<nettime> (fwd) Re: Deja move 'complete' (sequel to "huh?")

["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

<http://www.deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=635374487>

   Re: Deja move 'complete' (sequel to "huh?")
   Author:   oldcrackwhore <nospamNOnoSPAM@pbl.cx.invalid>
   Date:     2000/06/16
   Forum:    alt.fan.dejanews
   
oh@yeah.com (mary sunshine) wrote:

>So essentially the usenet archive that used to be part of the
>internet is now gone.

well, basically, yes, at least temporarily. Usenet archiving has
always been extremely haphazard.  The net as a whole was just
lucky to have Deja[news] around to archive it.  They've chosen
(made a business decision) to focus on the product / shopping
stuff rather than Usenet.  Time will tell whether that was the
right business decisison.  The Gods of the Internet hath not
decreed that Deja be the one and true repository of Usenet now
and forever, especially as a free service.  Usenet's been around
a LOT longer than Deja, and selected archives have managed to
survive from the pre-Dejanews era.  The key word there is
'selected': ie, some human decided that some posts were worthy of
being kept around more than a few days, and saved them.   Of
course, now the vast majority of usenet (in terms of sheer byte
size) is not worth keeping around at all.


>I think this is deliberate.

Deliberate how?  Of course it was deliberate, they didn't
"accidentally" lose the old archive servers.  They probably
decided that it was too expensive or not worth worrying about to
move them to their new facility.  After all, 4-5 years of usenet
archives must take up a lot of disk space!

>Now the only publically accessible non-commercially driven
>database of scientific information and human experience has 
>been destroyed.

It hasn't been destroyed.  A little birdie on the inside told me
that the old servers are just sitting there unused (they haven't
been moved into the new facility.)  there are individuals at deja
who feel that usenet is an important and neglected area of the
site, and who would love to bring the old articles back online.
Unfortunately, the company's management does NOT share those
views; the focus is on the product information / pricing engine
and related services.  And you're right, Jane Q. Usenet Reader
isn't very important overall to the company -- they are looking
to make the real money in the so-called 'vertical market' --
focusing in on specific businesses or other groups that need fast
concise product buying information.  The powers that be have
promised to put the old articles back online 'eventually,'
whenever that may be.

Usenet as we know it will continue to go on.  As someone else
said, if you are so keen on usenet archives, why don't you set up
a few hundred gigabytes of disk space on some servers hanging off
a T3 and let everyone access it for free. Oh, that's right, it
costs a lot of money.

>I am grief stricken.

Yeah, an convenient service (search really old archives) is lost,
and Deja does have (many) other problems besides losing the old
archives, but let's not be too dramatic here.  Most of the good
stuff is around in other forms on the web if you know where to
look.

cheers,
oldcrackwhore

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