supernews because I
use the XHDR headers for filtering and because Supernews has excellent
spam filtering. I have access through my ISP to Giganews for free from
home. Giganews dropped the XHDR headers a few years ago. So I signed up
with Supernews even though I have the free Giganews.

Today Giganews has replaced the Supernews servers, with the Giganews
servers that don't pull the XHDR headers. It appears to me that there
is more spam.  So while I would not call Giganews evil, I would call
them mediocre.

In any case I don't need a duplicate of Giganews. Thus I won't be
renewing on June 2. I am looking for a NSP that pulls the XHDR headers
so I can filter on them and that has good spam filtering. I believe
Individual net is a possibility. Any others out there I should
consider?

--
Charles

In article <310320081100589796%fort514@mac.com>,
Charles <fort514@mac.com> wrote:

> In article <howard-AF4CC8.10533331032008@news.supernews.com>, Howard S
> Shubs <howard@shubs.net> wrote:
> 
>
> Switch to another NSP.....
>
> I subscribed to Supernews because Giganews did not support XHDR.

More accurately:

Giganews does not include a lot of headers in their overview.fmt
database. When news clients sent the XHDR and XOVER commands to the news
server, the news server scans the overview.fmt database for matches. If
the headers the news client specifies in the XHDR and XOVER commands are
not included in the overview.fmt database, the server generates an error.

> Giganews recently bought Supernews.
>
> It appears this morning they replaced the Supernews servers with the
> Giganews servers.

Yep - looks that way, and it does suck. This is the death of Supernews,
as far as I'm concerned.

> My Supernews subscription expires in a couple of months.

Unfortunately for me, I was getting it for free with Earthlink.  Now I
get to pay extra for another provider (that is, if I can find one that
includes the headers I need in their overview.fmt).

> Can anyone confirm, does Individual Net support XHDR?  If so I will
> probably replace Supernews with them.

I wish I knew. I was unable to find a contact link on their web site. I
may not be able to use them anyway, since I'm not in Germany and they
don't seem to accept credit cards from Americans.

From their web page:

"How can I pay?

You can choose from the following payment options: The online payment
service providers ClickandBuy (formerly Firstgate) and PayPal, as well
as payment by bank transfer to a German bank account of Freie
Universität Berlin (for holders of non-German bank accounts, IBAN and
BIC are available). "

<http://www.individual.net/overview.php>

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
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read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

In article <310320081533242551%fort514@mac.com>,
Charles <fort514@mac.com> wrote:

> I am looking for a NSP that pulls the XHDR headers
> so I can filter on them and that has good spam filtering. I believe
> Individual net is a possibility. Any others out there I should
> consider?

I've put in sales/support queries (regarding headers included in
overview.fmt databases) to several of the larger providers today and
will post the results here.

I was unable to find a way to contact individual.net, so you're on your
own there. If you do find out, please post here for the rest of us.

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

In article
<jollyroger-6410AE.14364831032008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:

> "How can I pay?
>
> You can choose from the following payment options: The online payment
> service providers ClickandBuy (formerly Firstgate) and PayPal, as well

I could use Paypal to pay but first I need to confirm about the headers
they include. I know they used to include them but Giganews used to
include them too. Giganews dropped those headers a year or two ago.

--
Charles

In article
<jollyroger-A7A904.14390731032008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:

> In article <310320081533242551%fort514@mac.com>,
>  Charles <fort514@mac.com> wrote:
> 
>
> I've put in sales/support queries (regarding headers included in
> overview.fmt databases) to several of the larger providers today and
> will post the results here.

I have received one response to my query about overview.fmt database
headers so far, from someone named "Bumblebee" (I kid you not) at
Easynews:

My support query:
 

Easynews response:

On 3/31/08 2:16 PM, "Support via RT" <support@easynews.com> wrote:

> An article posted to easnyews.support reveals the following headers:
>
> Path:
> X-No-Archive:
> Newsgroups:
> Subject:
> From:
> References:
> Organization:
> Message-ID:
> User-Agent:
> Lines:
> X-Complaints-To:
> X-Complaints-Info
> Date:
> Xref:
>
> Please let us know what else we can assist with!
>
> Thanks for choosing Easynews!
> Bumblebee
> Easynews Support Team

Apparently "Bumblebee" thinks the mere existence of headers in a _post_
equates to their being included in the _overview.fmt database_, which is
incorrect. It's obvious "Bumblebee" was unable to read and comprehend my
question. I politely explained that was not the answer to my question
and asked for "Bumblebee" to forward my post to a server administrator
who can answer the question.

Strike one for Easynews...

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

In article <310320081549008715%fort514@mac.com>,
Charles <fort514@mac.com> wrote:

> In article
> <jollyroger-6410AE.14364831032008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
> 
>
> I could use Paypal to pay but first I need to confirm about the headers
> they include. I know they used to include them but Giganews used to
> include them too. Giganews dropped those headers a year or two ago.

Oh I missed PayPal - good catch.  Then this is a possibility. If you
figure out how to contact them and get an comprehensive answer, please
post here for the rest of us!

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

In article
<jollyroger-1130EC.14523931032008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:

> Apparently "Bumblebee" thinks the mere existence of headers in a _post_
> equates to their being included in the _overview.fmt database_, which is
> incorrect. It's obvious "Bumblebee" was unable to read and comprehend my
> question. I politely explained that was not the answer to my question
> and asked for "Bumblebee" to forward my post to a server administrator
> who can answer the question.
>
> Strike one for Easynews...

Apparently there's a widespread lack of comprehension among Usenet
provider support personnel. Here's a similar response to the same query
from NewsGroupDirect.com where it's apparent they do not understand that the
mere existance of headers in posts does not equate to those headers
being included in the overview.fmt database:

On 3/31/08 2:37 PM, "NewsgroupDirect Support Staff"
<support@newsgroupdirect.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Here is an example of a header, it has all of the fields that you need.
>
> Path:
> beO3!out01b.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!in01.usenetserver.com!n
ews.
> usenetserver.com!in03.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!pc02.usenetse
rver
> .com!DIALUPUSA.NET!not-for-mail
> From: "Ylmo" <ylno@isp.com>
> Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics
> Subject: "The Paradox of Zeno"
> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:20:13 -0400
> X-Priority: 3
> X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3138
> X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original
> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198
> Message-ID: <a42ed$47233b2f$d8080ee2$16025@DIALUPUSA.NET>
> X-Complaints-To: abuse@usenetserver.com
> Organization: UseNetServer.com
> Lines: 69
> X-Trace: a42ed47233b2f7dadab4716025
> Xref: usenetserver.com alt.sci.physics:273429
> X-Received-Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:20:47 EDT (beO3)
>
> Please let us know if you need anything further. Have a nice day!
>
> Jim
> NewsgroupDirect Support Team
>
> Ticket Details
> ===================
> Ticket ID: QNW-336547
> Department: Support
> Priority: Medium
> Status: Closed

Looks like he closed the ticket as well, so I get to repeat myself all
over again to get anywhere with these guys... *ugh*

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR

In article
<jollyroger-4A5735.14163931032008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:

> Giganews doesn't include a lot of headers in their overview.fmt
> database, so you will only be able to filter on these specific headers:
>
>     Subject:
>     From:
>     Date:
>     Message-ID:
>     References:
>     Bytes:
>     Lines:
>     Xref:full
>
> If you want to filter on any other headers, you'll have to switch news
> providers.



Ah -- I don't do any filtering on my groups.  So I'm not going to miss
this, probably...

- Steve

In article <310320081608114602%maser@umich.edu>,
Steve Maser <maser@umich.edu> wrote:

> In article
> <jollyroger-4A5735.14163931032008@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
> 
>
> Ah -- I don't do any filtering on my groups.  So I'm not going to miss
> this, probably...

You don't mind spam and trolls, I take it? My condolences.  ; )
Personally, I can't imagine *not* filtering all that crap out.

--
Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to
this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not
read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to
see your posts.

JR